How To Set Up A Service Desk

How to build a successful IT service desk-bound

The Information technology service desk has a lot to manage. With a strong foundation and the right steps in identify to handle issues, it tin take on anything users throw at information technology.

Downtime and outages are inevitable. That makes the IT service desk the nearly visible and critically judged part of IT operations.

No IT service provider, from the wealthiest web companies to local businesses, guarantees 100% uptime. What makes an It service desk constructive is what it does when things break.

To build a successful IT service desk, commencement with workable SLAs. Gear up communication channels to users near bug and outages and track metrics to gauge whether the service desk-bound is improving or needs piece of work. For these three tasks, solicit feedback from service desk customers and business stakeholders.

SLA adherence

An Information technology department exists to serve business needs. The feedback from internal users -- or external customers, if that's who your organization supports -- is the master indicator of how the service desk has handled an issue or outage.

A service-level agreement (SLA) formalizes concern expectations for It performance. It might set incentives or penalties related to these expectations. The SLA should exist in place and understood by all parties before any outage can mayhap occur. Over time, the SLA might need to change to friction match shifting business organization demands or organisation realities. Organizations tin also set different SLAs, such equally one for mission-critical applications and another for lower-priority systems.

Customers, internal or external, need an easy manner to provide feedback to the service desk. Offer a feedback grade on a per-ticket basis, or as a general pick bachelor at any time. User satisfaction with the service y'all're providing eclipses how well Information technology handles everything else.

Exist warning to negative perception, as it tin can lead to shadow It and even service desk outsourcing.

Direct and indirect communication

In the event of an outage or service disruption, communication should exist your first focus, even earlier technicians analyze statistics or attempt a ready. If y'all get the bulletin out quickly when something's broken, fewer calls and tickets volition come in. There will still be an increase in service desk-bound contact at the time of a major incident, simply less of a fasten as would occur if users didn't know what was going on.

Some businesses set up a website to show outages. Exist sure to update it frequently and keep the UI simple. Support teams can use a traffic light system -- green is good; cherry-red is bad -- to display service problems, but a page that only shows problems is easy to understand at a glance. Microsoft has a proficient example of a technical issues status page for Microsoft 365 Service administrators.

For some businesses, emails, SMS text messages or instant messages work to alert affected people on the condition of an outage, provide any additional data and give an estimated time of restoration.

Encourage customers to give feedback -- both negative and positive -- to the support team on current or planned outage messaging.

When an outage has ceased, communicate about any cleanup actions required, such equally workstation reboots. Provide an incident summary of what happened. Even if this kind of post-mortem is not required, it's a good habit to get into to go on your squad accountable, knowledgeable, transparent and striving to meliorate the experience for all.

Communication is a two-fashion street. Encourage customers to give feedback -- both negative and positive -- to the support squad on electric current or planned outage messaging. Is information technology articulate and timely? What is missing?

Measurable KPIs

There are many metrics to track for the IT service desk. Common ones include the average phone call fourth dimension, how long information technology takes to assign a ticket and time from problem reported to incident resolved.

KPIs based on these statistics aren't overly helpful for a unmarried outage. They are useful generally, to measure improvements later changes are implemented around operations at the Information technology service desk as a whole. When y'all make changes to processes and practices, see if the It support staff notice a difference. Compare how the team performs from one crisis to the next. Expect for discrepancies and places to better. While overall stats are helpful, numbers are never the full story, and should serve simply every bit guidance.

During an outage or incident, focus on KPIs around answer times and response times. The user experience is improved when staff can motion through calls quickly and politely. Monitor calls in the queue and wait times, and make more staff members available if needed.

While outage communication is paramount, avoid two bad practices in this situation. Start, do non pull IT squad members from working on the fix to respond calls. Fifty-fifty if calls in the queue and wait times abound, this is temporary, and the technicians need to work to resolve the problem. Secondly, don't overlook tickets logged in other ways that might also be urgent.

Communicate around these metrics as well. In a longer outage, advise customers about longer wait times. Provide options on how to contact the service desk, and suggest on urgent requests.