Service Desk and ITIL

When an employee in an organization requires assistance with an IT related issue they typically contact their local Service Desk. The Service Desk, or support or help desk as it’s also referred to, is a central point of contact where technical problems are logged and eventually find resolution. As such, the Service Desk is an integral component in integrating IT resources with the rest of the enterprise. Although the ITIL framework[1] contains multiple components, the Service Desk is a foundation of any implementation of ITIL and usually the first component to be put into operation within the framework, or sets of best practices. In order to successfully liaise between technical resources and the rest of the organization, the Service Desk must adhere to standards and methodologies that provide consistent and predictable results.

Today, ITIL is considered the clearest example of such a systematic approach to providing IT services within an organization. Although other competing frameworks are also emerging, such as COBIT, and numerous proprietary frameworks already exist, like the IBM Redbook series, ITIL can safely be described as the de facto standard for IT lifecycle best practices. Indeed, now in its third major revision it is expected to be adopted by 60% of companies with more than 1000 employees.[2] As such, a successful implementation of a Service Desk within in an enterprise is a critical step to successfully leveraging the ITIL framework.

The genesis of the Service Desk is directly linked to the fact that employees, especially knowledge workers[3], encounter issues utilizing the technological tools that are now required in most white collar environments. What started off as an informal position, namely the “computer guy” who fixed PC related issues on an ad hoc basis, has today evolved into a series of defined activities aimed at resolving issues in a systematic and expeditions manner. It can be argued that the maturity of the Service Desk directly arose as a result the sometime intransigence as well as unpredictability of the computer technician. Jocularly referred to as “nerds”, these technicians have not traditionally been associated as possessing a high level of interpersonal skills. As such technology focused, rather than service focused, roles like those associated with IT resources have even been lampooned in popular culture.[4]

Concentrating on customer service and providing managed workflow are the two most critical aspects of the Service Desk as it relates to managing IT resources[5]. By being an intermediary between the technical staff and information workers, the staff of the Service Desks must be able to quickly log incoming requests, identify the nature of the issue and then assign the appropriate IT resource to deal with the issue or request. A properly trained Service Desk attendant should not spend more that a couple minutes identifying the issue and communicating with customer as to the expected results. Once a call has been logged Service Desk sets off series of activities aimed at resolving the issue in a systematic and expeditions manner. Throughout the time that the issue is in an unresolved state, the Service Desk is at the nexus of liaising with customers and technical resources.

One of the most critical aspects of following an ITIL methodology is make the Service Desk the only point of contact between the customer, that is all employees or members of an enterprise or organization, and the IT resources designated to resolved issues or requests coming from those customers. So, when a user in accounting has a problem with her Excel spreadsheet formula she is tempted to contact her coworker who has gone through a similar problem. In the end it might ultimately make sense to enlist an employee who is not formally associated with the IT support staff, to solve this issue. However, by logging and tracking the incident, identifying possible resolutions and capturing the knowledge provided by the IT resource that resolves the issues, IT resources are more efficiently used when viewed in a long term basis. Furthermore, ITIL strives to make the service of a consistent quality, not dependant on the idiosyncrasies of a particular person’s technical skills, schedules and interpersonal skills.

The downside to this approach is that customers may not get personalized service, which in turn may decrease customer satisfaction. If a technician knows the history of a customer, understands their predilections, and has built a relationship with a customer, issues may be resolved faster or even prevented. Instead of directly phoning up IT resources, customers are funneled through the Service Desk which makes the ultimate decision on what particular resource is assigned to a case. In this sense, the Service Desk may be a shim that prevents these relationships from forming, and consequently, this causes a decrease in the efficiency of leveraging IT resources. One approach that creates a more personalized level of service is the inclusion of CRM like qualities in serviced desk procedures. Software may track, for example, what technician was assigned to a customer in the past and if that technician is available, he or she would be dispatched for that particular customer.

It is important to note that the Service Desk does not actually get involved in resolving issues or problems. It hands off this responsibility to the members of the Incident Management who then in turn may pass it on to Change Management and Problem Management teams[6]. However, as these issue flow through different IT teams the Service Desk is responsible in informing the customer as to the issue status and liaise between the different teams to ensure the customer does not fall between the cracks. In effect, the Service Desk abstracts the complexities and different teams required to resolve issues from the customer, simplifying the process from their end.

Although the Service Desk is traditionally associated with resolving failures in the IT infrastructure, it also may have the responsibility to handle service requests[7]. These may include the rental of equipment and other IT related services. Change and remediation requests are also included under the rubric of the Service Desks. And so the integration of the Service Desk with Configuration and Service Level Management is also essential[8]. As IT equipment is modified and added the Service Desk must be able to keep track of these IT resources. Furthermore, as knowledge is built up through the resolution of issues, this knowledge needs to be properly recorded and access though the Service Desk. Service Desk software usually contains a self-help component, that is built over time to address requests and issues that are deemed germane to the particular environment. For example, commonly requested items like projectors could be checked out in a semi-automated manner through an intranet site operated by the Service Desk.

Bringing all these functions together in a comprehensive and automated software package is difficult. Multiple software vendors provide point solutions for the Service Desk. However, if integrated with ITIL, the Service Desk must interface with several other key other areas, namely Configuration Management, Change Management and Incident management[9]. Therefore, implementing Service Desk software as a stand alone product will bring limited benefits and is usually not sufficient to provide a rich Service Desk experience to the customer. Furthermore, since the Service Desk is the cornerstone of an ITIL implementation, it is critical that as other service management areas evolve, the Service Desk software is able to incorporate these other practices.

A company may not have a mature or well defined workflow practice, so at first the Service Desk only logs issues and their resolution. However, as workflow practices are further solidified and mature, serviced desk software should be able to adapt and automate many of these processes. For example, if a service level is not met, let’s say a critical issue is not resolved in 4 hours, the Service Desk needs to trigger an exception report which may then set off escalation procedures. Or, if changes are requested to a system, automated processes should identify appropriate stakeholders and owners of these systems that would verify and accept these changes. In the latter case, only if the Service Desk properly interfaces with a Configuration Management system, which is the central repository where changes made to IT resources are tracked, will the full value of the ITIL framework be realized.

Current software implementations vary in their level of integration with ITIL methodologies. Players who have occupied this space for a considerable time include conglomerates like IBM and HP as well a specialized players like BMC, FrontRange and Numara. Although there are literally hundreds of different Service Desk software solutions only a handful are compliant with ITIL and able to provide functionality that goes beyond issue tracking. Third party analysts such as Gartner, have chosen to recommend suites of software that don’t offer mere point solutions but rather software suites that can branch out within the ITIL framework[10]. For example, the Remedy Help Desk was originally used as a bug tracking tool for software development. As this product evolved it took on the functionality that is expected of the Service Desk. Furthermore, when BMC bought Remedy they further integrated it with their Change Management and Configuration Management tools, thereby creating a set of tools that fit within several ITIL categories.

Unfortunately, today only the software suites that are targeted at large enterprise customers provide a rich level of ITIL synergy. Companies with fewer than 2500 employees are forced to chose between implementing expensive and implementation heavy products or a solution that is less expensive but likely to pose ITIL integration issues in the future. What this suggests is that the Service Desk cannot be implemented in an ad hoc fashion even though ITIL can be implemented in a piecemeal fashion. It is important to view the Service Desk as component that must interact with numerous other components. If not viewed from this holistic fashion, the limits of any Service Desk implementation will become very clear early on.

Finally, because proper Service Desk implementations can be so costly, and because ITIL has been able to standardize many Service Desk practices, outsourcing the Service Desk is increasingly becoming an option for many organizations. Unisys, EDS, IBM, HP and Siemens are among enterprise level Service Desk outsourcing providers that can provide a turnkey solution that can adjust based on scope and depth of services required. If proper Service Level Agreements are formulated, outsourcing can provide the most efficient matching of IT resources with needs in an organization. By consolidating staff and providing alternate geographic locations, such as onshore, nearshore or offshore, outsourcing tends to be more financially effective way of implementing Service Desks for larger enterprise.[11] However, as noted earlier, by depersonalizing the IT resource by moving it further away from the customer, sometimes in another country with very different culture, the customer may become alienated. Outsourcing, largely for this reason, has to be evaluated carefully when dealing with an organizations’ Service Desk.