What’s the key to improved IT service desk performance? Ultimately, it probably boils down to the same things that drive service and support success in any organization. If this is the case, why not take a service and support lesson from one of the world’s most successful business-to-consumer (B2C) organizations to see how it tackles this issue/opportunity? After all, some of the best examples of success are copied every day, and imitation is the best form of flattery.
Service desk performance – Learning from an exemplar B2C success story
Let’s look at one of the most well-known brands in the world: Amazon. The online retail (and, of course, cloud service provider) giant is one of the largest companies in the world. For those who have even a cursory knowledge of Amazon’s management and operations, will know that Jeff Bezos’ company built its success on four pillars that run throughout the organization:
- Customer centricity
- Continuous optimization
- A culture of innovation
- Agile approach
It just so happens that these four pillars fit well with service desk operations, too. Let’s look at these pillars in more detail and see what our IT service desk performance can learn…
1. Customer centricity
Ultimately, your service desk users are the reason you do what you do, so put them at the heart of what you do. If something isn’t working for them then it isn’t working for you.
In 2018, a primary driver in creating better service desk performance is to always make sure your end user’s – or customer’s – journey is the easiest it can be. And when encouraging customers to use new service desk capabilities, such as self-service, ease of use has to be a key facet.
Thus, when designing new IT support services, keep this in mind. Otherwise, you’ll likely lose customers because they won’t be compelled to use those services, thus rendering pointless all the hard work your team has put in trying to improve IT support operations.
2. Continuous optimization improves service desk performance
Continuously improve your IT support services – and don’t let excuses, lulls in motivation, or other priorities take away from this goal. Making these services as useable as they can be is key to customer centricity and continuously offering the best IT support services possible.
This can also be applied to the way you organize your team, too. Constantly optimizing your operations not only improves services for your customer, but also helps make your life as a service desk member or leader easier as service desk performance improves.
3. A culture of innovation
Creating a culture of innovation is the hardest pillar to implement. You can’t simply flip a switch to generate the desired culture of an organization or an IT services desk. It takes time and a good deal of effort. Plus, culture requires buy-in from all team members. So, needless to say, creating the right culture requires a longer, concerted, more detail-oriented effort.
However, if you’re able to build a culture of innovation, you’ll create a workplace that supports continuous optimization and better service desk performance.
To help develop a culture of innovation, here are some points to consider:
- Include your colleagues in strategy meetings, and provide them with a platform where they can share ideas of their own in a non-judgmental way
- Create a platform for the free flow of ideas from anyone. In so doing, you’ll likely create a sense of inclusion for those within and served by your department
There are, of course, other ways to bring about a culture of innovation and if you would like more examples, then please let me know if the comments section and I’ll respond.
4. Agile approach
Finally, attempt to build an agile service department.
Why? Because it takes the focus away from processes and usually helps make implementing the other three pillars discussed much easier.
Additionally, agile operations means that you can respond more quickly to your customer’s needs (potentially as they change), and do so with the flexibility they might expect. This will lead to less frustration for everyone and a much more productive IT service desk.
In a nutshell, the four pillars espoused by Amazon also help to deliver improved IT service desk performance. Making appropriate improvement efforts, even in one pillar at a time, will most likely means that you’ll drive better results from your service desk and your IT department.
Nancy Louisnord
Nancy Louisnord is the Global Chief Marketing Officer of Manta, responsible for the company’s global marketing programs and product marketing strategy. With more than 15 years of international leadership experience in the B2B IT SaaS industry, she is a sought-after presenter at conferences and one of HDI’s TOP 25 Thought Leaders and HDI’s featured contributors. Manta offers a comprehensive data lineage platform that gives companies complete visibility and control of their data pipeline. Manta has helped companies reduce incidents through proactive risk analysis, accelerate digital transformation, and enhance governance by building trust in data.
