help desk roles and responsibilities

 

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN A SERVICE DESK

A couple of years ago we started an implementation of a Service Desk for a company in the finance industry. They had a Service Desk for several years, but they could not bring it to the level they needed; they lacked relevant measurements, suffered from high staff turnover, low quality of services ... In short, it was a Service Desk that simply did not meet the expectations of the business or users. In desperation, they decided to tender the service with external providers and our company was selected as a new provider.

When implementing new services, we typically begin by evaluating the operation as we found it. During this evaluation, we analyze indicators, documentation and we sit down to talk and take notes with personnel involved in the operation of the service to be implemented. On this occasion, the documentation appeared to be correct and complete, some of the causes of the deficiencies were not apparent until the interviews.

As I sat down to chat with the service manager, I noticed that the service was not suffering from lack of interest on their part or negligence. On the contrary, he seemed to be a very professional person and interested in the success of his area. He had a lot of accumulated frustration because he felt that no matter how much effort he put in, things were not due as the business expected and all the pressure of the results of the IT department tended to fall on his area.

Read: 5 Common Sins in Managing a Service Desk

He explained to me that management expected that, as the Service Desk leader , he would be able to align the rest of the organization to best practices for service delivery (whatever that meant). However, try as he might, he hadn't been able to advance. The resolution areas did not pay attention to the services, they were not concerned about the satisfaction of the users and in general they did not see the Service Desk as an ally, but as an enemy help desk roles and responsibilities.

As he talked to me about the different scenarios that he came to experience over the years, I began to understand one of the main causes of the low success of the Service Desk: At the organizational level, the responsibilities of the roles exceeded the authority they had.

THE MOST VALUABLE “P” IN IT: PEOPLE

ITIL tells us that every service is made up of 4 elements called: The 4 P's of Service design (or the 4 P's of ITIL). These are: Products, Process, Partners and People. Of the 4, People are recognized as the most valuable element in an organization and its services.

People refers to human capital, which is also the only organizational asset that has both concrete and abstract capabilities. Concrete because they can physically interact with other elements such as computers, and abstract because they support and apply organizational knowledge.

Unfortunately, despite being the most important asset in any organization, human capital tends to lack proper management in many IT organizations where our primary focus is on technology. The best practices of Service Management help us to establish the relationships that human capital has with the technological services offered by IT departments .