ITIL Service Desk - Customer Excellence Award
Service Excellence Award following implementation of new ITIL Service Desk
Northgate Managed Services achieved a customer excellence award in recognition of the company's significant contribution to delivering an improved service to other organisations. This award followed the implementation of a new ITIL Best Practice Service Desk into a number of key local government accounts.
Project Background
The need to introduce an improved service management tool was initially identified by Northgate through engagement with its key local government accounts (Greenwich, Hartlepool & Reading Councils). They wanted a much more efficient and knowledgeable support person able to resolve their problems on first contact. Northgate was already delivering a good service, meeting and exceeding its contracted service levels; however, the process model was inefficient and a more updated platform was needed in order to deliver a more effective service to customers. With pressures on ICT increasing along with customer expectations of service levels and the need to maximise business responsiveness, it was crucial that Northgate responded.
Business Challenge
Northgate operated a Helpdesk model which encompassed call dispatching, incident tracking and a feedback mechanism to its customers. It did not however provide the necessary service platform which would enable the delivery of continuous service improvement initiatives or more critically, the delivery of a 'First Time Fix' service that a fully integrated service management portfolio would provide. Reporting was limited and a considerable amount of duplicate entry was necessary to achieve meaningful management information required to enable service improvement for customers.
The objective was therefore to deliver a suite of ITIL Service Management processes and tools that would not only improve Northgate's operational capability and deliver tangible savings but would deliver an improved service to its customers.
The Solution
The fundamental change was a move to a Service Desk rather than a Help Desk model which was merely a call logging and referral service. The Service Desk model is much more outcome focused and seeks to maximise First Time Fix (FTF) rates for incidents by deploying appropriately skilled resources, supported by best practice processes and market leading technology.
Northgate initially implemented this ITIL Service Management approach in its 3 local government accounts, with the more recent implementation in Hartlepool Borough Council.
An ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) based tool set was implemented, which offers a lifecycle approach to IT Service Management through the integration of a Service Desk and 5 management processes in a single solution which includes Incident, Problem, Change, Configuration and Service Level Management Processes. In addition the toolset incorporates customer satisfaction measurements using a service scorecard system.
One key management process in the Service Desk operation is incident management which facilitates the controlled and timely assessment of incidents and their resolution by the appropriate support groups to meet agreed service levels. By adopting this service model Northgate is able to offer its customers the ability of monitoring and escalating incidents against an existing SLA, which for some customers means achieving aspirational Service Level Agreement (SLA) targets that exceed their operational requirements.
Proactive monitoring and alerting provides a mechanism for the early detection and management of major incidents, which has enabled Northgate to deliver a hands-on, controlled and improved service to the customer. Using remote support technology Northgate can further increase First Time Fix rates through the use of 'hot phone transfers' to desktop engineers.
An event builder tool enables Northgate to collate facts and figures and present results on a dashboard to team leaders, delivering a real time view on call management against the customer's SLAs. In addition, the Problem Management tool helps Northgate identify and feedback any customer training needs by categorising the issues and reporting back.
Northgate's dedicated Service Management team supports the infrastructure that delivers the Service Desk management tools - including all hardware, applications and reporting. The infrastructure is hosted in Northgate's head office in Belfast. The team is also responsible for designing and tailoring service management processes for each customer based on their individual service needs.
To achieve this meant that the refocusing several members of the Service Delivery team to be fully conversant with the support and maintenance of the Service Management tool, Axios Assyst. The training included learning a new version of the product being deployed in local government accounts, a number of existing customers and any new customers.
Results
Northgate's new ITIL service desk has been successfully deployed in 3 local government accounts, supporting a total user base of some 7000 with approximately 7000 incidents raised each month. In Hartlepool the introduction of Assyst has transformed the service by introducing disciplines such as Incident and Change Management and in Greenwich, the introduction of a web client and enhancements to the Asset and Configuration process has already started to deliver meaurable benefits.
Overall, Northgate has achieved greater control and understanding of its service delivery operations, engaging in much more meaningful dialogue with customers for example, advising on customer's infrastructure investment decisions based on factual analysis of service performance.
Adhoc, real time reporting processes are improved due to the event builder facility and adoption of the incident management process has enabled Northgate to progressively compile a knowledge base, which is being used to aid in incident resolution and provide service operators with an the ability to search on previous incidents and their resolution. This in turn provides a more responsive and improved service to customers.
Continuous improvement has been realised through a fully defined Change Management process, the introduction of service requests and standard change processes.
Overall 75% of incidents are now resolved with First Time Fixes, up from an average of 45% and resolution times have been shortened by up to eight hours for some customers. These benefits are translating into increased staff productivity as incident handling time is reduced and more events can be dealt with on behalf of the customer.
Other benefits to the customer include:
- Improved customer service and satisfaction
- Increased accessibility through a single point of contact
- Communication and information is disseminated effectively
- Improved service quality and quicker turnaround of customer requests and incidents
- Improved reporting processes and information which can deliver more meaningful information and analysis to drive customer's business strategy and decision making
One local authority benefiting from the new ITIL Service Desk is Hartlepool Borough Council. The Service Desk acts as the first point of contact for all ICT issues and changes throughout the Council. Staffed by a dedicated Northgate team this bespoke facility proactively manages resolution of all issues by interacting with other 3rd part IT suppliers involved.
"Following the introduction of the Northgate Service Desk, IT issues are now resolved faster and more efficiently and external supplier issues are managed more effectively. The Northgate team managed the transition without any loss of service and, from a user perspective; the move to a Service Desk environment has been seen as a step change in improved customer support. The overriding benefit to the Council is that staff now have more time to dedicate to the delivery of key citizen services throughout the Borough."
Andrew Atkin, Assistant Chief Executive
Hartlepool Borough Council
