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The service desk is the most important part of any good information technology service system. Hence, companies that rely heavily on information technology, which currently almost every company does, would be well advised to focus on improving service desk performance. It is the service desk, after all, that represents the first line of contact with customers, and it deals with inquiries, concerns, and complaints.

A company’s service desk is responsible for being the customer liaison, essentially providing a single knowledgeable point of contact for them. To this end, service desks usually have to track customer requests and monitor the status of various services and products, identify and attempt to resolve problems, and so on. Service desks also usually work with second- and even third-line support teams, and thus have to coordinate with these regarding escalation and load distribution.

The performance of the service desk can be more or less attributed to two main factors or aspects: tools and skills. Tools refer to software such as databases and user interfaces that agents use to access the information they work with. This information includes customer details, the status of various inquiries and service requests, and the company’s own store of information about its products and services. As an organization grows bigger, the amount of information to be processed also rapidly increases, requiring not only bigger and faster computers, but also software that is up to the size of the task.

It is vitally important for service desks to have an efficient information management system in place. This system should allow agents to quickly enter and access the information that they need. Many different companies have offered their versions of database management systems over the years, and organizations have quite a few to choose from. These software solutions differ in their complexity, in terms both of their depth of function and ease of installation and implementation. Smaller organizations might find it more useful to use simpler software to manage the relatively smaller amount of information that they need. Bigger organizations, on the other hand, would probably require the full power offered by the biggest software management systems available.

But simply having the right tool is not enough: a service desk must also consist of skilled personnel. The agents and technicians must, of course, be able to use their software tools with great ease and facility. This is especially important when the organization uses complex software to handle the large amounts of information that it needs. Having the best software in the world would amount to nothing if agents were unskilled in its use! This is why training in the use of the interface, in particular for new agents, is very important.

More specialized training, such as technical support and troubleshooting or customer service training should also be implemented. Once agents are proficient in the use of their software, they should then be trained regarding the other aspects of their service desk duty. In this way, by considering both the tools that are used and the necessary skills, service desk performance may be greatly improved.

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