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.

If you are interested in Service Desk Performance, check this web-site to learn more about service desk dashboard.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_Miller

“Improving & Marketing Your Service Desk:  Doing More With Less…”   

Speaker Scott Madden

 Scott will speak about his experiences and lead a discussion of the Help Desk Evolution model, where most of us are and how to improve customer service with low or no cost methods.

 When & Where

October 20th, 2009

Check in begins at 5:30

Runzheimer International

1 Runzheimer Parkway
Waterford, WI  53185 

 RSVP by going to this link:

October Meeting

Runzheimer International Ltd. is one of the most innovative companies in the world, providing a comprehensive range of employee mobility services relating to business vehicles, relocation, travel management, corporate aircraft, and virtual office programs.  Our deep experience in these areas−combined with our one-of-a-kind benchmarking databases−uniquely position us to help organizations optimize employee productivity while containing costs.  Not surprisingly, we serve 60% of the Fortune 500, many middle-market companies, and some of the most prestigious U.S. and provincial government agencies.

I am Scott Madden, an IT professional with 19 years of wide-ranging experience.   I landed in IT “by mistake” and turned it into a career that I love.   I believe Thomas Jefferson was a very wise man and his quotes inspire me.  One of my favorites is “He who knows best knows how little he knows.” – Thomas Jefferson

Scott’s IT career began inadvertently at Wisconsin-based retailer Shopko Stores in late 1989.   In his first year as a technical trainer, he suddenly faced the prospect of a grueling 50 week travel schedule due to rapid company growth.   Shopko gave Scott a choice; move back into store management (where he came from) or we’ll “try” to place you in another corporate office job.   Scott’s manager saw the technical savvy that Scott possessed and presented Scott with an idea; there was an open position in “Information Services” related to the roll-out of new computerized time clocks and it required someone with some good solid PC knowledge, something that wasn’t easy to find in the late 1980’s, and recommended that Scott interview for the position.   Scott had some IT and computer experience as a technical trainer and “dabbled” in technology; he even built his very own, dual-floppy drive IBM PC-XT clone in 1988!  Scott decided to interview for the position and he landed the “IS” job and his IT career progressed from there.   Scott served in various roles in Shopko’s IS department, including Senior Systems Support Analyst (Level 2 Help Desk) and POS Support Programmer until 1992.

In 1992, the big city called for various and sundry reasons and Scott answered.  He moved to Washington, DC to start a new career in the big new world of information technology.  Washington seemed like the perfect place to recharge his IT career, opportunities abounded.   Scott landed a job at SatoTravel, a military and government travel services provider, as a Microcomputer Support Specialist.  Green screens, IBM PC’s, WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3 , dBASE and Token Ring networks ruled the IT world in 1992 and Scott quickly became an expert at supporting the technologies.  He was also a very organized individual with a “when you see a problem, fix it” attitude.  His boss quickly noticed and promoted him to Microcomputer Support Supervisor six months later.  Scott served in various positions in SatoTravel’s MIS department including, Microcomputer Support Manager, IT Customer Support Services Manager and Regional Manager of IT Operations.  His twelve year career at SatoTravel came to an abrupt end after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.   The travel industry was decimated by the attacks and subsequent economic impact and after surviving several rounds of layoffs, Scott found himself out of work in mid-2004. 

Faced with a daunting job hunt made more complicated by not having been in an active job search in twelve years, Scott contemplated his options.  After a rough start, he got himself “out there” and began an earnest job search.  After six months, he got a call that he’ll never forget.  There was a Project Manager position open at the United States Senate and they were interested in talking to him about it.  After four grueling interviews with the “suits” who managed the US Senate’s IT Support contact, Scott finally got the gig.  My friends, this was a whole new world for him. Being a contractor.  Capitol Hill. Politicians.  EXPECTATIONS.  Terror alerts.  It was overwhelming, but Scott quickly made a difference as the IT Hardware Maintenance Team Supervisor.  The PC’s, printers and servers got repaired more quickly and efficiently and he made an impact and improved the SLA numbers.  It was the hardest he ever worked in his life, but he loved it.  He went home exhausted at the end of every day, but always went back for more the next day.  He was really proud of his work and was honored to be serving the American people, albeit indirectly. 

2005 brought some personal issues with it and Scott had to make the difficult choice to relocate back to Wisconsin to be closer to his family.   He left behind a career he loved and a city he loved even more and considered his home, but realized that family is always more important.   Scott relocated to his home town of Green Bay for a few months, eventually moving to Milwaukee to become the Manager of End User Computing for Brookdale Senior Living, the nation’s largest provider of senior living services.   He continues his two decades of IT support excellence by managing the IT Help Desk and deskside support function for 6,000+ PC’s and 30,000 Brookdale associates.   He works with an incredible team of people and was pleasantly surprised to discover what a fantastic city Milwaukee has become.  It’s always good to come home.

Determine what is most important

• Listening skills
  • 80/20 rule, 80% listening 20% talking
• Probing questions
• Empathy
• Explain why the issue occurred
• Ask the customer what else they can help you with
• Learning the different communication styles and how to manage them
• Taking control of the call
  • Confidence
• Train all of IT on customer service, not just the Service Desk

Skills for training Great Customer Service

• Count to 5
• Use live examples
  • Tooty Inc. – External company that will monitor and evaluate calls and assist with training.
  • Listen to themselves manage a call
  • Share good calls with the team and point out the reasons it was good.
• How to handle difficult people
• How to handle executives

Twice daily meetings called whips that last ~10 min for team building. Answer a fun question to get to know the rest of the team. (What was your favorite pair of shoes in grade school?)

Team building event every 2 weeks for ½ day. Account managers, project managers, and recruiters get together for volleyball or kickball.

Once a year – take everyone off site for lunch.

Build your own sundae bar in the Help Desk. Have the rest of department come visit the analysts.

Do small measurable contests and reward the little things.

Vote weekly on employee of the week by peers.

Have senior staff from other departments or areas send notes to junior staffers.

Troubleshoot calls in pairs.

Dress like your favorite sports team – casual days.

Create cartoon characters of team, post on a board, and guess who’s who. (South Park, M&M’s)

Every Monday after meeting play jeopardy. Pictionary also mentioned.

Anyone from any department  can send out a “GREAT JOB” e-mail to everyone else in company. Can be for small successes and major accomplishments.

WOW award (printed sign that is put up on board). Presented at noon in front of everyone. If necessary put the presenter on speakerphone.

Reward individual with jean day on non-casual days. Stands out to other staff members that they earned something.

Public recognition by upper management.

Travelling award. Everyone wanted to earn it because it looked silly (golfer made of horseshoes).

Switch cubes/desks every six months to sit next to someone else.

Recommended book. “it’s your ship” – make people believe they can be successful.

Cost

• Bringing in Bagels
• Taking agents out to lunch
• Getting a cake to celebrate
• Have a drink-cart go around and serve people coffee, soda, juice
• Take breakfast orders and have someone make or go buy breakfast for agents

Low-Cost

• Have something at CS personnel’s desk each morning
• Dollar Store items
• Travelling award
• Ask agents their favorite drink and bringing in a 6-pack or 12-pack
• Managers wash cars of agents

No-Cost

• Wish other Customer Service people (Time Warner,  AT&T, etc) a Happy Customer Service Week
• Saying “Thank you!”
• Dress Down days added
• Notes on desk
  • Find someone who had a good experience and ask them to write a thank-you
  • Have IT director thank Help Desk personnel
• Awards Ceremony (similar to Grammy’s or Oscar’s) with nominations and categories
• Take Photo of staff and send to company so others in the company can recognize them
• Quizzes and raffles with incentives (2 hour paid vacation, food, dress down day)

Other Tips

• If possible, get a budget!
• Assign a person a day to bring food / other items in
• Movies + popcorn during the day
• Do team building activities during the day as a break and reward
• Videos thanking people
• When sending notes, hand write them
• Do activities together with other Customer Service type groups in your organization (not just IT)

We are currently in the midwest Regional Summit in beautiful downtown Chicago, sharing ideas on Social Media and how it can help benefit other chapters in HDI!

Everyone wants to feel special. We are all walking around with a sign on our foreheads that says MMFI (make me feel important). Take some time to recognize people the right way.

Here are a few tips to get you started.

Think back to the last time you were recognized.

• What happened?
• How did you feel?

Think back to the last time you recognized someone.

• What did you do?
• How did the recipient feel?
• How did you feel?

While there is no perfect way to recognize people, what follows are a few suggestions on how to make recognition more meaningful and more effective. Much of this is taken from a conversation we had at the September chapter meeting. 

• Be intentional – You need to plan to recognize folks, even just a little, to make it meaningful. Schedule a little time into every day or every week to recognize people…and then do it!
• Make it personal – hand written notes, personal phone call, personal thanks. Make sure to give managers time to hand write a personal, specific note to people who report to them.
• Gift certificates work – Where depends on what the recipient likes and will use
• Ask how they’d like to be recognized – some love public recognition, some loathe it. Ask them which they prefer, and respect their wishes.
• Create a special event – Set a theme and do the theme in different ways for a week. Think football, Thanksgiving, Customer Service Week, other holidays.
• Food can work – Let everyone bring in their favorite dish to share and tell their story. Have executives serve the food to let folks get face-time with little seen execs.
• Create a BIG event – Some companies have gala events where they give out awards and recognize people formally.
• Have an outing away from the office – Have someone fill in so your team can get away from what they normally do, or close 30 minutes early and do something different.
• Give people something to give away – Folks like to give, so let your team take part in it too by giving them something to give away and let them personalize it. Let them recognize others on the team, or others in the organization.
• Be sincere – Nothing is worse than an insincere recognition, or “recognition just to recognize.” Be sincere about what you’re saying thanks and recognizing people for.

Recognition doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to be meaningful. With a little creativity and a little preparation, you can create meaningful recognition memories for your team or organization.

What are YOUR best recognition tips?

Apex Systems is a staffing and recruitment solutions firm. We connect our clients with professionals who work in the IT, Finance and Accounting, Engineering, and Legal professions. Apex specializes in Contract, Temp-to-Perm, and Direct Placements.

We serve Fortune 500, mid-market, and emerging companies from a wide variety of industries, including banking, defense, telecommunications, technology, healthcare, energy, and others.

Apex is in the top 1 percent of all staffing companies, the 8th largest IT staffing provider, and the 15th fastest-growing. In 2007 we placed more than 11,000 professionals with over 1,100 different clients, generating almost $400m in revenue.  

Visit Our Sponsor