Your customers are changing Is your Service Desk keeping up?

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1 White Paper Your customers are changing Is your Service Desk keeping up? About this White Paper In today s rapidly changing business environment, the Service Desk continues to be a critical function within almost all IT organisations. However, our customer base is changing and if the modern day Service Desk doesn t keep up then the value they provide will rapidly diminish. Author Michael Billimoria Principal Consultant UXC Consulting

2 Table of Contents The rapidly changing Australian workforce... 1 The Service Desk challenge... 1 Preparing the Service Desk for the future... 3 Questions for IT leaders to consider... 3 About the author... 4

3 The rapidly changing Australian workforce Recent workforce indicators from the Australian Bureau of Statistics tell us that approximately 30% of the Australian workforce are now from Generation-Y. Gen-Y s entered primary school between and therefore are considered to have reasonably mature IT literacy skills as computing made up a significant part of their schooling. Furthermore, in the next few years, Generation-Z (also called Gen-M or the Internet Generation) will enter the workforce. Gen-Z s have had lifelong use of communications and media technologies, earning them the nickname digital natives. As can be seen from figure 1, most of Gen-Z are still in secondary school but will begin to enter the workforce in significant numbers in the next 5 years. Gen Y and Z are the most educated in history highly connected, into self-help, social media and working where and when it suits them Figure 1 - Australian Workforce by Age Characteristically, both Gen-Y and Gen-Z are the most educated generations in history. They are highly connected, into self-help, social media, and working where and when it suits them. They have grown up surrounded by technology which means that as a general rule, when it comes to computers and mobile devices, they know what they want and how to use it. Fast-forward about 5-10 years and the vast majority of our customers (more than 50%) will be from these two generational groups. The Service Desk challenge The changing workforce will bring new challenges and mature ITIL Service Desk models which have been successful in past, are likely to provide less value to the business in the future. Gen-Y and Gen-Z will be less inclined to ring the Service Desk for simple IT advice, nor are they going to have the patience for IT departments to catch-up with supporting the latest technology. Simply put, the traditional support model will need to undergo transformational change in order to match the needs of its new customer base. This will not be an easy transition for most organisations, particularly those that are not already adapting to generational changes within the business. Part of the reason for this is that IT leaders may feel they have reached a stage where the Service Desk is a steady-state, mature function which will continue to enjoy good levels of customer satisfaction. However, as the organisation continues to evolve, so must the Service Desk. 1

4 As the changes involved are significant, it makes sense for IT organisations who want to continue to provide a leading and relevant Service Desk function in the future to begin planning changes now. To effectively support this new generation of customers the Service Desk of the future will need to: m Understand the business more than ever before For our future customers, technology has always been ubiquitous so they will have an understanding of IT more than ever before. They will have clear expectations of the services IT providers should deliver. This means that the Service Desk gains no advantage by being technical experts. The Service Desk will provide real value when they know the business so well that they can apply technology effectively to solve real business problems. In order to achieve this, the Service Desk needs to be considered a part of the business (i.e. not those IT people ). Strategies such as cross-skilling with business functions, and embedding Service Desk staff locally may help to address this issue. Furthermore, the Service Desk will need to become more specialised in the applications which matter to the business. Generalised knowledge of hardware, platforms and operating systems is likely to become less important. This means being able to fix complex application issues at first-point, escalate technical issues quickly and provide workarounds or resolution in lightning quick time. m Automate basic support and provide it through self-help (level 0) Password resets, file/printer access, wireless access, etc. should require almost no Service Desk interaction. Customers will expect that basic problems will be fixed on the fly, by them, with no other human interaction required. Further to this, the solutions need to be simple enough so that support is basic. E.g. If it s a few simple clicks of the mouse to connect to the internet at home, it should be just as easy in the work environment. m Embrace new channels, support hours and communication methods the collaborative, peer oriented nature of Gen-Y and Gen-Z are likely to favour online and social media channels as quick and efficient ways to receive support. They are less likely to use phone or based support and will expect a quick response 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Organisations that have a local service desk may need to consider future work patterns for customers and accelerate their actions with regards to after-hours support. In terms of communications, customers are bombarded with more and more information every day. This means IT marketing and communication needs to be quick, concise, and always relevant. Blanket communications to the entire organisation don t work well now and they won t work at all in the future. Our future customers are skillful information processors and will choose communication channels that work for them. Aligning to and influencing customers to the appropriate channels that your customers use will be vital to your effectiveness. m Keep up to date with the rapidly changing technology The business will expect IT to leverage new technology to give it a competitive advantage. Customers will bring in their own technology and expect it to work (e.g. BYO computing). The Service Desk must be empowered to embrace and support that technology. The old excuse of sorry we don t support that yet isn t going to cut it. m Become leaders in knowledge creating, building and sharing with technological diversity only continuing to increase, capturing knowledge will continue to be vitally important in order to keep pace with change. Leading Service Desks will find innovative ways to access and leverage knowledge, and share it with their customers so that it is available and usable at the right time (real time). The traditional support model will need to undergo transformational change in order to match the needs of its new customer base 2

5 m Excel in customer service and communication not only will our customers be more IT literate but they are likely to be more impatient and more challenging. Moreover, customers will be in a position to provide instant feedback to their peers about quality of service through social media, that means that word of a poor experience can spread incredibly fast. More than ever, strong and effective communication will determine Service Desk success or failure. After all, communication is the real work of leadership. Preparing the Service Desk for the future The pressure on IT providers from the business is only likely to increase. This means that ensuring a specific focus on the Service Desk in your ITSM Strategy is a great way to ensure it adapts to the changing needs of your customers. An effective starting point is to formally assess the current Service Desk function and its supporting processes and then build a roadmap for the Service Desk which articulates the vision for the next months. The activity should formally assess your workforce demographics, culture, and their work practices within the business and IT. A specific focus on the Service Desk in your ITSM Strategy is a great way to ensure it adapts to the changing needs of your customers CURRENT Part of the IT organisation Manual basic support Phone/ channels Business hours support General application support Supports approved technology only Manages knowledge Customer service focussed Broad-based communications POTENTIAL Integrated with the business Automated basic support Online chat/social media 24x7 support In-depth application support Supports a wide variety of technology Creates and leverages knowledge Customer service leaders Targeted communications Table 1: Maturing the Service Desk Questions for IT Leaders to consider In order to build the Service Desk of the future, IT leaders should consider a variety of factors, some of are documented below. Consider building the following questions into your next IT strategy and planning session: 1 How IT literate are our current customers? Is the workforce young (lots of Gen-Y s) or is it ageing (Lots of Baby Boomers)? How should I adapt my IT strategy and my Service Desk to accommodate? 2 How does our enterprise architecture support the Service Desk? Are we struggling with more recent applications and technologies? (e.g. ipads/ iphones, Android Devices, Cloud computing)? Do we have a strategy for managing emerging technology? Are we still reliant on technologies that are 10+ years old? 3 Does our Service Desk really understand the business? Do they know what is valuable to the business? Are they actually business savvy staff with technical skills or are they just technologists? 3

6 4 How good is our automation and self-help (Level 0) support? What percentage of incidents and service requests are resolved at level 0? Should I adjust my IT investment in this area? 5 How do our customers contact the Service Desk? How can we embrace new modern channels and eliminate old ones? 6 Is our Service Desk good at communicating? Do they talk in business terms or IT terms? Does the Service Desk target its communications to specific customer groups? If not, why not? Does IT understand who uses what IT Services? 7 Does the Service Desk have a proper strategy for capturing and building knowledge? Does the Service Desk accurately manage and discuss useful knowledge while improving or eliminating unused information? How does the Service Desk share knowledge with its customers? Ultimately, IT service providers that take up the challenge to adapt to the ITSM Service Desk of the future will be in a position to meet the changing needs of their business. Additionally, they will be well placed to provide high quality services to the next generation of customers. About the author Michael Billimoria, Principal Consultant, UXC Consulting Michael has a proven track record of successfully delivering IT Service Management projects that have realised tangible business benefits in complex environments. He has a strong people and business process focus which has allowed him to influence and then lead change in highly political environments across large numbers of cross-functional teams. With a background in successful customer service delivery, Michael is recognised for his ability to lead and motivate teams through change through the use of strong presentation, facilitation skills, and an ability to quickly understand team dynamics. Michael has led significant business transformation, service improvement and technology projects, including a redesign of support processes and the establishment of ITIL practices in large, multi-national organisations. 4

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