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It takes more than software to set up a service desk

Research from PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that 75% of all IT projects in the UK fail. The main reason for this appears not so much to be a failure of the technology or the inefficiency of work processes, but because of insufficient attention for the people within an organization. Due to tight deadlines, the implementation process is dealt with as quickly as possible, and there is not always time to train the service desk employees properly. More often than not, the employees are not even involved in the implementation.
TEXT: NIEK STEENHUIS

IT service management is based on three pillars: processes, technology and people. Reorganizing service management processes can increase efficiency, while technological improvements can help to process calls more quickly, thereby reducing the costs. Experience shows, however, that these hard factors have less effect on the final result of the implementation than so-called soft factors. Whether the service desk employees have insight into the processes within your organization proves to be more important than how extensively your workflow has been described. The human factor determines the success of an implementation. Processes can be reorganized, advanced applications can be installed, but in the end it is the people who provide the service. The rest is simply support.

implementation is gaining the support of the people involved. A lack of support is the main reason that certain projects fail, says Ivo Kristelijn, Managing Director of TOPdesk Consultancy: An organization has its own goals, values and ideas, but those of the people within the organization are too often overlooked. They have their own interests, opinions and motivations, and these should not be ignored. When the ideas of the organization do not correspond to the personal interests of the employees, they will be met with resistance. In reaction, the employees are sometimes put under more pressure, which in turn gives rise to more resistance. Systems can be configured, models can de adjusted, but the human factor is more complex.

Support
An important condition for a successful

Obstacle
One of the dangers of change processes within an organization is regarding

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the people as an obstacle that should be overcome. One example of such a negative approach is given by Brian Johnson, one of the original authors of the first ITIL books. In a column on the service management website SearchCIO. com, Johnson states that people, as well as processes and technology, are an important factor in ITIL. If an employee has had a negative past experience with an ITIL implementation, it is likely that he or she will be sceptical towards another implementation. That is why, Johnson argues, the employees need to understand the use of ITIL. However, the way that Johnson approaches the people within

provided to the customer is foremost. The interests of the people who provide the service are made subordinate. This is less than ideal, because in optimal service delivery, not only is the customer satisfied, but also the service desk employee.

Investments
Investments in employees are therefore necessary, and should balance the investments in new technology and extensive process reorganization. When a service management application is purchased, service desk employees need to be trained in operating it; when company processes are reorganized, it is useful when

the results it yields. When an organization for example decides to train its employees, a problem arises. How much knowledge do the service desk employees need to have in order to function properly in the new organizational structure? How much time and money has to be spent on training them? In other instances, such a question can be answered by a cost-benefit analysis; as long as the benefits exceed the costs, investments are justified. But how does one measure whether the services have improved? There is no objective way to measure the quality of such services, which makes it hard to account for such investments.

In optimal service delivery, not only is the customer satisfied, but also the service desk employee.
an organization could be questioned. He regards the service desk employees as passive factors that need to be convinced of the need for a new process model and if they will not accept it, they must be forced to do so: Ultimately, each team member has three choices: lead, follow, or get out of the way. When an organization wishes to foster support for a new initiative, such an imperative approach may not be the best way to accomplish this. Providing insight into the processes (within the organization) can indeed help employees to warm towards the model that is to be introduced, but in Johnsons case the goal of the organization improving the services that are everyone knows which procedures now apply. Investing in people is the only way to ensure that the changes that have been implemented within an organization will be successful and sustainable. In practice however, these investments are hardly ever made. That is remarkable, especially when you take into account that an organizations staff represents its most substantial overhead cost and therefore requires large investments. So why is it more attractive to invest in technology rather than in people?

Investing in knowledge
In determining to what extent training service desk employees is of additional value for your services, hard figures do not suffice. But in order to make such a decision, you do not need hard figures, argues Kristelijn: The decision whether to hire external expertise, for example, does not have to be based on an extensive Excel spreadsheet of costs and benefits. Some rough estimation works fine just make some notes on a napkin. In most cases that will be enough. Beware of going to extremes though; organizations often call in either not enough external expertise (the service desk employees study the theory themselves), or too much external expertise (they follow an

Measurable
The problem with investing in people is that it is hard to measure

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extensive training programme). Both approaches are inefficient in the end; the first approach can lead to incapable employees, the latter to unnecessary expenses. The solution lies somewhere in between. Try to organize the training programme on a step by step basis. The service desk employees study some theory, follow a course for a few days, and then evaluate whether they have sufficient knowledge to get started with the new tasks. If not, they participate in a few more training days. It is important to deal with the need for training in a pragmatic manner. This way you invest in knowledge more conscientiously.

the process are all factors that they feel contribute to an improved service.

People
As the field of service management grows more complex, a pragmatic approach seems to offer an ideal outcome. Extensively described processes and advanced software can certainly help to improve the service delivery, as long as these serve to support the people that have to use them. The more the service desk employees are involved in the introduction of a new application or process organization, the more likely it is that the implementation will be a success. After all, as Wheatcroft states, these are only a prerequisite for building a service proposition but they do not of themselves deliver the goods this is what we employ people for.

Transparency
Transparency in all activities can not only ensure a better relationship with the customer, but can also help to improve a change process within an organization. When service desk employees are actively involved in a change process, the feeling that they are forced into something is taken away. When a tool is purchased, argues Adrian Palmer-Geaves, have the service desk employees try out the application first, before it is implemented. This way they experience what the new system can and cannot do, which might take away any concerns that they may have. Kristelijn also thinks that transparency can generate more support within an organization: Both management and the employees benefit from transparency in communication. It is important that both the goals of the organization and of the individual employees are made known. In a change process, these goals can be attuned to each other. An example: the system manager opposes the service management application that is being introduced, because he does not see the use of registration. He or she can then be retrained to learn something he does not like to do, but it is also possible to adjust his job responsibilities so that he can spend less time on registration. Such a solution can only come about when the goals of both the system manager and management are made known.

Pragmatic
Although the quality of a service is hard to measure, an organization still has to find a way to ensure the quality of the service. Dont they have anything to go by, then? They do. When hard figures and tightly defined targets no longer suffice, a pragmatic approach might bring relief. Peter Wheatcroft, author of World Class IT Service Delivery, suggests that organizations should focus more on guidelines, instead of figures. As a benchmark for good service delivery, Wheatcroft mentions the IT Supplier Code of Best Practice. This is a document containing practical guidelines that has been composed by Intellect, the trade organization for, amongst others, IT organizations in the UK. The aim of this document is to realize a more successful and mature service delivery. It deals with the soft factors of service delivery; an open and forthright relationship with the customers, understanding their wishes, a transparent process and constructive contribution to

SOURCES BRIAN JOHNSON, ITIL PROCESS SUCCESS: GET PEOPLE ON YOUR SIDE, SEARCHCIO. COM, APRIL 2007 PETER WHEATCROFT, GOOD SERVICE REQUIRES MORE THAN ITIL VERSION 3, BSC, AUGUST 2007 PERSONAL FOCUS, SERVICETALK, JULY 2007

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