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Table of Contents
Introduction
Key Findings
3. Who is responsible for producing/measuring Service Desk metrics and reporting on them?
8. Sharing metrics with the business has helped to improve the Service Desks relationship with the business
9. Does the business make decisions based on the metrics you produce?
10
10
11
3. What information does your business want to see you produce more of?
11
12
12
13
14
15
16
16
16
22
Conclusion
23
24
Introduction
Welcome to the SITS13 The Service Desk & IT Support Show white paper produced in collaboration with
SDI and Cherwell Software. The motivation for this white paper started with an understanding that metrics
have always been a vital component of our Service Desks. Since their very genesis, Service Desks have sought
ways to understand their performance and set targets. Today, the story of metrics is one of reporting on a
wide-range of performance measures, each designed to demonstrate that the Service Desk is delivering value
and quality to their organisation. Metrics also provide management with the quantitative data they need to
make accurate and reasoned decisions there is widespread adherence to the mantra that you cant manage
what you cant measure. However, in the IT world of today it is more than just the ability to manage, it is
increasingly about value and providing metrics to substantiate this to your organisation.
This is a research report of two halves: the first is a state of nation survey, which offers a view of metrics right
here and now. What metrics are important to Service Desks? How are they using metrics in their everyday
Service Desk life? Who are they sharing metrics information with and why? It also looks to the future: what
should we be looking at now to ensure we stay relevant and meaningful in the years and decades to come?
Which business related metrics are offering fresh insights and perspectives? What tools are available now to
achieve this? This white paper will reveal the answers and aims to prepare you for the future.
The second half provides additional best practice metrics guidance from the Service Desk industrys leading
authority, the Service Desk Institute, accompanied by interviews with the respondents to our online survey.
Executive Summary
This white paper identifies the range and use of metrics today in the Service Desk industry. The results for this
survey, which ran in January and February 2013, were obtained from an online survey sent to more than 5,000
ITSM professionals. Additional evidence and opinion was gleaned from personal interviews conducted with
Service Desk professionals and consultants by the author - their insights provide valuable context to the
quantitative data displayed in this white paper.
This research study reveals there is a widespread acceptance and adoption of metrics, and that quantitative
information is playing a vital role in the decision making process. It is also shown that many Service Desks
have adopted a variety of industry best practice metrics, but there is a wide range of opinion on which metric
is the most important. This can be explained by the fact that every Service Desk is different and seeks a range
of information to enable it to make important decisions surrounding resourcing, service delivery and customer
satisfaction. The interviews reveal that Service Desk professionals are interested in enhancing and broadening
the range of metrics they measure and report on and are keen to produce information of interest to the
business: there is a clear desire to engage and work with the business to drive performance forward.
We also see that metrics are changing the way organisations work by making information available to a wider
range of people than ever before. It is becoming clear that adoption of business value metrics will form a key
component of the transition from traditional Service Desks towards business service centres.
Key Findings
The most important metric to both the Service Desk and the Business: resolved within SLA
The business wants to see more information on performance against SLAs
The most common metric businesses ask for is resolved within SLA
For most Service Desks, the Service Desk Manager is responsible for producing metrics reports
Service Desk reports are most frequently produced on a monthly basis
Metrics reports are usually presented to senior management
Only 28 per cent of customers ask to see metrics reports
53 per cent believe sharing metrics reports has improved the Service Desks relationship with the business
50 per cent of businesses make decisions based on metrics
The most common cost based metric is cost of IT operation
40 per cent of respondents do not currently measure any business value metrics
Part One
Demonstrating Value
1. Which of the following performance metrics do you currently measure? (Choose all that apply)
Metric
92
65
63
54
Backlog/open incidents
53
47
Abandon rate
43
42
25
20
17
14
Hierarchical escalations
13
Functional escalations
10
10
None
The above 17 measures are taken from SDIs international best practice standard. The standard, created in
collaboration with industry experts from across the globe, prescribes the metrics the industry should measure
in order to deliver value to the business and drive performance. A comprehensive guide to these 17 measures
is included in part four of this white paper.
The results to this question reveal that 92 per cent of Service Desks are currently measuring the number of
incidents and service requests received. We would expect this metric to be the most ubiquitous as without it,
the Service Desk would be unable to resource effectively or ensure it was operating at its correct capacity.
The number of incidents and service requests signifies, in very broad terms, the work the Service Desk gets
through on a daily basis trended over time this metric will reveal if the Service Desk is becoming busier and
if more or less resource is needed to respond to customer interactions in a timely
fashion.
In todays
Second on the list is percentage of incidents resolved within SLA. This metric is the
measure of the Service Desks adherence to the contract that exists between the
Service Desk and the business. It is this metric that demonstrates whether the Service
Desk is delivering on its contractual agreements, and is of great interest to the Service
Desk and the business as both have a vested interest. For many Service Desks, this
metric along with customer satisfaction is their key performance indicator.
Rounding out the top three is incident resolution time with 63 per cent of
respondents choosing this option. As with incidents resolved within SLA, this metric
enables Service Desks to understand how long they are taking to resolve incidents
and thus can make effective decisions surrounding areas such as resourcing,
performance, and service improvement amongst others.
competitive
economy every
Service Desk
should know its
cost base and seek
to make itself
more effective and
productive.
HOWARD KENDALL,
FOUNDER, SDI
Interestingly, all the cost-based metrics feature in the bottom four, with only 10 per
cent measuring the cost per call or service request. This low percentage marries with SDIs own historical
research that highlights only a small percentage of Service Desks understand their cost per call or email. Many
observers find it implausible that so few Service Desks measure these metrics given that spending and costs
are constantly under the financial microscope. The answer for this low figure, as supported by the evidence
from our interviewees, is that Service Desks find it very difficult to get a firm handle on their costs, although
many would like to have a better understanding. A simple formula for calculating cost-based metrics is
included in part four of this white paper.
4
24
Customer satisfaction
19
13
11
Number of incidents
Availability of services
Abandon rate
As shown, resolved within SLA and customer satisfaction topped the list of the most important metrics for the
Service Desk. Some of the comments that accompanied these two metrics are that resolved within SLA was
the ultimate assessment of Service Desk performance as it demonstrated the ability to respond effectively and
enables users to get back to work quickly and efficiently.
For customer satisfaction, it was considered the combination of all other metrics if performance was strong
across a range of metrics, customer satisfaction therefore would be good as well. As one respondent noted, it
is the customer who passes the overall judgement about the service that is provided.
Rounding out the top three is First Time Fix Rate/First Contact Resolution (these are incidents that are
resolved whilst speaking to the user and without having to ask for additional help or assistance). One of the
comments for this metric is that it was the most important measure for the Service Desk as it depicted the
cheapest method of support to the business and is the most cost effective, whilst also ensuring maximum user
productivity.
29
Multiple individuals
24
10
10
IT Manager
The most popular option was Service Desk Manager, which is a result we would expect given it is them who,
in many cases, have overall control, visibility and responsibility for the Service Desk operation. However, the
results above also show there are often multiple individuals involved in creating metrics reports. This will
mostly be where individuals have different areas of responsibility or the reporting function might be too timeconsuming for one person on their own. One of the Service Desks biggest issues with their Service Desk
solution is that it is difficult and laborious to extract the information and data required to produce metrics
reports.
The results also show that the responsibility for producing metrics reports fall to people not included in the
above categories. For those who selected the other option, the job titles include the following:
On an ad-hoc basis
10
Daily
11
Weekly
27
Fortnightly
Monthly
46
Quarterly
Every 6 months
SDIs Service Desk standards recommend that metrics reports are produced on a monthly basis and
disseminated as far and wide throughout the business as possible. The results above show that monthly is the
most common frequency, although over a quarter of respondents produce metrics reports on a weekly basis.
Of course, the variety and range of information may vary in the monthly and weekly report and may be shared
amongst different groups. For example, the weekly report may just be used within the Service Desk to
highlight that weeks performance and where it has hit or missed targets. The monthly report may delve into
more detail, include additional and a broader range of metrics, and may be presented to and with a different
audience in mind.
As with all metrics, the key is to consider how the reports are used and what decisions can be made on the
strength of the available data. Many long-term strategic decisions can only be made with a credible amount
of historical data trended over time.
32%
68%
IT Director
46
44
Internal customers
30
Just within IT
30
Executive team
28
27
CIO
21
Internal/external customers
16
External customers
It is interesting that just under a third of the overall responses (30 per cent) indicated that metrics reports are
only shared within IT and 27 per cent said just within the Service Desk. This raises interesting questions about
who the data is produced for and the level of interest audiences have in what is presented. Many Service
Desks would say that internal and/or external customers are not interested in seeing Service Desk metrics.
This might be true, but Service Desks should consider what information the customer is maybe interested in
and how to present that information.
Part three of this white paper looks to the future of Service Desk metrics and examines the metrics that will
provide the business with a clear understanding of Service Desk performance and how the Service Desk adds
value to the business. For metrics to evolve and for the Service Desk to form tighter business relationships,
metrics need to offer information the business, its employees and its customers find genuinely interesting and
useful. Sharing this information will help to drive engagement levels, and it will be increasingly important for
all parties to have visibility of relevant and important Service Desk information. This will move the Service
Desk forward and break down the barriers that currently confine it.
28%
72%
Following on from question six, the majority of customers/end users are not interested in seeing Service Desk
reports. The reason for this could be because of a general lack of engagement with the user population, or as
explained, perhaps the Service Desk does not currently produce information that is useful and/or of interest
to its customers.
2%
15%
10%
35%
38%
In essence, this is the crux of why the Service Desk wants to share information with the business it is keen to
improve its relationship and become a trusted business partner. As shown, by sharing information, 53 per cent
of Service Desks believe it has helped to improve the Service Desks relationship with the business. This is an
encouraging result and demonstrates the benefits that can be realised through communicating metrics in the
correct way. It also shows there is a level of demand and interest for metrics from the business and that the
business is keen to obtain insight into the Service Desks performance. It is vital for Service Desks to
constantly and consistently engage to get closer to the business and to create opportunities to share
feedback and recommendations.
Also of significance is the 35 per cent who said they are unsure. These respondents are not certain that
sharing information is having any discernible benefits. For Service Desks in this position, it is worth
considering how information is shared and whether there is any support or guidance available to help the
business make sense of it is the business asking for certain information or is the Service Desk simply
providing information it thinks the business will find useful? This is an important question to answer as real
improvements in the business/Service Desk relationship will only come when there are clear communication
channels and an inherent understanding of the demands from both parties.
9. Does the business make decisions based on the metrics you produce?
50%
50%
A clear divide, and an important result as it demonstrates that only half of businesses are using Service Desk
metrics as a basis for decision making. However, it is important to note that the information provided by the
Service Desk is helping to improve the decision making process. One of the most important business
decisions based on metrics is resourcing. Many Service Desks rely on metrics to help make the business case
for more staff or further investment.
Part Two
Part one of this white paper focused on the Service Desks ability to demonstrate its
value and share this information with the business part two moves on to the next
step, which is to examine metrics from a business perspective. The business may be
interested in the same metrics the Service Desk currently measures or may want
measurements to help the business increase its understanding and make key
decisions.
1. What metrics/information does your business ask you for? (Please check all that apply)
These results show there is a strong business demand for metrics with only 14 per cent stating the business
does not ask for any metrics. The chart above identifies that the business is primarily interested in the Service
Desks performance, with 80 per cent of respondents selecting this option. Second on the list is customer
satisfaction, a key performance measure for the Service Desk as it is a true litmus test of the service provided
to customers. These results show that the business is interested in understanding what customers think of the
service delivered by the Service Desk. Often, KPIs will provide a useful accompaniment to customer
satisfaction if customer satisfaction is low one month, this may correlate with a corresponding increase in
call volumes and/or a lower first contact resolution rate.
10
25
Customer satisfaction
19
Cost based metrics (cost of support operation, cost per call etc.)
18
Availability of services
11
Abandon rate
Backlog data
This question produced some interesting results. The top two choices are the same the Service Desk chose as
the most important metrics to them. Thus, there is a unity and common understanding of the important
measures. However, 18 per cent of respondents stated that cost based metrics were the most important
measure to the business, whereas for the Service Desk, this was the seventh most popular option. Clearly, the
business has a different expectation and looks for different measures to understand the performance of the
Service Desk. That being said, it is also true that the business, like the Service Desk, looks at adherence to
SLAs and the service delivered to customers as the key measures of Service Desk performance.
3. What information does your business want to see you produce more of? (Please choose the most
important option only)
Clearly there is a demand from the business for performance based metrics, and it is keen to understand if
the Service Desk is meeting its agreed SLAs. Following closely behind is customer satisfaction the business
wants to understand if it has a satisfied user population and if there is a good level of service delivered by the
Service Desk.
Some comments include:
Actually, the business is not particularly interested - it is us as a department that are interested in our own
performance and define what we believe is good for the business.
The business is unsure what they want and what their requirements are.
Marketing and sales Balance of workload User tips Cant get them to tell me Breakdown of incidents
DEMONSTRATING SERVICE DESK VALUE THROUGH MORE MEANINGFUL METRICS
11
It is encouraging that 91 per cent of respondents measure cost based metrics in some form. The cost of the
IT operation is the most popular cost based metric as this is where the Service Desk budget is derived from
and includes every cost associated with delivering service. For those that do not measure this cost, we can
assume the responsibility for this function sits outside of IT, and it could be the case that the Service Desk
does not have visibility of its operating budget.
Correlating closely with results in part one of this white paper, it is shown that only a small percentage of
respondents measure cost per email, but many more measure the cost per call. A result of this difference is that
it becomes very difficult to assess the most cost effective channel for support. For example, by not measuring
cost per channel, the Service Desk would have difficulty justifying investment in new technology such as live
chat or social media as would not have a clear understanding if this offered a cheaper way of providing support.
This is especially true for Service Desks that look to offer self-service and self-help until you know the cost for
each of your contact channels, it becomes very difficult to create a comprehensive business plan.
5. Which, if any, of these 5 business value metrics do you currently measure? (Please check all that apply)
The metrics included above move beyond the realm of traditional performance metrics they look at the real
value the Service Desk delivers to the business and the cost when IT fails. 37 per cent measure the business
impact of IT failure and along with lost IT service hours and lost business hours, these metrics provide a true
depiction of the value of the Service Desk operation. It is encouraging that 60 per cent of Service Desks are
measuring business value metrics as in the long term, this will help to bridge the gap between the Service
Desk and the business as they reach a mutual understanding regarding the metrics that are important and
useful to both parties. More discussion of business value metrics is included in part three of this white paper.
12
Part Three
Traditional metrics have focused on telling the business how good the Service Desk is
by detailing the number of calls answered, first time fix rate, incidents resolved within
SLA, and a diverse array of many other metrics. Business value metrics should be
comprised of any measures that will be beneficial to the business and provide a clear
idea of performance and value.
Introducing business metrics can be a huge leap of faith as they move beyond measures of how well the IT
department is doing. Business value metrics place ITs business performance front and centre. Statistics such
as how many business hours have been lost due to IT faults can be disconcerting and is perhaps something
that most Service Desks are not comfortable sharing. However, it is expected that more and more businesses
will want access and visibility to these types of metric as they provide a crucial way to ascertain the value of
the Service Desk and its place within the organisation.
Business value metrics also provide real benefit for the Service Desk as they offer tangible data to support
and augment business decisions. Justifications for extra budget or resource will be much more robust if
supported by business value metrics. The idea is not to use the data to hide or disguise but to use these
measures as a platform to introduce future improvements and advancements. It is clear there is a need to
move beyond us and them: IT acts as a partner to and enabler for the business. Communicating value and
metrics in a way that the business understands is a critical step in improving this relationship. Understand
what the business needs in terms of information; ask what information would be useful to it. Establishing
answers to these questions is a crucial step in building a bond between the business and the Service Desk.
13
Weighting
Lost minutes
Impact Rating
Website (external)
20%
300
6000
Server availability
50%
10
500
15%
200
3000
Intranet
10%
30
300
Telephony
5%
350
1750
As the table shows, the biggest business impact was that the website was unavailable. However, even though
the server was only down for 10 minutes across the month, by virtue of it having the highest weighting, it was
accountable for an impact of 500. Looking at the business impact of the failure of each service allows you to
understand that not all IT services are created equal and some have a much more marked and noticeable
impact than others.
14
15
Part Four
This section of the white paper contains a description of SDIs 17 best practice
metrics. These metrics form a part of the performance measures criteria for SDIs
international Service Desk Certification (SDC) standard. This standard, revised every
three years, is created by industry professionals from across the globe. It aims to
provide Service Desks with a set of standards that will raise the performance of their
Service Desk: the performance measures component of the standard highlights the
key metrics that should be measured to create a comprehensive analysis of Service
Desk activities.
The SDI 17 best practice metrics
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
16
17
18
19
All costs
associated with
providing support
(including heating, lighting, rent,
salaries, hardware, software etc.)
number of
Analysts
number
of minutes
worked
Time taken to
resolve and
close an incident
Cost
per call
or email
Cost
per Analyst
per minute
Then...
Cost
per Analyst
per minute
Explanation
Ultimately, you want to understand your Service Desk staff cost, broken down into as small a unit as possible.
Your HR department can tell you all the components you will need to measure this: salary, benefits, heating,
lighting, equipment and any other measures that you think should be included. From this data, you can then
work out how much an Analyst costs to employ per minute.
Add to this figure the lifetime cost of software support including support and maintenance. You can split the
costs over three years to give you some idea of what it actually costs to run the systems.
You might want to add hardware costs and the cost of using second and third line (although of course, you
could have Analyst cost per call, second line cost per call etc.)
Adding up the above will give you the cost per call/e-mail per minute, which then needs to be multiplied by
the time duration of the call/e-mail.
20
Total salaries
of Service
Desk staff
number
of Analysts
number
of minutes
worked
Cost
per Analyst
per minute
Then...
Cost
per Analyst
per minute
Time taken to
resolve and
close an incident
Explanation
Cost
per call
or email
The formula is essentially the same, except the number of included costs is significantly reduced. While this
might give you a number that is less accurate, is does not mean that it will be less useful. Ultimately, whatever
measure you choose needs to provide you with an indication of whether your costs are going up or down
over time. Both of the suggested formulas will provide you with a stake in the ground and a useful
benchmark from which to analyse your support costs over a period of time.
Comment from Tony Ranson, Independent Consultant
Why do service desks find it difficult to measure cost-based metrics?
Im not sure Service Desks find it difficult to measure costs, but I think so few do because they have not yet
reached that level of maturity: its simply the case that they have not thought about costs yet. For many
Service Desks, the thought of measuring costs is like a new science, and the approach to measuring costs can
be overwhelming. What I would suggest is that service desks approach measuring costs by making a stake in
the ground, which is fundamental to see if you are getting better or worse. There is time to finesse and
improve over time through continual service improvement.
21
22
Conclusion
It is clear from the survey results and the discussion of business value metrics that
metrics is a big Service Desk topic. Lots of debate exists around the most important
Service Desk measures and of course, these vary depending on a Service Desks
structure, goals and the types of organisation and users supported. The commonality
is found in the drive to demonstrate value: this explains why adherence to SLAs and
customer satisfaction featured so prominently on the list of metrics important to the
Service Desk and the business.
Service Desks today look to demonstrate or prove they provide value for money and that they can justify
further investment and expansion. Metrics play a crucial role in delivering this message as they offer tangible,
empirical evidence that the Service Desk is delivering a quality service. When so much of IT is difficult to
define and accurately cost, metrics play a crucial role.
It is also clear that metrics are evolving and maturing away from demonstrating performance to
demonstrating core business value. Understanding the role that IT plays in delivering value to the business
in terms of supporting users, ensuring availability and mitigating risk against IT failure are key
considerations, and we can expect businesses to look more and more towards tangible demonstration of
these values. It is heartening to find that so many Service Desks measure some metrics and that many of these
are considered industry best practice measurements it is these metrics that will provide the strong
foundations for future business value measurements.
23
Part Five
Interviews
Simon Middleyard,
Joint Head of Service and Infrastructure, Government Organisation
Simon is responsible for all aspects of IT service and desk side support and has been in post for 18 months.
He has a strong service management background having previously been a Service Desk Manager. His
Service Desk has experienced significant change in the 18 months that he has been in the role. In this time,
they have also implemented SLAs, event surveys and other KPIs. The service desk supports 1000 users.
Sharing metrics
Simons team share metrics on a weekly basis at their Wednesday morning meeting. During this meeting,
metrics are discussed, and on a monthly basis, these metrics are passed up to Director level. The Director is
primarily interested in if the Service Desk is missing SLA targets as this is their primary measure of Service
Desk performance. They also share customer satisfaction results graded on a 1-4 scale.
David Lee,
Service Desk Team Leader, Northumbria Healthcare
David has worked on the Service Desk for the past six years. He started as a Service Desk Analyst before
moving into desktop support. He became Service Desk Team Leader two and a half years ago. His team
consists of six first line Analysts that support 9000 users.
Sharing metrics
David creates a monthly metric report containing a selection of his seventy five metrics. This report contains
graphs and commentary and is distributed amongst the Service Desk team. Beyond this, the Head of
Department also receives a monthly report compiled from the data provided by each of the Team Leaders.
The author of this report decides which metrics to include, but of greatest interest to the business is the
performance against SLAs: indeed David notes the business is more concerned with adherence to SLA than
how busy they are and how many tickets they log. David noted that it can be difficult to create metrics reports
within their ITSM tool, although he has managed to automate many of the metrics included in his report.
Including other metrics would require delving into SQL.
24
Lauren Conrad,
Service Desk Coordinator, Lucidica
Lucidica are a managed service provider based in London. They support small companies typically with
between 1-50 employees. Established in 1999, Lucidica has grown its business by offering support with a
personal touch and strong customer service.
Lauren Conrad is a Service Desk Coordinator and looks after a team of seven Engineers she has been in the
role for the past two years.
Sharing metrics
Lucidica does not share metrics with clients as any problem areas are identified through account managers
and primary contacts. Clients dont tend to ask for metrics reports, and the business ethos is around building
relationships. However, Lucidica does produce an annual report for every client informing him/her of current
problem areas, current SLAs and call volumes.
Gary Adams,
Service Desk Manager, NHS Hertfordshire
Gary has worked on NHS Hertfordshires Service Desk for the past nine years and has been Service Desk
Manager for eight of those. The Service Desk supports 8,000 users and is open 365 days a year, 7.30 22.00.
The Service Desk has undergone a remarkable transformation during Garys time having progressed from a
log and flog desk with a First Time Fix (FTF) rate of 12 per cent to a current rate of more than 60 per cent.
The desk has also increased in size from four to fourteen people, and their user population has increased
along with their geographical scope.
25
Fiona Campbell,
IT Customer Services Manager, Customer Protection Agency
Fionas role covers all elements of internal support and some external support. She manages two desktop
engineers, five Help Desk Analysts and one Team Leader.
Jason Kearney,
Service Delivery Manager, Orbit Services
Jason has been Service Delivery Manager at Orbit for the past 18 months. During this time, he has moved
the Service Desk function out of its previous position within the Customer Services team and into its own
department. The motivation for this was that the business was reporting bad feedback and lots of calls went
unanswered. The Service Desk has around 14 people, including first and second line. His team support
around 1,200 users with a large percentage being mobile workers.
Sharing metrics
Metrics reports are produced on a monthly basis and are shared with the business. There is also a quarterly IT
strategy board meeting during which the business is asked what it wants from IT, and from these discussions,
a rolling two year plan is created. A good example of this feedback: the average speed to answer time was
increased from 20 seconds to 40 seconds as the business told the Service Desk it was happy to wait longer if
there was a better chance of incidents being resolved.
26
Richard Haslam,
Service Desk Coordinator, Royal College of Physicians
Richards Service Desk is comprised of eight people, with two on the first line. They support 450 staff located
across thirteen sites. They handle 8,000 interactions a year. Richard has been in his current role for the last
three years.
Sharing metrics
Metrics are shared in a monthly report shared with the Head of Operations who then passes it on to the CTO
and other senior management. Senior management is interested in seeing if the Service Desk is meeting its
SLA targets, and Richard and his team keep on top of the SLAs by monitoring any SLA breaches and following
up on the reasons behind the failures. There is a strong development culture, and Richard and his team are
constantly looking at ways to improve.
27
www.cherwell.com
www.servicedeskinstitute.com
www.servicedeskshow.com
28
NOTES
29