Cellular operator Cell C has re-implemented its help-desk in line with global best practices with the assistance of Unisys Africa.
The original implementation was performed by another vendor in December 2000 and January 2001 to support the aggressive go-live date for Cell C operations.
"As a consequence, the help-desk was implemented without a configuration management database and not according to ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) best practices," says Mike Hughes, IT director at Cell C. "Since the help-desk services around 1 200 IT support calls per week for 1 800 employees, it was imperative that we achieve optimal efficiency in achieving a two-hour resolution time."
The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency of the UK government developed ITIL as an integrated set of process-oriented best practices for managing IT in the 1980s.
"IT`s role is providing value for money to customers, internally and externally," says Allan Wattrus, practice director: Global Infrastructure Services at Unisys Africa. "IT service management must therefore ensure the delivery of customer-focused IT services. This is best done using a process-oriented approach."
ITIL represents a framework consisting of a description of services and how the services are inter-related. IT service management includes two specific disciplines: service support and service delivery.
In August 2002 Cell C came to the insight that "the service desk is the interface between the user and the service support processes and customer relationship management is the process that provides a link between the technology-focused IT component of the business and the business itself focused on achieving defined objectives", says Hughes.
The ITIL processes include financial management, focused on identifying, calculating and managing the cost of delivering IT services.
"The financial component is essential to maintain efficiencies and ensure that IT underscores business objectives without becoming a burden to the organisation," says Wattrus.
"Implementing ITIL best practices has ensured that we are able to effectively manage the service desk processes, and as a result, core business processes have been mapped with the assistance of Unisys," says Hughes.
Unisys Africa implemented five core ITIL processes at Cell C:
* Configuration management
* Event management
* Problem management
* Change management
* Service management
These were deployed in three phases, including scope definition, process definition and the implementation itself.
During scope definition, the project team interviewed Cell C employees and a broader electronic survey was conducted, providing input for the process definition phase. The five core ITIL best practices were reviewed and a set of integrated, ITIL-compliant processes were approved and ready for roll-out. The team developed and deployed a training programme. Finally the service desk was re-implemented, which included establishing and populating a customer management database, process testing and operator training, among other activities.
"At this stage of the project, transition management is the crucial component to its success," says Wattrus. "Cell C implemented the processes in phases, using event management as the pilot. In addition, communication at all phases in the project was vital to ensure commitment from the stakeholders and adherence to processes. A newsletter to employees also provided a way of communicating progress of the re-implementation project to users."
Following the successful project, Cell C now has access to an accurate source of data for asset tracking and employs proactive service management. It has a method of measuring service level delivery against agreements; a service desk that provides end-to-end management; improved user satisfaction; reliable metrics; automated escalations and standardised reports; centrally managed processes; and most importantly, stability and predictability in the IT environment.
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