The helpdesk is dead; long live the service desk

Yes, the helpdesk is dead. At least in the sense of simply being a place for people to call for help on technical issues. It has now evolved into an integral part of the way an organisation delivers service, whether internally to staff or externally to customers. It has become a service desk - with a different way of approaching the provision of `help` or assistance to whomever asks for it.

The term `helpdesk` was coined when organisations needed a way of helping their employees with IT problems. An IT helpdesk`s two basic functions were to log user queries and mobilise relevant technicians to attend to the problem. But, of course, many other divisions in a company - such as accounting or human resources - have a need to help employees with specialised tasks. So, they provide facilities that function as helpdesks, though they are not necessarily called that.

And then there`s the more recent call or contact centre, which was developed primarily to help external customers resolve queries about an organisation`s products or services.

That`s a lot of different people working in or for one organisation, each with responsibility for a link in the chain of what is, in essence, customer service. Any part of an organisation that functions less efficiently than it should negatively impacts customer service. Therefore, anyone working on resolving impediments to efficient functioning is working on customer service - whether he or she is sorting out a technical email problem or helping an employee access maternity leave.

In other words, the realisation is dawning that a `service` desk that consolidates all elements and types of help provided to internal and external customers would not only save money and boost organisational performance all round, it is actually the only logical focal point for the seamless execution of one`s business strategy.

There`s been much talk over the years of the best ways of getting employees, suppliers and business partners aligned with one`s business strategy in order to have the whole value chain operating as one coherent, consistent organism focused on a single objective. It`s our view at FrontRange that the early helpdesk carried the seeds of such an organism and that, having evolved into the service desk, it has become the heart of the mature organism.

That`s why our category leading helpdesk solution, HEAT, and our new Information Technology Services Management (ITSM) product suite are both designed to serve broader organisational service needs than simply IT. At the same time, both products are also certified by Pink Elephant - the world`s leading consulting and training provider in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) best practices framework.

Why such a heavy emphasis on IT if the products are not exclusively focused on IT? Well, in today`s electronically-driven operational environment, IT is the medium of both operations and service delivery. If the IT infrastructure is not working effectively, it will have an equally direct negative impact on an organisation`s whole operation, from product delivery to billing to customer service.

ITIL offers a relatively simple method of putting in place service management processes and provides a streamlined way of managing the IT infrastructure. Critically, it also improves service delivery by providing a common language and terminology for both users and providers.

In addition, it is focused on enabling organisations not just to log calls but to pro-actively resolve them. This reduces the time it takes to resolve issues, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and decreasing the overall cost of support.

Best practice methodologies such as ITIL also provide a flexible structure for the escalation process, thereby improving the efficient running of the service desk and at the same time driving up customer satisfaction.

The thing to remember, though, is that using technology is one of the easiest ways to resolve issues in areas other than IT. Knowledge management, for instance, is most easily achieved using IT. But it impacts every business discipline, because knowledge management is about learning from your mistakes.

Similarly, issues like remote management of IT, which reduces the number of human resources needed to resolve user difficulties as well as the time involved in such resolution, cuts costs and boost efficiencies right across the organisation. So does the slimming down of IT infrastructure - simplifying the number of process and equipment variables that can hamper operations, as well as reducing the organisation`s overall overhead burden.

In other words, using mature service desk principles and solutions at the IT level enables you to get the right information to the right people in time to do their jobs effectively. It therefore positions you to consolidate the way you deliver service to your internal and external customers regardless of the business discipline involved. It gives you the kind of strategic advantage that is very difficult to achieve by any other means in any other area of your business.