Part of the Managing Professional series, this publication provides next-level guidance by following ITIL 4 Foundation. It is ideal for IT professionals managing the operation of IT-enabled digital products and services or end-to-end delivery. This publication helps you understand the Create, Deliver, and Support the Managing Professional module, as well as provide an expert daily reference guide for everyday problems.
As it used to before, the Service Desk in the ITIL 4 is engaged in technical support: it monitors and processes incidents, accepts service requests. But now many technical support processes are automated using interactive voice menus (IVR), robots (RPA) and chatbots. The load on the first line of technical support is reduced, the Service Desk can deal with higher-level tasks. For example, act as an internal coordinator, helping colleagues and business.
Major changes:
No matter how effective the support team and their staff are, there will always be problems that require other teams to be involved. For example, in a grocery company, developers must work closely with the support team to create a consistent approach to users and customers.
Even if the Service Desk is not required to solve complex technical problems, it still plays an important role in the provision of services, and colleagues from related departments should help her. Please be aware that customer support affects the user experience and how the service provider is perceived by users.
The support team must understand the business processes and know the target audience of the supplier. It adds Value Stream not only through standard actions, such as logging user requests, but also by understanding how these standard actions fit into the business context.
Service Desk personnel require competence in a number of technical and business areas. Non-technical customer service skills such as empathy, emotional intelligence are also important. Service Desk personnel must use existing skills, people and processes to manage incidents.
The support service uses various channels of communication with users. Each of the channels should be easy to access:
In order to ensure the high-quality work of the Service Desk, various technologies are used:
The figure shows the contribution of the service desk to the service value chain from an ITIL 4 perspective. As you can see, Engage and Deliver and support are prioritized. Apart from planning (Plan), the Service Desk is involved in all stages of the chain.
Improve. Service desk activities are continually monitored and evaluated to continually improve performance and, therefore, the value chain. For the same purposes, the support service collects feedback from users.
Engage. The support service is the main channel for tactical and operational interaction with users.
Design and transformation. Support is the main source of messages about new services and updates. Service Desk personnel are involved in release planning, testing, and early support of the service.
Obtain / build. Support personnel are involved in the procurement of service components and equipment that are required to fulfill service requests and resolve incidents.
Deliver and support. Help Desk is the focal point for incident and service request management.
The evolution of the Service Desk is impossible without a reliable technological base - ITSM / ESM solutions that take into account the best ITIL 4 practices. These solutions help automate the work of the support service and quickly solve user problems using the following tools:
Help desk productivity and value are increased by integrating core Service Desk tools.
