Giva Blog Categories : Help Desk Best Practices

Change Management is a constant for ITIL and ITSM. Changes are often necessary, whether software or hardware roll-outs or systems upgrades. Regrettably, as every IT professional and team leader knows, mistakes can happen.

Not every change management plan goes smoothly, and when you hit bumps in the road, you need control of the complete end-to-end process. Part of ensuring you have that control is to have contingencies in place for rolling back some of the changes that have been made.

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In the world of IT service, swarming is a fancy way of saying "let's get the right people together to fix this issue." Intelligent Swarming, as it is sometimes called, is a customer service strategy that involves a collaborative effort among support agents and experts from different teams within an organization to solve complex service cases or major incidents. The idea behind the swarm theory is that when people work together in real-time, they can share their knowledge and ideas more effectively, which can help them solve the problem faster than if each person were working on their own. Think of it like a brainstorming session, but with a specific goal and a sense of urgency.

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Every IT and ITSM (IT Service Management) leader must closely monitor Service Level Agreement (SLA) performance metrics.

SLA metrics are a measurable way of demonstrating that your team or department is hitting or missing key performance indicators (KPIs) within an SLA.

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For any IT organization, the management of change is a challenging process to implement.

Over the years, the process of implementing change has become codified around a core best practice concept known as Change Management.

For IT leaders, CIOs, and IT professionals trained using ITIL® methodologies, the concept of change management has been replaced with a new, more dynamic framework known as Change Enablement.

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When things go wrong with a product or service, customers want a fix, and they want it fast. In the healthcare field, quick support can be the difference between life or death. Whether it be a product refund or a replacement, providing service agents with the most information in a concise manner can help. Enter the support ticket, otherwise known as a service ticket, or help ticket — a well-established method for customers to seek assistance from an organization. These tickets allow support teams to gather necessary information and monitor progress until resolution. Customers may submit tickets through various channels, such as email, phone, web forms, or live chat, depending on the size and scope of the customer base.

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Never in human history have we been so reliant on technology. Businesses, organizations, and governments everywhere rely on software and IT services to function. The tireless IT help desk, service desk, and IT service management teams (ITSM) are keeping all of this technology working.

Organizational leaders often need to decide the best approach for providing IT support for their entire organization. Forcing themselves to ask the question: "Which is better, an IT help desk, service desk, or IT service management?"

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Self-service in IT Service Management (ITSM) refers to a model in which users can access and manage IT services without needing to involve IT staff or other intermediaries. This is accomplished through customer self-service portals or other tools that provide the information and resources needed to resolve common issues or grant access to services.

In the ITSM landscape, self-service can present itself in several ways. For example, it can:

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The 80/20 Rule is the principle that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. It's often used in business to help identify how to operate more efficiently. It can be applied to almost every area of business, including IT Service Management (ITSM).

IT service organizations and teams are focused on providing the best possible service to their internal customers. Efficiency has always been integral to ITSM. Monitoring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and dashboards, and adherence to Service Level Agreements (SLAs) is essential to producing successful outcomes in ITSM.

But how do IT service managers and IT leaders know how and where to focus the team's resources and time?

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In the IT sector, internal and external relationships are often governed by legal or quasi-legal documents. In IT and ITSM, the terms "Master Service Agreement" and "Service Level Agreement" are often used interchangeably. 

However, there are differences between the two kinds of agreements that can impact how you want to use them in your organization. While both can be used for similar purposes — such as establishing clear expectations for internal IT service providers or external vendors — what separates them and how they're used are sufficiently different that it's worth taking the time to understand why this is important.

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