Support Strategies: Mastering Help Desk Excellence

Dive into support excellence with "Support Strategies: Mastering Help Desk Excellence." Uncover articles dissecting help desk support, sharing proven strategies, and innovative approaches. As part of our blog, it's your compass for navigating the complexities of help desk operations, offering valuable guidance for support professionals, IT enthusiasts, and business owners.

Definition of Change Management vs. Change Enablement: How Do They Differ?

Change Management vs. Change Enablement

Photo Attribution: eamesBot/Shutterstock.com

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.

[Read More]

How Companies are Using IT Support Tickets

IT Support System Tickets

Photo Attribution: alexdndz/Shutterstock.com

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.

[Read More]

Help Desk vs. Service Desk vs. ITSM: What Are the Differences?

Help Desk vs Service Desk vs ITSM

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

[Read More]

How to Get Buy-In for Your IT Self-Service Portal

IT Customer Service Service Portals

Photo Attribution: Net Vector/Shutterstock.com

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:

[Read More]

How to Use the 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle) in IT Service Management

80 20 Rule Pareto Principle

Photo Attribution: momoforsale/Shutterstock.com

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?

[Read More]

Master Service Agreement (MSA) or Service Level Agreement (SLA): Which Do You Need in Business?

Master Service Agreement (MSA) vs Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Photo Attribution: Bakhtiar Zein & Nemanja Cosovic/Shutterstock.com

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.

[Read More]

What Is a Service Level Agreement in Business? SLA Meaning and Definition

SLA Meaning and Definition

Photo Attribution: Bakhtiar Zein/Shutterstock.com

So, what is the meaning of an SLA, or what does SLA stand for, anyway?

The term Service Level Agreement (SLA) is basically self-defining: two parties (service provider and customer) officially agreeing on the level of service by which they both are willing to abide. However, defining and creating an effective SLA between an ITSM team and the rest of the organization, or between a third-party provider and a business isn't always that easy.

[Read More]

IT Asset Management Lifecycle: Tools, Processes and Best Practices

IT Asset Management Life Cycle

IT asset life cycle management is a mission-critical function for every business.

Whether those IT assets are cloud based from software vendors, hardware, or on-site systems, the planning, procurement, management, and maintenance of them is crucial to the operational success of an organization.

[Read More]

How Does the Responsibility Matrix (RACI) Work in ITIL?

Responsibility Matrix (RACI)

Photo Attribution: Net Vector/Shutterstock.com

In ITIL and ITSM, it's mission-critical that everyone has a clear understanding of their roles, responsibilities, and how this aligns with business objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

One way for IT leaders and CIOs to manage and monitor this is using a Responsibility Matrix, also known as a RACI Matrix. Another way to describe this is a Linear Responsibility Chart (LRC).

[Read More]

Service Level Agreements: What Are SLA Compliance Reports and How to Measure Success

Measuring Success with SLA Compliance Reports

Photo Attribution: VectorMine/Shutterstock.com

In the software and IT sector, software companies and IT help desks and service centers manage customer relationships and expectations using Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

Service Level Agreements are integral to the smooth running of relationships between IT help desks and Software as a Service (SaaS) companies, cloud-providers, other technology vendors, and customers.

[Read More]

 

Newer Entires     1   2   3   4   5   6     Older Entries