1. Info-Tech Research Group1 Info-Tech Research Group, Inc. Is a global leader in providing IT research and advice. Info-Tech’s products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns. © 1997-2013 Info-Tech Research Group Inc. Understand the Value of Service Desk Optimization You need to know the “why” before the “how.” Info-Tech's products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns.© 1997 - 2013 Info-Tech Research Group

2. Info-Tech Research Group2 Organizations often face the need for service desk optimization, but find it difficult to measure the value associated with optimization costs. This research presents Info-Tech’s findings on the value of optimizing specific service desk processes, metrics, and channels. Introduction CIOs, IT Managers, and Service Managers who need to assess the potential value of service desk optimization. Service desk managers who are looking to develop their optimization strategy. Service desk managers who are seeking to prioritize their optimization efforts. Forecast the value of service desk optimization. Understand the level of improvement that can be achieved by adopting different optimization techniques. Assess the costs required to optimize your service desk environment. This Research Is Designed For:This Research Will Help You:

3. Info-Tech Research Group3 Executive Summary Understand the benefits and assess your need for optimization. Organizations of all sizes can benefit from optimizing their processes, metrics, and channels. Optimization benefits fall into five broad categories: more efficient processes, proactive engagement to avoid future incidents (ticket avoidance), customer awareness of service desk processes, improved customer satisfaction, and higher staff satisfaction. Compare your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and your service desk costs to industry benchmarks to assess your need for optimization. Decide on your optimization strategy. Info-Tech identifies three maturity axes, each of which is dedicated a section in the report: o Roles and Processes: Different processes have different impact on success. Some are associated with higher overall benefits, e.g. escalation rules. Others provide most “bang for the buck” (easiest to implement and maintain), e.g. workflows. o Metrics: As your overall maturity increases, it’s important to measure not only throughput, but also the costs and benefits of service desk processes. o Channels and Technology: Don’t undermine your optimization efforts with the wrong channel mix or the wrong tools. Ideally, the three maturity axes should be optimized holistically, boosting efficiencies across-the-board. Your maturity goals should be determined by assessing your cost constraints, as well as process constraints. The optimized environment will likely require additional human resources, such as employees’ time dedicated to knowledgebase maintenance.

4. Info-Tech Research Group4 What’s in this Section:Sections: Assess the need for optimization Choose your optimization strategy Optimize Roles and Processes Optimize metrics Channels and Technology Understand the benefits of optimization. Take a diagnostic view of signs of service desk success and problems. Compare your organization to industry benchmarks.

5. Info-Tech Research Group5 Benefits from service desk optimization fall into five broad categories and are interdependent Staff satisfaction Customer satisfaction Proactive engagement to avoid future incidents (ticket avoidance) More efficient and less labor-intensive processes The benefits are cumulative and each subsequent “layer” is dependent on the ones above it. All benefits stem from the top category: “more efficient and less labor-intensive processes.” Customer awareness of the resolution process Better KPIs (first call resolution, throughput, etc.). Quicker restoration of service with less effort. Ticket categories are areas for improvement in many areas (BI, routing, etc.). ITIL processes are implemented. Customers are aware of the status of their requests. Customers understand what alternative steps can be taken while the service gets restored. Staff satisfaction and engagement results in quality work and smaller turnover. Customers are happy with the speed of IT’s first response, mean time to repair, etc.

6. Info-Tech Research Group6 Optimization benefits can be achieved in most situations regardless of the organization’s location and size Source: Info-Tech Research Group, 2012; N=79 Maturity was calculated based on the extent of adoption of multiple service desk processes and activities, as well as the “maintenance” strategy for these processes. Optimization levels are not significantly affected by an organization’s location, although North American help desks are trailing slightly behind their global counterparts. Service desk optimization is not just for the large. Not surprisingly, large organizations are the leaders in the high maturity category. However, small and medium ones are more likely to achieve medium-level maturity. Size and maturity

7. Info-Tech Research Group7 Take a diagnostic view of service desk leading practices and signs of success Source: Info-Tech Research Group, 2012; N=53 End users are satisfied with the speed of IT's first response. End users are usually aware of the status of their request. End users are satisfied with IT's mean time to repair. Ticket classification helps to drive improvement in many areas. Service desk strategy is actionable. The service desk strategy is formalized and numerically specific (i.e. measurable). The strategy is driven by balancing quality with efficiency and throughput. Service Desk Leading Practices:Signs of Service Desk Success: Areas include Business Intelligence (BI), routing, and escalation. Leverage organizational knowledge. The service desk staff, as well as the end users, use the knowledgebase for potential solutions. Incidents are routinely reviewed to identify opportunities to retain or improve knowledgebase content. Self-Service is poised for rapid adoption. End users can initiate and monitor requests for support, services (e.g. new user setup), and procurement (e.g. new hardware purchase). End users can submit IT funding requests and business cases (i.e. new project intake).

8. Info-Tech Research Group8 Take a diagnostic view of common service desk problems: Do you recognize your organization’s service desk? Source: Info-tech Research Group, 2012; N=41 Low customer satisfaction. The backlog doesn’t get cleaned. Not everything is recorded and tracked. If you aren’t recording every support incident and resolution, you can’t measure even the basic things like throughput. If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it! Service Level Agreement (SLA) criteria don’t get met. Problems at lower levels of maturity:Problems at higher levels of maturity: Do you hear complaints from the business? Do customer satisfaction surveys come back with low scores? Info-Tech asked organizations that have well-defined SLA requirements, what percentage of these requirements they meet. An overwhelming 34% reported that under 25% of their SLA requirements get met. How old is your oldest ticket? A few days old? A week, a month old? Anything over a week is a bad omen. Info-Tech recommends a Ticket Tuesday strategy to eliminate aging tickets: dedicate a day each week to routinely clean up the backlog and maintain the knowledgebase, ticket templates, SLAs, and workflows. End users spend too much time trying to self-solve. Your self-serve portal can be underfunded and in need of improvements; your end users may require training. This time costs money and productivity for the business.

9. Info-Tech Research Group9 Assess your need for optimization, based on your deviation from the industry benchmarks Bench- marking by Size Mean time to repair % of tickets resolved on first call % of tickets that meet helpdesk SLA requirements % of tickets that are escalated to higher tier of helpdesk Small 4 business hours 70%80%30% Medium 3 business hours 60%75%25% Large 6 business hours 50%80%30% Average for all sizes 4 business hours 60%80%30% Compare your helpdesk’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to your peers’. Are you trailing behind on any of the metrics? 50+ IT FTEs 11-50 IT FTEs 1-10 IT FTEs Source: Info-tech Research Group, 2012; N=89

10. Info-Tech Research Group10 Assess your need for optimization based on the cost- effectiveness of your service desk How much does it cost you to service the end user? The following are the industry benchmarks based on the organization’s size. These benchmarks are based on the underlying assumption that an average tool costs $3000-$4200 per Level One user per year. Benchmarking by size SmallMediumLarge Software costs per end user $17-24$16-22$14-20 Service Desk employee cost per end user $207$163$131 Yearly total: (high end) $231$185$151 Source: Info-tech Research Group, MeasureIT data, 2009-2012; N=1685 Small: 1-1,000 employees, 1-10 IT staff Medium: 1,001-5,000 employees, 11-50 IT staff Large: 5,000+ employees, 50+ IT staff Cost to service the end user (per year)

11. Info-Tech Research Group11 Use Info-Tech’s extensive research or engage the World Class Operations team to help with service desk optimization Use the knowledge of your team and our experienced analysts to formalize and build your service desk now. The service desk workshop has one overarching goal: provide clear, measurable improvements to your service desk in a week. The workshop agenda includes the five modules described on the right. For more information see Info-Tech’s World Class Operations Workshop, Service Desk Optimization. Service Desk Optimization Develop an IT Service Desk Strategy Develop an IT Service Desk Strategy Vendor Landscape: Mid-Market Service Desk Software Vendor Landscape: Mid-Market Service Desk Software Vendor Landscape: Enterprise Service Desk Software Vendor Landscape: Enterprise Service Desk Software Manage Help Desk Staffing Manage Help Desk Staffing Ensure Service Delivery with Systems Management Ensure Service Delivery with Systems Management Keep reading this solution set for Info-Tech’s findings on the value of optimization, or explore Info-Tech taxonomy research that includes the following solution sets:

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