One of the most common questions I hear from IT support managers is “How many technicians should I have in desktop support?” In this white paper, I will present a rigorous methodology for determining the appropriate technician headcount for desktop support. By following this approach, desktop...
Date Published March 15, 2012 - Last Updated December 30, 2014
In any service and support situation, the relationship between service providers and consumers is mechanically bounded by the service terms and conditions and a set of agreeable payment terms. What’s often missing in outsourcing-based provider-consumer relationships is a set of business rules...
Date Published - Last Updated February 25, 2016
KPIs aren't the goal—continual improvement is. Like ITIL itself, continual improvement is a cycle: once you've achieved a target, the cycle begins anew.
Date Published - Last Updated May 11, 2016
A well-designed, highly automated reporting framework that utilizes a balanced approach, effective graphics, clear targets, and real-time and periodic reporting, along with analysis and recommendations, is absolutely essential for IT service management to be effective in delivering quality...
Date Published - Last Updated December 30, 2014
Reporting is like food. Some dishes are simple, requiring few ingredients; some are more complex, requiring more (and more unique) ingredients. We all have our own flavor preferences. IT reporting is much the same. Depending on your department and your management’s desires, your business’s...
Date Published - Last Updated February 26, 2016
The service desk is the face of IT, regardless of what technology resources and capabilities are ultimately deployed to deliver services, and we need to change the way we deal with our customers, who are becoming increasingly tech-savvy and demanding more adaptable business solutions. We must...
Date Published - Last Updated February 25, 2016
Each year, companies spend tens of thousands of dollars on training that doesn’t deliver measurable results: employees don’t perform better, processes aren’t more efficient than before, communication is still poor, service delivery doesn’t improve, and customers are still dissatisfied. How can...
Date Published - Last Updated March 10, 2021
Most IT professionals are familiar with the operational metrics of technical service and support: cost per ticket, first contact resolution rate, mean time to resolve—all are well understood and almost universally applied. Yet even support organizations that have mastered these metrics and...
Date Published - Last Updated February 26, 2016
We all have customers: internal or external, public or private sector, investors or shareholders. Regardless of who our customers are, we need to not only provide them with an excellent product or an exceptional service, we must also ...
Date Published - Last Updated February 26, 2016
Do you ever lay awake at night wondering, “Billy’s my star performer, but what if he doesn’t come in on Monday (again)? Am I going to have enough staff? If I’m short-staffed, how will I cover the workload, projects, and contact volumes?” In my capacity as an instructor for the HDI Support Center...
Date Published - Last Updated February 25, 2016