It all started in the spring of 2009, after coming in as the runner-up for the HDI Team Excellence Award. We knew we were delivering great service to our customers, making recommendations to be more effective, and creating a great working environment, but there was something missing. After...
Tag(s): process, practices and processes, framework and methodologies, people, customer service
Date Published May 23, 2012 - Last Updated May 11, 2016
We often hear of the importance of managing the risks associated with making personal investments. Until we understand investing well enough to weigh equity against the level of tolerable risk, we risk making uninformed decisions that could have devastating results. The same principle holds true...
Tag(s): process, practices and processes, framework and methodologies
Date Published May 23, 2012 - Last Updated February 25, 2016
When it comes to customer service, it really is only as good as the customer says it is. But what do you do when your customers think your service is great, but you know it could be a whole lot better? Think Lean! We did, and we were able to reduce our abandoned call rate from 28 percent to 9...
Tag(s): people, customer service, process, framework and methodologies
Date Published May 23, 2012 - Last Updated May 11, 2016
Call it the cloud. Call it converged infrastructure. Call it hybrid delivery, or whatever the marketers come up with next. The fact is, the world of IT has changed. It’s the “new IT.” But let’s be honest: it’s not altogether new, and it’s not altogether IT. So what is it, and how is it going to...
Tag(s): process, business of support, framework and methodologies
Date Published May 23, 2012 - Last Updated May 11, 2016
With all of the buzz around strategic planning, it’s understandable that today’s IT manager or CIO, however shrewd he or she may be, might feel overwhelmed by the plethora of definitions on offer. The easy-to-use toolkit presented in this article provides a simple, yet effective, tried-and-true...
Tag(s): process, framework and methodologies, ITSM, IT service management, service strategy
Date Published May 23, 2012 - Last Updated July 7, 2020
Some will no doubt think this is heresy, but the fact is that ITIL is a process framework. It is not prescriptive (in either ITIL v3 or ITIL 2011, but more on that later), and the books do not actually provide a method for designing services; rather, they provide the (presumably) required processes.
Tag(s): process, practices and processes, framework and methodologies
Date Published May 22, 2012 - Last Updated May 11, 2016
At some point or another, we’ve all fantasized about starting a business and, of course, being a great success. Is managing a service desk really all that different? I’m always telling my students and clients that they need to run support as a business within the business. This is one of the...
Tag(s): business of support, process, service strategy
Date Published - Last Updated February 25, 2016
Corporations want to be quick to market and adaptable to constant change. They want to generate feedback, reduce support calls, and increase velocity. Unfortunately, this is often achieved at the expense of sound security.
Tag(s): security management, change management
Date Published - Last Updated February 26, 2016
The role of IT is rapidly changing, with many organizations seeking to transform the manner in which they design, develop, and manage the provisioning of IT services to customers. In Ten Steps to ITSM Success, we touched on the importance of applying project management principles and...
Tag(s): ITSM, IT service management
Date Published - Last Updated February 26, 2016
A decade ago, the value of IT certification was straightforward: if support professionals received one, it benefited them, in the pocketbook as well as on the organization chart. However, today, the straight line between certification and a better career has bent. Consequently, techies need to...
Tag(s): certification, value-add, ITSM
Date Published - Last Updated February 28, 2018