Stormy Weather Ahead for Service Management?

Even as we settle in for smooth sailing, courtesy of a successful service management program, the storm clouds are gathering, ready to rain down new technologies and the challenges associated with supporting them. ITIL and other service management frameworks are flexible enough to help you...
Date Published May 25, 2012 - Last Updated May 11, 2016

Doing the Right Things, the Right Way, Is No Longer Enough

With the rapid adoption of the ITIL framework, a growing number of organizations are now doing the right things, the right way, when it comes to IT service delivery and support processes. If you belong to one of those organizations, you’ve probably established your service desk as the single...
Date Published May 25, 2012 - Last Updated May 11, 2016

Is Agentless Technology Essential for IT Support?

You’re considering purchasing a fabulous new driving machine, with some of the most innovative features available in automotive technology today. In order to build and deliver this mechanical marvel, the manufacturer installed an instrument panel in the center of the windshield, creating a...
Date Published May 23, 2012 - Last Updated May 11, 2016

Power Up: How TECO Energy Improved Effeciency and Productivity by Upgrading Its Infrastructure

In 2010, TECO Energy, one of the largest energy and utility companies in Florida, faced a computing infrastructure of aging hardware and obsolete software that created stability and performance problems and hindered business productivity. Most of the company’s 2,800-plus desktop and laptop...
Date Published May 23, 2012 - Last Updated May 11, 2016

The Support Chain: From Concept to Solution

Consider this example of a type of incident that most, if not all, service desks have encountered in the past, and probably will in the future: Mary, an employee at Bank of America (BofA), locked her Dell laptop with a BIOS password, which she then forgot. Without her password, she can’t reboot...
Date Published May 23, 2012 - Last Updated May 11, 2016

Windows 7 and Office 2010: Managing and Supporting the Migration

As today’s organizations proceed with upgrades to Windows 7 and Office 2007 or 2010, many are finding that the action plans they need are very different from the plans they used for previous upgrades, with particular regard to the migration of users to the new applications. Of course, there are...
Date Published May 23, 2012 - Last Updated May 11, 2016

Continual Service Improvement

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...
Date Published May 23, 2012 - Last Updated May 11, 2016

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

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...
Date Published May 23, 2012 - Last Updated February 25, 2016

Improving Customer Service from the Inside Out

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...
Date Published May 23, 2012 - Last Updated May 11, 2016

The Keys to Success in the "New IT"

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...
Date Published May 23, 2012 - Last Updated May 11, 2016