Key Service Desk Trends to Consider
From its inception, computers have been a part of IT help desks and service desks. But that basic partnership has evolved to include a strategy that enables the peak performance of service desks. There are three key service desk trends to remember: ease of use, ITIL and integration. Keep these in mind to better understand what customers are looking for in a service desk solution.
Ease of Use Could Trump ITIL as Most Important of the Service Desk Trends
Remember, it’s what the customer wants and not always what the IT service desk staff deems important. Most SMBs may not consider ITIL support the best management service tool; however, half utilized some version of ITIL. Ease of use, however, plays a huge role in the selection of a service desk solution. In a worldwide survey, nearly 71 percent of the 850 IT service desk professionals questioned said they did not consider ITIL support a purchasing factor.
ITIL Not at the Top of Service Desk Trends
SMBs not only preferred ease of use over ITIL in service desk solutions, but they also preferred an uncomplicated integration process over ITIL. ITIL is adopted as a guideline by about 92 percent of those surveyed, but rarely followed through with. Many SMBs have sidestepped ITIL as a part of their desktop management tool and instead would choose the ease of use option in a service desk solution. Surprisingly, most SMBs said they had yet to implement an integrated solution. Even though integration was high on the list of desired options, it wasn’t on the list of top service desk trends.
Applying Service Desk Trends in SMBs
Diane Hagglund, a senior analyst for Dimensional Research, said her survey showed that IT departments feel that by increasing efficiency with the integration of its services and other processes, all the information for endpoints they service will be more effectively delivered. Although most organizations see the value in integrating their service desk solutions with the latest service desk trends, Hagglund explained that few SMBs have been able to implement important integration. Beefing up the importance of ITIL could lead to efficient network solutions.
Implementing Service Desk Trends Can be Affected by Cost
As IT service desk trends overload vendors, the market for growth has become a variable in the cost of implementing these service desk trends. For example, cost and technical complexity hamper the progress of service desk software integration. Subsequently, there has been a significant increase of SaaS offerings. These options give customers greater choice, but they still must evaluate the most effective of key service desk trends to determine which will best fit their needs.
Additional Service Desk Trends to Think About
Outsourcing service desk operations was once commonplace. However, taking those outsourced projects and bringing them back on-premise is one of the most popular service desk trends for 2011. While outsourcing has always been proven to be effective, many SMBs are reconsidering the benefits. By bringing the service desk back, IT can have more control over quality and customer feedback.