NHS Delivers Critical Support Using Numara FootPrints
Numara FootPrints drives the creation of improved service desk workflow processes
Reading, UK (September 30, 2009) –
Numara® Software, Inc., a leader in service desk management solutions, announced today that Dorset Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has purchased its service desk solution, Numara® FootPrints®, to deliver a more efficient service to the Trust’s users.
Dorset Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust implemented Numara FootPrints in April 2009 following a competitive review of the market, with Numara FootPrints winning hands down over the competition. The new service desk supports 3,000 calls per month from 2500 users ranging from serious issues regarding the urgent servicing of clinical equipment to trivial problems such as the resetting of passwords.
The Trust had been fighting an uphill battle trying to maintain its service quality with a service desk that had long since seen its best days. Users and technicians had lost confidence in the incumbent system, and a new solution was long overdue.
IT Operations Manager Liz Wells has already seen the difference.
“Our goal was to cut down unnecessary phone calls, and we are already achieving that because the number of emails in and out of the system is increasing greatly. Although it’s still early days, it is clear there are going to be major savings. In just a short time since we went live in April, the number of phone calls to the support desk has already decreased.”
Dorset is an example of why hard-pressed NHS Trusts want greater assurance in the usability and reporting capabilities of their service desk solution, so that no business or clinical-critical service calls will be missed, and that call-resolution across the Trust is handled more efficiently. Reduced call volume through fewer trivial requests also means greater service desk effectiveness and more management information.
“We’d had a series of memo notes appear all over the place, which we tried to ban because we were fed up of seeing lots of scrawl. With the old system, we could manage our workflow, but that was all. We wanted a proper system for years, but getting the funding was always the issue,” says Wells.
In deciding which solution to choose, Dorset relied on information it had previously gathered at the Service Desk and IT Support Show.
“We knew we had a top three of Touchpaper®, Hornbill® and Numara Software. We also needed the solution to be ITIL®-friendly, because we want to be capable of linking with the central service desk for the NHS which relies on ITIL best practices. In the end, Numara FootPrints represented a substantial cost advantage for us.”
Dorset needed scalability and ease of development when it wanted it. It also required the solution to be simple for both technicians and end users to adopt.
Wells continues: “We were getting over 3000 calls a month. Sometimes it seemed as if they were even calling us when their kettle wasn’t working. Now, if they email the support desk, a ticket is created in Numara FootPrints, and the user gets an email with the details. In future, they’ll also have the Web portal to log onto.”
Dorset’s implementation timetable has been tight, but in the future it expects to explore how it can use Numara FootPrints within other departments, such as Finance or Estates, to simplify departmental processes, as well as looking at patch management solutions.
For more information on Numara Track-It!, please visit www.numarasoftware.co.uk.
About Numara Software, Inc.
With more than 55,000 customer sites worldwide, Numara Software is a global leader in delivering practical, flexible solutions that allow IT organizations to improve service to their end-users. Our integrated IT service management and IT asset management software platforms enable organizations to efficiently automate a wide variety of IT related tasks and processes using interoperable solutions from a single, proven vendor. Widely known for our dedicated focus on ease of use and affordability for our customers, our IT solutions deliver fast time-to-value, increased control, and reduced risk for small businesses to large companies. For more information, visit: www.numarasoftware.co.uk.
For further information:
Paula Elliott
C8 Consulting Ltd for Numara Software
+44 (0) 118 9001132
paula@c8consulting.co.uk
Source: Numara