Service Desk
—
Jiří Kovárník
© 2018 IBM Corporation
About the lecturer
© 2018 IBM Corporation
• BA (Hons), Jiří Kovárník
• IBM Career (2007-2017)
- Customer Service Representative
- Centralized Technical Support
- Team-leader
- Account Delivery Leader
- 1st line manager & Service Delivery
Manager
- Global Transition Project Lead
- SD Business Operations Manager
Contact :
• E-mail : jiri.kovarnik@cz.ibm.com
Agenda
© 2018 IBM Corporation
Tools
• Staffing
• Telephony
• Event processing
• Reporting
Service Delivery & Structure
• Delivery Tripod
• IT Structure overview
Service Desk
• Strategy
• Workload
• Roles and
Responsibilities
• Measurements
• Glossary
SERVICE DELIVERY TRIPOD
© 2018 IBM Corporation
Cost
Quality Compliance
Existence
Common customer loss reasons
 1% of customers go out of business
 3% move to another location
 4% like to change suppliers
 5% change on a friend's advice
 9% buy it cheaper somewhere else
 10% are chronic complainers
 68% leave because the company
representatives they deal with are indifferent
to their needs
Service Desk
Client
Service
Mngmt
IT
delivery
teams
Project
Mngmt
Service
Desk
The single point of
contact (SPOC) for
clients.
SD directly resolves
customer queries or coordinates
with other
resolver teams on behalf
of the client.
SD unit is also a
supporting source of
information for Service
and Project
management decision
making.WHO? WHAT? HOW?
Multi-lingual employees
with fundamental IT skills
Key to success:
• Fast learning
• Strong
communication
Fastest possible resolution
to client’s IT requests and
incidents with high
Customer Satisfaction.
SLA’s set to measure
main success criteria:
First Call Resolution %
Speed To Answer %
Customer Satisfaction %
IT DELIVERY STRUCTURE
© 2018 IBM Corporation
Service Desk Strategy
© 2018 IBM Corporation
Simplified SD operations are highlighted in the chart on right. The
model is focused on automatized processing of as many incoming
requests as possible. If not possible, skilled CSR - Customer Service
Representatives (Service Desk) will answer the incoming query either via
chat/phone/e-mail or self-service (web) request. Requests that require
involvement of other groups for resolution, will be transferred in form of
ticket further. The primary goal is to minimize need for involvement of other
groups and have queries resolved through automation (0 level) or at 1st
level (Service Desk).
Knowledge base is mostly personalized to each customer and
can be either web-based or database based for example in Lotus notes.
It’s purpose is to help to resolve customer’s query or provide appropriate
process to achieve resolution (which specific data are necessary to gather
and where to look for further support).
As the CSR is speaking to the customer, he/she will also
document the details of the call in a ticketing system. Each ticket will
contain some basic customer details, machine information,
problem/request classification and description, including steps taken to
resolve the query. There may be slight variations from client to client, but
the base remains the same.
Automation
Service DeskKB
Other units
(including
vendors)
Service Desk Workload
© 2018 IBM Corporation
Phone/Chat:
Phone calls and chat make usually the majority of incoming
workload. To manage them effectively, SDs develop workload
arrival patterns through the use of historical data. This shows
the times when customers are most likely to call or chat –
see the chart on right as an example of single day data. This
data is used to build the necessary staffing schedules to
ensure optimum number of staff available throughout the
day. While there is usually as well an optimum call length,
CSR can’t dictate the length of each call, but based on
request classification can decide which cases are to be
considered out of it’s scope to achieve necessary availability
(Example: re-installation with multiple steps and average
length above 20 minutes will not be carried out by the SD
and will be transferred to another group. This is fundamental
to the principles of SD Operations.
As eventuality cannot be forecast (e.g. Network
outage), there’s need for flexibility in staff in order to
immediately respond to changing call patterns (at any time
slight adjustments may need to be made as reaction to
significant change in incoming customer queries.
Service Desk Workload
© 2018 IBM Corporation
Web (Self-service):
Service providers encourage the use of the web as a means
of raising a query with the SD. The web interface is often
coupled with some self help options as these are designed to
encourage users to search for responses themselves before
reaching the SD.
The advantage of the web is that the SD Operation can
respond to these queries when there is a period of low phone
call or chat volume. This means there are less scheduling
challenges. The disadvantage is that the CSR does not have
the opportunity to ask the customer detailed problem
determination questions (as he/she would over the phone)
that may be required to resolve the issue. As a result, there
may be insufficient information available to the CSR to
answer the query. The net result of this is that the CSR may
often be forced to get in contact with the customer to clarify
details before the problem can be resolved.
E-mail:
E-mails are broadly similar to web-based queries in terms of
submission by the customer and pickup by the CSR. The
disadvantage is that while the web-based solution can force
the customer supply some critical information, the e-mail
solution rarely does so. Furthermore, it is very difficult to
measure the effectiveness of the SD Operation in managing
e-mail requests. Therefore, Service providers will try to
encourage customers to use a combination of Web and
Phone for raising queries with the SD. Modern trend is to
automatically transform E-mails into Self-service tickets
through automation processes, that are based on contents of
e-mail (key-words, attachments, etc.).
Roles and Responsibilities
© 2018 IBM Corporation 10
Customer Service Representative (SD agent)
CSRs are usually grouped into Teams which are
approximately 15 in size, the individual will perform most of
his/her tasks alone. The call will be received, the CSR will
work with the customer 1:1 and query the knowledge base
as appropriate to retrieve the answers to customer queries.
Should the query require the intervention of another group,
the ticket is usually transferred electronically by the CSR.
SD Operation is planned in great detail, punctuality is
therefore of utmost importance for all members.
SD is a fast paced, measurement driven environment.
Each CSR will be measured against multiple targets.
These include punctuality, First-Call resolution, call
duration/hold time usage, call quality, ticket quality,
Customer Satisfaction, quantitative data as well. Given the
nature of the business, data is available on a very regular
basis to track performance versus targets.
Team Leader/Account Leader/Service Desk Manager
Each team will have a Team Leader who is responsible for the
day-to-day performance of the Team. As teams can be grouped
based on language or product support, they can be providing
support for multiple clients/accounts. Clients are often supported
through multiple teams, therefore while Team-leader is responsible
for day-to-day team performance, under such circumstances
there’s a need for Account Leaders as well. Account Leaders are
responsible for day-to-day performance cross teams for their
clients and ensure the differences in teams performance is
balanced to deliver service within contractual targets.
Each SD Manager will have 2 – 3 teams reporting to him/her, while
having ownership of performance for some of the clients/accounts
as well. While SD manager has ultimate responsibility for the
performance of the team, he/she is less likely to be involved on the
day-to-day management of the line and rather focus on long-term
planning and continuity of the service. The SD Manager owns the
relationship with the Customer and the Account leadership.
© 2018 IBM Corporation
SD DE team SD FR team SD ES team SD IT team SD RU team
Team leader Team leader Team leader Team leader Team leader
1st line Manager
DE/FR support
1st line Manager
ES/IT support
1st line Manager
RU support
SD Unit Leader
Account Leader
SD Operations Manager
Roles and Responsibilities – organization chart
SD Measurements
© 2018 IBM Corporation
Given the nature of the SD business, performance data is being produced minute by minute
throughout the day. The key measurements are agreed with the customer in the contract. Examples:
ABN (Abandon Rate) Example: ABN <= 6%
Percentage of dropped calls over total offered (incoming) calls.
ASA (Average Speed to Answer) Example: ASA <= 20 sec
The average time (usually expressed in seconds) it takes for a Service Desk to answer an incoming call.
STA (Speed To Answer) Example: STA => 80% in 20 sec.
The percentage of incoming calls answered within a given time frame (usually expressed in seconds).
Email Response Time Example: Email Resp. => 80% in 2 hrs or Avg Email Resp. <= 2 hrs
Time taken to react to customer email request (can be response or ticket creation). The calculation may be based on the same principles applied to ASA or STA.
Another common Service Desk SLA is the Opportunity Fix, which can be one of the following:
FTF (First Time Fix), SDE (Service Desk Effectiveness) or FCR (First Call Resolution)
FCR Example: FCR => 70%
Percentage of eligible requests resolved by the Service Desk with no need for technical escalation.
CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) Example: CSAT >80%
The customers will be polled to measure their satisfaction with the service provided. This is mostly done in an automated fashion through a tool or alternatively can be done
through a phone call to the customer.
© 2018 IBM Corporation
Glossary
SLA ::: Service Level Agreement - Contracted service level usually bound with penalties (STA,CSAT…)
ASA ::: Average Speed of Answer - This is the average time it takes to pick up a customer telephone call
STA ::: Speed to Answer - This is the percentage of calls taken within contracted time
CSAT ::: Customer Satisfaction - This is a measure of how satisfied customers are with the service they have
received from the SD.
SD ::: Service Desk - This is the formal title given to Helpdesks
CSR ::: Customer Service representative - This is the official title of the ‘agents’ who work within the SD
KB ::: Knowledge Base – storage of specific client knowledge documentation
SPOC ::: Single point of contact – standard term for services were SD is the only function communicating with
client
TOOLS SUITE
STAFFING
MODULE
STAFFING /
PERSONNEL
AVAYA
LINE
MONITOR
TICKETING
CALL
QUALITY
MONITOR
KNOWLEDGE
BASE
REPORTING
MODULE
TELEPHONY
CALL
HANDLING
REPORTING
A SD operation will employ a complex system of tools in order to effectively manage the service it provides. These tools will
usually be divided into the following categories : Staffing & Personnel Management, Telephony, Call Handling and Reporting.
TOOLS SUITE
STAFFING MODULE ::: As previously mentioned in this package, it is critical for the success of a SD Operation to have the
correct number of people staffed on the line through the day. This staffing is based on historical data which can be used to
predict the number of calls expected. This, in turn, is used to calculate the associated number of people required to handle
these calls. The Staffing Module can be a complex tool which is integrated into the phone system and extracts data on a real
time basis while some SD operations use more simplistic Spreadsheet based tools. Regardless of the solution, the Staffing
Module will be responsible for items such as scheduling, vacation management, break management and training scheduling.
STAFFING
MODULE
STAFFING /
PERSONNEL
AVAYA
LINE
MONITOR
TICKETING
CALL
QUALITY
MONITOR
KNOWLEDGE
BASE
REPORTING
MODULE
TELEPHONY
CALL
HANDLING
REPORTING
TOOLS SUITE
TELEPHONY MODULE ::: The telephony module is the core of the SD Operation. Without this, there is no Service Desk.
These systems gives the call centres their shape. All SDs will use a tool in order to monitor real time call activity (how many
calls in the queue, actual performance against targets etc). These systems also allow the management to monitor CSR activity
(how many people are on calls, how many people are available to take calls etc). Such tools are very powerful but need to be
leveraged to ensure that all targets are achieved. As a SD is a customer-focused service, the quality of each and every call is of
utmost importance to the Management. Therefore, it is commonplace to deploy a system which can record a sample of the calls
received by the centre. These are then evaluated against a set of standards and the individual CSR may receive coaching, as
required.
STAFFING
MODULE
STAFFING /
PERSONNEL
AVAYA
LINE
MONITOR
TICKETING
CALL
QUALITY
MONITOR
KNOWLEDGE
BASE
REPORTING
MODULE
TELEPHONY
CALL
HANDLING
REPORTING
Telephony system
Call-flow example:
TOOLS SUITE
CALL HANDLING MODULE ::: Once a CSR has received a call, he/she is required to document all customer interactions in a
ticketing system. It is important to carefully gather basic information about the customer’s issue as these are essential for swift
problem resolution. Furthermore, should the CSR be unable to resolve the query, the information will be passed electronically
(though the ticketing system) to another group. These details will be by required by this group also so they need to be clearly
documented in the ticket. In order to help the CSR with the resolution of the problem, he/she will use a knowledge base of
information. By asking the customer clear problem determination questions and using this information to query the database,
the CSR will be able to find detailed, step-by-step instructions to resolve the customer’s problem.
STAFFING
MODULE
STAFFING /
PERSONNEL
AVAYA
LINE
MONITOR
TICKETING
CALL
QUALITY
MONITOR
KNOWLEDGE
BASE
REPORTING
MODULE
TELEPHONY
CALL
HANDLING
REPORTING
TOOLS SUITE
REPORTING MODULE ::: A SD operation is measured against a number of key targets (STA, Abandonment Rate, First Call
Resolution and Customer Satisfaction). While the exact nature of the targets may vary from account to account, the
requirement to produce performance reports at regular intervals does not. SD Operations often deploy automated tools to
produce the required customer reports. This can include a automated survey tool which sends an electronic survey to
customers and tabulates the responses or web based solutions that report on the performance of the account versus telephony
metrics (ASA, Service Level and Abandonment Rate). Given the volume of work handled by SD Operations, it is important to
automate as much of the reporting as possible as manual report generation is both time consuming and prone to error.
STAFFING
MODULE
STAFFING /
PERSONNEL
AVAYA
LINE
MONITOR
TICKETING
CALL
QUALITY
MONITOR
KNOWLEDGE
BASE
REPORTING
MODULE
TELEPHONY
CALL
HANDLING
REPORTING