Help Desk Optimization Summary

7/31/2019 Help Desk Optimization Summary

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www.infotech.com Impact Research 1

Optimizing Your Help Desk:Summary Document


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Help Desk Maturity

Reactive

Controlled

Proactive

Optimize

Chaos

This report will assist you in the optimization of your help desk by:

1. Identifying improvements that increase end user satisfaction and perception.

2. Demonstrating how to simplify the help desk and improve efficiency metrics.

3. Reducing the help desk annual cost and tickets per user.

What type of help desk is optimal for your organization?

To optimize your help desk, you should understandboth your current and your optimal state in the helpdesk maturity model.

As you approach your optimal state, costs per userdecrease while performance metrics and end userfeedback increase.

Executive Summary

Help Desk Maturity

Reactive

Controlled

Proactive

Optimize

Chaos


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Average Measurable Savings

Automated Password Reset 25% of tickets

Power Users 20% of tickets

End User Training 10% of tickets

ITIL 10% total cost of ownership

End User Self Help 8% of cost

Remote Desktop Assistant 25% productivity

Knowledge Management 25% tier 1 resolution

Asset Management 10% productivity

There is always room for cost savings

Executive Summary

Most companies miss out on valuable cost saving opportunities.


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What is help desk success?

Defining your help desk and success


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Success of the help desk is defined by two inputs

SUCCESS:

Alignment of ITservices with

business

requirements

End User Satisfaction

Help Desk Efficiency

+

A successful help desk delivers its services in a timely and cost effective manner using the right

people, processes, and technology.

Help Desk Success

Please see full report fordetails on measuring success


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How mature is your help desk?

Understanding the Maturity Model


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Explaining the Help Desk Maturity continuum

To understand your help desk you need to understand it in terms of Help Desk Maturity. Help DeskMaturity is based on effective use of people, processes and tools.

Although the measure of Help Desk Maturity is truly a continuum, we have identified five discrete levels byaggregating common elements that occur around each level.

Chaos Reactive Controlled Proactive Optimized

End Feedback

IT Ef fic iency

Enduse

rFeedb

ack

ITEfficiency

Help Desk Maturity

Maturity Distribution of Respondents

1. Chaos5. Optimized

4. Proactive

3. Controlled

2. Reactive42%

3%7%

22%

26%

Please see full report fordetails behind the MaturityModel


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Identifying the levels of maturity

13% 23%

33%

31%

This table maps Help Desk Maturity to the equivalent level in the Capability Maturity Model Integration(CMMI). CMMI can be used to measure maturity of IT process. Process is only one aspect of our HelpDesk Maturity model (people, processes and tools).

Help Desk Maturity Levels CMMI Levels

1. Chaos No formal help desk. IT problems aredealt with on an ad-hoc basis.

Level 1: Process has few, if any, formal definitionsand performed on an ad-hoc basis.

2. Reactive Help desk staff and tools are identified,process is defined for tracking andescalating incidents.

Level 2: Process is defined, executed andrepeatable.

3. Controlled Help desk processes are clearly defined.Tools are introduced for basic self serviceand knowledge management.

Level 3: Processes objectives are aligned withbusiness goals and are defined with greater detail.Process results are qualitatively predictable.

4. Proactive Help desk performance expectations are

quantitatively set and measured against.Additional tools and processes areintroduced to alleviate help desk calls.

Level 4: Quantitative goals are clearly set and

measured. Process results are quantitativelypredictable.

5. Optimized Frameworks are introduced to optimizehelp desk costs, metrics and end usersatisfaction.

Level 5: There is a focus on continually improvingprocess performance. Common causes of processperformance variation are identified and addressed.

Help Desk Maturity Levels


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Where do you fit in the Maturity

Model?Identifying the appropriate maturity level for

your organization


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Maturity level recommendations level off as company size increases. Small organizations may have

an optimized help desk at the lowest maturity levels.

Factors influencing appropriate maturity level

The recommended attributes for each maturity level are determined from a cost-benefit analysis.Organizations whose recommended maturity state is below the Optimized level, could achieve a higherlevel but typically, in doing so, the costs will outweigh the benefits.

The recommendations for each maturity level are based on a combination of the factors below.

Size

IT Complexity

1. Simple

2. Midrange

3. Complex

User IT Knowledge

Help Desk Maturity Characteristics

Please see full report fordetails on determining yourfit.


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What Should You do to Optimize?Creating the Plan


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Moving along the 5 stages of Help Desk Maturity

Level 1: ChaosLevel 2:Reactive

Level 3:Controlled

Level 4:Proactive

Level 5:Optimized

Once you have assessed your fit with a particular Help Desk Maturity Level, use the followingrecommendations to move along the continuum.


For more specific guidanceon assessing yourappropriate maturity level,please see Help DeskOptimization Tool


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The three inputs that enable help desk success

Be sure to highlight cost savings in your business case for a help desk facelift. If you have

difficulties gaining buy-in, management is more likely to listen when an opportunity for significant

savings exists.

This section outlines how thekey inputs to the help desk People, Process, andTechnology can bemodified to improve theefficiency of your help deskand increase end user

satisfaction. Please note that not all

organizations fit theOptimized level. Based onyour fit, another level may beyour long-term goal.


Please see full report forimplementation recommendationsfor each level


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Case Studies


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Case Study Controlled Help Desk

Case Studies

DoubledTier 1

Resolution Rate

We shut the help deskdown for 1 hour every

Friday and it's reserved

for my hands on staff

meeting. We reserve 30

minutes for training, and

we also bring in guest

speakers from the

business, because it'sgood to hear what their

issues are and what they

do. As a result, over

time, our tier 1

resolution rate has

doubled.

CompanyProfile

Industry Education

Number of Employees 5600

Number of IT Employees 250

KeyInitiatives

Improvements InitiativesSuccessful

Staff training

Knowledge management

Power usersAdvanced reporting

ITIL (incident management only)

Key Improvements GoingForward

Full ITIL integration

End user self help

Service level agreement

Help DeskMetrics

Number of Users Supported 5600

# of Dedicated HD Staff 11

Cost as % of IT Budget 3.5%

Total Annual Cost/User $274.00

Total Annual Tickets/User 6.0

% of High Touch Users 5%

Documents

Help Desk Optimization Summary