The Do’s and Don’ts of IT Service Desk Management

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The IT service management (ITSM) system is a vital cog in overall company operations. ITSM goes beyond the basic help desk proposition to serve as a central focal point for all IT-related issues. These issues may include: incident management and problem management, configuration management and change management, and other issues such as capacity and continuity planning. There are certain important points to keep in mind in the overseeing and operation of an IT desk management system.

Perhaps the best possible method to bring efficiency into the system is to make a clear analysis of the current status of the IT service desk. A customer survey would bring out the latent strengths and weaknesses of the existing system by utilizing service desk metrics for the assessment problems.

ITSM common mistakes

The “don’t” aspect is the first to explore when considering an ITSM system. Here are a few tips for strategies to avoid:

  • A reactive approach. Companies that take a reactive, rather than a proactive, approach are not getting the full benefit of the ITSM system. The broad scope of the ITSM and the technological infrastructure behind it allow for a much more proactive and preventative strategy.
  • Isolation. The ITSM is meant to overcome process silos. Service categories that are a part of the ITSM may have different goals (capacity planning, change management, etc.), but approaching each component separately will limit visibility and lead to decision-making based on incomplete data.
  • A technological focus. ITSM is of course, a set of technology, but the primary focus needs to be on the process itself, and not the technology used to implement it.

ITSM design and best practices

ITSM is more than just a single process. ITSM is an integrated set of support services. The design of the ITSM system is integrated from the ground up. Instead of presenting a task-based environment, ITSM is a process-based system that encompasses multiple areas of management and service delivery optimization.

Since ITSM is comprised of a process-oriented approach, a strictly technological-based design and implementation will be inadequate. The initial design for an ITSM must involve managers from multiple departments and key end-users, as well as the technologists who will create the system.

An ITSM system is highly individualized, and management must have a hand in creating an initial roadmap that shows the current state as well as future goals. Together with the IT department or an outside consultant, the steps needed to achieve future goals (the roadmap) can be determined.

Finally, IT service desk management means keeping the “service” part of the term in mind. ITSM calls for a service-oriented approach, with each recipient (whether an employee, partner, or client) seen as an actual “customer” of the ITSM team. How do those IT customers see the services that are being delivered? Continuous feedback from the user base (customers) is essential to the ongoing success of the system. As such, the most important “do” of ITSM is to keep the service in IT Service Desk Management.