In my company, IT is seen as a cost center (not a profit center), so keeping expenses as low as possible is important. The service desk is not in control of incoming demand — if the phone rings, we answer it. This sometimes creates friction within IT when I request extra headcount, due to increased demand due to buggy software or for new systems rolled out that were not supposed to generate extra incident volume, but do.
Do you feel understaffed? I can relate. Here’s how I handle it:
First, I carefully track metrics and the customer experience. When things start going off the rails, my team digs in to figure out why. If there’s anything that we can do to control it, we do. If the surge in demand is due to a buggy system, for example, our Problem Management team digs in and we have conversations with the development staff on what we find. I constantly keep my boss updated on how we’re doing. When the increased demand seems to be permanent, I develop a business case to get some more help.
I’ve generally had success in getting what we need by building a solid business case. In the latest one I developed, I looked at incoming demand, pointed out changes in the incident forecast from the last time I needed staff and then, indicated what I needed to be successful. Note: I don’t always win these, but I’ve found that the key is to build a solid rapport with senior leadership, so they trust me when I reach out for help.
Staying at the forefront of AI
There’s also the whole conversation of AI and where that fits in here, too. In my spare time, I continue to attend webinars, check out demos and see how that technology is coming along. There’s a lot of promise with this technology, but the customer facing part won’t work well without a good customer-facing knowledge base and the costs of deploying it need to have an offsetting return on investment.
Improve reporting metrics
We also need to make our reporting quicker to put together and continually ensure that it is relevant to those receiving it. Service desks have access to lots of data. However, it needs to be useful and actionable, in order to be helpful. It also needs to be understandable by non-technical people, too. The question that you should be able to answer on every slide: “What is the story that you’re trying to communicate?”
My challenge to you
Do I think that we’ll ever be done improving? No. Even if we stop growing as a company, between new technology coming out and fresh ideas from new hires and things learned at conferences, we’ll always be in a state of change. That’s my challenge to you: Never stop learning, never stop growing and always put the needs of those who use your service desk above your own.