Today, outsourced service providers live in a world where customers call the shots. As a customer, you’ve come to expect more than a standard set of services. Instead of one model in one color, you want outsourced services that can be customized to your needs, uniquely branded and themed for...
Tag(s): practices and processes, outsourcing, process management, business of support, sourcing
Date Published - Last Updated February 25, 2016
For this issue, HDI invited influential members from across all segments of our community to provide a snapshot of key imperatives that will guide 2013 initiatives. This unique collection of essays offers a rare glimpse inside technical service and support organizations, spanning healthcare,...
Tag(s): business of support, desktop support, customer service, practices and processes, service management, trends, IT service management, outsourcing, byod
Date Published - Last Updated February 25, 2016
While BYOD and broader consumerization trends may be turning the corporate IT world upside down, such factors have long been a reality in the campus IT environment. But that doesn’t mean that university IT departments are immune to the changing expectations of today’s empowered device owners.
Tag(s): case study, byod, desktop support, service desk, security management
Date Published - Last Updated February 25, 2016
Whenever there’s a one-to-one relationship between release and change management (i.e., one release for each change), it makes sense to combine the change and release workflows. As a combined process, change and release are easier to manage, and there’s less chance of slippage between the two...
Tag(s): change management, ITIL, release management
Date Published - Last Updated February 25, 2016
According to a MetricNet study, 84 percent of end users base their entire perception of IT on the day-to-day interactions they have with technical support. A related finding in recent HDI research on inbound contact channels shows that the channel with the highest customer satisfaction—by far—is...
Tag(s): case study, customer experience, customer service, desktop support, governance, support center
Date Published - Last Updated February 25, 2016
For UBM Tech, HDI’s parent company and a global live media and B2B communications, marketing services, and data provider, innovation is one of the four underlying corporate values leading the company down the path to be the best—and biggest—event business in the world. UBM Tech’s David Michael...
Tag(s): business value, leadership, support center
Date Published - Last Updated February 25, 2016
L.L.Bean, a leading clothing and outdoor recreation equipment retailer, was built on a legacy of high-quality products and impeccable customer service. Founded in 1912, today the company generates about $1.5 billion in sales worldwide, thanks to the efforts of 5,000 year-round employees. After...
Tag(s): business of support, infrastructure change management, IT-business alignment, support operations, case study
Date Published - Last Updated February 25, 2016
In order to run IT like a business, a technical service and support organization needs to have a clear picture of the services it provides and how these services create value for its customers. Many organizations find it difficult to define services from the customer’s perspective because...
Tag(s): business value, business alignment
Date Published - Last Updated February 25, 2016
Supporting big, fat desktops has been a challenge since these devices first emerged more than three decades ago. In many cases, enterprises spend a lot of time checking the devices, patching operating systems, downloading application updates, blocking malware, and securing corporate information....
Tag(s): desktop support, VDI, virtual desktop infrastructure - VDI
Date Published - Last Updated February 25, 2016
Contractors can provide value in projects—by adding a skill not present on the team, by providing basic labor for less-valuable tasks, or by “backfilling” the desktop support team’s day-to-day tasks to free team members up for project work—but they aren’t suitable for all projects.
Tag(s): workforce enablement, staffing, desktop support
Date Published - Last Updated February 25, 2016