White Papers

One of the most common questions I hear from IT support managers is “How many technicians should I have in desktop support?” In this white paper, I will present a rigorous methodology for determining the appropriate technician headcount for desktop support. By following this approach, desktop support organizations can be assured that they will be staffed to meet the needs and expectations of their customers, while simultaneously delivering services in an efficient, fiscally responsible manner.

As customer expectations for service management quality within organizations have risen, it has become necessary to reconsider the part desktop support plays in delivering services to IT clientele. In order to ensure that desktop support—which, in many organizations, is the public face of IT—keeps pace with more mature service desk organizations, desktop support managers should evaluate the alignment of their operating procedures with their organizations’ established process methodologies (e.g., ITIL, CMM, COBIT, etc.).

The service level management process represents the heart of any ITSM program, as it deals with managing customer expectations and defining the level of service to be provided. In cloud-based or multisourced environments this is of particular importance, since accountability for the end-to-end service still remains with the IT organization, even as control and responsibility for the component parts decreases. This white paper discusses the challenge of meeting customer expectations and reducing waste while providing actionable techniques for successfully developing and managing effective service level agreements (SLAs).

This white paper seeks to understand the shift to mobility and its consequences for the support center, as well as point out some best practices currently in use and some trends in the development of support mechanisms.

The IT job market is heating up and top talent is becoming scarce. It’s essential that you start defining strategies for acquiring employees who will propel your company forward—or run the risk of losing out to the competition for the most qualified technical and business-minded people.

In this white paper, the different paths to ITIL Expert are discussed, looking at both the lifecycle and capability paths, the target audience for each path, typical roles and responsibilities, and the reasons why you might want to choose the capability or lifecycle path. The benefits of the mix-and-match approach are also discussed.

While demand for specific positions does vary, the truth is that every IT worker plays a key role in supporting the long term plans of a business. And at a time when many owners are just as happy sustaining business growth as they are increasing it, holding on to this talent should be a top priority.

Measurements in support center operations can be useful for identifying required resources for staffing, determining schedules, calculating return on investment, measuring agent and support center performance, justifying needed changes, and understanding organizational productivity. The approach used in defining metrics determines what components of the process will be measured and how the results will be measured, interpreted, and used.