The modern service desk has to evolve alongside its customers, offering agility and flexibility and ensuring that outsourced services deliver what they promise, says Aaron Thornton, CSO at Turrito.
Imagine owning a digitally transformed Porsche. It can sense when you approach, it offers exceptional fuel consumption without compromising on performance, it connects to devices effortlessly and creates an exceptional experience every time you drive. Now send this car to the mechanic that works out of a broken-down garage in the middle of nowhere. No? Too high-tech? To beautiful to risk? The same applies to the digital transformation of the modern organisation – why would you leave the intricate fabric of the digitised organisation in the hands of the creaking old IT service desk?
Traditional IT service desk solutions aren’t up to the digitally transformed task that the modern enterprise has set. The past two years have put organisations through the evolutionary mill and the sleek, smart companies that have emerged need services, support and approaches that are capable of handling modern problems, are effective in managing transformed workflows, tools, processes and operational frameworks. Which is why outsourcing these services has seen rapid global growth.
McKinsey believes that outsourcing has come of age. Why? Because the pandemic changed what companies need, how fast they need it, and added even more cost pressures to the top. Having the right service provider is more than just making sure that the company has access to the latest technology and expertise, it is ‘an integral part of many companies’ responses to these challenges’ – the challenges being cost, seamless service delivery and digitisation. This perception is echoed in another piece where McKinsey asks how the organisation can get outsourcing right, emphasising the importance of executive support and ensuring that outsourcing resolved weaknesses within the business. There is the risk that outsourcing is weak, that it isn’t integrated properly and that it doesn’t align with existing in-house capabilities. The modern service desk must bring the three Rs to the business – resilience, robust capabilities, and relevance.
The modern service desk isn’t chained to a desk. It also doesn’t have to be in the building. Thanks to the ubiquity of loud and the agility of as-a-Service software solutions, it’s as hybrid and agile as the technology it serves. And yet… it is here that service desk solutions and access to agile support gets tricky. Your is paying for a service and the ability to use different tools and solutions so if they have an issue, they then have the option to engage with the relevant service provider to resolve it. As a result, companies have upwards of three different support solutions available to them online and each one is focused on its specific area of expertise. Which then begs the question – why bother with the service desk at all?
Good question.
The traditional service desk was there to look after the devices, the users, the software and the data. Now, users can get this support from the subscription they’re paying for, right? Well, yes, outsourcing this solution can save the business a lot of money and gain efficiencies. However, you still need to look after your operational efficiency and ensure that these disparate solutions don’t impact the business. If failure becomes a domino effect, where do users start? Which support desk are they supposed to call?
Enter the modern service desk solution that’s holistic and cohesive. The service desk that’s populated by experts across multiple solutions, platforms and implementations and that can take that bird’s eye view and apply it to the problem quickly. This level of insight into the intricacies of a digitally transformed business isn’t going to come from the laser-like focus of a specific product or solution support desk. It can only come from a service desk that has comprehensive visibility and expertise across every aspect of the business, and that provides engineers and experts that can rapidly identify an issue and resolve it before it becomes a crisis.
In addition, putting the service desk on retainer ensures that service is more proactive and agile. Both the traditional service desk model and the user-driven support model rely on a user picking up the phone and actively notifying someone of a problem. With a modern service desk outsourcing solution in place, however, automated detection and management will likely find the problem before it causes a bottleneck. It’s designed to head the issues off at the pass, shifting the service desk dynamic from passive to active, and changing how the business tackles IT support. Agile and fast, this is the new face of support, one that can service that Porsche properly.
