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TNT: Proud winners of the Large Team award at the 2011 IT Service Excellence Awards


And that is a valuable plus point for an


can help to drive change into different parts of the organisation to resolve this. For example, if a number of ‘How to’ tickets are consistently being raised, it may mean our documentation needs to deliver more, so we can update the materials on-line and monitor the effect of this accordingly. Or, if a higher than average percentage of calls was being escalated, identifying a specific usability problem, we could feed that back to the product development group and, if necessary, address that functionality either through a step release or in the next release.” One of the telling factors about the way


the support desk is managed is that the engineers are measured directly on customer satisfaction. “Customer satisfaction levels then feed up as a metric to determine the company-wide, performance-based bonus scheme, and this also affects any potential pay rises,” explains Armstrong. Not surprisingly, customer satisfaction is very high for Numara – a combination of highly motivated and skilled engineers and staff, with technology that is at the forefront of driving change, resolution and innovation not just at the service and support level, but right across the business.


Intimate understanding Like many other of today’s organisations, business and technology service company Logica also faces many challenges: ensuring an intimate understanding of its customers’ business needs; meeting and exceeding their expectations; keeping staff engaged and motivated; and managing risk and change, call lifecycle management and SLA (service level agreement) compliance. Its strategy, brand, core values, people, processes and technology are key to meeting these. “Our service desk is seen as a gateway


into the wider Logica business,” states David Wright, UK service desk operations manager. “The investment we make locally pays huge dividends as people develop their careers within and beyond the service desk. We employ on attitude and motivation, running a four-week induction process for new recruits. During this period, we ensure new staff understand the importance of delivering excellent customer service and meeting


expectations – along with understanding Logica’s business core values, business strategy, brand and one Logica philosophy. This approach ensures our service desk teams are made of the right people, who totally understand our business goals and culture.” As Logica’s people move through their service


desk journey, keeping them engaged and motivated ensures consistent high performance and customer satisfaction. Its numerous reward and recognition schemes are designed to drive the right behaviour, and celebrate performance achievements and service excellence.


Effectiveness and maturity “In April 2011, we undertook a programme of work to gain Service Desk Certification. SDI provides the only industry, standards-based, accreditation programme, specifically designed to certify service desk quality. The process enabled us to measure our effectiveness and maturity against globally recognised standards, covering leadership, policy and strategy, people and management, partnerships and resources, processes, people satisfaction, customer satisfaction, performance results and social responsibility. Logica achieved a 4 Star Certification at the first attempt and now aspires to be the SDI’s first 5 Star service desk. “The end-to-end certification process


offered excellent value and the opportunity to further improve a number of our key processes,” Wright adds. “Industry recognition of our service commitment has seen real benefits for our customers and staff.”


Accreditation factor Equally, SDI’s audit and accreditation process has supported the development of the service desk at NHS South of Tyne and Wear (NHS SoTW). Specifically, the process enabled it to complete a thorough assessment of the service, identifying not only its strengths and weaknesses, but also the opportunities for areas in which it could develop – and the threats of not doing so. This resulted in the growth of an action plan and service development plan. NHS SoTW was able to address quickly any key areas of concern that were identified and, through the plan, it now has a long-term vision of the roadmap for the service.


organisation whose ICT service desk provides technical support and assistance to more than 5,500 healthcare workers, including primary care trust (PCT) staff, GP surgeries, dental practices and pharmacies. It’s the single point of contact for staff with requests or issues with computers, telephones and other ICT systems. The fact that it has become only the second


NHS organisation in the UK to achieve a globally recognised accreditation for its ICT service desk is a matter of enormous pride. On top of that, its service desk manager Andy Somerset claimed this year’s ‘IT Service Professional of the Year Award’. So this is clearly an organisation that knows where it is heading. “Each of our customer’s core priority is to


deliver excellent patient care,” says Somerset. “It is therefore our role to ensure they can meet this priority through the continued provision of high quality ICT support and service excellence.


Heavy dependence “As with many other service desks, we receive a wide range of calls from our customers each day. These can range from faulty printers to network outages reducing the availability of key clinical systems, both of which impact the quality of patient care our customers are able to deliver. Within our environment, a faulty printer can mean that a patient isn’t able to receive their prescription at that point in time, whereas inability to access their systems can result in clinicians not having access to the full patient medical record at the time of consultation.” In order to meet these challenges, NHS


SoTW has developed its service desk to form part of a new customer service centre. By linking customer-facing services to ensure that all queries are managed effectively end to end, it strives to get the customer experience right first time and every time. “The customer service centre, and the


service desk within it, is supported through clear and dynamic leadership,” adds Somerset. “This support ensures that the service is linked to the strategic priorities of NHS SoTW and enables us to maintain excellent relationships with our key customer groups.” Relationship management doesn’t end with the customers. As a diverse service, NHS SoTW is supported by several third party


august.september | 2011


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