{"id":581,"date":"2014-04-15T08:00:45","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T15:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/?p=581"},"modified":"2015-06-25T10:12:54","modified_gmt":"2015-06-25T17:12:54","slug":"service-pros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/?p=581","title":{"rendered":"Service Desk Professionals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Service-Desk-Pro.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-619\" src=\"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Service-Desk-Pro.jpg\" alt=\"Service Desk Pro\" width=\"367\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Service-Desk-Pro.jpg 367w, http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Service-Desk-Pro-300x273.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 367px) 100vw, 367px\" \/><\/a>Which of the following two descriptions for Service Desk employees is the most accurate?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Service Desk employees are:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">The first line of support for IT.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Entry level IT staff.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Young up-and-comers looking to get their start in IT.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Incapable of solving complex technological issues.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">The lowest cost IT employees.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8212; Or &#8212;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Service Desk employees are:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">The first line of support for IT.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Seasoned professionals who have spent at least 10 years working in IT.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Employees who have found their calling in IT through supporting users (both technically and emotionally) who are experiencing high stress situations.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Capable of solving 90% of all issues (technological or otherwise).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Some of the most expensive IT employees.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">If you answered that the first list was the most accurate, then you have never met a Service Desk Professional.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Service Desk Professionals\u00a0are the unsung heroes of our modern corporate life. They aren\u2019t the System Engineers who spent 160 hours to implement SharePoint 2013 on a cluster of HP blades, or the Mail Administrator who just migrated 10,000 user accounts\u00a0from a server whose support was ending in 3 days. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">They are the Service Desk Professionals who show up to work, and for 8 solid hours every day, answer the phone when it rings and take on whatever users throw their way. They don\u2019t roll in at 9:30 or decide to leave a half hour early. They know that their job is to be there when the phone rings. If the advertised Service Desk hours are 6:00am-8:00pm, and they work the early shift, they staff into their phone at 5:59. If they work the late shift and get a call at 7:55 that holds them at the office until 9:30, so be it.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">These are the true cowboys of the IT world. They are the hired guns who can walk into an enterprise, ask for an overview of the ticketing system\/organizational structure\/knowledge base, and then start working the phone. They may not know the answer to every question for the first few weeks, but the users will never know. Through clever conversational techniques (and the ability to mute the line and get an answer from a co-worker), the user will think that\u00a0the tech has been working at the company&#8217;s\u00a0desk their entire life.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Service Desk Professionals can take an IT shop that is pressed against the ropes by user anger and frustration, and turn it around in to the most trusted area of the entire organization.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">How do I know this? Because I was one.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">I have long since left that life behind, but when I was doing it, I was damn good. I was a Service Desk Professional, and I wasn\u2019t alone. Indeed, my longest stint at a Service Desk was 12 years in a single company. When I left, I was still 5<\/span><sup><span style=\"font-size: small;\">th<\/span><\/sup><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> in length of tenure. Two of techs who had longer tenures than me were in the company\u2019s 25 year club. Yes, that&#8217;s right,\u00a025 years working as the front line support for the same company.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">We had a total of 16 people working the desk, and none of us had less than 5 years of experience as IT Service Desk technicians. Our customer approval rating was in the high 90s. Our first call resolution stats were in the low 90s. Our average talk time was less than 4 minutes. If you are not amazed at\u00a0a 90% first call resolve with 95% approval at &lt; 4 min\/call, then you are not a Service Desk Professional.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">So why doesn\u2019t every company staff their Service Desk with Service Desk Professionals and give users the experience they desire? Because it is very expensive. If you look at the cost of a top tier Service Desk Professional (10+ years of experience), it is quite comparable to any Systems, Database, or Network technician.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Of course we were outsourced. The first time the company didn\u2019t hit Wall Streets\u2019 earnings expectations, the executives started looking for where they could cut costs and\u00a0we were an obvious choice. When we found out that the writing was on the wall, I asked the executives if they had given any considerations around the soft numbers when the decision was being made. Their response was \u201cNo, it was all about the hard numbers&#8221;. Oh well, c\u2019est la vie. I can tell you that the users in the company were not happy with the outcome (as a matter of fact, even though it\u2019s been over 10 years, they still aren\u2019t happy).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Very few companies have the resources to staff a large Service Desk with nothing but Pros.\u00a0 Indeed, the pressure to reduce the cost of IT by pushing resolution to the first point of contact, and staffing the first point of contact with entry level employees, is one of the basic tenets of a <span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/?p=458\">tiered support structure<\/a><\/span>. My recommendation, as I\u2019ve stated in a previous <a href=\"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/?p=376\">post<\/a>, is to sprinkle in seasoned IT professionals\u00a0along with entry level staff into the Service Desk. I have found that a 1:4 to 1:6 ratio of professionals to entry level staffing is about right. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Good luck in finding Service Desk Professionals for your organization, and when you do, make sure you give them:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">A ticketing system that is efficient and intuitive<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">The tools they need to fix the users\u2019 problems (instant messaging, screen sharing, remote control, accurate and up-to-date inventories)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">The information they need so that they don\u2019t sound like idiots (roles\/responsibilities\/organizational charts, software documentation, accurate and up-to-date knowledge base)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">An ergonomic workspace (comfortable chairs, headsets, ergo keyboards\/mice)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">And lastly, pay them what they are worth, because like any good cowboy, they can always just ride off into the sunset.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Which of the following two descriptions for Service Desk employees is the most accurate? \u00a0Service Desk employees are: The first line of support for IT. Entry level IT staff. Young up-and-comers looking to get their start in IT. Incapable of solving complex technological issues. The lowest cost IT employees. &#8212; Or &#8212; \u00a0Service Desk employees &hellip;<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/?p=581\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[17,15],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/SD-Dog.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=581"}],"version-history":[{"count":70,"href":"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1020,"href":"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581\/revisions\/1020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/itiltopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}