This blog is focused on improving IT support efficiency. However, your organization may need more IT than what was stated in the introduction. When looking at the possibilities to improve efficiency, it is important to remember that cutting costs or speeding processes will not make a difference in employee productivity or business outcomes. Technology is essential for driving efficiency. However, it can only be achieved if it is delivered correctly. The ten tips to improve IT support efficiency will help you do that. These tips focus more on how IT service desks can go beyond the traditional mandate of being more efficient by doing more with less to become all three: “Better, faster, and more affordable.” Focustechs works closely with IT Support Skelmersdale, so our expertise is encompassing the full range of business software applications. Offering managed technology strategies and services for mid- and small-sized companies throughout the UK and Ireland is our sole focus.
Prioritize “better” or “faster, and “cheaper” will follow. If the main goal is to save money, then the introduction of new technology will not yield the desired return on investment (ROI). This mistake is best illustrated by IT self-service capabilities.
IT efficiency improvements should be considered at the business level, not IT. Simply put, IT service desks that save IT-related costs but lose (business) employee productivity are likely to do more harm than good at the business-level.
Match employees’ consumer-world-driven expectations. Based on our experiences with exemplary organizations, we expect so much more of service and support providers. These expectations also apply to the workplace, so it is important that your IT service desk keeps up. If done correctly, consumer-world technology can bring you more capabilities and information than you have to “travel” to get them.
Optimize people’s use, not technology use. Although artificial intelligence (AI), may be a big opportunity for organizations, it can cause them to put too much emphasis on its use. However, once technology parity is achieved across organizations, the focus will shift to people and how they are employed as a differentiator. Instead of asking “What can AI do?” ask “What can AI be used for?”
Do not approach efficiency-related improvements in isolation. Increased automation can have an impact on traditional metrics targets and possibly the metrics themselves. Your organization will demand IT support improvements in multiple areas, rather than waiting patiently for them to arrive in a sequential manner.
Learn from the failures of self-service. IT service management (ITSM), has learned so much from its many failures in order to reap the full benefits IT self-service. One example is the realization that change must be seen as more than just a technology implementation. It should also be seen as a people-change initiative. For machine learning to work efficiently, it is necessary to have enough high-quality knowledge articles that are both self-helpful and useful. There must be enough automation to achieve the desired speed and experience enhancements, as well as the expected cost-savings. These lessons can be applied to both smart automation efficiency-based and omnichannel changes, especially as they both deal with employee expectations and people-related changes.
Access to support should be easy and at the employees’ expense. Employees will do the same thing they have always done if it isn’t. If it is easier to call the IT service desk than to seek self-help, then people will continue to do what they have always done. If not, both ticket volume and cost will be wasted.
AI adoption is inevitable. So deal with the major barriers early. Effectively manage stakeholder expectations, ensure data quality and knowledge adequacy, as well as deal with people aspects, such fear, change in employment terms and skilling up.
Invest in organizational management tools and techniques. This is a great way to follow tips #6-8. IT support efficiency can be improved, which will change traditional working methods. This will require effective management of resistance to change at a minimum.
The service management industry is constantly changing. Service management is about improvement, it’s a process. Make sure your vision and changes are flexible enough to accommodate the many twists and turns ahead in service management and IT support.
