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If your organization is like many, your IT staff has been tasked with managing a rising flood of service requests from employees, including requests for new hardware and software, changes to existing hardware and software, access to enterprise applications, and technical support. What’s more, there is a chance that your IT team is also responsible for managing service requests beyond those that the IT department provides. Examples of such services include requests for office space, furniture, telephones, company credit cards, parking spaces, and training — the list is nearly endless.
In many cases, service requesters have to make multiple requests to different groups and departments to satisfy a particular need. Here’s an example:
As soon as a hiring decision is made, the hiring manager must request a variety of services to ensure that the new employee has all he or she needs to do his or her job. That involves requests to:
Add the new employee to the human resources (HR) and payroll systems
Order office space, furniture, telephone, and other equipment from the facilities department
Order a properly configured desktop and/or laptop computer with all appropriate software from the IT department Provision the employee with access to all appropriate enterprise applications
Schedule an ID badge photo session with the security department
Enroll the employee in a new-hire orientation class given by the training department
Have the hiring manager’s department administrative assistant order office supplies
If your organization is like many, it is not easy for employees to find and request the services they need. What’s more, it is difficult for the IT staff to fulfill service requests in an efficient and timely manner. These problems have created a pent-up demand for an effective service request management solution, one that streamlines, standardizes, and automates service request processes.
Difficult for Employees to Request Services
Employees often find it difficult to determine what services are available. In addition, it’s not easy for them to determine where to go for service requests, because various groups are responsible for different service offerings. Further complicating the problem is that the processes for handling requests typically differ, depending on the request and the group handling it. Request forms may also differ, which can cause confusion and result in delays when requesters fail to provide complete, accurate information. As a result, employees have to struggle with multiple request and approval processes, as well as inconsistent, confusing forms — and they have to track each request separately. It can be particularly frustrating when employees have to initiate and track multiple service requests, such as in the example of the hiring manager bringing on a new employee.
Difficult for IT to Manage Request Fulfillment
Service requesters are not the only ones finding service requests problematic. The IT staff has to grapple with inefficient, costly, and often ad hoc service request management processes that are error prone and difficult to track — and that often introduce delays.
Organizational silos exacerbate the problem. As the amount of services available to users grows, the complexity of service request management also increases. A single request may require action by multiple groups and departments. When these requests are submitted, IT has to cope with fragmented processes, as well as with a siloed organizational structure that does not foster coordination among groups. In this environment, it is difficult to effectively manage the quality and cost of fulfilling requests.
The Service Desk: Only a Partial Solution
Many IT organizations have attempted to alleviate service request problems by directing employees to submit and track service requests through a service desk. Although this approach may make life a little easier for requesters (in that they now have a single place to submit and track service requests), it may actually complicate life for the IT staff. That’s because this approach doesn’t fully automate the process. A service desk alone does not provide a complete solution. This approach simply transfers user problems to the service desk agents who act as proxies for the users. Funneling requests through the service desk does not adequately address the problems the IT staff faces in effectively managing service request fulfillment. Also, directing all service requests to the service desk substantially increases the workload on an already overburdened service desk staff. This could distract the staff from more business-critical issues, such as addressing the availability and performance of mission-critical applications.
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