The Service Desk Handbook – A guide to service desk implementation, management and support

By Sanjay Nair and Stephen Perring

An IT service desk is the first point of contact between users and an IT organisation. A service desk is a one-stop destination for enquiries, requests and reporting issues, ensuring continuing use of IT services without disruption. They have become intrinsic in modern organisations.

A service desk makes prioritising and responding to customer enquiries much more efficient, saving time and money. More and more organisations are understanding that customer satisfaction is key to developing their business.

The Service Desk Handbook - A guide to service desk implementation, management and support provides operational guidance for implementing, managing and supporting service desks in the enterprise. It will help service desk teams in adopting ITIL® to accomplish their tasks while making the necessary adaptations as per their organisation’s needs.

Suitable for service desk agents, supervisors and managers, as well as project managers and senior management looking to revise processes, this book will help readers get a service desk unit off the ground and act as a key reference guide once the service desk has been implemented.

Topics covered include:

• Planning for a service desk;
• Telephony and tooling;
• The service desk team;
• Documentation;
• Performance measures; and
• Technology considerations – artificial intelligence and platforms and tools.

• Language: English
• Publisher: itgovernance
• Release date: Sep 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781787782372

Book preview

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CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS A SERVICE DESK?

First and foremost, a service desk should be seen simply for what it is in the literal sense: a central location to go to when you need a service or someone to ‘help’ you with things.

It is your one-stop destination for enquiries, requests and reporting issues. It is your first touchpoint for any service offered by a service provider. A service desk adds structure to proceedings, whether it is as the front face for the internal customers or by allowing the technical support units to focus on the task at hand, without the continuous hassle of having to deal directly with internal customers.

Human interactions can vary, from the extremely pleasant to the utterly frustrating and demoralising. A service desk team almost completely bears the brunt of disgruntled customers, without allowing their grievances to reach any of the underlying support teams. This is a very important function that is often overlooked, as it is seen simply as part of a service desk agent’s job and hence never appreciated