Offering a channel to fulfill the main demands of a company’s IT (Information Technology) department makes all the difference for problem resolution and specialized support. For this reason, service desk solutions have been increasingly used.
Digital transformation has ensured a central role to technology in business results. It means the IT department and its resources as a whole require special attention. After all, a number of processes and platforms must be closely monitored to keep the company running.
Despite its increasing use, not everyone knows how service desk works.
What exactly is service desk? How does it work? What are its benefits? Is it really worth implementing it? This article will answer these questions so stay with us and learn more about this subject!
What is service desk?
Also known as help center, a service desk centralizes contacts between customers and companies, acting as a single communication channel with the IT department, which facilitates the entire process of service requests and support calls in the daily activities of a business.
This service offers support to employees who work with operational, intelligent, and digital systems, assisting the IT infrastructure management. Companies that handle a high number of users need this type of solution considering the daily demands from customers and employees.
The role of a service desk is to offer support, answer questions, and manage risks in order to reduce the chances of operational problems. Therefore, it is an excellent ally in the organizational routine and makes the difference in a company’s work routine.
Types of service desk
Different types of service desk are available to meet the most different needs of organizations. Check the details below:
- Local service desk
A local service desk has specialized infrastructure to provide face-to-face service. It is physically present in the work environment to answer questions, perform maintenance activities, and solve problems that arise in the organization’s routine in a fast and personalized manner. Because of this structure, it may have higher costs.
This type of work can be performed by a company’s own IT team or by outsourced staff.
- Centralized service desk
This service desk model can handle all IT support calls in the same structure. It is responsible for answering the most different requests received by the company.
This is a smaller infrastructure, suitable for companies that handle a lot of tickets with a high demand for IT support. However, it requires standardized and less personalized solutions so that all requests are properly answered.
- Virtual service desk
In this model, companies provide fully remote support. A virtual service desk is useful for those looking for less costly solutions, which don’t require the presence of a team at the workplace to resolve problems.
Virtual service can also be personalized and offer exactly what the company needs to fulfill the demands. In this case, the company has to connect to the equipment or servers of the networks that need support.
- “Follow the sun” service desk
This type is ideal for companies with a large number of daily tickets, requiring fast answers and problem resolution. It is usually recommended for platforms that offer round-the-clock customer service and can’t have any system oscillation, ensuring specialized support, either through centralized or virtual service.
What are the service desk activities?
A service desk can perform a number of tasks for a company. When hiring it, you should know its different functions and all benefits it can offer.
See below some of the main resources this service can provide.
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Database operation
The availability of a company’s systems depends on how its database is managed. For this reason, data should be accessible and all systems involved should run quickly and securely.
All these activities can be performed by a service desk. It maintains high-level, reliable, and stable management, ensuring easy access to data and generating more value for the business.
Imagine a company that receives customer requests every day and needs to check information, access applications, or close deals in the digital environment. Any operability problem causes huge negative impacts on revenue. Therefore, the activities of a service desk are essential for the financial health of an organization.
Database operations include managing migration projects, performing corrective and preventive maintenance tasks, monitoring system logs, creating and managing security backups.
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Security management
Digital transformation has accelerated the pace of digitalization of internal and external processes of companies. And despite all benefits from this change, it also involves new risks which must be addressed, including digital security.
Database backup management is one of the duties of a service desk, which also involves security management, a crucial tool to prevent loss of confidential data. In addition to the damage caused by a possible loss of information, it must handle viruses and cyberattacks.
A service desk is directly involved in the development of security planning. It means defining corrective actions for any damage and, most importantly, creating preventive actions.
In other words, it deals with all aspects of IT management focused on the use of security software (antiviruses and firewalls, for example), cybersecurity policies (physical and digital access controls), and other factors that help keep your data safe.
It involves staying up to date and making staff aware of new threats, such as ransomware attacks.
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Network operation
The type of service or product offered by a company causes its internal operation to assume specific characteristics. It means the IT infrastructure must adapt to meet daily demands.
For example, an automobile manufacturer uses different machines from those found in a textile factory, so the network infrastructure is also different in each company. Therefore, the service desk is responsible for remotely monitoring all devices connected to the company’s network.
It involves the complex task of managing software solutions and devices, including computers, laptops, and smartphones, because they are like entry doors that provide access to relevant business information. Security is directly linked with such management, but the network operation is even broader, including other aspects too.
Monitoring must be preventive and proactive so that devices and operating systems remain in constant operation. After all, system availability, as mentioned above, is essential for a successful business.
In addition, reports and warnings are generated so managers can assess whether the network performance is as expected. Therefore, a service desk is an ideal solution to collect information and guide a company’s IT investments.
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Service channel management
Companies with remote customer service systems have their own interface. In some cases, the customer may have access to this system to request service, make questions, track requests, etc. In this case, the service desk is responsible for managing the service channels used by customers.
Its functions includes channel configuration, which allows scalable channels. Therefore, if a company decides it’s time to offer self-service or implement a ChatBot system to optimize its services, the platform will be prepared for these changes.
Other interesting examples are multichannel integration and configuration of a ticket management system. In multichannel integration, a service desk is responsible for consolidating the information collected from different service channels. In ticket management system, the goal is to ensure IT managers have control over tickets, number of contacts, how many problems have been resolved, how many new requests have been received, etc.
Service desk benefits
To decide whether this is a good investment for the company, it’s important to consider its benefits for business routine.
See below how a service desk can provide positive returns for your company and if this is the solution you’re looking for!
Standardized communication
Service desk support represents an opportunity to integrate internal and external communication, making it more fluid and efficient. Therefore, it can resolve problems more easily, avoiding misinterpretation and providing guidance to address daily demands.
Improved customer interactions
Service desk is focused on humanized and personalized service. This way, customer interactions can be improved due to a closer contact and more natural communication.
This solution can ensure fast and efficient problem resolution and quick answers, representing an opportunity to increase customer satisfaction and strengthen customer relationships.
Reduced customer service time
Service desk is an agile and intelligent solution, which uses an optimized infrastructure to reduce waiting times. Consequently, service is also faster, without compromising quality and customer attention.
How to implement a service desk in your company
If you are looking for an integrated omnichannel platform that offers more possibilities for your customers, Milvus is your best option.
With functions for different devices and specialized tools, it is possible to create tickets from anywhere and through different methods. This way, communication tends to be strong and clear.
In addition, Milvus platform provides more flexibility for IT management, especially in Service Level Agreement (SLA) configuration. It allows access to reports, notifications for upcoming deadlines, ticket monitoring, and easy work customization.
In other words, a service desk acts as a facilitator with no restriction regarding the system functionalities – that is, the network performance is not compromised.
After all, the goal of a service desk is exactly the opposite: optimize technology-related processes and centralize resource management and problem-solving activities. Now, consider your company’s processes carefully and see how this solution can help your business!
