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Back to the future: ITSM 2012 style

2011-12-09T09:32:00.000-08:00

2012 may seem quite daunting given the massive changes sweeping through the IT industry this year. You’ll have your own views on what’s important, but there are a number of universal challenges.

- The acceptance of cloud threatening the status quo of internal IT departments managing their own services

- The growing adoption of user-owned devices

- Ongoing budget worries

These are issues that have loomed large in 2011 and will continue to challenge us throughout this new year.

It seems logical that large scale, complex issues like these demand similarly ambitious thinking to solve. However, dig slightly deeper and you find that the future of ITSM is best defined by going back to basics.

Consider this research just released by SDI (Service Desk Institute) giving us insight to the working practices of IT support teams. According to the survey, 75 per cent of businesses have no idea how much it costs to field an IT support phone call. Understanding of email management is also lacking, with 84 per cent admitting they are unable to put a price tag on this routine task.

This is quite a staggering admission and helps explain why service desks are struggling to secure budget. If we don’t know the cost of what we do, how can we understand whether we are offering value for money? More pertinently, if we fail to understand our own costs, how can we expect accountants and business leaders to support and fund what we do?

Before service desks can begin to tackle the bigger issues, they need to focus on the basics first. If you can make these calculations, you can begin to assign a value to tasks such as user support (useful for safeguarding against the threat of being outsourced) and delivering software services (protecting against cloud). And once you have this data, you can ascertain the cost of supporting user-owned devices because it will be based on financially sound thinking.

What service desks really want for Christmas (and will they get it?)

2011-12-09T09:30:00.002-08:00

Fierce CIO thinks that tech leaders are lusting after the latest kit for the new year. According to the article, the main concern for CIOs is securing the latest technologies - with high speed internet, iPad 3, ultra books, and USB 3.0 among the things most desired.

It’s an interesting idea, but is cutting edge tech really the biggest priority for IT executives? Is the need to install an unannounced operating system (Windows 8) the thing that CIOs hope for more than anything else next year? We suspect there’s an element of journalistic wish-fulfilment in the article because the IT teams we talk to have far less grand goals and targets.

This in mind, we’ve compiled our own service desk Christmas wish list and consider how likely they are to come true (wish probability scale between 1 and 5. 1 meaning not a chance and 5 being a dead certainty).

1) No more budget freezes.

This may not be such a pipedream as you might think. Yes, the economy could be lurching towards another recession, but given we never really shook off the first slump, it won’t be as dramatic as we fear. The last few years have taught us that things get tough when money is tight, but also that business goes on. As long as we have solid numbers to support the work we are doing, we should be able to make this wish come true. (Wish probability: 4)

2) Outsourcers/cloud providers all go bust.

The relentless pressure to ‘deliver value‘ is made worse by the constant stream of third party providers who claim they can deliver better, more flexible IT services for much lower costs than managing it in-house. Competition is central to the economy and the internal IT department no longer has a captive audience. This isn’t a problem that is going away and is the prime reason why we must find better, clearer ways to prove our contribution to business success. (1)

3) Users grow tired of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and go back to working with IT-approved devices only.
Users won’t grow tired of their funky tech, so the only choice is work with them. Perhaps the best outcome is a compromise, with the IT department standardising and supporting a preferred platform (Apple iOS, Android, Windows Mobile), before delivering and administrating the devices. It would also mean the department can justify buying and spending time playing with some shiny new toys. (1 - so deal with it)

4) A condensed version of ITIL 2011.
To feed the quick-fix generation and to sate the critics who said ITIL had become too large and unweildly, we hoped that ITIL 2011 would be short, concise and easy to reference. What we received was a body of work twice the size of the old text. Supporters of the new books say it is a solid reference work, but surely this would be easier to digest if it was digitised? (3 - don’t be surprised if someone is developing an online/ebook/keyword searchable version of ITIL)

5) A holiday. Book it now. It’s the only way to be sure. (5)

Lose IT control = productivity boost?

2011-12-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

Consumerisation of IT may not be such a bad thing after all, after a survey by Block Solutions found that businesses which allow staff to use their own technology have enjoyed productivity gains of up to 20 per cent.

Although questions remain over what level of IT support service desks should offer to technology it doesn’t directly manage, the loss of control must be balanced against the potential benefits of increased output that research like this hints at.

Yet the most interesting question is why is this new technology, which is bought off the shelf and works without direct integration with business IT, more conducive to working than the technology we have been supplying? There’s no simple answer, but the obvious starting point is usability.

Consumer technology providers tend to start from the perspective of the user - how can I enrich and improve the customer experience? IT departments differ because the starting point is control - what assets do I have and how can I best protect them?

It is understandable that IT departments take the more conservative route. If there was no control, security could be compromised, devices mis-treated and badly configured. Ultimately, we exercise IT control because we need to manage costs, but by locking down technology, the user experience suffers.

Therefore, should we be re-evaluating whether the cost savings that our controlling nature realises are really worthwhile? The research suggests that relinquishing absolute IT control helps improve productivity, but is this gain larger than the savings we already realise?

Every organisation is different and some will doubtlessly benefit from maintaining the present rigid IT structure. But as IT leaders, we should be looking at the bigger picture, making our own calculations and deciding whether setting IT free will lead to business and financial gain.

Don’t throw away ITIL just because of 'new' challenges

2011-11-10T12:06:00.000-08:00

Obsessive arguing about ITIL and best practice definitions has caused the IT industry to lose sight of much bigger and more pressing problems. That was the view put forward in an article on ServiceDesk360 which urges us to stop arguing the fine details of ITSM and collaborate to improve the bigger picture.

It’s a good point; becoming too distracted and blinkered by minutiae is a valid problem which can be applied to any industry, but saying that IT has no time to study and debate precise principles and definitions is short sighted. IT management and support is implicitly about control, ensuring multiple moving parts collaborate intelligently, and managing inevitable change. In short, IT needs fine detail and constant tuning to make it work.

We shouldn’t forget that ITIL was created because government departments were trying to achieve the same goals when building IT services, and rather than individual departments and businesses wasting time and effort reaching this destination, ITIL pulled together established methods and provided a common sense for solving technology problems.

ITIL became so popular because the common sense methods it described are applicable to almost all businesses in any sector and any country in the world. This core of logical information hasn’t suddenly been made redundant because the challenges have changed.

Cloud, SaaS and user devices do present their own challenges, but we already have tools such as ITIL and Lean which help us get the basics right and inform our strategy when approaching these entities. We need a balance between referencing the experience we already have and developing new ideas. ITIL was created so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel, and while the challenges may look new and daunting, much of what we have collectively learnt over the years already provides us answers.

Why it’s not too late for IT to embrace mobile (without compromising the infrastructure)

2011-11-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

Recent research from Gartner suggests that IT operations who are considering shifting emphasis to mobile are already too late, citing the fact that the installed base of mobile PCs and smartphones sailed past the number of desktop PCs as far back as 2010.

Looking forward, the creation of mobile apps will outnumber those being built for traditional PCs by a factor of four in the next few years, with Gartner warning those who haven’t already made the move that they will be left behind.

While it is true that mobile is an important platform for all IT and non-IT businesses and departments to consider, saying it is too late is an exaggeration and it also infers that desktops are old news not worthy of our time.

There are several reasons to challenge this thinking. Firstly, the research doesn’t specify whether the apps being built are business tools or consumer fodder such as games and novelty utilities. Yes, mobile apps are changing the way that people interact with technology, but the mainstay of business will still be word processors, email programmes and collaboration tools. There may be millions of apps, but the majority of them have little purpose in business. Desktops, and the software they deliver, are still the mainstay of business and therefore abandoning or reducing our focus on supporting these technologies in favour of mobile makes no practical sense.

IT departments are understandably wary of mobile because user owned devices being introduced into work environments play havoc with the control mechanisms they have worked hard to build. Yet it is possible to let staff use their own kit in a professional capacity without seriously compromising security or integrity of the business IT estate, but it will only be achieved with a level headed view of the situation.

Telling an IT department that it is too late to embrace mobile simply feeds this fear and will cause it lock down even further. Doing so would mean that users and IT departments alike would miss out on the opportunity that mobile presents for improving access and usability of business technology. Let’s stop the hyperbole and work out how we can support the traditional technology mainstays while developing ways to introduce the latest kit.

SupportDesk 8: making IT support easier than ever

2011-11-10T11:36:00.000-08:00

SupportDesk 8 from Richmond Systems has been built to make IT support easier than ever, with more than 60 new features including major upgrades to service catalogue and change management processes, and a complete refresh around ITIL 2011.

The features have been built by speaking to customers to see the issues they have and how the software they use could help them work more effectively. Enhancements include:

- Incident linking

- Resolution codes filtered by category

- Incident template wizard

- Configuration item shortcuts and locking

- New service catalogue featuring automatically updated service statuses based on incident thresholds and service availability status via the new SSP panel

- A redesigned Knowledge Management console

- Web-based RFC voting

- Change management status workflow

To help benefit from this new release we are offering a one-day upgrade and configuration service, including:

- A review of your existing SupportDesk implementation and current requirements

- System upgrade and reconfiguration of settings where required

- Enable and configure new features as required

- Best practice overview and training on usage of new features

Upgrade files and documentation can be accessed via the Customer Zone. When upgrading you will be prompted for a new serial number, available by request via the Customer Zone. To check availability please contact your account manager, or call 01428 641616.

Alternatively, upgrade to SupportDesk 8 now.

IT managers feel the mobile/cloud fear and do it anyway

2011-11-10T08:20:00.000-08:00

IT managers in the UK are united in their concerns about mobile devices and cloud in the workplace, with 71 per cent worried about security issues and more than a third doubting they can centrally control such technology, according to a study by YouGov.

This fear is not however halting the trend of introducing mobile devices onto corporate networks, or hindering the adoption of cloud systems, with 72 per cent of the leaders surveyed saying their concerns are outweighed by the benefits the latest technology bring.

The problems facing managers are bigger than the obvious threat of malware and virus infections, with data protection breaches equalling financial penalties and damaging the organisation’s reputation. But is the problem the inherent weakness of new mediums for storing the information, or lack of basic care when it comes to data?

For example, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found that the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) had breached data protection when a mobile device containing un-encrypted information, regarding some cases of individuals physical and mental health, was stolen from an employee’s home.

“The ICO’s guidance is clear: all personal information – the loss of which is liable to cause individuals damage and distress - must be encrypted. This is one of the most basic security measures and is not expensive to put in place - yet we continue to see incidents being reported to us,” says ICO head of enforcement Sally-Anne Poole.

The IT industry is certainly changing at a rapid rate, but the basic principles that underline all technology have not changed. Poor control will inevitably lead to problems and perhaps IT managers fearful of new technology need to treat it like any other asset - with care and attention.

Exclusive preview of SupportDesk 8

2011-10-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

Development of Richmond SupportDesk 8 is in the final stages ready for release in the next few weeks. There are more than 50 new features, all designed to help improve your support processes and help you work more efficiently.

Here is a breakdown of some highlights:

- Improved self-service, with customer centric quick requests, homepage visibility of service status and knowledge article suggestions during call logging - features which will help reduce costs while delivering faster, more consistent service to customer.

- Service catalogue. Define your business and technical service portfolio and monitor uptime and availability of services provided to customers.

- Redesigned incident, request and change templates

Change management built to the latest ITIL processes. SupportDesk 8 features change workflow and templates and web voting forms with feedback notes.

Other features including linked incidents, ‘opening’ category, a first time fix indicator, category based resolution codes, custom incident field, configuration item locking, online asset booking and reservation requests, navigator visibility controls, additional options for email notifications, recipients and content, and much more.

Visit the Upgrade Centre for more information.

Helping customers deal with service desk challenges

2011-10-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

We’re pleased to welcome Billy Fowler to the Richmond Systems team. Billy is working alongside our sales team and his focus is learning about the challenges our customers are facing in these difficult financial times. He is also keen to understand how IT support industry is evolving and discover innovative ways that Richmond can help improve the delivery of IT services.

Billy has been busy contacting customers - you may have already heard from him - so when he does call, be sure to offer him any feedback or ideas you have. With the launch of SupportDesk Version 8 approaching, you may discover that some of your ‘wish list’ items are almost ready, but we are keen to keep improving so please share your concerns and thoughts with Billy.

Europe told to invest in ICT to save economies

2011-09-28T03:50:00.000-07:00

European businesses could smash their growth forecasts by five per cent if their investment in ICT matched their US counterparts.

Research by Oxford Economics says that faith in technology shown by US businesses gives them a significant financial advantage over other Western economies. It is estimated that if European organisations matched this level of spending, they would pump €760 billion into the economies of their member states.

According to the research, Spain and Italy are main laggards, while the UK is closest to the US in terms of IT maturity.

“There is a dire need for Europe to improve its productivity, and investment in ICT is the trump card to achieving this. But national governments must prioritise ICT investment more effectively and focus on creating the right conditions for investment,” says Fabio Colasanti, president of the International Institute of Communications.

Why Google and YouTube will never replace the service desk

2011-09-28T03:45:00.000-07:00

Will self-help found through Google and YouTube negate the need for a service desk? This was the question posed by ServiceDesk360, with research indicating that young people prefer to consult social media and video tutorials when trying to fix IT issues, rather than contacting the support department.

While it is certainly true that the delivery of support has and will continue to change, businesses will always need an efficient service desk. This is true for several reasons. Firstly, the self-help route is fallible - there will always be issues it cannot solve. No matter how good an FAQ facility or public forum is, there are always problems which occur outside the expected parameters that require the intervention of a service desk. Secondly, if staff embrace the DIY approach to IT support too eagerly, there will be an increase in demand for support to fix bad advice.

Thirdly, driven by an increased reliance of IT in the business world, the remit and importance of the service desk has grown significantly in recent years. On the technical side: procurement of, and advice about, equipment; requests for increased network storage; altering user write; are all issues that demand human intervention. In addition, as service desks increasingly encompass functions such as facilities management, HR and new starts, the demand for support is likely to grow rather than diminish.

It makes perfect sense to automate many of the processes previously managed by calling the service desk - resetting passwords, downloading print drivers and simple user support etc. Doing so helps deliver a faster, more efficient service to customers, and it also gives service desk staff more time to be proactive (using email or social media to warn of service outages), while affording them more time to help customers with more complex problems.

The issues which once preoccupied the old IT helpdesk (how can I print this document, how do I quit an application that has crashed) are history; customers are too tech savvy and can use Google to find quick answers to basic problems. But as the complexity of IT grows, particularly as more people use and rely on multiple devices and channels of communication, the service desk will adopt a more advisory role, helping customers get the best from the technology available and solving the challenges unique to each business. And despite its complexity and intelligence, this is something that Google will never manage.

IT services SMEs best hope for UK economy?

2011-09-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

Software and IT service businesses are best placed to prop up a flagging UK economy, with research from ECI predicting bullish growth in the technology space compared to other sectors.

84 per cent of SME (Small to Medium Enterprise) technology companies expect to grow turnover by more than six per cent this year, with almost a third stating that turnover growth will exceed 25 per cent.

SMEs are confident they can help counter job losses in the public sector, with three quarters of those polled by ECI expecting to grow headcount this year. Overall, 60 per cent of SMEs think their turnover will double in the next 12 months.

Web and social media IT support now impossible to ignore

2011-09-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

The pressure on helpdesks to provide support to mobile users has intensified after figures showed that almost half of all internet usage now occurs via smartphones and tablets.

A study by the Office of National Statistics shows that 45 per cent of UK internet users now go online via a mobile device, a number which swells to 71 per cent for 16-24 year olds.

With mobile web usage growing, organisations still struggling to provide effective web-based support now have to ensure that portals and help facilities also work on mobile devices.

Similarly, the need to develop a support presence on social networks is heightening, with the same study showing that 57 per cent of adult internet users - and 91 per cent of under 24's - are active on sites such as Twitter.

IT deps must think like construction firms to save money

2011-09-02T05:54:00.000-07:00

Tech companies must work more like construction companies if they want to stop leaking money, after research from Oxford University showed that projects managed by IT businesses are three times more likely to go over budget than ones in the building trade.

By studying 1500 large infrastructure and IT projects in a range of sectors, the University found the average budget overrun was 27 per cent, with one in six projects costing 200 per cent more than planned. However, the IT sector was found to be more wasteful, suggesting the technology sector needs to re-evaluate how projects are planned and implemented, adopting a more thorough and methodical style akin to large scale constructions.

Hello (again) from Richmond Systems

2011-09-02T04:04:00.000-07:00

We’re Richmond Systems and for more than 20 years we’ve been helping businesses improve their IT support and services. Yes, I know, we’ve been fairly quiet lately, but it’s not because there’s nothing going on - in fact, the opposite is true. We’ve been incredibly busy, working with new clients and developing exciting products which we are keen to share with you later this year.

This post is letting you know that we won’t be quiet from now on. So much has changed in recent years, such as the rise of consumerisation, signs the industry is outgrowing ITIL, and the ever-present pressure to do more for less while developing stronger links with the businesses we support. Our experiences working with customers and developing our own technologies mean we have lots to share on these and other topics.

We believe that freely sharing information is vital for raising standards of IT delivery and we will support this view with a series of activities. For starters, we are going to frequently publish news and ideas on this blog, for example this story about the importance of IT support to the utilities industry. This and more content will also be featured on our new website, plus we are launching a community newsletter in the next few weeks which we hope you will share with your colleagues and peers. We are excited about growing our network and learning from the ITSM community and we aim to help you do the same. Please follow us on Twitter and we hope you enjoy and comment on what we have to say.

Helpdesk's key as utilities prepare for $11.7 billion IT spending spree

2011-09-02T03:56:00.001-07:00

Utility providers seeking a competitive edge will focus their spending on IT services, rather than hardware and software investments, according to research from IDC.

With effective IT recognised of one of the few areas that utility companies can differentiate in a commoditised market, spending on technology provision is set to peak in 2015 at $11.7 billion, a $2.6 billion increase on this year’s figures.

IT services will absorb 62 per cent of the outlay, while spending on packaged software will account for 21 per cent, and hardware 18 per cent. IT support will command the biggest share of IT services spending, followed by project implementations and day-to-day operations.

Billing mistakes earn TalkTalk £3 million fine

2011-09-02T03:51:00.000-07:00

An IT failure has resulted in TalkTalk and its subsidiary Tiscali being hit with a £3 million fine, after the communications regulator Ofcom found the error meant that some customers were charged for unused services.

The regulator gave TalkTalk until December 2010 to rectify the problem - caused by a failure to correctly integrate Tiscali customer details into its system - however almost 3000 customers still received inaccurate bills between this date and March 2011.

The resulting fine could have been far higher - Ofcom can levy up to 10 per cent of a offending business’ turnover - but the regulator took into consideration TalkTalk paying compensation of £2.5 million, and reducing complaint calls by 40 per cent by introducing new customer service and IT systems.

“We are of course disappointed at the scale of the fine and feel it is a disproportionate penalty; however we are striving to continually improve and invest in customer experience and are pleased at the clear progress we are starting to make,” says TalkTalk CEO Dido Harding.

Career Opportunities: Account Manager (new)

2010-08-23T00:45:00.000-07:00

Account Managers

ROLE:
This position is ideal for a self-motivated and ambitious person with strong communication skills and who enjoys working in a customer facing environment. We offer a competitive compensation package which includes a base salary + an excellent uncapped commission plan. In addition, we provide comprehensive training sessions, which offer all the necessary tools to succeed.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
Develop new prospects and expand existing accounts.
Maintain required number of quality outbound calls to customer contacts.
Generate incremental revenue according to specific targets.
Conduct in-depth product presentations.
Record accurate customer data in the CRM system.
Provide high level of customer service to ensure customer satisfaction.

SKILLS/EXPERIENCE:
Demonstrable Software sales or similar experience,
A good technical understanding
Excellent communications and customer service skills.
Determination to surpass performance goals.
Willingness to learn.
Ability to work individually and within a highly collaborative team environment.
Excellent written/oral communication skills
Accountability and Professionalism

Applications in the first instance to: info@richmondsys.com and include “Account Manager Role” in the subject field along with up to date CV

No agencies

Service Desk Statistics – Practise What You Preach

2010-05-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

For more than 15 years Richmond Systems have been developing service desk software and advising customers on best practise for their service desk implementation. But how does their own service desk perform? Chris Ware from Richmond Systems answers this question.

“We use SupportDesk to record, classify and action incidents and requests raised with the support team. We’ve configured automated email responses as these are a useful way of reassuring Customers that we have received their requests and are working on them, especially in the case of requests logged via email or the web – customers’ hate being left in the dark.

We use service level agreements (SLAs), which are applied automatically when an incident is logged and the priority of the incident then advances until a resolution has been achieved. The technician is notified as the priority escalates and at pre-defined thresholds the team leader is also notified. Together these techniques help to ensure that Response SLAs are met.

Another visual feature that works well for us is to colour code the incident by the time since the incident was last worked on or the incident priority. This capability, combined with the use of automated escalations and notifications, means that an incident or customer should never be left without relevant information.

SLAs and response targets are analysed using reports from the Web Reporting module; these enable the service desk manager to effectively manage the team, set targets and objectives to improve customer service. Reporting back to senior management shows the current status and progress of outstanding incidents raised. All reports are scheduled and delivered via email to the relevant people at the right time.

So we certainly practise what we preach - are we any good at it? We naturally I’m biased so I’ll let the figures speak for themselves:

Response success rate year to date: 95.8%
Proactive incident reduction of 81% in the past 12 months
Average customer satisfaction rating of 4.2 out of 5

We use this information to set future targets and improve our technology. Best practise requires continuous improvement and we are certainly not going to rest on our Laurels!”

Richmond Announces Reseller Agreement with RM

2010-03-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

Richmond Systems are delighted to announce that they have entered into a strategic reseller agreement with RM, the leading provider of ICT software, infrastructure and services to education. Under the agreement RM will resell Richmond’s flagship help desk and asset management solution, Richmond SupportDesk, in their UK and international markets.

Commenting on the agreement Richmond’s Managing Director, Eric Wright, says “In recent years the requirement for technology support infrastructure use in education has grown substantially. We anticipated this high demand and have established Richmond as a leading provider of service and asset management technologies in schools and colleges. Working with RM is a logical step that will extend accessibility of Richmond SupportDesk to a larger community whilst allowing us to maintain focus on core product R&D and support.”

Su Kinton, Senior Product Manager for RM, commented “'We have seen increasing demand for helpdesk systems and are delighted to be working with Richmond Systems to meet this need for our customers.'

See us at the Service Desk & IT Support Show

2010-03-11T06:35:00.000-08:00

What is the Service Desk & IT Support Show?:
Europe’s largest IT service management event, from the 27 - 28 April 2010 in Earls Court, London.

Where will you find us?
Stand 814.

http://www.servicedeskshow.com/

We look forward to seeing you there.

Eric Wright
Managing Director, Richmond Systems.

Our Best BETT!

2010-01-11T05:27:00.000-08:00

The general consensus from the Richmond Team was that this year’s BETT 2010 Exhibition was the busiest by far, some of the team members have been attending for over 13 years and despite the adverse weather conditions found that the footfall was up, the level of enquiries had increased and the general awareness of our product was very high, creating an extremely high level of interest in our Helpdesk technology.

We would like to thank everyone who visited our stand for keeping us very busy over the four days of the show, and we look forward to seeing you there next year.

Richmond Racers

2009-12-11T03:24:00.000-08:00

Richmond Systems Kart Racing Team – Richmond Racers – put on an impressive performance at last nights’ 3 hour endurance team challenge at Gosport indoor karting circuit. The team, comprising Chris Ware, Phil Hollingsworth, Steve Boardman, Jacquie Deadman, Matthew Blessington, Eric Wright and Will Johnson stuck to race orders and successfully negotiated a 176 laps in what was a highly competitive field.

“It has been a very busy and challenging year.” commented Eric Wright, Richmond’s MD “but it has also been a highly successful year for us, everyone has worked hard and last night the team were revved up and ready to play hard.”

All drivers outperformed on the night but top honours go to Chris Ware with an incredible fastest lap time of 30.27 seconds.

WWF slams IT industry over slow reaction to climate change

2008-11-11T05:30:00.000-08:00

Research carried out by Gartner and supported by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says that despite positive moves by most large IT equipment and service suppliers to minimise carbon emissions, progress has been disappointingly slow. This is despite methods for reducing energy such as building more environmentally friendly facilities, using cloud applications and reducing travel through the use of IT conferencing seemingly being high on the IT agenda. This news is not surprising given the apparent costs of overhauling a multi-national organisation to fall in line with the current expectation about becoming green. This prevalent attitude does however highlight that many businesses are failing to see the bigger picture in terms of how greener working could help reduce costs and offer other financial gains.

Dennis Pamlin, global policy advisor at WWF said that those businesses who are embracing the low carbon economy are already reaping benefits in terms of falling costs and improved image. The environmental issue is likely to keep growing, bringing with it the potential for incentives such as tax breaks for those businesses having the smallest impact on the environment. We only need to refer to the ever growing road tax levy for high polluting personal vehicles to realise this is a trend that is likely to grow. “The current financial crisis provides an interesting short-term opportunity for ICT providers to position themselves as low carbon leaders that deliver services that both save money and carbon emissions, especially compared with many other solutions where there is a choice between money or the environment,” says Pamlin.

The report highlighted that many companies have no economic policy or any targets to reduce emissions; the most basic tenets of creating a low carbon business. The message is that businesses of all sizes should look at their operations and begin assessing where savings could be made. Energy efficiency means financial efficiency in today’s economy and with this issue set to continue intensifying, all organisations need to treat this with urgency.

The End is Not Nigh

2008-11-11T05:14:00.000-08:00

Jobs at risk, but positive signs are there.

The majority of IT service management employees are still holding their nerves in light of the worsening economic gloom, with 62 per cent claiming they will not have to shed staff. Those who do lose their jobs during the melee will however have a tough time finding new roles, with 64 per cent of budget holders planning to slash recruitment costs to help weather the storm.

Overall, the research by the Service Desk Institute (SDI) shows that of the 200 plus IT service management professionals interviewed, 45 per cent expect a slow down in investment.

The news here is not the numbers themselves - most people would expect to see turmoil mixed in with some optimism - but that a survey at this time is likely to change every day that it was conducted, with the negatives growing on each consecutive date.

No one knows how bad the situation will get, but we must all ensure we don’t allow ourselves to be consumed by fear. Business will continue through this period, and while many of us may be experiencing quiet times, this presents the perfect opportunity to take stock of our working methods and see where improvements can be made.

To see how Richmond SupportDesk can help with proven IT Service Management software solutions visit www.richmondsupportdesk.com.

IT takes centre stage with Barack

2008-11-11T05:05:00.000-08:00

Technology set for boost from new US president

The importance of modernising IT in the United States has already manifested itself as positive action as Barack Obama prepares to become the 44th US president.
Obama has drafted in Google executive Sonal Shah and Julius Genchowski, former InterActiveCorp executive to help safeguard his planned change programme which places greater emphasis on technological innovation.

Part of the plan is to introduce a Google search engine for searching public documents and to pull government and technology into the 21st century. Other plans include making broadband accessible for all US communities and protecting the openness of the internet while safeguarding children and ensuring a competitive landscape for content providers.

For more information on Obama’s vision for the future of IT in the US, more information can be found here, including a blueprint for change which is available for download. www.barackobama.com/issues/technology

Free White Paper- 10 Essential Steps for Service Desk Efficiency

2008-10-27T03:34:00.000-07:00

According to research group Forrester, over 40% of large businesses have cut their IT budgets in 2008.

With new IT projects being frozen as funds are diverted to offset falling revenues, IT service desk managers need to adopt new strategies to increase efficiency and effectiveness of existing systems and processes.

Richmond Systems have released a free White Paper entitled- 10 Essential Steps to achieve Service Desk Efficiency.

The paper covers some of the key topics to consider including coping with and reducing support incident volume, automation- is it effective, reporting, ITIL best practices, the importance of people and what efficiency gains do service desk systems offer.

To download a free copy of the White Paper please visit: http://www.richmondsupportdesk.com/html/form.asp.

Alternatively to discuss how service desk software can play a vital role in increasing the efficiency of your IT support, call Richmond Systems on
Tel: +44 (0)1428 641616 or visit www.richmondsupportdesk.com.

Richmond SupportDesk all new Web Based Reporting

2008-10-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

Richmond Systems today launched a brand new version of the service desk software Richmond SupportDesk, for enterprise IT support based on ITIL® best practices.

One of the many highlights for this release is web based reporting for powerful, dynamic and actionable reports all accessible via a web browser.

This empowers business users and support technicians alike with access to over 100 interactive statistical template reports on the support operation.

Report templates can be customised for each customer’s exact requirements and scheduled for automatic distribution via e-mail, printing, publishing to a web server or saving to a file. This ensures up to the minute statistics are available for key personnel and decision makers, whilst minimising any administration required for report distribution.

Reports include trend analysis to visualise key statistics for example, open or resolved support incidents on a daily/monthly basis, incident volume by group, priority and status. Enhanced Service Level Agreement (SLA) reporting includes average response resolutions, failed SLAs by support technician or category and exception reports.

Ideally suited to Managed Service Provider (MSP) environments and service desks that support multiple customer’s, reports can be setup and customised to each clients specific requirements, or for internal support where departmental analysis is required.

Next Steps
To find out more about the latest release of Richmond SupportDesk please visit www.richmondsupportdesk.com for a free trial version of the software or call
+44 (0)1428 641616 to discuss your service desk needs.

The Future of Service Management

2008-10-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

One of the problems faced by service provision industries, such as IT support, is that measurement of success is difficult because there are so many intangibles involved. That considered, with great interest I read a report called The Future of Service Management put together by a group of consultants (Downton, Taurel, Noventum) which claims to have discovered the types of organisation that can virtually guarantee sustained revenue growth, and those who are destined to fall further into the pit of cost cutting and tumbling margins.

The report identifies two types of service organisation, and the shared traits which help them to become profitable. Rather than use the report's overtly complex terms, it is easier to describe the two favourable business methodologies as 'large corporate service leaders' and 'smaller, niche providers providing premium service’.

The report argues that smaller businesses which put emphasis on service excellence can succeed by putting faith in staff to facilitate top-notch support and develop relationships with customers. The service in this example is so good that customers will pay a premium for goods and services to ensure support levels are maintained and are likely to buy more products from people they trust, all which lead to ever burgeoning profits for the business.

The problem for businesses in this segment is, as they grow, it is difficult to maintain the one-to-one intimacy that smaller businesses can offer. The solution for organisations in this position, according to the research, is to redevelop the business to move to the next category. The key for larger businesses is to develop a brand, embed service focus throughout the organisation and create processes which facilitate quality service for customers. Such a brand – the example given was John Lewis – doesn't have to rely on a specific individual to maintain a long-term rapport with the customer. Instead the business performs in such a way that the customer knows that whoever they deal with, they will be offered consistent service.
The report carries on by listing various other segments that businesses can fall within the category of negative service, falling profit margins.

I won't detail each of the business types here, but they generally try to compete on price and, as profits fall, have less to spend on the actual service delivery. As service levels fall, further price cuts are the only way to appease customers and the negative cycle continues.

There is much that the IT services market can learn from this way of thinking. IT services do have a direct impact on the profitability of service, and therefore investment to follow one of the models as set out in this report can ultimately impact the bottom line.

A detailed summary of the report can be found at www.thefutureofservice.com

Security secures more funding

2008-09-15T08:04:00.000-07:00

Could other IT services become as important in the boardroom?

Security now accounts for 10 per cent of spending on IT, with further investment expected in the sector. A survey of 1200 enterprises by Forrester Research says that despite the economic downturn, 21 per cent will increase spend on security, with all but six per cent of the remaining organisations keeping budgets constant.

Security has also succeeded in transcending IT to become a boardroom level issue, with almost 50 per cent of respondents reporting directly to the board. Whether or not this exposure will help highlight other IT issues is as yet unclear, but perhaps there are lessons to learn about how security has been promoted as a business rather than technical issue that could be applied to other IT services.

A bad day out the office for Canadian support technician

2008-09-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

“I’m holding you hostage until you fix my PC”

IT support staff are used to dealing with unreasonable and sometimes abusive customers, but a Canadian woman has taken the concept of awkward customer to a new level by holding a technician hostage until a connection problem was fixed.

Canadian actress Carol Sinclair said that she had been on the phone to her ISP over 20 times with no conclusion until finally an onsite repair visit was arranged. Sinclair claims that when the engineer couldn’t fix the problem she asked for him to stay until the second technician arrived.

However, local police said that in reality she told the man he couldn’t leave until her issue was resolved, implying she had a gun to keep him hostage. Sinclair was charged and banned from speaking to Aliant employees.

To read the full article:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2008/09/02/technician-hostage.html

Richmond SupportDesk Blog

2008-08-27T01:58:00.001-07:00

This is a test blog to see if the FTP facility works

Customer Strategy Magazine Highlights 3 Fold increase in First Level Resolutions

2008-08-22T02:31:00.000-07:00

Read an interesting article in the Customer Strategy Magazine which highlighted results from a survey conducted by the Service Desk Institute (SDI) into the changing role of Service Management.

A total of 159 service desk managers across 11 industry sectors responded to a questionnaire to understand their views on the industry performance, trends and service quality provided by the service desk software vendors.

The article highlighted that companies are both investing and elevating their IT Service Management with the aim of achieving best practice through the use of standards like ITIL in their IT support operations with the aim of raising customer service levels.

Three main points highlighted by the SDI Service Desk survey included:

1. First-level resolutions have increased 60% from only 21% when the SDI first conducted the research in 2004

2. ITIL standards are continuing to be adopted by organisation from only 30% using the methods and procedures in 2004 to 68% in 2008.

3. Organisations are increasingly favouring a two tiered approach to IT Support with more staff on the front line. If they are unable to deal with the request they elevate the incident to a second tier to handle. This second level comprises of more specialist technical support technicians to help establish the cause of the IT support incident.

To read the source article please follow this link:

http://www.customer-strategy.co.uk/csnews/index.cfm?ccs=584&cs=3772

ICT software that FITS

2008-06-13T06:27:00.000-07:00

The need for enhanced ICT support services in education has resulted in ICT managers looking for ways to effectively manage schools ever increasing ICT estate. Richmond Systems are running a series of online presentations covering the five essential topics to consider when looking for ICT helpdesk software.

These webinar presentations use the on-line Webex software for live demonstrations of the Richmond SupportDesk helpdesk software to:

Manage the increasing ICT estate in education
Effectively track phone, email and web support requests
Implement BECTA best practice framework (FITS) and ITIL processes
Improve the efficiency of ICT support departments within education
Analyse ICT support needs with comprehensive reporting

The next two webinars take place on Wednesday 18th June at 3.00 and Wednesday 25th June at 3.00, there is no charge for the event. To register, simply visit www.richmondsys.com/web/education/registration.asp.

The first ten people to register and attend the presentation will be posted a free USB hub.

For more information about FITs and the Richmond SupportDesk Help Desk software for education visit: www.richmondsys.com/education.

Specialist Schools and Academies Trust team up with Richmond Systems

2008-05-09T03:34:00.000-07:00

Richmond Systems is helping the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust’s new IT manager, Jahangir Janmohamed (JJ), to integrate service support into the running of the organisation, following the extension of its use of Richmond SupportDesk. The service desk software has been used to log calls to the IT team for the last two years, but under JJ’s leadership it has been further enhanced to integrate more fully with the Trust’s internal processes.

JJ commented: “My predecessor had bought Richmond SupportDesk but it wasn’t being used to its full potential. With help from the team at Richmond Systems, we have been able to extend its use from the IT team logging calls into a service that all staff members can use to flag IT problems. Richmond SupportDesk works intuitively, so was quickly taken up across the organisation whilst raising the profile of IT and making a real difference to the way employees interact with the department.”

Ease of use was particularly important in facilitating system acceptance by employees. Richmond SupportDesk actively encourages system use through clear screen layout, customisable views and time-saving features like single click recording of common issues.

“Now, all IT requests are logged, although it took something of a culture change in the organisation, as some people seemed to think their problem wouldn’t get answered unless they visited the IT team in person. The Trust’s 320 users now realise that going through the proper channels ensures an effective and timely response to their IT issues. Calls are managed properly so that mission-critical problems take priority without other issues being ignored. The IT team now has the tools to prioritise workload, preventing unfair ‘queue-jumping’ and, ultimately, everyone knows they are having their requests dealt with effectively with the resources available.”

“We’re now much better able to support all of the Trust’s employees, which is really important as we’re looking after seven regional offices as well as those based at our Millbank Tower headquarters. At first we got the usual complaints that HQ was getting better service than the branch offices, however using Richmond SupportDesk’s Customer Satisfaction Surveys we are able to directly monitor the service experience of every employee in the trust and use satisfaction scores to allay misconceptions about preferential treatment. Using Richmond SupportDesk has enables us to answer queries in a timely manner, wherever they are in the country, and provide best practice service to the Trust.”

Alleviate IT Staff Work Pressures with Self Service and Mobile Solutions

2008-05-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

With the ever increasing demand on IT Staff to deliver, support and maintain new technology, whilst adhering to stringent service levels, the need for innovative solutions to assist them in their challenging roles has never been greater.

Companies are starting to realise that ‘going mobile’ is a necessary way of increasing productivity whilst saving money. IT support staff must not be forgotten as they play a key role in making this happen. They need tools not just to support the mobile workforce effectively, but to make their own work more flexible; being able to access job information while off-site or on the move.

In addition to mobile solutions for IT staff, extending support capability to provide customer self service empowers users to find answers to their support questions whilst reducing workload and freeing up service desk resources.

Richmond Systems will be launching two new solutions at the Service Desk & IT Support Show 2008, Richmond SupportDesk Mobile and a Self Service Portal to help address the work balance requirements for IT support staff.

Richmond SupportDesk Self Service Portal provides customised, interactive access to the service operations via web browsers. The fully configurable solution is designed to meet the specific support needs of diverse internal and external customer groups. Managed Service Providers can add value to their services by tailoring the interface and user experience for each customer.

Richmond SupportDesk Mobile provides service desk staff with live incident management on the move through any device supporting the Windows Mobile™ operating system. This maintains real-time interaction with the central service desk.

“IT support staff face huge demands on a daily basis, providing them with the tools to work as effectively as possible with limited resources helps alleviate some of their daily pressures” commented Eric Wright, managing director at Richmond Systems.

Richmond SupportDesk Self Service Portal

2008-04-25T04:32:00.000-07:00

Richmond Systems are pleased to announce the latest release of Richmond SupportDesk v6.7 with a brand new Richmond SupportDesk Self Service Portal.

This provides your end users with customised interactive access to Richmond SupportDesk 24/7 via standard web browsers, enhancing customer satisfaction whilst reducing costs. The benefits of the new software include:

1.) Fully Configurable Solution- for the specific support needs of diverse internal user groups creating a bespoke interface look and feel using system options, templates and style sheets.

2.) Internal support- can encourage departments to log incidents via the web by ensuring the interface is appropriate to the experience and requirements of each user.

3.) Personalised knowledge bases- empower users to find answers to their questions without tying up service desk resources.

4.) Bespoke bulletins- notify users of ongoing and planned activities, reducing unnecessary contact with the service desk.

5.) Quick incident- templates allow rapid logging of frequently occurring incidents.

6.) Customisable incident screens- provide access to track incident progress and status by dragging and dropping to sort or group different criteria including; category, status and priority.

7.) Intelligent user registration- automatically recognises the user domain to determine the optimum configuration, alternatively registration can be confirmed by support desk operators.

8.) Scalable best practice architecture- based on .NET and Microsoft IIS platforms supporting multiple concurrent sessions.

9.) Change management- to view existing Requests for Change (RFC) that have been approved and raising new requests.

To evaluate the Richmond SupportDesk Self Service Portal a free 30 day trial is available, to download please click here.

Industry Focus

2008-04-25T04:25:00.000-07:00

Richmond SupposrDesk has clients in a variety of different Industries, here are but a few:

2007-12-05T04:12:00.000-08:00

Richmond Systems are pleased to announce the latest version of Richmond SupportDesk; 6.67.

Please click here for more information

New Richmond SupportDesk Website

2007-12-05T04:09:00.000-08:00

We have recently launched the new Richmond SupportDesk product website please visit it here: http://www.richmondsupportdesk.com/

We have also updated our current Richmond Systems Website and Education Section:
http://www.richmondsys.com/

Service Desk & IT Support Show 2007

2007-03-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

Richmond Systems are to showcase the latest version of Richmond SupportDesk at the Service Desk & IT Support show 2007, 24th - 26th April, London.

Visit www.richmondsys.com for more information or to register a meeting with us.

Richmond SupportDesk v6.5

2007-03-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

Richmond SupportDesk is an innovative IT service management solution that helps organisations to deliver best practice service and support.

New features now include:

Change Management
Standardised methods, procedures and approvals for handling change requests.

Customer Satisfaction Survey
User-definable questionnaires to gain essential information on service performance.

Time Zones
Configuration for managing service support that spans multiple regions.

Single Sign-On
Enable users to automatically login to SupportDesk using pass-through authentication.

To find out more either download a fully-functional trial copy of Richmond SupportDesk v6.5 or visit www.richmondsys.com.

Blog Catalog Blog Directory

2007-03-29T04:15:00.000-07:00