The service desk is a focal point for much of a service provider’s operations. As a result, harnessing the information that gets collected in this platform can be a highly effective way to realize a host of improvements. The service desk can equip staff members and management with measures of an array of areas, helping identify operational bottlenecks, infrastructure issues, and other areas for improvement. Following are two key areas in which analytics can fuel improvements.

• Optimizing client environments and efficiency. Both for the MSP and for the customer, a key objective is always to reduce the amount and duration of system issues. The more stable systems are, the better the MSP’s margins will be and the happier the customer will be. Toward this end, it’s vital to have effective measures of infrastructure issues. In addition, just about any action that takes place within an MSP is a data point. MSPs need to institute the systems and technologies needed to ensure these data points are consistently captured. By doing so, MSPs can gather the insights and recommendations that clients can use to improve their operational efficiency.
• Enhancing MSP operations. An effective service desk platform can help MSP management more knowledgeably and effectively track, assess, and improve their organization’s operational performance. This can include tracking individual and team performance, identifying areas for improvement, measuring workloads in order to better manage staffing levels and hiring, establishing effective baselines of ongoing tasks in order to identify areas for improvement and track progress, and more.

[Editor’s note: This is the final post in our four-part series. In our last post, we looked at building process consistency and configurability in the service desk. These posts draw from a recent MSP Mentor webcast sponsored by Nimsoft. To learn more or access the webcast, which is now available on demand, check out the following link: “Building a Service Desk that Builds Business: 5 Tips to Success”. ]

To scale, MSPs need to achieve consistency in service delivery and in operations. Having the right processes in place is essential in this endeavor, and the service desk can play a major role in how successful MSPs are in establishing and adhering to these processes. The service desk can support MSPs in two key areas:

• Repeatable best practices and process standardization. The service desk needs to provide a consistent foundation, one that enables repeatable, consistent, best practice-based workflows across the client base. For many service providers, ITIL is an invaluable building block in this regard. Early on, ITIL can help a service provider define such facets as operational support and what it actually means to clients. Over time, organizations can continue to mature their ITIL approaches, so both customers and the business can see, and benefit from, the maturity of the processes and tools in place. (We recently authored a blog post on MSP Mentor that reveals another key reason for adopting ITIL in your service desk.)
• Configurable escalation workflows and process automation. In addition, it needs to support the configuration and automation needed to effectively meet the specific requirements of the customer. For service providers, two of the most important objectives are to instill predictability and consistency across all staff members and processes. MSPs need to configure workflow processes so that they support these objectives. Action-based workflows need to be preconfigured within the service desk, so if a service desk analyst takes a call, they don’t have any doubt about what the next step is going to be. Traditionally, service providers developed what is known as a “run book” for each customer, a printed or online document that defines client-specific procedures. To scale, MSPs need to integrate their run book processes into their service desk, so processes are seamlessly integrated with service desk interactions, and automated wherever possible.

[Editor’s note: This is the third in a four-part series of blog posts, which draw from a recent MSP Mentor webcast sponsored by Nimsoft. In our last post, we discussed the importance of establishing shared services. In the next post, we’ll discuss how to leverage service desk analytics. To learn more or access the webcast, which is now available on demand, check out the following link: “Building a Service Desk that Builds Business: 5 Tips to Success”.]