1. No category

Users Doing IT for Themselves – How to make Self Service Work Prepared by Daniel Wood, Head of Research, Service Desk Institute April 2011 Introduction Welcome to this research report produced in collaboration with Cherwell Software and the Service Desk & IT Support Show. The purpose of this report was to identify the adoption of self support 1 in the Service Desk industry and to highlight how it was being used. Additionally, there was a need to discover whether this technology was improving service delivery and how it was changing the way that we support users. The title of this report conveys a broader message about how support is changing in the Service Desk industry. Increasingly we are seeing that users are more able and willing to initiate their own service requests and look to self help to provide them with the solutions to their problems. If this trend was to become more widely adopted, we could conceivably foresee a situation in the not too distant future whereby the way that Service Desks support users will be changed irrevocably. Users who are comfortable with self‐diagnosis and finding their own solutions will find that their interactions with the Service Desk will change dramatically. The reverse is also true; if the trend towards self service continues then Service Desks too will need to adapt and change to meet the expectations and requirements of users as to how support is delivered. In short, the whole concept and execution of service and support is at stake with the accelerated use of self service/help technology – just how deep such trends run will be fully explained and extrapolated in this report. Executive Summary This report identifies the prevalence and use of self help and self service in the Service Desk industry. The results for this survey were obtained from an online survey that was sent to over five thousand ITSM professionals and ran from January to February 2011. The survey was completed by 103 respondents, and their open and honest answers have been used to produce the results in this report. Additional evidence and opinion was gleaned from personal interviews conducted with Service Desk professionals by the author of this survey. Their insights provide a valuable context to the quantitative data displayed in the report. This report finds that the Service Desk industry demonstrates a high usage and adoption of self service technology, and that many positive outcomes have been observed and reported such as increased user satisfaction and overall improvements in service (page 20). However, in many cases self support is immature and the correct processes and procedures have not yet been formalised. What we also see is that the drive for self support comes primarily from the Service Desk and IT Management and not, as we may expect, the users of IT (page 8). Additionally, there appears to be little ownership of self support with only a small percentage of respondents stating that someone was directly responsible – this is a major problem as without responsibility no‐one is driving the initiatives and there is not one easily identifiable person in overall control and command (page 27). 1
Please note that the term self support, for the purposes of this report, denotes the combined use of self service and self help. 2
It is also shown that usage and the validity of information available to users is a problem, but is one which can be remedied through the guide provided at the end of this report (page 30). Definitions Self Service Definition: In a retail or commercial environment, self service refers to the process by which customers or users can help themselves and commonly refers to self service checkouts. It is, in brief, the way in which customers deliver their own service without the need for help or intervention. In the ITSM world, self service follows a broadly similar principle, but usually refers to actions users can take such as service requests (for example, requesting new hardware), or setting up a new user (requesting that they have their e‐mail client configured, their own place on the network and their password and login details etc.). Self service is useful because it reduces the numbers of calls to the Service Desk and empowers users to initiate requests. Self Help Definition: Self help, as the name suggests, offers the ability for users to diagnose their own problems and to administer their own solutions. The most basic kind of self help is a simple FAQ or wiki that contains solutions to users’ most common problems. These will typically be stored on a dedicated web portal or section of the intranet. More advanced solutions are interactive digital assistants which are programmed with pre‐defined answers to users’ questions – Royal Mail’s ‘Ask Sarah’ is a good example of how this type of technology has been employed effectively. 2 Self help is, in essence, the way in which users of IT can be proactive and solve their own problems without the need for Service Desk involvement. 2 “Royal Mail's ‘Ask Sarah’ web self‐service system cuts email enquiry volume by half” http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=16917 3
Key Findings •
65 percent of respondents expect self support to have a considerable or major impact over the next 5 years •
Self help and/or self service are currently used by 79 percent of those surveyed •
The Service Desk is responsible for driving 34 percent of self support initiatives, but only 2 percent are driven by end users •
The top 3 major drivers for self support were identified as budgetary, staffing and demand for 24/7 support •
Reduced call volumes, better user experience and the ease with which service requests could be initiated have been the major benefits of self support •
Lack of time and resources are the major barriers to implementation •
Those aged under 30 were identified as the age group who would most readily adapt to self support •
Less than 10 percent knew the cost of each self support interaction •
The key motivations for implementing self support were to free up resources and deliver a better experience to users •
Feedback from users regarding self support has been largely positive •
A large number of Service Desks do not track any metrics from their tools •
The major barriers to successful self support are out‐of‐date knowledge and lack of integration with support tools 4
1. Setting the Scene 1. How many users do you Support? 20%
23%
Under 250
251-500
501-1000
1001-2500
13%
7%
2501-5000
5001-7500
Over 7500
9%
14%
14%
The above chart demonstrates that there was a wide variation in the number of users that our respondents’ Service Desks support. This variation is useful for this report because it means that a range of Service Desks are covered, from those who support less than 250 users to ones that have over 7500. This means that the report is not skewed towards one particular size of organisation (or by inference Service Desk). We can thus see whether self support is beneficial to a range of organisations rather than just one particular size. 5
2. What level of impact do you expect self help/service will have on the delivery of ITSM functions over the next 5 years? 13%
22%
12%
Marginal impact
Considerable impact
Major impact
Don't know
53%
This was a key finding from our report. As shown above, only 22 percent expect that self support will have a marginal impact on service delivery. They believe that it will have some impact but that its impact will not be game‐changing. By far the most popular response was ‘considerable impact’ which demonstrates that just over half of our respondents believe that self support will have a marked impact on ITSM functions and suggests that they will change how Service Desks operate and how service is delivered. Beyond this, 12 percent felt that it would have a major impact, suggestive of irrevocable change for our industry. The above results also highlight that only 13 percent felt that they did not know what impact self support would have on service, which indicates that the vast majority are aware of what self support will mean for their support operations and the level and degree of change that they can expect from this technology. Some comments from our interviewees included: “It will allow for 24/7 support of customers, without necessarily having to have a manned Service Desk out‐of‐hours. Combined with self service tools, customers will be empowered to work at times more suited to them and enhance the business by providing more flexibility in the workforce.” “I think it will have an amazing effect as more and more users want to use their own equipment from a non standard work environment. With finances becoming increasingly more difficult to find, self service is a way that IT can save money for the business by reducing staff costs by allowing users to manage their own calls.” 6
“It will allow specialised Service Desk staff to provide a higher level of service concentrating on those issues where a closer interaction between customer and desk is needed” “Huge in terms of the Service Desk. With the increasing volume of information available and also the ability of social media to bring users together, the 'How‐to' questions should all but disappear. Using the social media tools to allow other users to answer each others queries will see ITSM only being required to answer the most technical of questions.” “Just making some self help available is not sufficient, customers need to have buy‐in to this service and see tangible benefits in using it. From the support perspective this is hugely important in allowing service to continue to a high and effective level without having to greatly increase costs in terms of staff headcount.” 3. Do you currently use, or are you planning to use, either self help and/or self service on your Service Desk? 10%
21%
6%
Self help only
Self service only
Both
Neither
63%
As shown, the majority of respondents use both self help and self service, indicative of the trend towards users being in control and literally being able to do IT for themselves. We can suggest that most desks use both self help and self service because the technology that underpins them is essentially the same, thus if you have invested in one solution then it makes sense to extend it to the other. Additionally, if you offer one solution then it indicates that the desk is attuned to self service provisions and users might reasonably ask why your desk only offers one and not the other. Of those who use the technology in its individual form, self help is used by a larger percentage than self service. The chart also shows that about one‐fifth of respondents do not use self help or self service, a key result which shows that although these technologies are prevalent in the industry, there are still barriers that are preventing adoption. 7
4. If you have either implemented or have a project to implement self help/service, who is driving the initiative? 2%
19%
34%
Service Desk
IT Management
Business Management
End User Community
45%
Perhaps unsurprisingly, IT Management is the largest driver for adoption and this can be explained by the fact they will be more likely to have control of the budget and have influence at higher echelons of the business. Additionally, IT Management will be in a position to assess the broader ramifications of self support adoption and its impact on IT as a whole. Business Management too is shown to have a significant impact, again for the same reasons that so many projects are driven by IT management. Slightly behind IT Management, it is shown that about one‐third of projects for self support are driven by the Service Desk. This demonstrates the Service Desk does have significant influence on project implementation, which is as it should be given that the Service Desk is in the best position to judge their users’ wants and needs. Perhaps the most significant result though is that only 2 percent of self support implementations are driven by end users, a finding supported by our interviews. This clearly shows that it is the business that is driving implementation and not the people who are actually using the technology and services. From the customer interviews we determined that it is often the Service Desk going to the business stating their reasons for implementing self support and the broader implications for the business. For one of our interviewees, their Service Desk metrics told their own story – 35 to 40 percent of their calls were for ticket updates – so the Service Desk was in a strong position to make their case for self service. This underlines that metrics are an integral part of making a business case for investment. Another interviewee noted that his Service Desk were able to develop their own self service portal through their existing intranet and thus could go to the business with a tool already in place. Here the drive certainly came from the Service Desk and was a project that they invested their own time and effort in. 8
Some comments from our interviewees included: “The Head of ICT is driving the implementation as a service improvement initiative. It has not come from our user base as we are not a highly IT literate organisation and as such we tend to have to present something and get their buy in as opposed to them coming to us with suggestions.” “The drive came from the IT function to minimise the number of calls coming in and ensure that our resources are targeted on reacting to issues which need our attention and doing project work, rather than fighting the same fires continuously.” “This is being driven from both the 'business' and 'technology'. On the business side of the organisation there is a desire for greater responsiveness (including time to implement new features), visibility and lessening of 'red tape', and on the technology side there is a desire for increased automation, efficiencies and cost reduction.” “The drive has undoubtedly come from the business and we have had to respond to make sure we're not completely bypassed.” “Drive comes from the business who want to reduce costs yet still improve service satisfaction levels: customers demanding better service will go elsewhere more quickly than ever.” 5. What will be the major drivers for self help/service adoption? Check all that apply 25
Percentage
20
15
10
5
0
Budgetary
Staffing
Demand Demand Demand
for 24/7 from users
from
support
higher
levels of
the
business
To
There will
compete be no drive
with
for self
others in
help or
the ITSM
self
industry
service
Don't
know
This question produced some revealing results. Firstly, as with most decisions in the ITSM arena at the present moment, the major driver is identified as budgetary. Perhaps it is surprising that staffing features second as we can read into this two ways – firstly is it an 9
awareness or need to ease the burden on staff that is driving self support? Or is it that the desk needs the necessary staff with the correct knowledge to be able to manage self support? Desks will need to assess whether they have enough staff available to properly manage and maintain self support or whether it will overburden them. Additionally, our customer interviews identified that self service could remove some of the more mundane tasks from analysts (such as password resets, ticket updates etc.) and allow them to learn more skills and take over some more second line tasks. One of our interviewees resonated with this and stated that self support has helped with motivation as it removes the boredom of repeating the same tasks, and challenges them to take on and explore new areas and learn new skills, for example firewalls and information security, and work with other teams. A close third on the list was demand for 24/7 support, which is of course one of the major benefits of self support technology. With companies now increasingly multinational, the demand for support that breaks the structure of the traditional 9‐5 is now becoming evermore pressing. 6. What have been the major benefits of self service tools? Tick all that apply 25
Percentage
20
15
10
5
0
Quicker to set
Easier for
Easier for
up a new user
users to
users to
monitor and
initiate service
manage their
requests
requests
Reduced call Reduced cost
volumes
of support
Better user
experience
As with all adoptions of technology, the Service Desk and the business want to see tangible results to justify the time, effort and expense they have invested. It is encouraging, therefore, that the three highest most publicised benefits of self support all shared the top spot. When we think about self support technologies, high on the list of benefits is improving the overall user experience because, after all, everyday we dedicate ourselves to that end. Better user experience embodies many different facets of self support, and it is hoped that Service Desks are measuring and recording satisfaction levels – results later in the survey reveal that this is the case and can provide the tangible results that are so sought after. Reduced call volumes are again a key benefit, as self support removes the need for users to contact the Service Desk about every incident or service request. Being able to initiate service 10
requests on their own removes the burden from the desk and self help enables users to be more proactive in finding their own solutions. The heart of understanding the impact of and benefits of self support lies in recording and analysing your metrics. Reduced cost of support is also listed as a realised benefit, which marries with chart 5 which showed that budgetary reasons will be one of the major drivers for self service. Being able to demonstrate that self service has reduced costs will help to drive adoption as desks keep a close eye on their costs and budgets and allows them to make a compelling case to the rest of the business in putting together a business plan. 7. What are, or have been, the major barriers to self help/service adoption? Check all that apply 30
25
Percentage
20
15
10
5
er
th
O
e
fe
c
ef
y
sa
tio
n
Do
fo
n't
ri
tt
o
se
e
be
an
d
an
m
de
No
tiv
f it
ne
be
m
f ro
re
s
of
ck
s
us
er
s
rc
es
ou
ra
La
No
tt
he
rig
ht
or
ga
La
ni
ck
of
kn
o
wl
ed
ge
La
/ IT
ck
lit e
of
Bu
dg
tim
cy
e
et
0
The responses for this question were quite varied, demonstrating the range of barriers and constraints. Time and lack of resources featured most prominently, with budget in fourth position, which is perhaps surprising when, for most technologies, budget usually features at the top of the list. Time is a key barrier because self support requires significant investment in terms of researching the correct solutions, dedicating time to ensuring that it is properly implemented and marketed, and then monitoring and improving once implemented. All of these activities also require resource, which explains why resources featured close behind. Lack of knowledge and IT literacy is also linked to resources as one of the keys to making self support a success is to promote and educate users on its benefits, and how they can use it 11
effectively. The results of the chart show that some feel that knowledge is too high a barrier to be bridged in this way, or that there are not enough available resources to dedicate to an educational effort. Our interviews found that culture was a major barrier to self support adoption as users have become so accustomed to picking up the phone to ring the Service Desk that they find it difficult to change their habits. One interviewee made the perceptive point that users are happy to use self support when it replaces basic admin tasks like password resets or making service requests, but are less enthusiastic if it is at a more involved level and requires self diagnosis. In these situations, they see it as more productive to pick up the phone or send an e‐mail rather than fix their own problems. Some comments from our interviewees included: “Reluctance to change. Most ICT staff still do not understand that ICT is changing and no longer can a 9‐5 job be associated with ICT. That said, self service will help; however, there needs to be the opportunity of reaching a human being for more complex requests and to ensure that the Service Desk remains completely customer friendly.” “Users were reluctant at first, but as soon as they realised they could fix their issue more quickly, or with minimal intervention, it became adopted quite quickly.” “Self service has been in operation for some time within the organisation and has seen wide adoption. However, there have always been groups of users who will either see the removal of the 'human element' as a lessening of service or who will see the use of such a tool as something that is frankly beneath them.” “There have been two large barriers. One, ensuring that sufficient content exists. Promoting a service that is not fit for purpose means that it will never get used so a lot of content has to be created prior to launch, and most importantly the content has to be kept up to date. Second, making information easy to access and easy to find. Simply placing lots of content in a single container is not particularly useful, so allowing customers easy and structured access to self help resources has been a challenge.” “Initially, and in contradiction to one of the drivers, users didn't want to be logging their own incidents as they 'didn't have the time' or they'd 'never done it that way before'. Once this initial hurdle was overcome and users started to see benefits, then they became quite proactive in wanting to improve the process.” 12
2. The Impact of the Technologies The survey was divided into three parts to separate respondents who used self service, self help, or both. As identified in question 3, the vast majority of our respondents used both self help and self service. The 3 available choices were: Self Service, Self Help or Both. 1. What level of interest do your end users have in self service technologies? Self Service
0%
17%
33%
Low interest
Required
Requested
No interest
50%
Self Help
10%
20%
Low interest
50%
Required
Requested
No interest
20%
13
2%
Both
21%
Low interest
Required
Requested
58%
No interest
19%
One of the biggest drivers for self support technologies will come from the users of IT, so it is important to understand what their level of interest is. If our Service Desks are attuned to customer thought and demand, then this will likely push adoption. The results show that a significant percentage of respondents stated that their users had either a low interest or no interest in self service technologies. For self service, 33 percent reported low interest, and half stated that it was required. For self help this figure was 50 percent and was even higher for both. For self help, 10 percent reported that there was no interest at all. These are significant barriers to adoption of the technology, but we must reserve judgement because it is not clear whether our respondents’ offered these opinions based on anecdotal evidence or from results gleaned from customer surveys. However, for self help and both, 40 percent of respondents’ stated that the technology was either requested or required which demonstrates that there is a powerful demand from users. Tony Probert (European Managing Director, Cherwell Software) says… It is likely that the impact of self help will be more limited, as this is primarily focused on either issue resolution or end user training. Whereas, the demand for self service will continue to escalate as more and more service oriented requirements, both within an organisation and/or to external customers becomes more automated and user friendly. For example, the increased online self service experiences being offered for shopping, banking, travel, social media, etc. 2. In your opinion, which group of end users would more readily adopt the use of self service technologies? Self Service Those aged under 30 100% Those aged 30 ‐ 45 0% Those aged over 45 0% 14
Self Help Those aged under 30 44% Those aged 30 ‐ 45 34% Those aged over 45 22% Both Those aged under 30 74% Those aged 30 ‐ 45 24% Those aged over 45 2% The opinions offered to this question reveal that those aged under 30 would be more likely to adapt to self support technology. We can infer that this is because this age group is perceived as more technically savvy than their elders, and are more willing to embrace new ideas and ways of working. For each technology, those aged over 45 were deemed to be the least likely to adapt to self service. For both, the figure of 2 percent for those aged over 45 indicates that this will be a significant barrier to adoption as the success of self service is highly dependent on its usage. Our interviews found that age was a concern for Service Desks as it was indicative of a major barrier to self support success: culture change. It was indicated that older users would be less adaptable and amenable to new channels of support. Despite our findings for self support, in the social media sphere it is shown that the fastest growing segment of Facebook® users is 55‐65 year old females. This indicates that those over 45 are becoming increasingly tech savvy, and we can expect that they will become more comfortable with using self support mechanisms. 3 Tony Probert (European Managing Director, Cherwell Software) says… Every generation is becoming exponentially technology savvy, using computer and mobile technologies from an earlier age than the previous generation, whether it be in their personal lives or for the work they do. As such, it is inevitable that users in the future will feel increasingly comfortable with technology and demand more self service access through browsers and social media. 3. Do you know the cost of each self service interaction? Self Service Yes 0% No 100% Self Help Yes 10% No 90% Both Yes 6% No 94% 3
“Social Media Revolution statistics” http://www.socialnomics.net/2010/05/05/social‐media‐revolution‐2‐
refresh/ 15
Please note that there was a follow‐on question for those who answered ‘yes’ as to how much each interaction cost, but no‐one supplied an answer. A common problem for Service Desks is in understanding how much each Service Desk interaction actually costs. If we don’t know this figure then it ultimately becomes impossible to calculate the cost of support. The reason why this is problematic should be self‐evident, but if not it will become startlingly clear when the business asks how much it costs to run the Service Desk. Answering this question with a blank stare is not likely to go down too well. Very few desks measure the cost of each channel of support – be it telephone, e‐mail, or self support – as demonstrated in SDI’s 2009 Benchmarking Report which found that 77 percent did not measure them. 4
It is therefore highly discouraging that no respondents’ stated that they knew the cost of self service interactions, and that self help and both fared only slightly better at 10 percent and 6 percent respectively. This means that for the vast majority of respondents they have no idea as to whether self service technologies are more cost effective than other channels of support such as phone and chat, which would make it nearly impossible to justify investment in the technology or to put together a business case. The business will also want to see an ROI – impossible without knowing how much it actually costs per interaction. For those who are using self support technologies, they should be a key performance measure alongside other channels of support. We asked our interviewees why so few Service Desks know the cost of each self service interaction: “I think this is because in some organisations the information simply isn’t available to make that calculation or is deemed too much work for the end result. It may also be that the costings directly contradict the value of the project in the first place (having not been calculated at the outset) and so could prove damning if revealed.” “Colleagues generally have a perception that the cost of IT is given as an overhead to running the business and not associated directly with the point of contact or level of usage. Only recently, since businesses have become cost savvy are different methods being used to work out the true costs of the IT function.” “Most ICT sections/teams do not have a service catalogue, so the cost of service provision is not known. It is therefore highly unlikely that interaction costs are even on the radar of most ICT managers.” “The unit cost of existing Help Desk services are often unknown and even not costed per contact. This tends to be legacy based more than anything (we've always done it that way). New self help products coming to market shall likely already know the cost per contact for use as a comparator for benefit analysis.” “Difficulty in establishing costs. Capital and ongoing costs can be established for hardware/software but self service, by design, means the end user is responsible and their 4
2009 SDI Benchmarking Report “www.sdi‐europe.com” 16
time cannot be established easily e.g. is time more expensive out of hours/weekends when most self service incidents occur? Or do we consider employee time equally across every incident irrespective of employees’ position/salary?” 4. How many self service interactions require further assistance? Self Service
17%
32%
Don't know
Don't Measure
0-20%
17%
21-40%
41-60%
61-80%
0%
81-100%
17%
17%
0%
Self Help
0%
0%
11%
11%
34%
Don't know
Don't measure
0-20%
21-40%
41-60%
61-80%
81-100%
33%
11%
Both
8%
2%
27%
11%
Don't know
Don't measure
0-20%
21-40%
41-60%
61-80%
81-100%
24%
22%
6%
17
The charts demonstrate that there was quite a mixed response to this question, but some clear trends are apparent. Firstly, it is shown that on average one‐third of respondents did not know how many self support interactions required further assistance. Additionally, 17 percent of self service and 11 percent of self help and both stated that they don’t measure this metric, which suggests that it can be recorded on the ITSM tool, but that this functionality is not being utilised. What this demonstrates is that either their ITSM tool is not capable of reporting these metrics, or that analysts are simply not recording it or asking the correct questions to ascertain if users had tried self help first before calling the desk. One of the raison d'êtres of self support is that it removes the need for the Service Desk to be directly involved in the support process – the results show that there is a high variation between the technologies. For those who use both, only 6 percent reported that 0‐20 percent required no further assistance, and this figure was 17 percent for self service and 33 percent for self help. In a third of self help interactions then, the user does not need to contact the Service Desk which is testament to the tool’s ability and implementation. At the other end of the scale, those interactions that always or nearly always required further assistance was stated by respondents as 2 percent for both and 0 percent for self help. The anomaly here was self service, with 17 percent saying that further assistance was invariably required. What we can determine from these results is that for those who do measure, only 0‐
40 percent require further assistance, which shows that on the whole self support is working effectively and is freeing up Service Desk resources. 5. What have been the major benefits of self service technologies? Please check all that apply Self Service
90
80
70
Percentage
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Reduced
Lower cost
call volumes of support
Better user
experience
Increased
user
productivity
Better
24/7 support
No
perception
discernable
of the
benefits
Service
Desk
18
Self Help
25
Percentage
20
15
10
5
0
Reduced
Lower cost
call volumes of support
Better user
experience
Increased
user
productivity
24/7 support
No
Better
discernable
perception
benefits
of the
Service
Desk
Both
25
Percentage
20
15
10
5
0
Reduced
Lower cost
call volumes of support
Better user
experience
Increased
user
productivity
Better
24/7 support
No
perception
discernable
of Service
benefits
Desk
Again, the charts show a variation in results. It is clear though that reduced call volumes received was seen as the major benefit of self support, with respondents for self service stating that 85 percent of them had seen a decrease in their call volumes. This percentage was slightly less marked for self help and both, with a figure of 22‐23 percent. At the other end of the spectrum, 8 percent of respondents for self help stated that there had been no discernable benefits, but no‐one for self service or both reported the same. Therefore, on the whole, self support is shown to have benefits to organisations. Reduced call volumes are a great result for Service Desks as it allows analysts to focus on, as one interviewee noted, the tasks that they are paid to do such as troubleshoot and problem solve. It allows analysts to move away from the more mundane tasks of copying call logs into the call logging tool and get involved in other areas, for example, working with the networking team. The benefits of this are twofold: firstly it allows analysts to explore other areas of the business and work with teams that they might one day have an aspiration of joining. Secondly, it helps improve motivation and staff retention as analysts are able to experience more variety in their work and gain additional skills that will be useful throughout their career. 19
Howard Kendall (Chairman, SDI) says… It’s really encouraging to see that organisations are recognising that enabling analysts to have a variety of tasks aids motivation and retention, which ultimately results in a better service to the business and experience to the customer. Some comments from our interviewees included: “We use a portal which allows the users to log and track their calls. It gives the analysts more time to fix the calls instead of answering phone calls about smaller non urgent issues.” “The major benefits to us are concentration on helping with the more complex issues and resolving the "simple" issues in a more timely manner.” “Users are able to fix the more common issues quickly both in normal hours and outside Help Desk hours, leading to IT staff focusing on higher levels of problems and projects.” “Has allowed a smaller number of Service Desk staff to deal with a larger number of incoming issues and ensures that the appropriate information is captured from the start of the process before the fulfilment teams get involved.” “The major benefit will be to have the users handle their own requests interactively, maybe through the use of short video tutorials.” “1. Reduced incidents reported to service desk 2. Free support staff up to look at more critical incidents 3. Reduced costs 4. Increased end user satisfaction.” 6. What were the primary motivations behind implementing self service technologies? Please check all that apply Self Service
40
35
25
20
15
10
5
R
n
re
al
Im
pr
o
v in
g
No
en
to
e
ic
se
rv
m
d
ot
iv
us
at
io
er
s
s
es
s in
bu
e
th
fr o
m
re
su
es
Pr
ec
om
m
en
de
d
by
ou
rs
of
Fr
ee
tw
up
ar
e
re
su
so
pp
l
ur
c
ie
r
es
e
t im
ve
Sa
U
se
st
sa
rd
em
vi
an
d
ng
0
Co
Percentage
30
20
Self Help
45
40
35
Percentage
30
25
20
15
10
5
io
n
at
m
ot
iv
se
ru
Pr
re
be
es
tt e
rs
su
re
er
vi
fr o
No
m
ce
th
to
al
ou
bu
e
e
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This question produced some interesting results. Firstly, it was shown that one of the key motivations for those who have implemented self support was to free up resources, and this reason was more popular than saving costs. We have touched on how self support can free up resources, but it is interesting to discover that this has been such a motivating factor for Service Desks. This indicates that there is an awareness that freeing up resources would have beneficial implications in improving service delivery. Freeing up resources also suggests that there will be more time available to dedicate to other tasks, and perhaps this is why saving time features prominently in the results. Today’s Service Desks have so many different tasks to perform that it is not surprising that they are looking at ways in which they can free up time and resources – self support is clearly seen as a key technology to achieve this. 21
Where the demand for self support has come from – be it the users, the Service Desk or the business – has been a key issue in the report so far and these results shed some additional light. The need to deliver a better service to users was highlighted as a key motivating factor behind self support, again underlining that we are in a customer service industry. Service Desks are shown to be rising to the challenge set by users and are actively pursuing ways in which to improve the service that they deliver to their users. 7. Have these motivations been achieved? Self Service
0%
0%
17%
Not sure
None of them have
Some of them have
All of them have
83%
Self Help
0%
20%
0%
Not sure
None of them have
Some of them have
All of them have
80%
Both
16%
17%
5%
Not sure
None of them have
Some of them have
All of them have
62%
22
This was a key question to enable us to understand if self support had met expectations and enabled these objectives to be achieved. It is shown that for the vast majority, at least some of the objectives had been achieved. This is probably the result we would have expected, but for 17 percent of self service users and 16 percent of both, all of their objectives had been achieved. These projects have evidently been successfully implemented and, crucially, have been monitored and assessed to judge whether the key objectives behind the project had been met. It is quite troubling to find that 20 percent of self help and 17 percent of both respondents stated that they were not sure if their motivations behind self support had been achieved. This indicates that there have not been effective measurements in place to record any possible financial, time or resource savings. One interviewee responded to this question by stating that their self support operations were still too immature to assess their effectiveness, and whether they had achieved their initial objectives. Some comments from our interviewees included: “Not yet. Change and education of users to use self service as opposed to phoning is difficult, but campaigns are helping to shift the focus to self service.” “Yes. However, it was a victim of both its own success and some poor design decisions early on. Self service became the only route to raise technology related requests within the organisation and the demand for new functionality and configuration was greater than could be managed by the development team. Lack of scalability and modularity also meant that as the user base rapidly increased performance suffered drastically.” “Not fully but we are working towards it.” “Where implemented and accepted within a culture they have been successful.” “Yes ‐ our first steps in self service are excellent and the business wants more!” 8. Have you received any positive feedback for your self service tool from users? Self Service Yes 80% No 20% Self Help Yes 60% No 40% Both Yes 69% No 31% These are encouraging results for two reasons: firstly it is shown that self support has, on the whole, been positively received by users. Secondly, it demonstrates that there are feedback mechanisms in place to note and record customer satisfaction. As with any project that the Service Desk undertakes – but especially for one like self support that directly impacts users – 23
it is vital that feedback is monitored so that it can be used to iron out any flaws or issues and to help direct and identify future improvements. 9. Which metrics do you currently track? Please check all that apply Self Service
35
30
Percentage
25
20
15
10
5
0
Usage
attempts
Satisfaction
Solved
percentage
Escalated to
chat
Escalated to
support
analyst
None of the
above
Self Help
40
35
Percentage
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Usage
attempts
Satisfaction
Solved
percentage
Escalated to
chat
Escalated to
support
analyst
None of the
above
Both
30
25
Percentage
20
15
10
5
0
Usage
attempts
Satisfaction
Solved
percentage
Escalated to
chat
Escalated to
support
analyst
None of the
above
A significant part of the report thus far has looked at the measurement and recording of the effectiveness of self support tools. The results above show that a significant proportion of 24
respondents do not measure metrics related to self support. Indeed, for self help the percentage was 38 percent and was only slightly lower at 33 percent for self service. For both, this figure was even lower at 18 percent. For those who do measure, there was a marked variation in results, but satisfaction and solved percentage both figured prominently. Solved percentage is a vital metric to measure as it informs the desk as to how effective the tool is, and what percentage of users have been able to find their own solutions. Usage attempts also proved to be a popular metric to measure as it is the key to understanding if the tool is being used and, in terms of service improvement, where marketing needs to be improved to provide better information to users to help increase the usage. Slightly lower on the list of choices were the two options concerning escalation. Ultimately, escalation shows where self support has proven to be ineffective in solving users’ issues, either because the user was not clear on where to find the information or how to make sense of it, or simply that the solution did not work. Understanding escalation percentages can help to improve the self support services and can be used to calculate how much time self support actually saves when the analysts’ time is taken into account in dealing with escalations from self support. 10. Who is responsible for managing and moderating self service? Self Service
0%
17%
33%
Service Desk Manager
Service Desk Team Leader
Multiple people contribute
17%
Dedicated position for self
service
No one is directly responsible
33%
Self Help
20%
Service Desk Manager
10%
50%
Service Desk Team Leader
Multiple people contribute
Dedicated position for self help
No one is directly responsible
10%
10%
25
Both
15%
8%
36%
Service Desk Manager
Service Desk Team Leader
Multiple people contribute
Dedicated position
No one is directly responsible
18%
23%
The charts demonstrate that for the majority of Service Desks the Service Desk Manager is directly responsible for monitoring and moderating self support. Only between 8‐17 percent had a dedicated position for self support and 20 percent of self help providers and 15 percent of both stated that no‐one was directly responsible. This suggests that the responsibility for self support is shared amongst Service Desk staff, if no‐one is directly responsible then it also means that no‐one is directly accountable. If self support experiences problems then someone should be in charge to directly solve these. Perhaps this is why the recording of metrics was so low as there is nobody in direct charge to monitor the tool and pull out the metrics. Even if the responsibility for self support is shared, it is important that there is a recognised person in charge who can lead the team and relay necessary information to the correct parties, including users. 11. Have there been any downsides to self service? Please tick all that apply Self Service
60
40
30
20
10
Has caused call
volumes to
increase
Lacks integration
with support tool
Knowledge is outof-date and is not
updated frequently
enough
Not being used by
users
Does not offer a
positive user
experience
0
Too time
consuming to
maintain/moderate
Percentage
50
26
Self Help
45
40
Percentage
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
Lacks integration
with support tool
Lacks integration
with support tool
Has caused call
volumes to
increase
Knowledge is outof-date and is not
updated frequently
enough
Knowledge is outof-date and is not
updated frequently
enough
Not being used by
users
Does not offer a
positive user
experience
Too time
consuming to
maintain/moderate
0
Both
50
45
40
Percentage
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
Has caused call
volumes to
increase
Not being used by
users
Does not offer a
positive user
experience
Too time
consuming to
maintain/moderate
0
The most common downside to providing self support appears to be that it is not being utilised by end users. The key to a successful self support tool, as will be discussed in the next section, is marketing. If the technology is there but it is not promoted then it is likely that it will not be utilised to its full potential. If the tool is not being used then it also makes it difficult to justify the time and cost spent on implementation as you will not be able to see any useful benefits if it is not being used. Also noted as downsides to self support were that knowledge was out‐of‐date and that it lacks integration with the support tool. The knowledge problem will most likely arise from the fact that there is no‐one directly responsible for self support and therefore no‐one to effectively moderate and update the information. The knowledge issue is problematic because it will force down the usage of self support, which in turn will create the impression that self support has not been a worthwhile investment. Understanding that the two are intrinsically linked will be vital in addressing this problem. Self support can only be effective if it is constantly monitored and updated – this should be a key consideration before embarking on self support implementation. 27
Some comments from our interviewees included: “User take up has to be close to 100 percent, therefore end user communication/training on product and business benefits need to be emphasised. There may need to be an element of mandatory directives made.” “Customer communication and satisfaction can be impacted. Service Desks and Help Desks are an emotional crutch for users when something does not work. When frustrated by this, having to fix it yourself can be negative.” “The time taken to investigate user requirements and the time taken to instigate and do the project. Currently, we are at a very early stage in ITIL/ITSM adoption.” “No major downsides ‐ but a rather steep learning curve.” “Self Service does not really have any downsides although there is an initial upfront effort and cost that has to be met to launch such a facility. It should not be underestimated what needs to be done to make an effective Self Service facility that is used by customers rather than just meeting a management requirement.” “I'm not sure that there have been any 'major' downsides. There was an initial reticence over using such a system although this was quickly overcome. I suppose one of the biggest 'headaches' was in ensuring that the correct level of training was rolled‐out to all users. Some needed basic 'how to log and track an incident' type training, whilst others needed more in‐
depth 2nd or 3rd line support level training. Although not a big company (this contract anyway) the majority of staff are on a shift system and it took some time to get everybody trained.” 28
3. How to Make Self Service/Help Work for Your Organisation The provision of web portals for users has become commonplace in today’s Service Desk environment – as our survey shows 79 percent of desks are currently using or planning to implement the technology. The benefits of using the technology are obvious: they allow users to gain instant access to solutions and thereby reduce the number of calls to the Service Desk. Self help portals can be very effective in answering the most common problems users have by either suggesting the steps that they should take to solve their problem, or by directing them to the sources of pertinent information. However, most implementers overlook how difficult it is to create a robust and effective self support solution. A successful adoption will often take a significant amount of time to develop and will involve all sections of the company from finance and management, to analysts who will be expected to update the information available to users on a regular basis. Whilst our survey shows that self support has numerous benefits for Service Desks, it is also true that a badly designed and poorly managed portal can actually increase the burden on a Service Desk. This section looks at some keys ways to avoid the pitfalls of self support and make it work for you. Tony Probert (European Managing Director, Cherwell Software) says… The key to ensuring end user engagement and adoption is through the delivery of user friendly, flexible, scalable and appropriate information. Rich integration with other widely used technologies such as SharePoint and social media, plus personalisation capabilities will be key to success. In addition, access to federated knowledge sources, using dynamic mapping to provide simultaneous access to multiple information sources, including knowledge articles, wikis, document stores and multiple web sites will be a must. The growing service culture will leverage all new and emerging technology, not just the familiar browser interface that people have grown accustomed to. What information do we want? First and foremost it should be determined what kind of information you want to make accessible to users. Do you only want it to contain the solutions to the most common problems such as how to access the internet/e‐mail etc? Or maybe you want to go further and suggest fixes for more complex problems, or allow users to reset their own passwords, self ticketing or live chat. Maybe instead of offering solutions, you direct users as to where they can go to find help and assistance, either guiding them to other web pages or providing contact information. There also needs to be an awareness of what self support is replacing. Is it designed to make phone and e‐mail the secondary channel for support with users directed towards self service before anything else? Or is it simply there to allow users to log and monitor their own tickets or requests? The latter is obviously a much easier sell than the former, especially if the ticketing process was difficult and obtuse to begin with. 29
Access It should be considered how users will access self support. For most companies it will be found on the intranet; the downside of this is that it is then potentially inaccessible to external users, such as those off‐site or away on business, without logging into the domain remotely. Therefore, it needs to be determined who will be the primary beneficiaries of self support: if it is only ever going to be used by those on‐site then the Intranet is sufficient; if it is for external users then a web portal is more pragmatic. The benefit of making self support available externally is that you are not encumbered with problems of different time zones and it is available 24/7, so provides information even when the Service Desk is unavailable. Marketing The importance of marketing to the success of self support cannot be overstated: indeed many of the issues with self support identified in this report – such as low usage and delivering service to users – can be alleviated through wide‐ranging and informative marketing activities. All too often self support is hidden away on a company’s intranet and is only utilised when users serendipitously stumble upon it. Once installed self support should be heavily marketed to all users extolling its benefits and virtues and providing precise information of how users can access it. A large barrier to adoption will be changing the culture of support from users who instinctively call or e‐mail the Service Desk, to one where self service is their first port of call. In a way, Service Desks can be a victim of their own success – as one interviewee noted, her desk is so friendly and delivers such excellent service that users love talking to them so it will prove difficult to direct them towards self service. The simple fact is that some users like speaking to analysts, with conversations sometimes not always directly related to support issues. Perhaps a balance can be drawn by making sure that users know that the Service Desk is still available to take calls and attend to users’ problems as they have always done; self support is merely the first place users can look – it is not the only one. In addition to making it easily accessible, self support pages should be easy to use and navigate – a portal that is laborious and difficult to glean information from rather negates the benefits that it should provide. Therefore, it should follow the same design as the rest of your company’s intranet/web site so that it is instantly familiar. Refresh Self support lives and dies by its information; therefore if it’s outdated or incorrect then usage figures will plummet and it will not provide a good user experience. Having someone responsible for monitoring content is vital in ensuring that it’s relevant and useful. The best way to update content is to get all of the team involved in adding solutions – perhaps offering a token present to the top contributor – and having someone check and validate the information. Not only does this help increase the amount of accessible information, but it also involves the whole team in the self support process. Monitor It is disappointing that so many Service Desks do not track the metrics from their self support tools. Without measuring, we do not know the usefulness of self support or how many solutions it has provided. Without these it is impossible to trend and track data, or to explain 30
in business language whether the tool has been a success or not. Some of the key metrics to track are identified in the report, but there are also others that could be measured such as cost per interaction, usefulness of the information, resolution time, how much time people spend on the site etc. For the last metric, a web‐monitoring tool such as Google Analytics could prove invaluable. Ownership Making someone directly responsible for self support is the key to a successful implementation. The lack of ownership demonstrated in this report will likely change over the coming years, just as five years ago there were no job titles such as Service Level Manager or Change Manager but these are now commonplace. As self support matures and gains more traction in the industry then it seems inevitable that dedicated positions will become evermore prevalent. The main reason behind having someone directly responsible is that they are the go‐to person for anything that happens with the portal, be it any problems that arise or to gain a better understanding for the Service Desk or the business about how the technology is driving and improving performance. A key responsibility for the self support role will be monitoring an array of metrics and reporting on any trends and patterns that can then be incorporated into a Service Improvement Plan. The Key Points to Implementing Self Support: • Determine the need and opportunity – not all customers are best served by self support. The benefits should be weighed up against the risks • Define the value – both users and the organisation need to have a clear idea about what they want to get out of self support • Keep the information clear and concise – users will be annoyed if it takes them ages to sift through useless information in search of their solution • Select appropriate technology – it needs to fit the requirements of users and the company • Make sure they come back – provide an excellent portal and users will be more encouraged to use the service again. This can be achieved by ensuring that the content is constantly refreshed and up‐to‐date • Make sure someone is directly responsible, preferably with a dedicated self support position 31
4. The Self Support Action Plan Present a sound business case 1. Complete a situation analysis 2. Define your goals and expected benefits 3. Summarise your proposed solution 4. Quantify the cost savings that you expect 5. Estimate portal development and deployment costs 6. Assemble your business case 7. Present your case to management Assemble your team and plan 1. Form a cross‐functional team of subject matter experts 2. Make someone directly responsible for self support 3. Incorporate team best practices 4. Engage your marketing department 5. Involve your web team Develop best practices 1. Align it with your organisation’s website 2. Make it fast 3. Integrate it into your system 4. Use a web metrics tool to measure and report 5. Keep it simple and easy to use 6. Make it engaging 7. Make it easy to find via search engines Launch 1. Establish a product manager and supporting team 2. Have a release plan 3. Roll it out in stages 4. Position it properly as an expansion of services 5. Assess feedback as you go and communicate successes early and often Ensuring continued success 1. Market it on an on‐going basis 2. Keep it current and up‐to‐date 3. Report successes to customers, management and analysts 4. Assess the ROI against original estimates 32
Top 10 benefits of good self support 1. Significantly reduces costs 2. Improves efficiency and productivity of users and analysts 3. 24/7 access for users 4. Reduces demands on analysts 5. Empowers users 6. Provides a point of contact for users 7. Is an alternative contact method for users and may be preferable to e‐mail or telephone 8. Constantly updated with new information to benefit end users 9. Allows transparency so that Service Desk Managers can track trends and common questions 10. Presents a good image of the Service Desk 33
5. Conclusion The survey shows that self support is still an immature channel of support, but that it will have a big impact on the future of service delivery. The survey also shows that for many organisations, there are still problems that need to be addressed and that self support is not being used to its full potential. What then does the future hold for self support? For one, we can expect adoption rates to increase as desks strive to fulfill the dual purpose of freeing up their own resources and reducing costs whilst simultaneously improving the service that they deliver to users and, ultimately, the user experience. Used correctly, self support can meet these objectives; used badly and it is likely to do neither and may actually increase the burden on the Service Desk. The drive for self support is indicative of a broader trend in the Service Desk industry, that of improving the user experience to raise it to levels that customers are accustomed to outside of the office. Users are becoming increasingly tech‐savvy and are comfortable with installing their own software or diagnosing and solving their own IT problems either through their own accumulated knowledge or by searching the internet. Thus, users will be more willing to utilise a self service system and solve their own problems. Many websites for some of the major retailers and organisations have robust self support functionalities. On eBay®, for example, you can type a question in and it will come back with an answer – if it can’t provide one it will give you an e‐mail address or phone number to contact them by. Backed up by answers to hundreds of common questions, the eBay® model provides an example of how far self support has evolved in the e‐commerce sphere. This is the type of service that users are used to, and will expect to be replicated in the office. This is the challenge that users have laid down for our Service Desks and is one which must be met if we are to continue to evolve and adapt as an industry. 34
About The Service Desk Institute (SDI) Founded in 1988 by Howard Kendall, the Service Desk Institute (SDI) is the leading authority on service desk and IT support related issues, providing specialist information and research about the technologies, tools and trends of the industry. It is Europe’s only support network for IT service desk professionals, and its 800 organisation members span numerous industries. Acting as an independent adviser, SDI captures and disseminates creative and innovative ideas for tomorrow's service desk and support operation. SDI sets the best practice standards for the IT support industry and is the conduit for delivering knowledge and career enhancing skills to the professional community, through membership, training, conferences, events and its publication SupportWorld magazine. It also offers the opportunity for international recognition of the support centre operation through its globally recognised Service Desk Certification audit programme. www.sdi‐europe.com
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About Cherwell Software Cherwell Software is the developer of Cherwell Service Management™ – a fully integrated solution for IT and support professionals. Designed using Microsoft’s .NET platform and Web 2.0 technology, Cherwell delivers out‐of‐the‐box 11 fully integrated ITIL v3 PinkVERIFIED management processes including; Incident, Problem, Change, Release, Configuration, SLA, Service Catalogue, Event and Knowledge. With a holistic approach to service management, Cherwell empowers IT and support departments to fully align themselves with the organisations they support. Being quick to deploy and easy to use, delivered as either a traditional On Premise solution or via an On Demand SaaS subscription, Cherwell delivers true enterprise power for a mid‐market price. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, USA and with European offices in the UK, Cherwell Software was founded, and is managed, by a team of industry experts. Cherwell Service Management delivers a highly scalable and extensible development platform enabling customers to add new custom built applications through the use of customisable business process templates. Its unique Codeless Business Application Technology (CBAT) platform has enabled customers to easily develop and build integrated business applications such as; CRM, Project Management, Student Record and Facilities Management systems. Cherwell is committed to “changing the rules of the game” in this industry by offering more choices to its customers. Choice in financing (subscribe or purchase); choice in deployment (hosted by the customer or Cherwell); and choice in user‐interface (rich‐client, browser, mobile device, or Outlook integration). All of these choices are offered in the context of a compelling value proposition – Enterprise power without Enterprise cost and complexity. www.cherwellsoftware.com/emea
Additional paper copies can be obtained directly from Cherwell Software or downloaded from www.cherwellsoftware.com/emea
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