of 16
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
1/16
March 2008, Issue 1, Volume 10
azM looks back on an exciting project / Customer seminar days in the UK /
Getting acquainted with a new service desk /
It takes more than software
to set up a service desk
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
2/162
Putting People First
Studies show that three in four IT projects in the United
Kingdom fail. What is going on? Is it due to bad software?
Software is created by programmers, so it must be incom-
prehensible, right? Or is something being overlooked at the
implementation stage? In other words, are the needs of the
end users and, ultimately, the customers taken into account
effectively in the implementation process?
Thankfully, attention is increasingly being paid to the role
of the individual in service management processes. For
example, software is becoming more user-friendly. Above
all, service management professionals are realising that theimplementation of a new application necessitates a new
way of working, and that it needs to revolve around the
people. Because in the end, software is meant to support the
end users, and ultimately, the customers. Simply installing
a CD with software does not mean that you will magically
acquire the perfect service desk.
In this edition of TOPdesk Magazine, you will nd articles
and actual accounts of companies that have managed to
make the people a pivotal part in the implementation ofsoftware and new work procedures. The largest and most
important factor of an implementation is, after all, the
people.
TOPdesk is created by people for people. We wish you much
pleasure in reading this edition of TOPdesk Magazine.
Gerben Bloemendal
TOPdesk Magazine, service managementplatform, discusses subjects that are topicalin the world of professional service desksin IT, facilities and other service providingorganizations. TOPdesk Magazine is intendedfor managers, service desks employees, facilitiesorganizations and electronic city councils- anyone who is involved with supporting
customers on a daily basis. This concerns boththe processes and the technology behind theseservices.
COLOPHON
TOPdesk Magazine is a TOPdesk publication
tel: +31 15 270 09 00
email: [email protected].
Editorial board Gerben Bloemendal, Amanda
Dirkse
EditorsNiek Steenhuis, Henrieke Korten, Clare
Donald
Translators Carrie Brandt, Clare Donald, Niek
Steenhuis
Lay-outDebora Reis, Joost Knuit
Website Erik Pols, Glen Young
This magazine is printed on FSC-certifed paper,
using an eco press with cadmium-free ink for all co-
lours and distilled water instead of alcohol.
Editorial
Visit us at
www.topdesk.com
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
3/16
8
10
4 News
6 Looking back on an exciting project Almostayearaftertheofcialkick-offofthisUpgradeproject we look back on the implementation ofTOPdesk Enterprise at Maastricht hospital.
8 Customer seminar days in the UKFollowing the success of the Customer seminar heldin London in 2007, TOPdesk UK organized seminars inLondon and Birmingham at the beginning of this year.
10 It takes more than software to set up a
Research shows that a large number of IT projects fail.What is the reason for this?
14 Trends: Getting acquainted with a new
16 Tips + Tricks
6
Contents March 08
14
service desk
service desk
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
4/16
New module: Visitor registration
TOPdesk has just introduced a new module Visitor
registration for Facilities management. The registration of
visitors is a vital process for many organizations. Who has
entered the building and who is still expected to arrive? Th
module enables the user to register the arrival and depar-
tureofvisitorsquicklyandefciently.Asaresult,thesecu-
rity of the building and employees can easily be monitored
The Visitor registration module is a perfect addition to the
increasing number of facilities modules and functionalities
that are available for TOPdesk Enterprise. When developing
new modules, TOPdesk listens carefully to the wishes of
their clients. This module is a good example of how TOPdes
incorporates feedback from customers in their new soft-
ware.
TOPdesk Belgium
On1Februarythisyear,TOPdeskopenedanewofcein
Belgium.TheofceinAntwerpisthefourthTOPdeskofce
after Delft, London and Kaiserslautern. The establishment
ofaBelgianofcemeansthatTOPdeskcannowsupportits
Belgian clients better and more personally.
For more information, or for a demonstration on location,
please contact TOPdesk Belgium by telephone or email:
TOPdesk Belgium BVBA
Heilig Hartstraat 142600 Antwerp (Berchem)
tel: +32 (0) 487 529 321
email: [email protected]
TOPdesk version 3.8
Version 3.8 of TOPdesk lite andProfessional is now available. This new
version offers a number of new func-
tionalities to further improve the daily
use and user-friendliness TOPdesk. The
TOPdesk Web interface is also available in
version 3.8.
We are continually working on the impro-
vement of our software new modules,
more features, enhancing the user-friend-
liness and broadening our horizons.
Do you wish to upgrade to version 3.8 or
would you like to receive more informa-tion? Contact us on:
+44 20 8846 8516 /
4
News
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
5/16
TOPdesk in French
In a bid to venture even deeper into the international mar-
ket, TOPdesk has added another language to its already mul-
tilingual series. The range of TOPdesk products - Enterprise,
Professional and lite - is now available in French.
This is an important development regarding TOPdesks
international presence; a TOPdesk branch recently opened
in Antwerp, Belgium and the organization has been active
at shows and fairs in Canada over the last few months. But
mostimportantly,theramicationsofaFrenchversionof
TOPdesk are great for the potential service management
market in France. Check out the website at www.topdesk.fr.
NEWS 5
KOMCOM Sd, Germany
On Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7 May, TOPdesk Deutschland
GmbH will be exhibiting at the KOMCOM Sd fair in
Karlsruhe. If you would like to attend this trade fair for
the public sector, please contact our sales department in
Kaiserlautern to purchase tickets: +49 631 624 00-0, or
[email protected]. For more information on the fair itself, go
to www.komcom.de.
Customer symposium inFrankfurt/Main
TOPdesk wants its clients to get the most out oftheirTOPdesksoftware.Wouldyouliketond
out more about recent and future developments
of TOPdesk software? You are invited to join the
TOPdesk customer symposium on Thursday, 24
April at the Intercity Hotel at Frankfurt Airport.
On the day, you will be given the opportunity
to attend presentations and join in discussion
groups. We hope to be able to support you in
exploringallpossibleeldsandapplicationsof
TOPdesk software. Not yet signed up? Register
online at www.topdesk.com/de/campaigns/
anmeldung-symposium.
Service desk show, London
This year, TOPdesk will be present at the Service Desk and
IT Support Show the UKs leading event for IT service
management & support desk professionals (formerly
known as the HITSS). The show will be held on Tuesday 22
and Wednesday 23 April from 09:30 to 17:00 at Olympia,
London.Visitusatstand420tondoutthelateston
TOPdesk developments. For more information on the show
or to register, go to www.servicedeskshow.com
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
6/166
A well-planned jump into thedeep endIt was quite exciting for the hospi-
tal to make the transition from HP
Openview to TOPdesk. It all began
on 6 July 2007 that was whentherstTOPdeskmoduleswent
live at the service desk. When the
telephonesbegantoring,therst
few incidents were awkwardly
recorded. To optimise the transition
for the 80 IT employees, a number
of preparations were touched upon.
Ben Sollet: Each employee was
trained on how to use Incident and
Precision, discipline andcommunicationThe discussions with Ben Sollet in
March 2007 and in early 2008 were
focused on the meticulous imple-
mentation of TOPdesk. Besides the
steps that preceded the implemen-
tation, processes were also written,
established and then posted for
everyone to read on the network.Ben Sollet: We adapt the proce-
dures to what we have learnt and
make sure that we can guarantee
quality. I think that it is important
for people to feel that the pro-
gress of the implementation is a
collective effort. Therefore, clear
and open communication plays
an important role. The IT Service
Centre sends a newsletter in which
the various Process managers and
their teams report on the progressof their projects. These projects
concern the entire upgrade project
that we began a year ago. I report
primarily on the progress of the
TOPdesk implementation.
Congurationmanagement.We
also had a test phase. We intention-
ally planned to start using TOPdesk
on a Friday because Fridays are
usually the least busy day for the
service desk. Despite our prepara-tions, it still felt a little like being
thrown into the deep end. We used
the off-peak hours to log the inci-
dents that we were unable to log
during the busier times because of
our unfamiliarity with TOPdesk.
Looking backon an excitingproject
In April 2007, TOPdesk Magazine reported on the ambiti-
ous plan to restructure the IT department of the Academic
Hospital in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The entire IT depart-
ment was reorganized and its infrastructure was updated;
this included the implementation of a new service manage-
mentapplication.Now,almostayearaftertheofcialkick-off
of the Upgrade Project, we take a look back on the implemen-tation of TOPdesk Enterprise with project leader Ben Sollet.
TEXT:AMANDA DIRKSE
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
7/16
A Self Service Desk for keyusers
The hospital is also planning on
making use of the TOPdesk Self
Service Desk. Right now it is being
testedbytheso-calledkeyusers.
Key users are people that work with
a certain application and for which
they can report incidents themsel-ves in the Self Service Desk. In most
cases they are immediately escala-
tedtothesecondline.Theregular
end users report their incidents by
telephone to the IT Service Centre.
The to-do list on a big screenIn order to clearly present the tasks
that need to be completed, each
team has received a large monitor
on which the to-do list is visible to
everyone. Ben Sollet: We are stillbusy with a pilot, but the intention
of these centralized screens is to
keep the teams up-to-date on the
progress of their incidents. In this
way, the employees do not have to
continually log into TOPdesk to stay
updated. And because everyone
knows exactly what needs to be
taken care of, the incidents are
handledmoreefciently.Thatpro-
motes teamworkwhich was one
of our goals.
Collaborating with TOPdeskThe hospital is an excellent
example of a very ambitious
TOPdesk customer with a rigorous
project plan and high expectations.
The fact that the implementationof TOPdesk Enterprise is a small
part of a much bigger transfor-
mation within the IT department
gives this project an extra dimen-
sion. Dennis Roozemond (TOPdesk
project leader) and Jordi Recasens
(consultant) regard this exten-
sive project as quite challenging.
Dennis: We are pleased that our
approach of phased implemen-
tations has been successful. By
implementing one module andits accompanying ITIL process at
a time, we were able to anticipate
the changes and adapt the plan-
ning as needed. Working within the
constantly changing environment
of the hospital was an aspect that
needed to be considered in order
to achieve desirable results. Jordi:
There are many things changing
simultaneously within the hospital.
And many variables automatically
mean more uncertainty. But we are
very pleased with the progress!
Proud?The step-by-step implementation
of the new application resulted in
the new procedures spreading very
quickly across the IT department.Ben Sollet: In the meantime, we
have reached quite a few milesto-
nes. Some colleagues needed to be
convinced that the changes would
bring about a win-win situation.
The sharing of responsibilities has
made that possible. I am rather
proud of that.
The introduction of the Problem
management module will follow
shortly. After that, the hospital willbegin with an evaluation phase
inordertofurtherne-tunethe
processes. We wish Ben Sollet and
his team at the hospital much suc-
cess with the continuation of the
project.
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
8/168 TOPDESK
TEXT: CLARE DONALD
On board HMS Belfast inLondonTherstTOPdeskCustomerSeminar
Day of 2008 was held on 30 January
on board HMS Belfast, situated in the
impressive location between London
Bridge and Tower Bridge. In addition
to receiving a tour of this grand
museum boat, the forty participantsformed small groups to discuss their
individual experiences of working
with TOPdesk.
Exploring the gardens ofBirminghamIn order to cater to customers in the
north of England, the TOPdesk UK
team decided on Birmingham as
the location of the second seminar
in February. The event was held
in the serene environment of the
Birmingham Botanical Gardens, in
Edgbaston. The seminar kicked off
with two presentations; customers
then split up into intensive work-
groups, according to the TOPdesk
product they use.
Putting names to facesThe main aim of the seminars is to
give customers the unique opportu-
nity to meet others who use TOPdesk
in similar ways. Customers also have
the chance to meet the TOPdesk UK
team and put names to faces. Darren
Heaton, one of the representatives
fromSmurtKappaGroupintheUK,
thoroughly enjoyed the Birmingham
seminar and was particularly pleased
with both the venue and the hospi-
tality of the TOPdesk team. He took
some time out to answer a couple of
questions on his experiences of the
day.
What did you think of the TOPdesk
Birmingham Customer Seminar
Day?
For the seminar to be held in the
Botanical Gardens at Edgbaston
was a great idea; its easy to get to
by car or train, a very serene and
conducive environment with ample
facilities and wonderful gardens
Customer seminar days in the UK
TOPdesks client base continues to grow, both in numbers and geographically. TOPdesk UK
aims to not only have more frequent and closer contact with customers, but also bring cus-
tomers from different organizations together to share knowledge and exchange ideas on the
use of TOPdesk. Following the success of the Customer seminar held in London in January
2007, TOPdesk UK organized seminars in London and Birmingham at the beginning of this
year. Both clients and TOPdesk staff have since expressed their enjoyment of the days, and
wish to attend similar ones in the future.
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
9/16TOPDESK
for example can be used to publish
and track a simple project lifecycle
withdependencies,notications,
authorization and full-blown chartsand reporting, all published via one
central database.
What did you like most about the
seminar?
I really liked the venue and the
hospitality. In particular, there was a
real sense on camaraderie with other
TOPdesk customers who had similar
business needs and goals.
Do you nd that your use of TOPdeskhas improved since the seminar?
As a relatively new user of TOPdesk,
Ifeltthatitwasreassuringtond
that I was using or planning to
use the software as was intended. I
got my head around news items and
the methodology of the Knowledge
base.Iamnowverycondentabout
the imminent rollout of the software
throughout the UK and am certain
that it will be as successful as imple-
mentations by my counterparts in
the Netherlands at SK Group IT.
Future seminarsSeveral customers have since respon-
ded with a number of suggestions
for improvement, while others have
shown interest for other applicati-
ons of TOPdesk such as for Facilities
management. TOPdesk UK is keen
to organize similar seminars in the
future. Not only can users of TOPdesk
learn a lot from each other, but
TOPdesk can also get a lot out of it.
Would you like more information on
these seminars? Perhaps you would
like to attend something similar in
the future? Then feel free to contact
us on +44 20 8846 8516 or by email
at [email protected]. Your suggesti-
ons and comments are more than
welcome.
to walk around at break times. All
TOPdesk staff were very pleasant.
A comprehensive introduction to
the company and product was arealbenettounderstandwhere
the company had come from and it
was interesting to hear about the
roadmap for the future of TOPdesk.
What aspects of the day were most
useful to you and why?
Firstly, I found familiarization with
theUKstaffintheLondonofce
really useful. Secondly, it was helpful
to get a good understanding of the
biggerpicturewithregardstothesoftware in relation to ITIL and facili-
ties management. It was also nice to
hear how other customers are using
the different modules of TOPdesk to
accommodate their requirements.
It helped me understand just how
exiblethesoftwareisandhowit
can be adopted to the needs of our
business. Change Management
What was the main reason for attending the TOPdesk Customer seminar?
Product Developments
Learn More
Answer Queries
Meet Other Users
Upgrade Information
Other Functions i.e. Facilities
Learn How TOPdesk Fits with ITIL
How Best to Implement
Extranet Buddy System
Meet the TOPdesk Team
Interested in Company History
26%
22%
17%
13%
4%
4%
4%
4%
2%2%2%
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
10/1610 THEME
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
11/16THEME 1
IT service management is based on
three pillars: processes, technology and
people. Reorganizing service manage-mentprocessescanincreaseefciency,
while technological improvements
can help to process calls more quickly,
thereby reducing the costs. Experience
shows,however,thatthesehardfac -
torshavelesseffectonthenalresult
of the implementation than so-called
softfactors.Whethertheservicedesk
employees have insight into the proces-
ses within your organization proves to
be more important than how extensi-
velyyourworkowhasbeendescribed.The human factor determines the suc-
cess of an implementation. Processes
can be reorganized, advanced applicati-
ons can be installed, but in the end it is
the people who provide the service. The
rest is simply support.
SupportAn important condition for a successful
TEXT: NIEK STEENHUIS
It takes more than software
to set up a service desk
Research from PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that 75%
of all IT projects in the UK fail. The main reason for this
appears not so much to be a failure of the technology or
theinefciencyofworkprocesses,butbecauseofinsuf-
cient attention for the people within an organization. Due
to tight deadlines, the implementation process is dealt with
as quickly as possible, and there is not always time to trainthe service desk employees properly. More often than not,
the employees are not even involved in the implementa-
tion.
implementation is gaining the support
of the people involved. A lack of support
is the main reason that certain projectsfail, says Ivo Kristelijn, Managing
Director of TOPdesk Consultancy: An
organization has its own goals, values
and ideas, but those of the people
within the organization are too often
overlooked. They have their own
interests, opinions and motivations,
and these should not be ignored. When
the ideas of the organization do not
correspond to the personal interests of
the employees, they will be met with
resistance. In reaction, the employeesare sometimes put under more pres-
sure, which in turn gives rise to more
resistance.Systemscanbecongured,
models can de adjusted, but the human
factor is more complex.
ObstacleOne of the dangers of change proces-
ses within an organization is regarding
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
12/1612 THEME
provided to the customer is fore-
most. The interests of the people
who provide the service are madesubordinate. This is less than ideal,
because in optimal service delivery,
notonlyisthecustomersatised,
but also the service desk employee.
InvestmentsInvestments in employees are
therefore necessary, and should
balance the investments in new
technology and extensive process
reorganization. When a service
management application is pur-
chased, service desk employees
need to be trained in operating
it; when company processes are
reorganized, it is useful when
everyone knows which procedures
now apply. Investing in people is
the only way to ensure that the
changes that have been implemen-
ted within an organization will be
successful and sustainable.
In practice however, these invest-
ments are hardly ever made. That
is remarkable, especially when you
take into account that an organi-
zations staff represents its mostsubstantial overhead cost and
therefore requires large invest-
ments. So why is it more attractive
to invest in technology rather than
in people?
MeasurableThe problem with investing in
people is that it is hard to measure
the results it yields. When an
organization for example decides
to train its employees, a problemarises. How much knowledge do
the service desk employees need to
have in order to function properly
in the new organizational struc-
ture? How much time and money
has to be spent on training them?
In other instances, such a question
canbeansweredbyacost-benet
analysis;aslongasthebenets
exceed the costs, investments
arejustied.Buthowdoesone
measure whether the services have
improved? There is no objective
way to measure the quality of such
services, which makes it hard to
account for such investments.
Investing in knowledgeIn determining to what extent
training service desk employees is
of additional value for your services,
hardguresdonotsufce.Butin
order to make such a decision, you
donotneedhardgures,argues
Kristelijn: The decision whether
to hire external expertise, for
example, does not have to be based
on an extensive Excel spreadsheet
ofcostsandbenets.Someroughestimationworksnejustmake
some notes on a napkin. In most
cases that will be enough. Beware
of going to extremes though;
organizations often call in either
not enough external expertise (the
service desk employees study the
theory themselves), or too much
external expertise (they follow an
In optimal service delivery, not only is
the customer satisfed, but also the
service desk employee.
the people as an obstacle that
should be overcome. One example
of such a negative approach isgiven by Brian Johnson, one of the
originalauthorsoftherstITIL
books. In a column on the service
management website SearchCIO.
com, Johnson states that people,
as well as processes and tech-
nology, are an important factor
in ITIL. If an employee has had a
negative past experience with an
ITIL implementation, it is likely that
he or she will be sceptical towards
another implementation. That is
why, Johnson argues, the employ-
ees need to understand the use of
ITIL. However, the way that Johnson
approaches the people within
an organization could be ques-
tioned. He regards the service desk
employees as passive factors that
need to be convinced of the need
for a new process model and if
they will not accept it, they must be
forced to do so: Ultimately, each
team member has three choices:
lead, follow, or get out of the way.
When an organization wishes to
foster support for a new initiative,such an imperative approach may
not be the best way to accomplish
this. Providing insight into the
processes (within the organiza-
tion) can indeed help employees
to warm towards the model that is
to be introduced, but in Johnsons
case the goal of the organization
improving the services that are
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
13/16THEME 1
extensive training programme).
Bothapproachesareinefcient
intheend;therstapproachcanlead to incapable employees, the
latter to unnecessary expenses.
The solution lies somewhere in
between. Try to organize the trai-
ning programme on a step by step
basis. The service desk employees
study some theory, follow a course
for a few days, and then evalu-
atewhethertheyhavesufcient
knowledge to get started with the
new tasks. If not, they participate
in a few more training days. It is
important to deal with the need
for training in a pragmatic manner.
This way you invest in knowledge
more conscientiously.
PragmaticAlthough the quality of a service is
hard to measure, an organization
stillhastondawaytoensurethe
quality of the service. Dont they
have anything to go by, then? They
do.Whenhardguresandtightly
denedtargetsnolongersufce,a pragmatic approach might bring
relief. Peter Wheatcroft, author
of World Class IT Service Delivery,
suggests that organizations should
focus more on guidelines, instead
ofgures.Asabenchmarkfor
good service delivery, Wheatcroft
mentions the IT Supplier Code of
Best Practice. This is a document
containing practical guidelines that
has been composed by Intellect,
the trade organization for, amongstothers, IT organizations in the UK.
The aim of this document is to rea-
lize a more successful and mature
service delivery. It deals with the
soft factors of service delivery; an
open and forthright relationship
with the customers, understanding
their wishes, a transparent process
and constructive contribution to
the process are all factors that they
feel contribute to an improved
service.
TransparencyTransparency in all activities can
not only ensure a better relation-
ship with the customer, but can
also help to improve a change pro-
cess within an organization. When
service desk employees are actively
involved in a change process, the
feeling that they are forced into
something is taken away. When a
tool is purchased, argues Adrian
Palmer-Geaves, have the service
desk employees try out the applica-
tionrst,beforeitisimplemented.
This way they experience what the
new system can and cannot do,
which might take away any con-
cerns that they may have.
Kristelijn also thinks that transpa-
rency can generate more support
within an organization: Both
management and the employees
benetfromtransparencyincom-munication. It is important that
both the goals of the organization
and of the individual employees are
made known. In a change process,
these goals can be attuned to each
other. An example: the system
manager opposes the service
management application that is
being introduced, because he does
not see the use of registration. He
or she can then be retrained to
learn something he does not like todo, but it is also possible to adjust
his job responsibilities so that he
can spend less time on registration.
Such a solution can only come
about when the goals of both the
system manager and management
are made known.
PeopleAstheeldofservicemanagement
grows more complex, a pragmaticapproach seems to offer an ideal
outcome. Extensively described
processes and advanced software
can certainly help to improve the
service delivery, as long as these
serve to support the people that
have to use them. The more the
service desk employees are involved
in the introduction of a new appli-
cation or process organization, the
more likely it is that the implemen-
tation will be a success. After all, as
Wheatcroft states, these are only a
prerequisite for building a service
proposition but they do not of
themselves deliver the goods this
is what we employ people for.
SOURCESBRIANJOHNSON,ITILPROCESSSUCCESS:
GET PEOPLE ON YOUR SIDE, SEARCHCIO.
COM, APRIL 2007
PETERWHEATCROFT,GOODSERVICE
REQUIRES MORE THAN ITIL VERSION 3, BSC
AUGUST 2007
PERSONALFOCUS,SERVICETALK,JULY200
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
14/1614 TRENDS
A positive twistService desk employees of the
Benelux Bureau for IntellectualProperty in The Hague were used
to simply picking up the phone and
noting down what the caller had to
report. Henritte Soonius, head of
the department, admits that not all
of the 22 employees were thrilled
about following the new telephone
script that was introduced along
with the new service desk. Soonius:
Some of them were concerned
thatitwouldbedifculttolisten
to the caller, follow the script onthe computer screen and carefully
register the incident all at the same
time. With these concerns in mind,
she organized an Information Day
on 6 December 2007, in collabo-
ration with her colleague Rudolf
Wiersinga and TOPdesk consultant
Jolanda Simonis. Since this was the
dayaftertheDutchSinterklaas
holiday, not only did she treat
the service desk employees to
extensive information, but alsoto a chocolate letter (a traditional
Sinterklaas treat). You can get rid
of a lot of concerns by providing
the right information. The choco-
late letter was a nice extrasome-
thing to give a positive twist to the
new situation.
A clean slateThe IT department of the Terneuzen
municipality in the Netherlands
A new service desk can be a source of stress for both the service desk employees and their
other colleagues. Procedures change: service desk employees have to change the way they
process incoming reports, colleagues must report problems via an internet portal, and so forth.
This article presents four examples of TOPdesk customers who have introduced new service
desks to their organizations in a playful manner.
Getting acquainted with a new
service desk
also paid close attention when a
new system was introduced one
year ago. Pepijn de Smet, theirnetwork engineer, understood
the need for change. Before the
transition, things did not run very
smoothly and there was little
condenceinagoodoutcome.
TOPdesk was already in use, but
last year the system was set up
differentlyandthebackofce
was reorganized. We started
over with a clean slate. In order
to introduce the new system
You can get rid of a lot of concerns by
providing the right information.
TEXT: HENRIEKE KORTEN
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
15/16TRENDS1
to service desk employees and
other users in an interesting way,
Pepijn and the Communicationsdepartment designed a bag with
the imprint fanTASticfast and
clear help (TAS stands for TOPdesk
ApplicationServerandtasisalso
the Dutch word for bag). These
bags contained information pac-
kages. The bag and the accom-
panying information were a big
hit. It made the transition more
attractive.
From memos to registrationThe Hilverzorg Foundation, anorganization concerned with care
for the elderly, had been working
with TOPdesks IT help desk soft-
ware for a few months when their
nursing home started using the
facilities management software
in October 2006. Employees in
the technical department were
recording incidents on notepads,
or even on their arms. They were
extremelybusy,butnotveryef-cient, according to Piet Groeneveld
from Hilverzorg. On 16 October,
Hilverzorg organized a campaign
aimed at acquainting all employees
with TOPdesk. The reception area
was decorated and project employ-
ees handed out business cards with
the telephone number of the new
frontofce.Itturnedoutvery
well. People came to ask questions
about what was going on and we
could immediately inform them.
Cultural changeConsulting agency Eiffel in Arnhem,
the Netherlands has seen substan-
tial growth in their 15 year exi-
stence. And as the company grew,
so did the number of questions
about automation. Since there
was no service desk, the questions
were directed to the IT department.
This was costing the employees so
much time that they often did nothave time to take care of their own
tasks. It was time for a change
and that change was TOPdesk. To
let everyone know that they should
begin reporting incidents to the
new service desk, the service desk
employees wore special T-shirts
and hung up posters. According to
Marlies Bruggink-Smeding, the pro-
ject leader of the implementation,
this really helped to alert everyone
to the new procedure. It requireda cultural change; the IT employees
hadtoconsistentlygivearmno
to the people who continued to
come to them to report incidents.
Sometimes a reminder was sent via
mail. But the T-shirts and posters
left a good impression.
7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 1
16/16
London House, 271-273 King StreetLondon W6 9LZ
t +44 20 88468516
e [email protected] www.topdesk.n
Copyright 2008 TOP Informatie Systemen bv. Hoewel dit tijdschrift met de grootst mogelijke zorg is samengesteld, aanvaarden schrijver(s) noch uit-gever enige aansprakelijkheid voor schade ontstaan door eventuele fouten en/of onvolkomenheden in deze uitgave.
tips +tricksRSS feed with the latest TOPdesknewsWant to stay updated on all the latest TOPdesk news?
Use the following URLs to subscribe to the latest
TOPdesk news from the TOPdesk extranet:
http://extranet.topdesk.com/rssnews.jsp
You need to be logged in to the extranet in order to beable to read the RSS feed. Using an RSS reader such asGoogle reader you can then read the news.
ALT+F11 and ALT+F12Applies in: TOPdesk Professional 3.8
By using the familiar F11 and F12 functions in TOPdesk,you can place a date and login name stamp in a memoeld(forexample,intheeldsRequestandAction).It
is now also possible to use ALT+F11 or ALT+F12 to placea stamp on the line after the present position of the cur-sor. However, this does not work in the TOPdesk 3.8 Webinterface.
ID photos in the Person andOperator cardsApplies in: TOPdesk Professional 3.8 and Enterprise 4.0
ID photos can now be displayed in the Person andOperator cards. This can be activated in the SystemSettings > People. The location and the name con-gurationof the photoles can beindicatedhere, forexample:JohnSmith.Firstname+therstletterofthe
surname, extension .jpg = johns.jpg.In the Web interface 3.8 and Enterprise 4.0 versions, the-se functions can be activated in the ApplicationServerconsole under Modules > Photo Module.
London House, 271-273 King StreetLondon W6 9LZ, United Kingdom
t +44 20 8846 85168516f +44 20 8846 8586
e [email protected] www.topdesk.com
Copyright 2008 TOPdesk UK Limited. Although this magazine has been produced with the utmost care and attention, the writers cannot be heldresponsibleinanywayforanydamagesthatmayoccurduetoerrorsand/ordecienciesinthispublication.