Service Desk

Benchmarking
Report 2017
 Contents 2

1.0 Background and methodology 5.0 Qualifications

1.1 Profile of Respondents 5.1 Past 12 Months

1.2 Job Title 5.2 Next 12 Months

1.3 Industry Sectors 5.3 Frameworks and Standards

1.4 Industry Roles

6.0 Customer Satisfaction
2.0 Headcount 6.1 Measuring Customer Satisfaction

2.1 Headcount 6.2 Your Customers

6.3 BYOD
3.0 Staff
6.4 SLAs
3.1 Staff Incentives
6.5 Customer Status
3.2 Staff Morale Surveys
6.6 Measuring Success
3.3 Induction Training

3.4 Composition of Induction Training 7.0 Productivity

3.5 On-going Training 7.1 Measuring Productivity

3.6 Composition of On-going Training

8.0 Service desk tools and technologies
3.7 Staff Retention
8.1 Tools and Technologies
3.8 Service Desk Leavers

3.9 Service Desk Manager Attributes

9.0 The future
9.1 Industry Thoughts
4.0 Salaries
4.1 Service Desk Analysts

4.2 Service Desk Supervisors

4.3 Service Desk Managers

Introduction
This is the eighth iteration of the service desk benchmarking
report for the service desk industry. The report covers a wide
range of issues from technology and metrics through to
training and salaries. It also examines best practice adoption
and provides indicators for the increasing business alignment
of the service desk.
The service desk Benchmarking Survey was distributed to
over 12000 IT professionals during August and September
2017. The questions are largely based on the benchmarking
reports from 2001 through 2017 so that key trends and
developments can be examined. However, some of the
questions have been updated to reflect the changing nature of
the service desk industry and provide an insight into current
issues and trends. This report provides comparisons, where
appropriate, with the results of previous studies from the last
10 years.
Main findings 3
Staff Metrics
· 36% of respondents expect their headcount to increase · Most service desks offer some type of priority status for
over the next 12 months. specific customers.
· Help towards qualifications, opportunities for · The number of tracked logged incidents continued to
promotion, and career planning remain as the most increase.
common incentives offered to service desk staff.
· Customer satisfaction has returned as the main
· 66% of service desks currently conduct staff morale indicator for success on the service desk.
surveys.
Tools and Technologies
· Service Desk procedures and buddy training make up
· Service desk adoption of almost all tools and
the majority of induction training, growing to 95% and
technologies has decreased slightly.
86% respectively.
· Surprisingly, self-service and self-help have reduced in
Customer focus
adoption by the service desk.
· Email and web surveys remain the most popular
· In terms of contacting the service desk, the highest
channels through which to survey customers, with call
rates of user adoption have remained as telephone and
monitoring the second most popular.
email.
· Since 2015, the proportion of service desks that do not
· There has been positive growth in the amount of
measure customer service has dropped to 3%.
respondents who believe they realise return on
· Live chat adoption has increased, and self-service is investment for technology procurement
now a common method for customers to contact the
service desk.
Best Practice and Qualifications
· ITIL is still the most popular qualification for service
desk staff, but has decreased by 8%.
· SDI and technical qualifications have increased in
popularity.
· There has been a decrease in the proportion of service
desks following an ITIL framework.
 1.0 Background and Methodology 4

1.1 Profile of Respondents 1.4 Industry Roles

In line with previous benchmarking surveys, respondents came from a Which of the following roles are you involved in?
cross section of the service desk industry.
Roles Percentage
1.2 Job Title Support for security 30%
Support for asset management 41%
Which job title is most similar to your role?
Business processes 41%
Percentage Facilities 34%
Job Title
HR 11%
Service Desk Manager 51%
IT 82%
Service Desk Team Leader 12%
Other (please specify) 8%
Service Desk Analyst 3%
Service Desk Supervisor 4%
Other (please specify) 31% As a new addition to this report, it is interesting to note that service desk
professionals’ responsibilities do not remain strictly within the service
desk. Outside of IT, 41% of respondents identified that they are also
1.3 Industry Sectors involved in business process roles, and a further 41% highlighted that
they support asset management. Given that this data shows the service
Which Industry Sector does your service desk support? desk already takes on responsibilities from many roles within IT and the
business, it will be interesting to note how these figures change in two
Business Type Percentage
years’ time.
Government 10%
Finance 9%
Managed Services 17%
Non-profit 5%
Health Care 12%
Retail 2%
Manufacturing 6%
Construction 1%
Wholesale 1%
Education 10%
Other (please specify) 27%
 2.0 Headcount 5

2.1 Headcount analyst will develop and evolve with the introduction of Artificial
Do you expect your staffing levels to: Intelligence and cognitive technologies, as the technology alone
is not enough to run a successful service desk.

Another significant change since 2015 lies in the percentage of

respondents who think headcount will stay the same, which has
increased by 12%. Conversely, the proportion of respondents
who believe that headcount will decrease has remained around
the same, at a considerably low 13%. Uncertainty surrounding
staffing levels has also decreased to at 4%. Overall, while
respondents seem slightly less optimistic regarding staffing
levels increasing, there is still an overwhelming majority who do
not expect headcount to decrease.

2009 2011 2013 2015 2017

Increase 31% 37% 32% 45% 36%
Decrease 18% 13% 8% 9% 13%
Stay the same 51% 47% 50% 35% 46%
Don't know 0% 3% 10% 11% 4%

Since 2013, there is a significantly better outlook in terms of how headcount

will look in the near future, with 45% of respondents projecting staffing levels to
increase in 2015, and 36% in 2017. In previous years, economic impact has been the
most significant factor affecting headcount. However, since 2015, a more pertinent
factor to consider is the effect of new technologies, such as Smart Automation,
Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Assistants. These technologies have brought
about potential opportunities as well as threats for service desks; the future of
this technology can cause some service desk professionals to feel intimidated.
Nonetheless, respondents have remained optimistic despite this. We can infer
from this that service desk managers are aware that the role of the service desk
 3.0 Staff 6

3.1 Staff Incentives There has not been much of a noteworthy change in the incentives
What incentives do you offer your staff? offered to staff since 2015. Help towards qualifications, opportunities
for promotion, and career planning remains as the most common
incentives offered to service desk staff, with the former two increasing in
popularity slightly. The largest change since 2015 can be seen in offering
extracurricular activities as an incentive, growing from 24% to 36%.

Possibly the most important statistic here, is that significantly less service
desk professionals indentity that they do not offer any incentives to their
staff, falling from 12% to 1% since 2015. Furthermore, it seems that more
service desk staff are offered a broader range of incentives, as almost all
incentives have increase in percentage. This could signify that service
desks are trying harder to retain staff, potentially due to the costs and
time associated with hiring and training new starters.

2009 2011 2013 2015 2017

Help towards qualifications 70% 64% 65% 62% 67%
Opportunities for promotion 56% 49% 50% 62% 65%
Career planning 50% 48% 41% 51% 51%
Mention in newsletters 39% 25% 38% 39% 39%
Staff rotation 36% 27% 38% 37% 45%
Pay increases for high performance 29% 33% 30% 41% 36%
Away days for training/ team building 28% 24% 32% 30% 38%
Cash bonuses 24% 25% 21% 25% 30%
Gifts/ certificates 24% 30% 27% 28% 32%
Extracurricular activities 22% 14% 21% 24% 36%
None 13% 11% 13% 12% 1%
 3.0 Staff 7

3.2 Staff Morale Surveys 3.3 Induction Training

Does your service desk carry out regular staff morale surveys? How many hours of formal induction training do new service desk analysts receive?

2007 2009 2013 2011 2015 2017

2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 Less than 10 hours 18% 14% 12% 14% 21% 13%

Yes 40% 38% 40% 35% 66% 10 - 25 hours 15% 22% 22% 19% 15% 25%

No 47% 50% 45% 50% 21% 26 - 40 hours 16% 18% 18% 17% 21% 22%

Planning to start in 13% 12% 15% 15% 13% 41 - 80 hours 20% 22% 21% 21% 27% 22%
the next 12 months 81 - 120 hours 13% 12% 10% 13% 5% 10%
Over 120 hours 12% 14% 16% 10% 9% 7%
None 5% 2% 1% 6% 2% 0%

There has been a significant increase in the proportion of

respondents who have identified that their service desk carries
out regular staff morale surveys. Since 2015, this statistic has
risen by 31%, signifying that more service desks are potentially
realising the benefits of staff morale surveys. Correspondingly,
the proportion of service desks that do not carry out regular staff
morale surveys has reduced by 29%.
There have been some shifts in the number of hours service desks spend on formal
induction training for new service desk analysts. It seems that overall, service desks
are spending more time on induction training, as there are 8% fewer respondents who
have identified that their service desk do less than 10 hours of formal induction training.
Furthermore, no respondents identified that they offer no training for new starters.
The proportion of service desks that offer 10-25 hours, 26-40 hours, and 81-120 hours of
induction training have seen slight increases. Correspondingly, responses indicating less
than 10 hours, 41-80 hours, and over 120 hours have fallen slightly.
 3.0 Staff 8

3.4 Composition of Induction Training There has been an overall increase in the hours of training that
What type of formal induction training, if any, is given to new service desk analysts? new service desk analysts receive, which has manifested itself in
a wider scope of training offered by a higher proportion of service
desks.

For the most part, there has been little change in the weight placed
on the types of induction training given. However, service desk
procedures remain as the most common method of induction
training, with nearly 95% of service desks opting for it. Buddy
training is also still a significant element of induction training for
analysts, with 86% of respondents choosing this option.

A new option offered this year was security policy and procedures
training to specifically capture the level of priority given to security
during induction training. 57% of respondents identified that
they undertake security training during induction. Following a
significant dip in 2015, telephone skills has increased considerably
as a form of induction training. Alongside this, customer service
training has increased by 10%, suggesting that more importance is
placed on customer experience.

2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017

Service Desk Procedures 89% 91% 76% 95% 85% 94%
Buddy training 71% 90% 73% 89% 82% 86%
Social Media Skills 0% 0% 0% 0% 4% 6%
Products/ Services Information 65% 67% 54% 78% 57% 64%
Telephone Skills 57% 49% 38% 54% 46% 67%
Customer Service Training 44% 40% 32% 49% 44% 54%
Problem Solving 43% 33% 28% 31% 32% 30%
Computer Skills 33% 30% 25% 28% 35% 38%
Writing Techniques 9% 6% 4% 14% 17% 16%
Security Policy and Procedures - - - - - 57%
Training
 3.0 Staff 9

3.5 On-going Training hours of training a year per analyst has reduced by 3% on the 2015 results and 26% since
Once established in their role, how many hours of formal on-going training do service desk 2007. However, there has been an increase in the 10 – 41 hours category, which has seen
analysts receive per year? a positive 27% shift since 2007 and a 16% growth since 2015. It’s also interesting to note
that the 2015 spike of 30% in the less than 10 hours category, has shifted back to 2011 and
2013 levels, which indicates that 16% of organisations have increased training hours. This
data shows that the amount of time dedicated to training has shifted to the 10 to 25 hours
category. From 2015, there has been a 5% drop in training time between 41 and 120 hours,
and an increase of 17% in training time between 10 and 40 hours. This shift could be as a
result of budget constraints, cost considerations, operational requirements or that service
desk analyst’s skills and experience has improved over the last 10 years and as a result,
training time is not as necessary.

2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017

Less than 10 hours 14% 21% 17% 16% 30% 18%
10 - 25 hours 19% 22% 19% 35% 24% 40%
26 - 40 hours 23% 25% 24% 25% 28% 29%
41 - 80 hours 21% 24% 19% 15% 10% 6%
81 - 120 hours 11% 10% 8% 4% 3% 6%
Over 120 hours 7% 8% 4% 5% 5% 1%

Following the trend seen in the previous surveys, there appears to be a reduction in the amount of
time dedicated to on-going training. Whereas 39% of new analysts receive over 41 hours of induction
training, only 13% receive as many hours of on-going training. Organisations who dedicate over 41
 3.0 Staff 10

3.6 Composition of On-going Training Similarly, to the composition of induction training, on-going
What type of formal on-going internal training, if any, is given to service training has enjoyed an element of stability. At the higher end,
desk analysts? service desk procedures and product/service information have
seen increases of 6% and 7% respectively.

Most significantly, on-going training for problem solving has

decreased by 17% since 2015 and 30% since 2007. Alongside that,
at a time when customer experience and customer centric service
is evolving and becoming a catalyst for change, it is extremely
surprising to see customer service training decrease by 12% since
2015 and 16% since 2007. Specific IT skills has remained at roughly
the same proportion, falling by only 1%.

2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017

Service desk procedures 67% 73% 58% 75% 74% 80%
Specific IT Skills 65% 74% 56% 67% 64% 63%
Products/ Services Information 57% 70% 54% 62% 61% 68%
Problem Solving 47% 36% 14% 23% 34% 17%
Customer Service Training 45% 42% 39% 38% 41% 29%
Telephone Skills 33% 32% 16% 26% 21% 32%
Writing Techniques 11% 12% 10% 11% 14% 11%
Security Policy and Procedures Training - - - - - 42%
 3.0 Staff 11

3.7 Staff Retention 3.8 Service Desk Leavers

What is the average length of service of Service Desk Analysts? When people on permanent contracts leave the service desk where do they go?

2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017
Less than 6 months 1% 1% 0% 1% 2% 0% Another job with another company 27% 34% 41% 1% 38% 51%
6 - 12 months 7% 2% 1% 0% 5% 3% Other IT roles within the company 51% 48% 40% 0% 44% 35%
1 - 2 years 38% 26% 23% 23% 18% 26% Other service desks within the 0% 0% 0% 23% 2% 1%
2 - 3 years N/A 31% 34% 22% 25% 35% organisation

Over 3 years 53% 40% 42% 54% 50% 35% Elsewhere within the organisation 14% 11% 9% 22% 11% 7%
Other (please specify) 8% 7% 10% 54% 7% 6%

Since 2015, there has an obvious shift in the average life of a service desk analyst, with
15% fewer staff staying over 3 years, making it equal to the 35% of respondents who
identified the average length of service of an analyst is 2 to 3 years. Since 2013, the
average length of service of between 2 to 3 years has increased by 13% indicating that an
average length of service of between 2 to 3 years has become the most recent trend.
26% of respondents confirmed that the average length of service is 1 to 2 years; this
category has seen an increase of 8% since 2015. Given the reduction to 0% respondents
who identified the average length of a service desk analyst is less than 6 months, and 3%
for 0 to 12 months, we can infer that the average time an analyst stays on the service desk
has centralised to between 1 to 3 years. It is interesting to note that the average length of
service below 12 months has continued to decrease, meaning that service desk staff are
more likely to stay with a service desk longer than 12 months, than ever before.
There has been a significant increase in the number of analysts who choose to leave the
organisation completely, increasing from 38% in 2015 to 51% in 2017. This is the only category to
have seen an increase. There may be several factors that contribute to this; for example, the analyst
may move to a different role within another company, or leave as the organisation did not provide
the right working environment for the analyst. This could be related to a recognised global trend,
where Y Generation staff are increasingly becoming more mobile in their working lives and making
employment choices based on their personal needs around supporting technologies, organisational
culture, flexible working hours, or technology flexibility like bring your own device. Alternatively,
there may not be adequate career progression opportunities. As such, an analyst may be inclined to
move around until they are satisfied with what their organisation can offer them.
Although lower than in 2015, the proportion of analysts who move onto other IT roles within a
company is still relatively high at 35%. Only 1% of analysts now move to another service desk within
the organisation, and 7% move elsewhere.
 3.0 Staff 12

3.9 Service Desk Manager Attributes While Leadership has remained as the most important skill
What skills or aptitudes do you (service desk managers) require to help you make the for service desk managers to progress, as identified by 76% of
next progression in your career? respondents, it is closely followed by communication for leaders,
which has seen an incredible surge in significance since 2013
increasing by 36% from 2011 to 2017. Skills surrounding processes,
procedures, and metrics has seen a slight increase of 2% since
2015, resulting in it falling to the third most important skill for
service desk managers to have in order to progress in their careers.

The increases seen here are indicative of the fact that managers
need to be good at both the technical side of their job as well
as the more personal aspect of managing people effectively.
Therefore, leadership and communication skills are necessary for
getting the most potential out of a team and for a service desk
manager’s own career progression.

2015 saw a strong growth in the proportions of most skills.

However, there has been some considerable regression for the
majority of skills necessary for service desk managers to progress,
most significantly HR management skills, dropping by 20%.

2009 2011 2013 2015 2017

Marketing 11% 10% 13% 17% 21%
Social Media Skills 0% 0% 0% 10% 12%
Finance 32% 23% 34% 36% 34%
HR Management 16% 13% 16% 38% 18%
Leadership 58% 38% 63% 74% 76%
Information Management 24% 23% 32% 50% 43%
Risk Assessment 21% 18% 23% 36% 25%
Management Theories 46% 39% 32% 41% 39%
Processes, Procedures, and Metrics 46% 33% 52% 67% 69%
Communication for Leaders 36% 36% 52% 58% 72%
Other (please specify) - - - 9% 7%
 4.0 Salaries 13

The data collected in the 2017 benchmarking survey has 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017
revealed some interesting trends, including some which have Starting £18,568.00 £19,640.00 £19,408.00 £19,254.00 £22,725.00 £21,762.00
not previously been seen in this series of reports. It is interesting
After 2 years £22,147.00 £20,383.00 £19,561.00 £19,857.00 £22,752.00 £24,862.00
to note that for each level of service desk staff surveyed, more
weight has been placed on the necessity of meeting performance
targets and KPIs in order to receive a pay rise within 2 years.
UK US Europe
It is important to note that respondents of this survey were Starting £20,690.00 $41,500.00 €32,500.00
based all over the world. As such, foreign currencies were
converted in early September 2017. Fluctuations in currency After 2 Years £23,625.00 $45,875.00 €30,500.00
value may render converted results inaccurate.

Although the sample sizes for the US and Europe may not have
been large enough for a truly accurate representation, the
Since 2015, the average starting salary for analysts has reduced from £22,725 to £21,762. However, whereas in 2015,
averages give an indication of the different average salaries
analysts would not have expected their salaries to increase much over 2 years, the potential increase in salary for 2017
between the UK, the US, and Europe, allowing for comparison.
has increased dramatically, with a disparity of over £3,000.

Will they receive a pay rise within 2 years?

4.1 Service Desk Analysts

The results of this question are similar to in 2015, with the majority of pay rises being more reliant on analysts
meeting their performance targets or KPIs. Aligning with this, there has been a downward shift of 11% for pay rises
that are based on company performance rather than individual performance. Interestingly, 7% more respondents
identified that their service desk analysts will receive a pay rise in 2 years, regardless of performance.
 4.0 Salaries 14

4.2 Service Desk Supervisors Will they receive a pay rise within 2 years?
What is the average annual gross starting salary for service desk supervisors in
your organisation?

25% of respondents identified that service desk supervisors will receive a pay
rise within two years in line with inflation, which has increased by 6% since 2015.
However, it is still more crucial that supervisors meet their performance targets
or KPIs, as specified by 40% of respondents. Again, aligning with this, there is a
downward shift seen for pay rises that are based on company performance rather
than individual performance, which is down 9% on 2015 results.
2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017
Starting £23,203.00 £26,228.00 £22,778.00 £24,532.00 £22,961.00 £28,067.00
After 2 yrs £25,778.00 £29,441.00 £25,077.00 £26,826.00 £27,158.00 £30,983.00

UK US Europe

Starting £26,140.48 $58,500.00 € 33,833.33

After 2 yrs £28,584.09 $60,555.56 € 37,833.33

Compared to analysts’ salaries over the past 2 years, service desk supervisors’ salaries
have increase significantly more. With a starting salary increase of just under £5,000,
respondents also identified that, on average, supervisors should expect an increase in
salary to around £30,000 after 2 years.
 4.0 Salaries 15

4.3 Service Desk Managers Will they receive a pay rise within 2 years?
What is the average annual gross starting salary for service desk managers in your
organisation? 22%/20%

Yes, regardless of performance 21%/17%

Pay rises are based on company, 12%/22%

not individual performance

Only if they meet their performance 40%/34%

targets/KPIs

Only in exceptional circumstances 2%/4%

They are unlikely to receive a pay

3%/2%
rise regardless of performance
2017 2015

Similar to supervisors, almost all service desk managers can expect an increase in salary within
2 years, provided they meet performance targets or KPIs. As with the previous results, there is
also a downward shift seen for pay rises that are based on company performance rather than
2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 individual performance, which is down 10% on 2015 results.
Starting £32,241.00 £34,641.00 £32,649.00 £33,274.00 £37,500.00 £37,825.00
After 2 yrs £36,590.00 £40,480.00 £35,948.00 £36,783.00 £43,366.00 £41,610.00

UK US Europe

Starting £35,526.00 $79,250.00 €50,833.00

After 2 yrs £38,156.00 $86,444.00 €55,666.00

Since 2015, service desk managers can expect to earn slightly more upon starting. However,
according to respondents, they will earn less after 2 years than if they had started in 2015.
 5.0 Qualifications 16

5.1 Past 12 Months 5.2 Next 12 Months

What qualification have you or any of your staff achieved over the past year? What qualifications are you, or your staff, due to take over the next 12 months?

65% 66%

56% 57%

26%

18%

10%

ITIL None
ITIL has kept its position as the most popular qualification for the service desk
industry – remaining at the top consistently since the first survey in 2009 – with 2017 2015
technical qualifications following closely. SDI qualifications have seen some growth,
holding around 26% of all surveyed qualification, which is the highest it has been
since 2009.
2009 2011 2013 2015 2017
It is interesting to note that while2009 2011
technical qualifications 2013
has 2015position2017
strengthened ITIL 59% 58% 65% 65% 56%
ITIL the industry, ITIL has slipped
within 65%slightly. At
57%the time of60% this report’s77%
publication, 69% SDI Qualifications 34% 29% 20% 26% 33%
ITIL has not yet been
SDI Qualifications updated since
32%ITIL V3, yet
18%it is likely that
21% by the next
20%iteration of26%
this report, a newer version of ITIL will have been released, which could lead to this
Technical Qualifications 49% 52% 53% 57% 66%
Technical Qualifications 37% 37% 32% 52% 61%
statistic seeing a significant increase. None 21% 12% 18% 18% 10%
None 20% 22% 19% 13% 7%

In keeping with previous years, the amount of service desks that are due to take qualifications
is representative of the amount that has already achieved them. The most common
qualification service desks are likely to take is technical qualifications followed by ITIL. SDI
qualifications are in third place however this statistic has seen an increase of nearly 10% since
2015, as predicted in the report.
 5.0 Qualifications 17

5.3 Frameworks and Standards 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017

What frameworks/standards have been adopted by your service desk? ITIL 77% 68% 63% 93% 86%
SDI Certification 11% 7% 9% 18% 17%
ISO/IEC 20000 10% 5% 3% 22% 29%
ISO 9000 12% 9% 5% 20% 14%
EFQM 2% 0% 0% 1% 0%
COBIT 4% 0% 0% 9% 10%
MOF 0% 0% 3% 2% 0%
COPC 1% 0% 1% 2% 0%
DevOps - - - 1% 11%
SIAM - - - 3% 8%
None 20% 11% 12% 5% 8%
Other (please specify) 6% 4% 1% 5% 8%

The only standards or frameworks to have increased in adoption since 2015 are ISO/
IEC 20000, COBIT, SIAM, and most notably, DevOps; however, none of these have been
particularly significant increases. There has been a small increase in the number of
service desks that have not adopted any frameworks or standards, as identified by 8% of
respondents. SDI certification has stayed fairly stable, only decreasing by 1%, whereas ITIL
has seen a fall of nearly 10% since 2015 but still remains the largest. The largest increase
see’s DevOps adoption increase by 10% since 2015, which is an indication that some
organisations are adopting a more agile approach to delivering services. However, it’s not as
large an increase as one would have expected to see as a result of the momentum created by
the agile movement in recent years.
 6.0 Customer Satisfaction 18

6.1 Measuring Customer Satisfaction Clearly, customer satisfaction is becoming increasingly relevant within the industry, which has
How do you measure customer satisfaction? led to the idea of an Experience Level Agreement (XLA). Similar to the Service Level Agreement
(SLA), XLAs establish a typical level of service quality a customer should receive, therefore
establishing a minimum satisfactory level of customer experience. Meeting SLA targets may not
be as important to a customer as it is to the service desk, therefore analysts may focus on hitting
KPIs rather than concerning themselves with the experience of the customer. For example, an
SLA might outline a target for resolution times, therefore service desk analysts may attempt
to resolve incidents as quickly as possible to meet the target, but in doing so they may not be
attentive to the customer or their needs. As such, an XLA would specify that the analyst should
pay attention to the experience of the customer, and ensure that the customer is satisfied
throughout their interaction with the service desk.

What do you do with this information once it is collected?

2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017

Email/ Web Surveys 65% 79% 77% 19% 85% 97%
Call Monitoring 23% 26% 23% 25% 42% 33%
Telephone Surveys 20% 10% 12% 11% 10% 11%
Postal Surveys 15% 6% 4% 0% 5% 3%
Dedicated Account Manager - - - 30% 15% 16%
Telephone Surveys During Call 10% 4% 3% 3% 5% 8% 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017
Feed into Service Improvement Plan 68% 65% 56% 67% 56%
Mystery Shoppers 5% 6% 4% 3% 3% 2%
Formal Review Process 6% 6% 3% 7% 10%
Don't measure 17% 12% 16% 10% 9% 3%
Informal Escalation 17% 15% 22% 20% 27%
Nothing 9% 14% 16% 6% 8%
Email/web surveys have retained their position as the most popular method of measuring customer
satisfaction. This is likely a result of their ease of use and flexibility. Call monitoring continues as the There has been an 11% decrease in the proportion of service desks that feed customer
second most popular method, although it has fallen slightly, from 42% in 2015 to 33% in 2017. Other satisfaction information into service improvement. Undertaking a formal review process, and
categories have seen little shift in proportion. informal escalation have seen slight increases since 2015, gaining 3% and 7% respectively.

The proportion of service desks that do not measure customer service has decreased to a low 3%, It is concerning that the proportion of service desks that do nothing with information collected
which suggests that more service desks are now actively seeking satisfaction data to help measure from customer satisfaction surveys has increased to 8% since 2015. Keeping customers happy
the true value of the services they provide. and satisfied is vital for all service desks, and collecting customer satisfaction data without acting
on feedback can have a detrimental impact on a service desk.
 6.0 Customer Satisfaction 19

6.2 Your Customers
What methods do your customers use to contact the service desk?
Interestingly, after reaching 100% in 2015, the proportion of customers who use the
telephone to contact the service desk has decreased by 2%. Email has dropped by 8% since
2015 and notably, has dropped to below 90% for the first time since the initiation of this
survey. Most social engagement has decreased to 0%. Live Chat usage on the other hand,
has significantly increased by 10% since 2015 and 21% since the initiation of this survey.
Respondents also identified that self-service now constitutes 21% of methods customers use
to contact the service desk.

Given that self-service and live chat is incredibly commonplace in everyday life, some may
expect these proportions to be higher. However, many service desks still struggle with
implementing these technologies, as it can be difficult to gain adequate buy-in or obtain
sufficient resources in order to successfully offer these support channels to their customers.
/ Comparing service desk customer service to that provided by large corporations can be
detrimental to the service desk’s reputation, which can cause the service desk to be taken
for granted or seen as a less important part of the business.

2009 2011 2013 2015 2017

Telephone 98% 95% 96% 100% 98%
E-Mail 94% 94% 95% 93% 85%
In person 58% 63% 62% 62% 60%
Genius bar 46% 38% 44% 29% 11%
Voice Mail 13% 11% 15% 33% 32%
Live Chat 10% 14% 24% 21% 31%
Self-service Web Portal - - - - 21%
Blogs / 5% 4% 3% 2% 0%
Twitter 4% 10% 13% 9% 3%
LinkedIn 3% 6% 5% 2% 0%
Facebook 2% 7% 6% 4% 0%
 6.0 Customer Satisfaction 20

6.3 BYOD 6.4 SLAs

Do you currently support user-owned devices (BYOD)? Do you have formal written and agreed service level agreements (SLAs)?

2013 2015 2017

Yes 58% 58% 39%
No 42% 42% 61%

2009 2011 2013 2015 2017

Yes 71% 74% 64% 69% 77%
No 29% 26% 36% 31% 23%
In the 2013 survey, a question was added to gauge the amount of service desks that are offering
support for customer’s personal devices, as it had become one of the biggest trends to impact the
service desk industry. The results from this question continued into 2015, with 58% of respondents The importance of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) is well understood, as SLAs represent a
identifying that their service desk offers support for bring your own device (BYOD). contract between the service desk and the buying customer, and also helps to manage end user
expectations. This is represented here in the considerably high rate of adoption. In 2017, 77% of
Interestingly, this year has seen a dip in the proportion of service desks that support user-owned respondents identified that their service desk has formally written and agreed SLAs. This is the
devices, with only 39% of respondents identifying that their customers are offered BYOD. In 2017, highest result since the question was introduced in the survey in 2009.
BYOD may not be a significant factor as it was in 2015, which may have led some service desks not
to specify that BYOD support is offered, but rather that it has been accepted as a business as usual Over the next two years’, SLAs are likely to become increasingly important, but evidence from this
support situation should customers use their own devices. report and the industry’s developing focus on customer satisfaction, suggests that the prime SLAs
will be related to the end to end customer experience.
 6.0 Customer Satisfaction 21

6.5 Customer Status 6.6 Measuring Success

Do you offer any customers priority status? What is the main indicator of success for your service desk?

2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017

Number of calls/ issues fixed vs number 32% 45% 32% 34% 37% 39%
received
2011 2013 2015 2017 Customer Satisfaction measures 44% 37% 52% 49% 34% 48%
Yes, and it is determined on an official basis 24% 25% 50% 59% Improvements to Service Quality 13% 12% 10% 12% 18% 5%

Yes, and it is determined on an unofficial basis 40% 36% 38% 29% Productivity Improvements 7% 4% 4% 4% 7% 7%
Reduced cost per head of IT support 3% 2% 2% 1% 4% 2%
No 36% 39% 12% 13%

Only 13% of respondents advised that they do not offer any priority status to specific customers.
Of the 87% that do offer priority status, 67% determine this on an official basis with the
remaining 43% determining who has priority status on an unofficial basis. This increase could
indicate the acknowledgement that not all customers are equal, and the wider acceptance of a
priority status.
The proportion of service desks offering customer prioritisation in 2017 has remained similar to
that of 2015, but there is a larger proportion that determine this on an official basis, indicating
growth in the acceptance of customer prioritisation.
Since 2011, the main indicator for service desk success has been customer satisfaction
measures, overtaking fix rates which held the top position in 2009. From 2013 to 2015,
the fix rate indicator of success showed a slight increase of 3%, and customer satisfaction
plummeted from 49% to 34%. 2017 has shown another interesting reversal, with
customer satisfaction reclaiming the top position at 48%. This further supports the idea
that XLAs may become more prevalent over the next 2 years.
Another interesting statistic can be seen in the proportion of service desks that view
improvements to service quality as the main indicator of success; this figure has dropped
to its lowest at 5% since the inception of the survey. This is interesting, as typically, one
would expect service quality and customer satisfaction to go hand in hand. Perhaps
service desks are concerned with service quality, but customer satisfaction is easier to
measure and an overarching manifestation of service quality success.
 7.0 Productivity 22

It should be stressed that these figures should not be considered to equate to any kind of First contact resolution rate
industry standard and are for interest only. Such standards can be misleading as they do not
2011 2013 2015 2017
reflect variations in the industry and differences in types of support. Also, calculations are not
always based upon equivalent criteria, which can make comparative analysis misleading. Measure 87% 78% 79% 64%
Average 61-70% 61-70% 61-70% 61-70%
Don’t measure 13% 22% 21% 36%
7.1 Measuring Productivity
If measured, what are your average metrics? Number of incidents logged on a monthly basis
Average speed to answer (seconds) 2011 2013 2015 2017
2011 2013 2015 2017 Measure 98% 98% 97% 79%
Measure 85% 87% 57% 79% Average 1001-2000 2001-4000 4001-5000 5001-7000
Average 10 to 20 10 to 20 30 34 Don’t measure 2% 2% 3% 21%
Don’t measure 15% 13% 43% 21%
Percentage of escalated to problem status
Average call abandon rate 2011 2013 2015 2017
2011 2013 2015 2017 Measure 76% 81% 81% 40%

Measure 83% 77% 62% 68% Average <10% <10% <10% <5%
Don’t measure 24% 19% 19% 60%
Average <5% <5% <5% 5%
Don’t measure 17% 23% 38% 32%
Number of service requests logged on a monthly basis
2011 2013 2015 2017
Average cost per call
Measure 82% 87% 72% 51%
2011 2013 2015 2017
Average >400 >400 1001-2000 1001-2000
Measure 25% 30% 15% 25%
Don’t measure 18% 13% 28% 49%
Average £4-5 £6-7 £7-9 £5-7
Don’t measure 75% 70% 85% 75%
The findings from this year’s benchmarking survey suggest some slight changes to how service
desks measure their performance.
Cost per email (fully loaded)
Average speed to answer, which has remained a core metric for many service desks, was
2011 2013 2015 2017
measured by just 57% of teams in 2015, a significant fall from previous studies. This year we have
Measure 16% 26% 4% 9% seen that figure recover to 79%, which is closer to the level we saw in 2013.
Average £3-5 £5-7 £7-9 £4-6
Nevertheless, the average response for this metric increased once more to 34 seconds. This is
Don’t measure 84% 74% 96% 91%
the highest average we have reported since records started in 2011. This increase, up from 30
seconds in 2015, may be reflective of the notable increase in the number of incidents logged on a
monthly basis.
 7.0 Productivity 23

Despite an increase in the number of service desks who measure average speed to answer and
average cost per call, the application rate of other metrics has continued to fall. Only 51% of
teams measure the number of service requests logged per month, and less than 50% record the
percentage of incidents which are escalated to problem status. A very interesting statistic when
considering that Problem Management is seen a central process to enable service improvement
and ultimately improve the customer experience.

After increasing in 2015, the number of service desks that track the number of logged incidents
and service requests has dropped. However, the service desks that do track reported a continuing
increase in the number of logged incidents, increasing on average up to 5 times the rate in 2011.

Over the next two years, based on evidence throughout this report, one could predict that more
service desks will actively measure metrics that are related to customer experience and how
successful they are at providing customer centric services.
 8.0 Service desk tools and technologies 24

8.1 Tools and Technologies 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017
Which of the following tools and technologies do you currently have access to? Remote support - 74% 85% 80% 84% 82%
Allowing users to log a call 50% 63% 76% 74% 81% 75%
Allowing users to see the status of a call 40% 62% 78% 72% 72% 69%
Knowledge Base - - - 51% 69% 69%
FAQs - - - 50% 60% 42%
Online Self-Help 40% 48% 51% 68% 58% 55%
ACD system - - - 44% 43% 35%
Live chat link to/ from the service desk 7% 5% 11% 20% 27% 25%
Gamification - - - 0% 6% 4%
Virtual Agents - - - - - 2%
Chatbots - - - - - 4%
We do not have access to any at present - - - - 2% 2%
Other (please specify) - - - - 3% 0%

From this dataset, we can see that there have been no increases in the adoption of any tools and
technologies except Chatbots and Virtual Agents, which were new options added in 2017. Most
tools and technologies have seen a slight decrease in percentage, or remained the same. This
downward trend is difficult to analyse, as more sophisticated tools and technologies are readily
available to service desks since 2015.

The two new additions, Chatbots and Virtual agents have debuted with a respondent adoption
of 4% and 2% respectively. Its interesting to note this small proportion, as self-service and self-
help, which are typically much simpler tools and are abundantly built into ITSM tools, have not
seen an increase in adoption. It will be interesting to see how this technology will be adopted
in service over the next 2 years as these 6% of innovator and early adopting organisations grow,
and Chatbots and Virtual Agents become an additional support channel.
 8.0 Service desk tools and technologies 25

What percentage of your calls are received through the following channels? The results of this question have not differed from its introduction in 2015. Unsurprisingly, the
highest rates of adoption have remained in telephone and email contacts, comprising 85% of the
total, and 47% and 38% respectively.

Live chat and self-service have grown slightly in their position within the industry, with 8% and
21% respective adoption rates. As seen in 2015, respondents identified that their customers do not
contact the service desk via social media or SMS.
As evidenced by other SDI report data, the lack of user adoption of self-service is not surprising.
There are many reasons service desks struggle with user adoption of new technologies, such
as difficulty changing user habits or poor implementation. However, some service desks are
succeeding with user adoption, by including the customer throughout the design process, and
providing adequate user education and feedback implementation. There is potential for this figure
to reach 40% by 2019.

2015 2017
Telephone 44% 47%

Live Chat 7% 8%

Self-Service 20% 21%

Social Media 0% 0%

In Person 7% 11%

SMS 0% 0%

Email 32% 38%

Other 7% 8%
 9.0 The future 26

9.1 Industry Thoughts We use less than half of all the functions of our service desk software system:
How far do you agree with the following statements?
In the future, we will use more self-help and self-service facilities:

2013 2015 2017

2013 2015 2017
Strongly disagree 7% 18% 7%
Strongly disagree 0% 9% 7%
Disagree 4% 2% 2% Disagree 39% 26% 43%

Agree 34% 42% 41% Agree 36% 48% 35%

Strongly agree 62% 47% 50% Strongly agree 17% 8% 15%

 9.0 The future 27

Knowledge base systems are too difficult to implement and maintain on our service desk:

2013 2015 2017

Strongly disagree 9% 7% 2%
Disagree 32% 27% 26%
Agree 48% 54% 56%
Strongly agree 11% 12% 16%

The importance of self-help and self-service has not disappeared since the previous
surveys, with the proportion of respondents who strongly agree increasing slightly from
the dip seen in 2015. There is also an increase in the amount of respondents who believe
knowledge management systems are too difficult to implement and maintain in this
survey, with 2% of the respondents strongly believing this to be the case.

Positively, there is an increase in the amount of respondents who both believe they
use more than half of the functionality of their service desk software system and have
achieved a return on the initial investment of procuring the technology.
 Conclusion 28

This report provides valuable insight into the health and maturity of the service desk industry. For
the most part, there has been a level of stability and consistency since 2015, with many results
exhibiting little change since 2015.

Perhaps two of the most significant statistics can be found in the proportion of service desks now
measuring employee and customer satisfaction, which have both increased significantly since
2015. Core service desk metrics, such as average call wait times, abandon rate, cost per call, and
number of logged calls have seen an increase in the proportion of service desks that measure them.
However, all other surveyed metrics have fallen in terms of utilisation rate. Perhaps service desks are
focusing more on customer experience than metrics, and measure success based on this.

There are, however, some areas for concern. A question should be raised as to why levels of service
desk adoption of tools and technologies have dipped since 2015, suggesting that fewer service desks
now offer capabilities such as self-service and self-help. This could be linked to the fact that fewer
analysts will stay on the service desk over 3 years with an increase of analyst leaving their company,
as employees are dissatisfied with the lack of technological development of their service desk.

Overall, there are many signs of positive development in this report, many of them centred on
tangible growth within the industry. It is possible that as the service desk evolves to meet changes
in the industry, the negatives highlighted in the report will be mitigated and turned into areas of
future growth.
About Ivanti
Ivanti Service Manager, powered by HEAT, helps enterprises
meet today’s business and user demands for modern service
delivery, engaging stakeholders inside and outside of IT. The
solution, with workflow automation and Cloud-based or
on premise deployment options, enables IT organisations
to quickly deploy and configure a world-class service
management solution, and increase customer satisfaction.
Ivanti Service Manager fully supports Incident, Problem,
Change and Release Management, Self-Service, 3rd party
integration and more, and is Pink Verified on 13 ITIL processes,
to improve IT support performance and efficiency. For more
information, visit www.ivanti.co.uk and follow us on Twitter
@GoIvanti.
The author of this report is SDI’s Industry Analyst
Scarlett Bayes. Scarlett is dedicated to providing
insightful and practical research to the service desk
industry through investigating trends, analysing data
and engaging with the IT service community. You can
find more of Scarlett’s work on the SDI blog
and can follow her on Twitter @SDIScarlett
Mike Franchetti is SDI’s Customer Insight Analyst.
Mike was responsible for collating and analysing data
gathered from the survey, and providing commentary
to assist with topics discussed within this report.
About SDI 29
The SDI company mission is to inspire service desks to be
brilliant. To achieve this mission SDI has developed a set of
goals by which it aims to inspire service desks to:
Embrace:
To raise the quality of service delivery by valuing best practice
Engage:
To create an inspiring and engaging customer experience
Invest:
To empower their teams to be inspired, take action and be better
Shine:
To demonstrate and deliver exceptional business value
SDI sets the globally recognised best practice service desk
standards that provide clear and measurable benchmarks for
service desk operations and professionals. The standards are
designed to encourage service desks to embrace and value
best practice in order to raise the quality of service delivery.
For more information about SDI please visit
www.servicedeskinstitute.com
While every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy
of this report, the results, estimates and opinions stated
are based on sources which, while we believe them
to be reliable, are not guaranteed. No liability can be
accepted by SDI, its Directors or Employees for any
loss to any person acting or failing to act as a result of
anything contained in or omitted from this report, or
conclusions stated.