It Build A Service Desk Continual Improvement Plan Phases 1 3 V3

Build a Service Desk Continual Improvement
Plan
Teach your old service desk new tricks.
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Table of contents
1. Title
2. Executive Summary
3. Execute the Project/DIY Guide
Phase 1: Focus the Continual Improvement Plan
Step 1: Determine goals and objectives
Step 2: Determine critical success factors and target metrics
Step 3: Conduct a full assessment of your service desk
Phase 2: Build the Continual Improvement Plan
Step 4: Identify and prioritize initiatives
Step 5: Build Continual Improvement Plan
Phase 3: Run the Continual Improvement Plan
Step 6: Monitor progress
Step 7: Measure outcome
5. Summary/Conclusion
6. Next Steps
7. Appendices

ANALYST PERSPECTIVE
Where do we go from here?
Service desk managers often learn the hard way that standardizing
their processes is only the start of the service quality journey. Quality
service desk processes are not only difficult to build, they’re also
difficult to sustain. Service managers who steward mature processes
often find themselves stuck at the top of the mountain with no idea
how to survive there.
There are three things you can do to put in place improvements that
stick: engage, engage, engage. Engage executives; engage informal
leaders; engage service desk analysts. Not only will each group have
insights that could make or break the service desk improvement, but
engaging them will also get them to buy into the process. Ultimately, it
will sustain the change process, and help ensure you don’t tumble back
down the mountain.
Sandi Conrad,
Senior Director, Infrastructure Practice
Info-Tech Research Group

Our understanding of the problem
This Research Is
is Designed For: This Research Will Help You:
 CIOs who need to instill a culture of continual Set a strategic vision for the service desk.
improvement in their IT organization.
Conduct a service desk audit to identify your
 IT directors who want to review the strategic strengths and weaknesses.
direction of their service desk.
Identify and prioritize service desk initiatives to
 Managers of mature service desks who want improve the service desk.
to make gains in service desk effectiveness,
timeliness, and customer service. Set measurable targets for improvement
initiatives.
Design a service desk improvement project

that sustains and cements change.
Measure and monitor progress to ensure

initiatives achieve the desired outcome.

Executive Summary
Situation Info-Tech Insight
• The ideal service desk offers prompt and cost-effective service that 1. Lean into incremental improvements.
improves service availability, resource use, and productivity. In reality, Mature service desks with the capacity
however, IT managers must work hard to maintain and improve service for change are ideally situated to
quality or risk performance deterioration over time. respond to shifting business priorities.
2. It’s easier to climb Mount Everest
than to stay there. Without continual
Complication service improvement, sustained service
• Even service desks with a high degree of process maturity must desk quality will be temporary.
contend with business priorities that change over time in order to Organizations need to put in place an
sustain operational excellence. ongoing process to audit, enhance, and
sustain the performance of your service
• Without the right leadership, commitment, and processes, desk whatever your process maturity.
improvements in service quality can be difficult to sustain.
Resolution
• Continual service improvement is not only a development plan, but also an organizational culture. The goal is to embed a
process of continual improvement in target service desk processes that enhances capabilities and improves service
quality over time.
• Build a continual improvement plan for the service desk to review and evaluate key processes and services, and manage
the progress of improvement initiatives. The plan should develop a vision for the service desk, review its architecture, set
measurable targets for improvement initiatives, identify relevant initiatives, and manage their progress.
• The service desk continual improvement plan is an ongoing process. As one improvement cycle ends, the next cycle
begins, which allows the service desk to keep pace with changing business requirements.

Info-Tech Research Group’s approach to service desk
optimization focuses on building essential best practices
Extend
Improve
Facilitate the extension of
Build a continual
service management best
practices to other improvement plan for the
business functions to service desk to review and
evaluate key processes
improve productivity and
and services, and manage
position IT as a strategic Info-Tech’s the progress of
partner. Service Desk improvement initiatives.
Methodology
Standardize Lean
Build essential incident, Build essential incident,
service request, and service request, and
knowledge management knowledge management
processes to create a processes to create a
sustainable service desk sustainable service desk
that meets business Our
Our Approach
Approach to
to the
the Service
Service Desk
Desk that meets business
needs. Service needs.
Service desk
desk optimization
optimization goes
goes
beyond
beyond the blind adoption of best-
the blind adoption of best-
practice frameworks.
practice frameworks. Select and Implement
Consolidate Review mid-market and
Info-Tech’s
Info-Tech’s approach
approach focuses
focuses on
on
Build a strategic controlling
controlling support
support costs
costs and
and making
making enterprise service desk
roadmap to consolidate the
the most
most of
of IT’s
IT’s service
service management
management tools, select an ITSM
service desks to reduce expertise
expertise toto improve
improve productivity.
productivity. solution, and build an
end-user support costs implementation plan to
Do
Do the
the projects
projects sequentially
sequentially ensure your investment
and sustain end-user
or
or in
in any
any order.
order. meets your needs.
satisfaction.

Put the basics in place before you embark on a service desk
continual service improvement initiative
What is continual service improvement?
Continual service improvement is a proactive approach to service desk
management. It involves measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of people,
processes, and technology to:
• Identify areas for improvement.
• Adapt to changes in the business environment.
• Align the IT strategy to organizational goals.
A continual improvement process helps service desks move away from a reactive
approach to service improvements, which focuses only on fixing problems as they
occur.
The
The standardize
standardize project
project will
will help:
help:
First things first. 1.
1. Compare
Compare current
current service
service desk
desk
practices
practices against
against best
best practices.
practices.
Make sure the basics are in place before you embark on a continual improvement
initiative. 2.
2. Put
Put in
in place
place consistent
consistent processes
processes
for:
for:
Putting in place a continual improvement process for your service desk will
improve operational costs and end-user satisfaction, but only once you have •• Ticket
Ticket handling
handling
consistent incident management and service request fulfillment processes. •• Incident
Incident management
management
Info-Tech Research Group’s Standardize the Service Desk blueprint can help you •• Service
Service request
request fulfillment
fulfillment
assess the current state of your service desk, and build consistent processes to
3.
3. Develop
Develop aa knowledgebase
knowledgebase to to
support a tiered service desk and a single point of contact for IT services.
improve first call resolution and
improve first call resolution and
end-user
end-user satisfaction.
satisfaction.

Implement a continual improvement plan to improve the
performance of the service desk and consolidate your gains
Why implement a continual

improvement plan for the
service desk?
Implementing a continual improvement
plan for the service desk:
• Motivates action to make

immediate improvements to key
target areas.
• Adapts service desks to changes

in the environment.
Improvement
Quality
• Addresses issues proactively.
• Demonstrates a commitment to
service improvement.
• Identifies opportunities for

improvement, and measures
progress on your initiatives.
Time
• Focuses the service desk on
providing value to its end users.

A continual improvement plan is the most effective initiative
you can implement to increase end-user satisfaction
Improved business satisfaction:

• Deliver service to the enterprise with confidence. On average, end users who were
• Channel incidents and requests through a single satisfied with service desk
point of contact. 42.1% effectiveness rated all other IT
services 42.1% higher than
• Escalate incidents quickly and accurately to the
dissatisfied end users.
right business function.
Fewer recurring issues:

On average, end users who
• Tickets are created for every incident and
were satisfied with service
categorized correctly. desk timeliness rated all
• Reports can be used for root cause analysis. other IT services 38.0%
38.0%
higher than dissatisfied end
Increased efficiency / lower cost to users.
serve:
• Use FAQs to enable end users to self-solve.
• Use a knowledgebase to troubleshoot once, Empower other business functions to
solve many times. provide effective, timely services that
Project meet business needs at a lower cost.
• Cross-train to improve service consistency.
Benefits
Enhanced demand planning: Follow the steps in this project
• Trend analysis and reporting improve service blueprint to guide non-IT partners
through the process.
providers beyond IT through the ability to forecast
and address the demands of the business. Source: Info-Tech Research Group, 2015; N=19,349

Project structure
Build a service desk continual improvement plan

Phase
1. Determine 3. Conduct
• A service desk
assessment (Excel) to
improvement Plan
FOCUS Contin ual
goals and 2. Identify CSFs service desk

objectives of CSI assessment
assess the maturity of key
Phase 1:
Organizational CSFs, KPIs, SD Assessment

service desk processes.
and IT goals metrics Tool (EXCEL)
• A continual service
Key Project Deliverables

improvement plan (Word)
for service desks to
1. Prioritize organize the project.
Improvement Plan
BUILD Continual
2. Build CSI action plan improvement

initiatives
• A service desk continual
Phase 2:
SD CSI Roadmap
CSI Plan service improvement
Template CSI Register
(EXCEL)
(WORD) roadmap (Excel) to keep
track of all improvement
initiatives, prioritize
opportunities, break down
Improvement Plan
1. Monitor 2. Measure
selected projects into steps,
RUN Continual
progress outcome
and track your progress.
Phase 3:
Communication
Plan

Executive Brief Case Study – CERN
CASE STUDY Industry

Source
Scientific Research
Journal of Physics: Conference Series
CERN Computing Centre The Continual Service Improvement Cycle

The European Organization for Nuclear Research is one of world’s included the following components:
largest centers for scientific research, hosting thousands of visiting
scientists from around the world. The IT Platform and Engineering Decide what
should be
Services (PES) group provides batch, interactive, and specialized measured
services to the staff at CERN.
Implement Decide what
Continual Service Improvement Cycle corrective can be
action measured
The PES group at CERN set out to initiate a continual improvement
plan in order to:
1. Advance the use of ITIL best practices.
2. Develop a knowledge-sharing culture within the group.
3. Decrease ticket volume and average resolution time. Present and
use the Gather data
Results information
After running the program for two years, the PES group increased
the percentage of tickets solved by level-two teams from 25% to
43%.
Analyze Process
The use of a support structure that allowed for knowledge exchange data data
was critical to project success. The team holds weekly improvement
meetings with key stakeholders, and identifies and communicates
effectively any necessary training and documentation needs.
The case study continues in step 3.
Info-Tech offers various levels of support to suit your needs
Guided
DIY Toolkit Implementation Workshop Consulting
“Our team has already “Our team knows that “We need to hit the “Our team does not
made this critical we need to fix a ground running and have the time or the
project a priority, and process, but we need get this project kicked knowledge to take this
we have the time and assistance to off immediately. Our project on. We need
capability, but some determine where to team has the ability to assistance through the
guidance along the focus. Some check-ins take this over once we entirety of this project.”
way would be helpful.” along the way would get a framework and
help keep us on track.” strategy in place.”
Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

Build a service desk continual improvement plan
1. Focus 2. Build 3. Run

1.1 Determine goals and objectives 2.1 Prioritize improvement 3.1 Monitor progress
initiatives
1.2 Identify critical success factors 3.2 Measure outcomes
2.2 Build CSI action plan
1.3 Conduct service desk
assessment
Best-Practice
Toolkit
Determine the goals of the Brainstorm and prioritize continual Build a plan to communicate
continual improvement plan, and improvement initiatives for the progress, promote the benefits of
align them to organizational goals service desk. the projects, and reflect on
and strategy. lessons learned.
Draw on the prioritized list of
Identify critical success factors for service desk initiatives to build a
Guided the project, conduct a service continual improvement plan and
Implementations desk audit, and review the results. strategic roadmap.
Module 1: Module 2: Module 3:
Focus the continual improvement Build the continual improvement plan Run the continual improvement plan
Onsite plan
Workshop
Phase 1 Outcome: Phase 2 Outcome: Phase 3 Outcome:
• Continual service improvement • A continual improvement plan for • A communication plan to promote
plan goals aligned to the service desk. the benefits of the project and
organizational goals. communicate changes to various
• A strategic roadmap for the
stakeholders.
• A service desk maturity baseline. continual improvement plan.

Workshop overview
Day 1* Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
Preparation Workshop Day Workshop Day Workshop Day Workshop Day
1. Confirm workshop 1. Determine 1. Conduct service 1. Build continual 1. Build a process to
scope. Send organizational desk assessment. service desk monitor progress
agenda to goals and improvement action and measure
2. Prioritize service
workshop objectives of plan. outcomes.
desk improvement
Activities
participants. continual service

initiatives. 2. Develop a
improvement plan.
2. Analysts review communication
service desk 2. Identify critical plan.
organizational success factors.
3. Reflect on lessons
structure.
learned.
3. Analysts conduct a
ticket trend analysis
on ITSM tool data.
1. Workshop scope 1. List of organizational 1. Service desk 1. Continual service 1. Communication
and agenda. goals, related IT assessment tool. desk improvement plan.
goals, and goals for plan.
2. Comparative 2. Continual service
the continual
analysis of current improvement 2. Continual service
improvement
service desk register including desk improvement
Deliverables
program.
structures against matrix to prioritize roadmap.
best practices. 2. List of critical initiatives.
success factors, key
3. Ticket trend
performance
assessment,
indicators, and
including ticket
metrics.
volume, and most
important incidents
and service
requests.
* Day 1 is conducted
off-site

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the recommended activities.
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part of your project or with the support of Info-Tech team members, who will come onsite to
facilitate a workshop for your organization.

Phase
1 2 3
PHASE
Focus the Continual Improvement Plan 1
Phase 1 outline
Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.
Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of
2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.
Guided Implementation 1: Focus the service desk continual improvement plan

Proposed Time to Completion (in weeks): 4
Step 1.1: Determine Goals and Step 1.2: Identify Critical Success Step 1.3: Conduct a Full Assessment
Objectives Factors of Your Service Desk
Start with an analyst kick off Review findings with analyst: Finalize phase deliverable:
call: • Review best practices for identifying • Review best practices for conducting an
• Discuss how to gather organizational critical success factors and KPIs. audit of service desk processes.
goals, and set objectives for the
continual improvement plan.
Then complete these activities… Then complete these activities… Then complete these activities…
• Define triggers, goals, and objectives • Define CSFs, KPIs, and target metrics. • Review the results of your diagnostic
of continual improvement. • Identify key performance indicators and programs to inform your current state,
• Determine roles & responsibilities. metrics to measure progress in achieving including:
critical success factors. o End-user satisfaction survey
o CIO business vision
• Identify key metrics to assess
improvement initiatives.
With these tools & templates: With these tools & templates: With these tools & templates:
Continual Service Improvement Plan Continual Service Improvement Plan Service Desk Audit Tool
Phase 1 Results & Insights: Continual improvement must demonstrate its worth to the organization before the process can begin. By
focusing the plan around organizational goals, you will generate support from within to effectively deploy the continual improvement plan in the
future. This will also allow the Service Desk to effectively respond to shifting business priorities.

Step 1 – Determine goals and objectives
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Determine Identify critical Conduct a full Prioritize Build continual Monitor Measure
goals & success assessment of improvement improvement progress outcome
objectives factors your service initiatives action plan
desk
This step will walk you through the following activities: This step involves the following participants:
• Define triggers, goals, and objectives of continual • Service Desk Manager
improvement. • CSI Manager
• Determine roles and responsibilities. • Business Executives
• CIO/IT Director
Outcomes of this step

• A set of goals and objectives that align with the business vision.
• A defined business, IT, and service desk strategy.
• A list of roles and responsibilities and a RACI chart for the continual improvement process.

Identify the business vision and needs to ensure IT services
will align
The first step of the continual improvement process is to understand the business needs and
objectives in order to ensure the CSI process will align with and support the business vision.
Ensure that continual improvement will benefit

Understand the business vision the business
• One of the primary goals of continual improvement

• Understand the high-level business objectives to
set the vision for continual improvement in a way is to continually align and realign IT services to
that will align IT strategies with business changing business needs.
strategies. • All improvements to IT services that will be
• A clear picture of your organization’s goals and undertaken through the continual service
improvement (CSI) process should support
overall corporate strategy is the crucial first step
business processes and business needs.
to continual improvement and will set the stage
for the metrics you select. • While growth and innovation are top of mind, 53%
• Knowing what your business is doing and of technology CEOs recognize that operational
understanding the impact of IT on the business efficiencies are critical and the most important
factor when it comes to the future well-being of
will help you ensure that any metrics you collect
their companies (KPMG, 2015).
will be business-focused.
• Thirty-four percent of technology CEOs name
• Understanding the long-term vision of the
business and its appetite for commitment and implementing disruptive technologies as their top
strategic priority.
sponsorship will also inform your IT strategy and
continual improvement goals. • The service desk needs to work in conjunction with
other parts of the organization.

Develop IT’s strategy and goals to set the framework for the
improvement process
IT Strategy
A lot of mature service desks are heavily
invested in ITIL, so every project they
After checking in with the business leaders, check in with IT
undertake is heavily-based on what ITIL
management and executives in order to clearly identify and
says they should be doing that they’re
evaluate IT’s strategy and objectives for the future.
currently not doing.
If there is a clearly identified IT strategy in place, evaluate it,
redefine it if necessary, and ensure it aligns with the business You don’t need to strictly adhere to each
strategy. and every single guideline that ITIL or a
specific framework provides, as this may
If no IT strategy currently exists, IT leaders should define a lead you to try to solve a “problem” that isn’t
clear strategy with goals and objectives, which will help set the really a problem for your organization.
framework for the service desk strategy and improvement
process. Rather, design your service desk strategy
based on the specific needs and vision of
Service Desk Strategy your organization, taking into account
suggestions and steps from various
Similarly, a clearly defined service desk strategy should be in frameworks where applicable.
place, which will support both IT and business strategies.
Don’t limit
limit your
your strategy
strategy to
to following
following the
the steps
steps from
from one
one specific
specific framework;
framework; design
design your
your
strategy based onon your specific needs.

Identify the triggers for the continual improvement process
Audits: Check for performance
requirements in order to pass major audits
for frameworks like ISO 20000.
New staff, new

Audits Assessments:
technology: Disruptive
Variances in efficiency
technology or new skills
or effectiveness of
that allow for
metrics when compared
improvement. New staff or Assessments to the industry standard.
technology
Continual
Regulations: Compliance Improvement Process maturity:
to new or changed Opportunity to
regulations (ISO 20000). increase efficiency
Process of services &
Regulations
maturity processes.
Technology advances: For Management reviews:

example, new service desk Technology Management Routine reviews that
architecture has become advances reviews reveal gaps.
available.

Define a manageable strategy for continual improvement by
focusing on key goals and priorities
Don’t try to boil the ocean. Beginning with too wide a scope
will consume too much time and resources. In my experience it’s the lack of commitment from
CSI must be implemented with a limited scope if it will be management or the perception that there is no such
commitment. To improve a service desk it needs to
successful. Don’t try to improve every process/service at once; it is
have a clear identity and a set mission converted to
a continual improvement process. targets/goals. I’ve seen a lot of methods
mentioned…which are all parts of the solution in my
It’s important to focus on key goals and the priorities of the vision opinion, but without the motivation and drive it’s
to help set the scope for the CSI process. going be just the “next” improvement in the eyes of
the employees.
– Marc Fransen, IT Service Manager
Develop a continual improvement strategy
Before initiating the CSI process, begin by developing an ongoing Info-Tech Insight
continual improvement strategy that will be referenced over the
long term as you continually select and implement improvement
Executive Support Is Key
initiatives.
Leadership and commitment are essential to
The continual improvement strategy should include clearly defined service desk strategy and CSI.
goals, objectives, and key measurements that will lead to
actionable improvements. Developing a strategy to improve the process and
structure of the service desk will require qualified
The CSI strategy should address: leadership from individuals in management and
• The overall health of the service desk. leadership positions who are committed to the
• The maturity of each of the service desk processes and entire process from setting goals and priorities
services. through measuring effectiveness to making and
• The continual alignment of the service desk to IT services and sustaining improvements.
future business needs.

Define the triggers, goals, and objectives of continual
improvement and align them with your IT strategy
1.1 Define the objectives of the continual improvement program Time Allotment: 90 minutes
Recommended Participants
1. Schedule a meeting with recommended participants. • CIO/IT Director
2. Facilitate a discussion to outline the business vision • IT Manager
or strategy and IT needs in order to ensure the • Service Manager
• CSI Manager
continual improvement strategy will be aligned.
3. Define the triggers for the continual improvement
plan.
• Remember that triggers can come from a
variety of places.
• Defined triggers make it easier to identify
initiatives for improvement.
4. Identify the goals and objectives for continual
improvement.
• Goals should be aligned to strategy and
informed by triggers.
• These goals and objectives will set the Document as you go:
framework for the critical success factors to be
determined in the next step. Document the outcome of the
discussion in the Continual
Improvement Plan, Section
2.1 and 2.2.

Lead with the benefits to overcome resistance to change from
management
Gain support from the business by bringing solutions, not problems, to the table. Lead with the
benefits, and explain the reasoning behind changes before introducing them.
When discussing improvement opportunities,

It’s important to bring solutions to the business
discuss both sides of the situation – talk about
when implementing CSI rather than problems;
the things that are working well and then talk
that way all that has to be done is signing off
about the things that aren’t working well and
on a decision.
how those are affecting service delivery.
If you talk about an improvement, explain the

reason you’re doing it and the benefits to be Focus on the positives to be gained from the
gained once you put this improvement in place. improvement and how the negatives
“There’s a perceptionarethat CSI is
bringing the Service looking
Desk down.
for faults, but that’s not
There needs to be engagement from people at always the case; sometimes we’re
all levels to get everyone excited about Even if a process is working
looking atwell,
thingsfocus onworking
that are how
change. it could be working even
goodbetter.
but could be working great. It
could be they’re working at 70%,
but everything else is running at
85%-90%, so there is room for
There’s
There’s aa perception that CSI
CSI is looking
looking for faults, but
but that’s not always the
the case; you
improvement.” you might
might bebe
-Dave Smith, IT Trainer
looking
looking at things
things that are
are good but
but could be
be great. IfIf you
you have
have a process that’s
that’s scoring at 70%,
but
but all
all of
of your
your other
other processes are
are scoring at 85-90%, there’s
there’s room for improvement.

Gain support from within to ensure a cultural shift
Get all service desk staff on your side from the beginning so that they understand the benefits
and make sure the project is tailored to their needs. Get people involved in changing the
process, making key individuals responsible for improvement to process.
Involve the service desk staff in the process – let them know you’re trying to improve
their practice and engage them in the mission. Make sure there is training, and be
prepared to take time (persist long enough to effect change to habits).
Make sure to communicate executive support of the project to the service desk
team. Top-down support for a project helps ensure employee buy-in at any
level.
Don’t forget to communicate the benefits of the continual

improvement plan to service desk employees, and clarify how
everyone’s role will be affected.
Unless you have

have the support
support of your team,
team, you
you won’t be
be able to deliver the
the right solution. You
can tell
tell your team that having a knowledgebase will improve the Service
Service Desk,
Desk, but
but ultimately,
they need to
to build
build it.
it. Without
Without support
support from
from your
your team,
team, even
even the
the best
best improvement
improvement plan
plan can
can fail.
fail.

Communicate the benefits of CSI clearly to justify the effort
CSI must demonstrate its worth to the organization before the process can begin.
1 Define the benefits in a clear and measurable way.
Explain the benefits in the context of the business vision and needs and how
2 continual improvement will better align IT services to the organization.
Host a CSI workshop for business executives to kick off the improvement process at a
3 leadership level.
Benefits may include:

When executives hear
• Improved quality of business operations through better support and "continual improvement" they
alignment from IT services. typically say they've seen it
• More reliable support from the service desk, resulting in more realistic before and have never seen it
customer/end-user expectations. done well. Once you position
• Improved customer/end-user satisfaction. CSI correctly and leadership
• Increased staff productivity through more efficient processes and better can see the practicality and
availability of services. value, I've never seen a
• Reduced costs through more cost-effective processes and services, leading business that then says they
to long-term financial benefits. don't want that.
• Improved ability to adapt quickly to changing trends and new requirements. – CSI Manager
• Improved metrics and data collection and reporting.

Define roles and responsibilities to ensure accountability
The continual improvement activities will only be successful if specific roles and responsibilities are clearly identified.
Depending on available staff and resources, you may be able to have some individuals in full-time CSI roles, or include
CSI activities in their job descriptions.
Each improvement action that you identify should have clear ownership and accountability to ensure that it is completed
within the specified timeframe.
Roles and responsibilities can be reassigned throughout the CSI process.
Consider assigning dedicated CSI roles Focus on people in addition to

process and technology
Manager The manager of the CSI process
will be responsible for filling and Have different parties responsible for different phases of the
monitoring all CSI roles, project to ensure objectivity.
developing the continual • For example, if the same individuals set the strategies
improvement action plan, and and goals and also measure whether they were achieved,
ensuring success of the initiatives. they may be more biased to say that the project
succeeded.
Analysts
CSI analysts will be responsible Ensure that the service desk staff have the appropriate skills
for analyzing data and trends and knowledge to carry out the steps necessary to achieve
that are captured through the the goals of the continual improvement program.
CSI. • If not, determine what training may be necessary for staff.

Determine roles & responsibilities
1.2 Organize roles & responsibilities in a RACI chart Time Allotment: 60 minutes
1. Schedule a meeting with recommended participants. Recommended Participants

• IT Manager
2. Facilitate a discussion to define the roles and • Service Manager
responsibilities for the continual improvement • CSI Manager
process. Discuss: • Service Desk Analysts
• Which existing roles apply. • Tier 2/3 Specialists
• Any new roles that need to be created.
• Any potential challenges facing current or new
roles.
3. Identify specific responsibilities for roles within the

continual improvement process.
• This may include a CSI Manager, Service
Manager, CSI Analyst, and Service Team.
• CSI-specific roles such as the CSI Manager do
not have to be separate positions, but Document as you go:
responsibilities should be assigned to ensure
accountability for the progress of the continual Document the outcome of the
improvement plan (CIP). discussion in the Continual
4. Use a RACI chart to record the roles and 2.3.
responsibilities of each member of the service team .

Step 2 – Identify critical success factors and target metrics
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
goals & success assessment improvement improvement progress outcome
objectives factors of your initiatives action plan
service desk
• Define CSFs, KPIs, and baseline and target • Service Manager
metrics. • CSI Manager
• IT Manager
• CIO/IT Director
• Tier 2/3 Specialists

• A list of CSFs
• Two to three KPIs for each CSF
• Metrics for each KPI

Identify critical success factors for the continual improvement
process
• Critical success factors (CSFs) are higher level goals or requirements for success, such as improving
end-user satisfaction; they’re factors that must be met in order to reach your IT and business strategic
vision.
• Critical success factors for a service desk should cover the five Ps:
◦ People, Process, Products, Performance, and Partners
Factor Content CSF Example

• Improved agents’ knowledge of IT services
People Tasks, roles, and responsibilities
or business objectives
• Defined process in place to consistently
Process Maturity and consistency of processes identify and categorize urgency and impact
of a ticket
Technical tools and software used by • Effective ticketing system with workflows for
Products
the service desk ticket management
Efficiency, effectiveness, and value of
Performance • Improved end-user satisfaction and retention
the service desk
Timeliness and quality of services
Partners* • Well-defined agreements for second-level
provided by internal and external
(*if relevant) technician support
suppliers

Select KPIs that will identify useful information for the
initiative
Define key performance indicators (KPIs) for each CSF; these will usually involve a trend, as an increase or decrease in
something. If KPIs already exist for your service desk, re-evaluate them to assess their relevance to current strategy, and
redefine if necessary. Selected KPIs should provide a full picture of the health of your service desk.
KPIs should cover these four vectors of service desk

performance: Some of the most useful KPIs
for service desk may include:
Quantity
Output measures such as incidents resolved or service • Cost per contact/ticket
desk requests completed within a specific timeframe. • Customer satisfaction
• Agent utilization
• First contact resolution rate
Quality • First level resolution rate
Correctness or accuracy measures such as the percentage • Agent satisfaction
of correct queue assignments. • Aggregate service desk
performance
Timeliness
Time-based measures such as the percentage of Level 1 Examples of defined KPIs:
incidents that are resolved within a specific timeframe. • First call resolution is at least
75%
• Level 1 incidents are
Compliance
Measures of how well processes and controls are being responded to within ten
executed properly. minutes
Less
Less is
is more
more –– don’t
don’t try
try to
to measure
measure and
and report
report on
on too
too many
many KPIs
KPIs at
at once.
once. Select
Select only
only those
those KPIs
KPIs that
that
can be measured accurately to inform the CSFs that will support the business organization.
can be measured accurately to inform the CSFs that will support the business organization.
Aim
Aim for
for two
two to
to three
three KPIs
KPIs for
for each
each CSF
CSF and
and no
no more
more than
than three
three to
to five
five KPIs
KPIs per
per CSF.
CSF.

Set target metrics that would define an improvement for each
KPI
• For each CSF and KPI, identify the baseline metric you were achieving and establish a targeted improvement metric to
aim for through the continual improvement process.
• As part of your continual improvement action plan, a first step will be to identify your CSFs, two to three KPIs for each
CSF, and target metrics for each KPI. An example is shown below.
CSF KPI KPI Measure Baseline Metric Target Metric Metric Source
Increased • Total number
number of of tickets
Equal to or ITSM tool for
tickets resolved • Number of First contact 50%
greater than ticket
by the first tickets resolution rate
60% management
person to speak resolved on
to the customer first contact
• Increase in
• Support score
net promoter • Transactional
based on
score over end-user
number of
the next six satisfaction
Improved end- promoters Equal to or
months surveys
user satisfaction and 60% greater than
• Increase in • Annual end-
with IT detractors 75%
end-user user
• End-user
satisfaction satisfaction
satisfaction
score over survey
survey score
the next year

Define CSFs, KPIs, and target metrics
Identify CSFs, KPIs, and associated metrics Time Allotment: 60
1.3
minute
1. Schedule a meeting with recommended Recommended Participants

participants.
• Service Manager, CSI
Manager
2. Brainstorm CSFs to achieve as part of the • IT Manager
continual improvement plan. Consider: • Service Desk Analysts
• The objectives of continual improvement.
• The five Ps: People, Process, Products,
Performance, and Partners.
• Inviting a few Tier 1 analysts in order to
get frontline feedback.
3. For each CSF, select two to three KPIs and

target metrics to define each KPI.
• Remember to keep KPIs manageable and Document as you go:
your metrics realistic.

Document the outcome of the
4. Record your results in a table like that shown in Improvement Plan,
the previous slide. Sections 2.4 and 2.5.

Step 3 – Conduct a full assessment of your service desk
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
service desk
• End-User Satisfaction Survey • Service Manager
• CIO Business Vision • CSI Manager
• IT Skills Inventory and Gap Assessment Tool • IT Manager
• Service Desk Audit • CIO/IT Director
• Identify key metrics to assess improvement • Service Desk Analysts
initiatives
• Current State Assessment

Use three forms of assessment to create a complete picture of
service desk performance
In order to obtain a full picture of the current performance of your service desk, it’s not
enough to rely on a single source of evaluation. Evaluate information from three sources
in order to obtain an unbiased baseline assessment of your service desk performance.
Collect and evaluate key service desk

Metrics
performance metrics.
Survey your end users to understand their

End-user feedback assessment of and satisfaction with the
service desk.
Interview your staff to gain their insights into

Service desk staff
their satisfaction and how well the service
feedback desk is running.

Conduct a service desk assessment to identify best practices
• Interview users within the business that use the service desk a lot, as they can provide quality insight about
performance.
• In addition to interviews, metrics play a key role in understanding what needs improvement. After you implement
metrics, have an impact report regularly generated (daily) to monitor them.
• After conducting the initial audit, conduct future audits quarterly or semi-annually, unless you have evidence from the
metrics that there’s a problem.
• Understand the capabilities of the staff themselves (all levels from analyst to manager), and provide training or
upgrading of skills if necessary.
Assessments can be conducted internally by the organization, or

Overcome resistance to an externally through a third party. There are pros and cons to each; select
audit by emphasizing that the method that is most appropriate for your organization.
you’re seeking to identify
best practices to share across Method Pros Cons
the service desk or with
• Reduced cost • Difficult to remain objective
another service desk, and by • Internal knowledge of service and impartial
involving the service desk in Self- desk processes • Limited skills and
the process. Frame the audit Assessment • Learning and communication knowledge
as identifying the positive gained through the process • Requires resources and
rather than the negative. If time from staff
you do find best practices,
share those with the team. • Objective viewpoint • Higher cost
• Expert knowledge and • Limited knowledge of the
External
– Gautam Bangalore, Service experience internal environment
Assessment • Detailed
Management Professional
• No loss in staff time

Conduct a formal assessment to collect and analyze data on
key performance metrics
The first place you must start for any CSI exercise is to get some clear knowledge of exactly
where you are right now. That means you must have some good metrics in place.
The metrics you assess will be informed by the

Metrics tell an important
part of the story about CSFs and KPIs you identified in Step 2.
where you are now and Metrics are not just how the service desk is doing, but how all parts of the
where you need to organization are working together.
improve. It is important to
ensure that the metrics These metrics must not be focused too narrowly; ensure you have a genuine
you collect: coverage of both quality and cost, and effectiveness and efficiency.
• Are accurate and Gathering those metrics is a challenge for many organizations, therefore, they
reliable. don’t do it and do not provide as good a service as they could.
• Align with the
business and IT The metrics you should be putting in place need to be focused around what
the business is trying to achieve.
strategy.
• Inform your continual Audits are useful to establish baseline metrics, but should also leave behind a
improvement plan. set of metrics that can be continually monitored and reported on.
Metrics
Metrics will
will not
not be
be useful
useful in
in terms
terms of
of identifying
identifying areas
areas for
for improvement
improvement ifif they
they
are
are not
not realistic.
realistic. Be honest and asas accurate
accurate asas possible through
through the process.

Gather and evaluate existing performance data to determine
what new data you need to collect
Start by identifying the tools and measurements you already have in place. This may include:
• Service management tools

• Monitoring tools
• Reporting tools and databases
Identify what data each of these Identify what data is Identify what relevant
tools currently measures and currently being reported information is not being
collects. on. collected.
Evaluate the integrity of the data

Evaluate whether the data Use this gap analysis to
– identify what information can be
aligns with strategy and determine what information still
used to inform your assessment
goals for improvement. needs to be collected.
and what data is not reliable.
Info-Tech Insight
Don’t
Don’t automatically
automatically start
start gathering
gathering data
data and
and waste
waste time
time collecting
collecting data
data that
that already
already exists.
exists. Start
Start by
by analyzing
analyzing existing
existing
data
data on
on service
service desk
desk performance
performance toto determine
determine what
what information
information you
you still
still need
need to
to collect.
collect.

Select and implement appropriate metrics to clarify your
current state
The specific metrics you choose to include in your assessment will be informed by the goals and
objectives of the continual improvement plan, including the target metrics you identified to align
with your KPIs and CSFs.
Three types of metrics you will need to Suggested Service Desk Metrics
collect include:
1. Single point of contact
Technology metrics: Component and 2. First point of contact resolution
application performance/availability
3. Telephone answering time
Process metrics: Health of each service 4. Time to action issues raised by
desk process email or web portal
5. Functional escalation
Service metrics: Effectiveness and
6. End-to-end management
efficiency of service delivery
7. Availability of knowledge
If SLAs are in place, ensure you also collect data on
whether/how well the service desk is meeting SLAs. 8. Cost of calls
This will inform improvement initiatives that can 9. Call pattern
increase business and end-user satisfaction.

Identify key metrics to assess improvement initiatives
1.4 Identify and record data on key metrics Time Allotment: 2 hours
1. Identify a list of metrics that will inform the continual

improvement program and will be necessary to track. Recommended Participants
• These will be informed by the CSFs and KPIs you
identified earlier. • Service Manager
• Metrics should align with the business strategy and the
• CSI Manager
service desk strategy and goals for continual
improvement. • IT Manager
2. Identify metrics that you are already tracking and reporting

upon regularly.
• Ensure the data is accurate and reliable.
3. Compare list of desired metrics to list of metrics that are Document as you go:
already being tracked and metrics that are included in the
Service Desk Assessment Tool. Document the list of key
• Any metrics that are not being tracked will need to be metrics in the Continual
evaluated and reported upon. Improvement Plan, Section
• Any metrics that are tracked but not included in the
Service Desk Assessment Tool will need to be reported
2.5.
on separately. Record data on key metrics
• All other metrics should be recorded in the Service Desk in the Service Desk
Assessment Tool.
Assessment Tool.

Measure end-user feedback to gain a different perspective on
performance
Relying only on metrics from the service desk side may not entirely capture the
customer/end-user experience with the service desk.
Customer perceptions are an essential component of Include a measurement of customer feedback – their
service desk quality. perceptions of what you’re doing well and what you need
to improve.
IT teams often rely on service level targets such as
incident response and resolution rate, but these don’t tell If you’ve had a service desk in place for a while, a
you enough about the customer’s perceptions. survey is more accurate than relying on call logs – users
may not be calling because they are not expecting
Even a mature service desk may not necessarily be anyone to answer.
meeting customer needs.
Asking your users about their current expectations via
formal surveys is the best way to start the improvement
process.
Info-Tech Insight
Get out there and ask your users what is driving them
The crazy. Your user community is the one that is going to
The most
most powerful
powerful wayway to
to drive
drive continual
continual
tell you how you’re performing. For example,
improvement
improvement of of aa service
service desk
desk is
is to
to continually
continually sometimes it’s not what version of software you’re
share
share customer
customer feedback.
feedback. AtAt the
the end of the day, using, but how people are using it.
service
service quality
quality all
all comes
comes down
down toto customer
customer
perceptions.
perceptions. – Joseph Philpott, Acting Director Service Assurance

Collect relevant quantitative and qualitative data to assess the
perception of IT across the organization
Don’t base your current state assessment

on a hunch.
Solicit direct feedback from the organization to gain critical insights
into their perceptions of IT.
• CIO Business Vision: Understanding the needs of your

stakeholders is the first and most important step in building an IT
Data–Driven Diagnostics
strategy. Use the results of this survey to assess the satisfaction
and importance of different IT services.
• End-User Satisfaction Survey: Solicit targeted department End-User Satisfaction Survey

feedback on core IT service capabilities, IT communications, and
business enablement. Use the results to assess the satisfaction of
end users with each service broken down by department and
seniority level.
We recommend completing at least the End-User Satisfaction Survey

as part of your service desk assessment. An analyst will help you set
up the diagnostic and walk through the report with you.
To book a diagnostic, or get a copy of our questions to inform your

own survey, visit Info-Tech's Benchmarking Tools, contact your
account manager, or call toll-free 1-888-670-8889 (US) or 1-844-618- CIO Business Vision
3192 (CAN).

Review the results of your diagnostic programs to inform your
current state assessment
Understand satisfaction with the service desk Time Allotment: 60
1.5
minutes
1. Set up an analyst call through your account manager to review
the results of your diagnostic. • CIO/IT Director
• IT Manager
Whatever survey you choose, ask the analyst to review the
data and comments concerning:
• Service Manager
• Assessments of service desk timeliness/effectiveness • CSI Manager
• IT business enablement
• IT innovation leadership
2. Book a meeting with recommended participants. Open and

project the results of your diagnostic survey.
3. Facilitate a discussion of the results. Focus on the first few

summary slides and the overall department results slide.
• What is the level of IT support?
• What are stakeholders’ perception of IT’s performance?
• How satisfied are stakeholders with IT? Does the
department understand and act on business needs? Document as you go:
• What are the business priorities and how well are you
doing in meeting these priorities? Document the outcome of the
• How can the service desk assist the business in achieving discussion in Continual
goals? Improvement Plan, Section 2.6.
Record End-User Satisfaction in the
Service Desk Assessment Tool,
Tab 4.

Implement transactional end-user surveys to understand
customer satisfaction on a granular level
Win back end users with a customer service attitude.
1
Transactional end-user surveys measure ticket satisfaction from the end user’s
perspective with a few questions that measure satisfaction on a numerical scale (usually 0-
5 or 0-10).
2
These basic satisfaction questions may be followed up with one or two open-ended
questions asking the reason for the score and suggestions for improvement.
3
The score can drive continual improvement in a way that will also improve the perception
of the IT Service Desk from the perspective of the customer.
The
The best
best way
way to
to drive
drive aa higher
higher survey
survey response
response rate
rate is
is to
to send
send out
out less
less surveys.
surveys.
Assign
Assign a randomized selection from each day’s closed tickets to receive a survey. Keep
a randomized selection from each day’s closed tickets to receive a survey. Keep the
the
surveys
surveys short
short (three
(three to
to five
five questions
questions maximum)
maximum) and
and easy
easy toto answer.
answer.

Case study: Lonely Planet
CASE STUDY Industry

Source
Travel & Tourism
Dave O’Reardon
Challenge Solution Results
Lonely Planet, a travel guide Lonely Planet implemented end-user Over a period of just six months,
company with offices in transactional surveys based on Net in which the only change made
Australia, the UK, the USA, Promoter. At first this was done semi- was the adoption of the
India, and China, wanted to manually but is now automated with a transactional surveys, including
increase its overall IT specialized tool called CIOPulse. calling people back and sharing
satisfaction. feedback, Lonely Planet
A Net Promoter survey was issued increased overall IT satisfaction
The company had a fairly when an incident was closed to by 23 percentage points.
large IT department understand customer satisfaction,
(approximately 100 which can be tracked over time and Since the engagement, Lonely
employees), and it was benchmarked against other teams. Planet’s IT satisfaction has
looking for innovative ways to consistently been hitting a Net
improve service quality and Lonely Planet also encouraged Promoter score in the high 90s.
increase IT’s reputation with processes like calling detractors
the business. (unhappy people) back to benefit Sharing the positive feedback
from the Service Recovery Paradox, during team meetings helps
and sharing positive feedback in reinforce best practices for
team meetings. customer service.

Embrace the service recovery paradox to increase end-user
satisfaction
Have you ever had a negative experience at a restaurant or a retail store? You likely left that
experience with a negative opinion about the entire establishment.
If you later contacted the establishment about your negative

experience and they went out of their way to correct the Customers with service failure and
problem – for example, you had very poor service at a successful recovery
Customer Loyalty
restaurant and the restaurant provided you with a gift
certificate to make up for it – your opinion of the restaurant
will actually be rated higher than it would be if no problem had
occurred at all. This is known as the Service Recovery
Paradox (SRP). Customers without
service failure
The SRP does not work as well for big failures – customers
who have had a horrific service desk experience are almost
beyond repair with regards to a SRP approach.
If a mistake is beyond your control, communicate it. The SRP Time

works better if the customer believes it was beyond your
control. Service desk staff should be taught to manage Service Failure
customer expectations when the service issue is truly beyond Service Recovery
company control.
The
The SRP
SRP is
is aa useful
useful part
part your
your service
service management
management toolbox,
toolbox, but
but itit is
is by
by no
no means
means aa strategy.
strategy. Focus
Focus on
on
improving your end-user satisfaction and overall service management quality through tools
improving your end-user satisfaction and overall service management quality through tools such as such as
transactional
transactional surveys.
surveys.

Speak to your service desk staff to understand their needs
Those on the frontlines are often in the best place to suggest changes.
• The third key source of information for • Staff are your greatest assets and often provide the clearest
your service desk assessment is the insights; those closest to the problem are best placed to suggest
service desk staff themselves. solutions.
• As part of your assessment, hold • Let service desk staff speak up about improvement opportunities
structured interviews with a that make their lives more productive. Capture what needs to be
representative selection of service desk done then turn that into action.
staff at various levels – including Tier 1, • If you start getting engagement from the service desk by
Tier 2, Tier 3, and managers. showing that you're interested in real change, more people will
• Find out what is holding them back from begin stepping up with more suggestions – they have a voice
performing their job effectively, and what and we should listen.
they feel needs to change in order to – Dave Smith, IT Trainer
provide better service to the end users.
• Measure agent satisfaction and
consider improving agent satisfaction as
an objective of your continual
improvement plan if necessary.
Document as you go:
Document the outcome of

the discussion in the
Continual Improvement
Plan, Section 2.6. Service Desk Assessment Tool

Evaluate the abilities of service desk agents to prioritize
training gaps
Understand three key attributes of your service desk agents to prioritize training
gaps.
Understand Silos Info-Tech Insight
• Are there service desk agents that are keeping knowledge of certain
Time
Time spent
spent in
in training
training is
is never
never
processes to themselves?
wasted.
wasted.
• For example, if only one of five agents takes on mobile device issues, this
can create a bottleneck of mobile device tickets. Insufficient
Insufficient training
training will
will complicate
complicate
• What if that agent leaves the organization? Their knowledge and the
the roll-out
roll-out of
of the
the continual
continual
experience have now left your company. improvement
improvement plan.
plan. Ensure
Ensure that
that
groups
groups receive
receive the
the support
support they
they need
need
Understand Work Styles to
to be
be successful.
successful. That
That begins
begins with
with
• Not all agents are the same in terms of their preferences and work habits, understanding the abilities of
understanding the abilities of youryour
but if your organization is adopting a new process or new work, some service
service desk
desk agents.
agents.
agents will naturally gravitate towards that work, while others may resist
change.
• Having a profile of your agents developed through a team profiling service Skills Inventory Gap Analysis
will provide value to your team.
Understand Skills
• Know the skills present across your service desk staff.
• Not all service desk agents may be trained equally in all areas of work.
• Use Info-Tech’s IT Skills Inventory and Gap Assessment Tool to map the
skills of your service desk agents.

Take a deeper dive into employee development and staffing
requirements with the IT Skills Inventory Tool
1.6 Evaluate skills gaps across your staff to identify training needs
As part of your service desk assessment, move from analyzing tasks to skill sets. Build a training
and staffing plan that will fill existing gaps and guard against new ones.
The Skills Table tab in the

IT Skills Inventory and Gap Assessm
ent Tool
will help you to:
List skills required to support the
organization.
Document and rate the skills of the
existing IT staffing contingent.
Assess the gaps to help determine
hiring or training needs, or even
where to pare back.
Build a strategy for knowledge
sharing, transfer, and training.
Note: This tool will help IT managers build toward a more flexible, balanced skill set for their IT department. This tool can
be completed as a step in the service desk assessment, or listing required skills could be done quickly as a group
activity.

Assess your service desk to create a plan for improvement
1.7 Assess your current state
Establish current state of the service desk. Recommended Participants

• Answer the questions about current state in the Environment and • CIO/IT Director
Maturity Survey tabs of Info-Tech’s Service Desk Assessment to • IT Manager
assess the health of your service desk. • Service Manager
• This tool provides insight into the overall health of your service
desk based on:
◦ Process maturity
◦ A series of metrics
• Data-driven visibility of the health of your service desk will help

you clearly identify areas of improvement.
◦ The best choices for areas of improvement may not necessarily

be those with the lowest score. Document as you go:
◦ The goal of continual improvement is not to strictly avoid Document the outcome of the
negative outcomes, but to achieve new ones. discussion in the Continual
2.6.

Focus the continual improvement plan
CASE STUDY Industry

Source
Scientific Research
Journal of Physics
The role of service manager at Proper identification of a project Trigger identification allowed
CERN included the key duties of trigger allowed action to be taken CERN to determine:
support, consolidation, and to correct that issue.
evolution of services. A CSF: effective ticketing system
Since the support load for the with workflows for ticket
The burden of the support part of service manager was deemed to management.
the role was identified as a be substantial, optimization of the
project trigger and action was duty was chosen as the solution. KPIs: ticket escalation, first-call
taken to improve the support ticket resolution.
role.
Metrics: percentage of tickets
reaching Tier 2 or higher agents.
This process of identification and

focus allowed effective workflows
to be established in order to
progress to the next phase of the
CIP.

Phase
1 2 3
PHASE
Build the Continual Improvement Plan 2
Phase 2 outline
Guided Implementation 2: Build a Continual Improvement Plan

Step 2.1: Identify & prioritize improvement initiatives Step 2.2: Build continual improvement action plan
Start with an analyst kick off call: Review findings with analyst:
• Review the results of the service desk audit. • Review the improvement initiatives selected.
• Review relevant service desk continual improvement initiatives • Discuss best practices for building a continual improvement plan
common in the industry. and strategic roadmap for the service desk.
Then complete these activities… Then complete these activities…

• Brainstorm CSI initiatives and record in CSI register. • Use the CSI Roadmap tool to build your action plan.
• Use the CSI register tool to prioritize initiatives.
With these tools & templates: With these tools & templates:
Service Desk Assessment Tool Continual Service Desk Improvement Roadmap
Service Desk Continual Improvement Plan Service Desk Continual Improvement Plan
Service Desk Efficiency Calculator
Phase 2 Results & Insights: When you build out your continual improvement plan, it is crucial to have your priorities in order. The
best approach is to select “quick wins” that can demonstrate immediate benefits for the business, assisting with organizational buy-in for the CIP.
Once these quick wins are implemented and buy-in is established, major projects that require more effort can be undertaken .

Step 4 – Identify and prioritize improvement initiatives
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
service desk
• Brainstorm CSI initiatives and record in CSI • Service Manager
Register • IT Manager
• Service Desk Efficiency Calculator • CIO
• Use the CSI Register tool to prioritize initiatives • Tier 2/3 Specialists

• Identification of major initiatives.
• Identification of quick wins.
• Selection of projects for continual improvement cycle.

Consolidate and analyze the information gathered in phase
one to identify improvement initiatives
Now that you have assessed your service desk and have performance metrics, end-user feedback, and
agent feedback, the next step is to consolidate all of that information to identify improvement initiatives.
1 Process the data

Once data is gathered, the next step is to process the data and condense all the information you
collected into manageable reports. Process the data in a way that will make it as simple as possible to
analyze the data and get a clear picture of where improvements are needed.
2 Analyze the data
Once data is processed, it’s time to analyze the results. This involves transforming the information into
clear knowledge and understanding of where improvements will be needed and where actions can be
taken.
Look for clear trends in the data, areas of strengths and weaknesses, and gaps between end-user
perceptions and metrics.
3 Compare the data

Compare the data against your goals, objectives, CSFs, and KPIs, as well as the business vision.
It is important to be open and honest at this stage.

Consider improvements in strategy, practice, and process
Improvement initiatives may fall under three categories:

Frame your approach in terms of
Improving the strategy of the service desk can ensure it people, process, and technology
will maintain suitability in a changing landscape.
Examples include: This may include

• Adjusting strategy and/or security requirements. staff training or
• Training and information gathering. People replacing staff.
Improving practice can increase the effectiveness of

services that are provided.
Creating a new
Examples include: process for
• Implementing new services.
• Implementing new processes and organizational Process performing certain
structures. functions.
• Ceasing unnecessary actions.
Improving processes can increase the efficiency of Implementing new

services and processes. software or fixing
Technology hardware issues.
Examples include:
• Refining processes.
• Renewing technology.
• Organizational changes.

Create a CSI register to track improvement suggestions
A CSI register is a place to record all the improvement initiatives that you may be considering. Most tools do not have
modules for these registers, but it can take the form of a simple spreadsheet, and will allow you to manage, track, and
prioritize improvement suggestions.
Consider tracking the following information in your CSI register, adjusted to meet the needs of your organization:
Category Description
Opportunity number Identify each initiative with a unique number or ID for reference.
Date submitted Track when the idea was added to the register.
Description Brief description of what the improvement initiative entails.
Value Expected benefits of the improvement initiative.
Effort Expected effort the improvement initiative will require.
Priority How urgent is the improvement? Categorized based on impact and effort.
Identify who will own this opportunity and ensure it is completed. Consider also
Responsible separating out the individual who submitted the idea and the individual who should review
the idea.
Track the status of the initiative (e.g. proposed, under review, rejected, approved, in
Status
process, completed).
Populate your register with ideas that come from your You can also consider using the register to track the
first round of assessments, and use this document to outcome, cost, and benefit of improvement initiatives
continually add and track new ideas as they emerge. after they have been completed.

Brainstorm CIP initiatives and record in CSI register
2.1 Brainstorm improvement initiatives Time Allotment: 1 hour
1. Analyze the assessment data collected throughout phase Recommended Participants

one and using the Assessment Tool.
• From the data, identify trends, gaps, and areas of • CIO/IT Director
weakness that arose through the assessment and • IT Manager
feedback collected from end users and service desk • Service Manager
staff. • CSI Manager
2. Use this data to generate a list of initiatives that should be
undertaken in order to improve the performance of the
service desk.
3. Record each suggestion in the CSI register, along with
associated information including a description of the
activity, expected benefits or value, required effort, and
who will be responsible for managing the initiative. The
tool will automatically categorize each initiative in terms of
priority based on the value and effort.
4. This list will be continually refreshed and maintained
throughout the CSI process. You will use this list to select
Document as you go:
your highest priority initiatives with which to begin the
improvement cycle. Record improvement initiatives
• Use the Service Desk Efficiency Calculator in the CSI register in Tab 2 of
(described in activity 2.2) to quantify initiatives to the Continual Improvement
assist in prioritization. Roadmap tool.

Use the Service Desk Efficiency Calculator to quantify the
productivity gains of improving the service desk
2.2 Service Desk Efficiency Calculator
1. Define the number of productive hours an employee has in an average year Recommended Participants
and the average employee costs.
• CIO/IT Director
• Review the average annual employee productive hours and the average • IT Manager
employee costs outlined in Section 1, Tab 2 of the Service Desk • Service Manager
Efficiency Calculator. The section is prepopulated with a feasible case • CSI Manager
involving an IT department.
2. Define the average call resolution time, ticket volume, ticket distribution, and
total number of end users supported.
• With the target unit’s current processes in mind, estimate:
o The average cost per ticket or contact.
o The average resolution time.
o The number of tickets annually from all channels.
o The average ticket distribution between tiers (if any).
o The number of end users supported by the target department.
3. Estimate targeted reductions in average call resolution time and ticket
volume.
• Improving incident, request, and knowledge management processes

should reduce ticket volume and average call resolution time.

Optional – Review the results of the Service Desk Efficiency
Calculator to build the case for the initiative
2.3 Review the results Time Allotment: 2 hours
The third tab of the tool will quantify:
•Service Desk Staffing

The impact of different ticket distribution on service desk staffing
levels.
•Service Desk Ticket Resolution Cost

The impact of different ticket distributions on ticket resolution costs.
•Service Management Efficiency

The business impact of service management initiatives, specifically,
the time lost or captured in service management processes relative
to an average full-time employee equivalent.
Prepare to facilitate a discussion.
Focus on the efficiency gains expected from the project. Review the
expected gains in average resolution time, the expected service desk
ticket reductions, and the associated productivity gains. Document as you go:
In the case of most business units, the expected service desk ticket Document the outcome of the
reduction will correspond to a reduction in the number of internal client Service Desk Efficiency Calculator, if
contacts the unit expects as a result of the project. desired, in the Continual
Improvement Plan, Section 3.1.

Identify “quick wins” that can provide immediate improvement
Prioritize these “quick wins” in order to immediately demonstrate the success of

the continual service improvement effort to the business.
Keep the scope of the continual improvement process manageable at the

1 beginning by focusing on a few key areas that you want to improve.
From your list of proposed improvements, focus on a few of the top pain points
2 and plan to address those.
Choose the right services to improve at the first stage of continual improvement
3 to ensure that the continual improvement process delivers value to the business.
• If you have identified “pain points,” addressing these will demonstrate the value of the project to the
business to gain their support.
• Choose the services or processes that continue to disrupt or threaten service – focus on where
pain points are evident and where there is a need for improvement.
• Critical services to improve should emerge from the service desk assessment.

Use the CSI Register tool to prioritize initiatives
2.4 Prioritize Initiatives in a two by two plot Time Allotment: 60 minutes

1. Open the Continual Improvement Roadmap tool.
• CIO/IT Director
2. Go to tab 2 and rank all of opportunities in terms of value • IT Manager
and effort on a scale of -5 to 5. • Service Manager
3. Use the two by two matrix to examine where your • Tier 2/3 Specialists
opportunities fall in terms of impact and effort.
• The opportunities in the top right are
major projects; they are both high impact
and high effort.
• The opportunities in the top left are quick
wins; they are low effort but high impact.
4. Select four of these opportunities (a mix of quick

wins and major projects) and input them into the
CSI Roadmap tool in tab 3.
Document as you go:
Document the four selected

opportunities in the Continual

The importance of prioritizing initiatives and identifying quick
wins
CASE STUDY Industry

Source
Insurance
Ravi Singh
The service desk for a large The company conducted a trend The ticket backlog was drastically
insurance company in Sweden analysis on tickets received and reduced.
only used their in-house found that almost 50% were service
service desk to sort tickets, but requests. It was suggested that two Simple tickets can now be dealt
the support professionals who full-time staff be hired to handle only with onsite. More complex tickets
handled tickets were located at service requests. can be sent to the experts working
a facility in India. at the service desk in India.
A gap analysis revealed that the
Some tickets were very knowledgebase of the service desk The knowledgebase can be
complex, and the language was not being updated regularly. A continually updated because of
barrier between the two simple, automated knowledgebase the time freed up by the reduction
service desks amplified this was developed in order to alleviate in ticket backlog.
challenge. the burden on the service desk, and
regular training sessions were Three small fixes made huge
The service desk had a high initiated to train staff and add current differences that demonstrated
workload and high volume of issues to the knowledgebase. immediate, measurable
tickets, which led to a high improvement that was visible to
backlog. A translator was hired to deal with the business.
the language barrier.

Step 5 – Build continual improvement action plan
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
service desk
• Use the CSI Roadmap tool to build your action • Service Manager
plan. • IT Manager
• CIO

• Action Plan Roadmap for the Continual Improvement Plan

Use the Deming cycle to improve the performance of the
service desk and consolidate your gains
How does the continual
improvement cycle work?
Continual service improvement
embraces Deming’s four-step cycle:
Plan, Do, Check, Act

Plan:
• Develop a plan for improvement.
• Collect data to inform the
improvement cycle.
Do:
Improvement
• Plan improvement solutions and
Quality
implement actions.
Check:
• Analyze data and evaluate results.
• Determine what went well and what
didn’t.
Act:
• Reflect on the process.
• From the evaluation, implement Time
changes to the CSI process.
• Complete cycle and begin the next
improvement cycle.

The Deming Cycle is embedded in this five-step CSI model
The approach to continual improvement that this blueprint follows is based on this five-step CSI model, which is in line
with the Deming plan, do, check, act approach and the ITIL seven-step continual service improvement process.
6. How do we keep the Yes

momentum going?
Ensure the changes will be
sustained.
5. Did we get there?
Repeat the CSI process;
improvement should be 4. How do we Step 6 & 7
continual. get there?
Conduct another
3. Where do we Step 5 assessment
want to be? Compare current using
2. Where are state to desired appropriate
Step 4
we now? measurements
state to identify
Set measurable priorities and to determine if
1. What is Step 3 targets for
objectives for CSI. improvements
the vision? improvement
Perform an initial Build an action have been
assessment of based on business achieved.
Step 1 & 2 plan with specific
availability and/or vision (e.g. a new
Clearly understand performance of maturity level for projects and
the business services to processes). timeframes.
vision, strategy, establish a
goals, and baseline. No
objectives to
ensure that the
CSI initiative will
support them.

Create a specific action plan to guide your improvement
activities
As part of the continual improvement plan, it will be important to identify specific
actions to be completed, along with ownership for each action.
The continual improvement For each action, identify: Choosing timelines

process must:
• The problem. • It is important to have firm
• Define activities to be timelines to keep the
completed. • Who will be responsible and
project on track.
accountable.
• Create roles and assign
ownership to complete • Metric(s) for assessment. • One to two months for an
these activities. • Baseline and target metrics. initiative is an ideal length
of time to maintain interest
• Provide training and • Action to be taken to and enthusiasm for the
awareness about the achieve improvement specific project and
initiative. (training, new templates, achieve a result.
• Define inputs and outputs. etc.).
• Include reporting.
Every
Every organization
organization is is unique
unique in in terms
terms of
of its
its services,
services, processes,
processes, strengths,
strengths, weaknesses,
weaknesses, and and needs,
needs,
and
and the
the expectations
expectations of of its
its end
end users.
users. There
There is is no
no single
single action
action plan
plan that
that will
will work
work for
for everyone.
everyone. The The
improvement
improvement planplan will
will vary
vary from
from organization
organization to to organization,
organization, but
but the
the key
key elements
elements ofof the
the plan
plan (i.e.
(i.e.
specific priorities, timelines, targets, and responsibilities) should always be
specific priorities, timelines, targets, and responsibilities) should always be in place. in place.

Use the CSI Roadmap tool to build your action plan
Break down your CIP initiatives into tasks and timelines Time Allotment: 60
2.5
minutes
1. Open the Continual Improvement Roadmap tool and Recommended Participants
• CIO/IT Director
navigate to Tab 3. • IT Manager
• Service Manager
2. The four opportunities selected from • CSI Manager
Tab 2 (the CSI register) will be • Service Desk Analysts
imported into Tab 3 of the tool. For
each initiative, list all of the specific
corresponding tasks that will need to
be completed.
3. Identify an owner and manager for
each task to ensure accountability.
4. Prioritize the tasks in the spreadsheet
in terms of start and end date. For each
task, clearly mark the start month with
an “S”. Continual
• Each task listed must have a Improvement
Roadmap
start date for the tool to work
properly.
Document as you go:
5. Go to Tab 4 to view the sunshine
diagram representing tasks to be Document the outcome of the
completed over the improvement cycle, roadmap in the Continual
and share with relevant stakeholders.

Build the continual improvement plan
CASE STUDY Industry

Source
Scientific Research
Journal of Physics
After the service desk team at The team decided to focus on a The service desk team was able
CERN identified that the support few key metrics: to quickly put their plan into
function of their service manager motion because they selected a
and service desk agents needed 1. Number of open and closed low effort, high impact
to improve, they identified a CSF, requests per service opportunity.
KPIs, and metrics to track and
measure. 2. Weekly number of open and With the help of the ServiceNow
closed incidents per service tool, they were able to choose
The next challenge was to tasks that could be automated
prioritize the initiatives based on 3. Number and percentage of and easily extracted and
the questions: what can we those tickets solved by each analyzed.
measure in an easy way and support level
how can we achieve it? The analysis and measurement
4. Ticket solution time component of their metrics
Essentially, the team sought to contributed to the success of the
identify quick wins in their CIP. efforts of the monitoring and
reporting of their CIP.

If you want additional support, have our analysts guide
you through this phase as part of an Info-Tech workshop
Book a workshop with our Info-Tech analysts:
• To accelerate this project, engage your IT team in an Info-Tech workshop with an Info-
Tech analyst team.
• Info-Tech analysts will join you and your team onsite at your location or welcome you to
Info-Tech’s historic Toronto office to participate in an innovative onsite workshop.
• Contact your account manager (www.infotech.com/account), or email
Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.
The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:
Review the results of your diagnostic programs to inform your

current state assessment
1.5 Our analysts will walk you through the results of our diagnostic programs to give you
a data-driven assessment of your Service Desk to help focus your continual
improvement plan.
Use the CSI Roadmap tool to build your action plan

Our analysts will help you prioritize initiatives so you can plot quick wins and major
2.4 projects to build an effective continual improvement plan.

Phase
1 2 3
PHASE
Run the Continual Improvement Plan 3
Phase 3 outline
Guided Implementation 3: Run the Continual Improvement Plan

Step 3.1: Monitor Progress Step 3.2: Measure Outcome

Start with an analyst kick off call: Review findings with analyst:
• Review the details of the draft service desk continual • Review progress of communication plan.
improvement plan. • Discuss progress of project.
• Discuss best practices.
Then complete these activities… Then complete these activities…

• Communicate the benefits of improvement initiatives to key • Evaluate success of each improvement initiative where
stakeholders. possible.
• Reflect on each project to identify key lessons learned.
With these tools & templates: With these tools & templates:
Continual Improvement Plan Continual Improvement Plan
Phase 3 Results & Insights: To be effective, your CIP requires open and honest feedback from the service desk team. Knowledge
exchange should continuously occur between all levels of the Service Desk to keep the projects on track, and thoughtful evaluation and
reflection on completed projects will ensure that lessons learned will improve both the service desk and the continual improvement process itself
in the future to keep the momentum going.

Step 6 – Monitor progress
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
service desk
• Create your communication plan • Service Manager
• IT Manager
• CIO
• Service Desk Analysts

• Communication Plan

Regularly monitor progress to ensure improvement is
proceeding according to action plan timeline
The success rate for continual improvement efforts is Establish regular meetings to increase
less than 60 percent. A major – if not the biggest –
service desk team commitment.
factor affecting the deployment of long-term continual
improvement initiatives today is the fundamental change
taking place in the way companies manage and execute Embed the change into
work. the culture. Change is
(Deloitte, 2014 ) often negatively
received because it is
• Pick a schedule and stick to it. dictated instead of
massaged into the
• A lack of commitment can make service desk service desk culture.
improvement difficult to implement and hard to sustain.
• Commitment is often the most difficult obstacle to • Consider holding a team meeting every week to
overcome, as change is a very difficult concept for some discuss improvement and challenges, and
teams to adopt. implementing daily, weekly, and monthly reports to
◦ New habits are notoriously difficult to adopt, and old highlight key areas of improvement.
habits are equally as difficult to shake. o Automate reports based on key metrics if
◦ A new habit can take a little over two months to be possible.
embraced.
• Make these meetings engaging and short.
• Provide updates through regular reports or newsletters to
• Encourage contribution and thought leadership from
“rally the troops” and maintain enthusiasm for the project
across the service desk team, company, and end users. all levels to make every contributor feel valued and
engaged.
• Regular monitoring keeps the process proactive and not
reactive. • Knowledge exchange should be the top priority.

Communicate effectively with staff and end users to maintain
enthusiasm
Throughout the improvement process it’s important to share information about both
1 the status of the project and impact of the improvement initiative(s).
Encourage a collaborative Communication among team The most important thing is to get
environment across all members members ensures that the support of your team. Unless
of the service desk. everyone is on the same you have their support, you won’t
Motivate every individual to page working together toward be able to deliver any of the
continue moving upwards and take a common goal. solutions you draw up.
ownership over their roles.
The end users should be kept in the loop so they can feel that their contribution
2 is valued.
In order for end users to feel their

End users who call into the service desk
concerns are being taken into account, it’s
will not be able to make the distinction if it’s
important to communicate the findings in a
the service desk that’s providing a poor
way that they will understand the impact of
service or some other part of IT.
their contribution.
Info-Tech Insight
To
To be
be effective,
effective, CSI
CSI requires
requires open
open and
and honest
honest feedback
feedback from
from IT
IT staff.
staff. Debriefings
Debriefings work
work well
well for
for capturing
capturing information
information
about
about lessons learned. Break down the debriefings into smaller, individual activities completed within each phase
lessons learned. Break down the debriefings into smaller, individual activities completed within each phase of
of the
the
project
project to
to better
better capture
capture the
the large
large amount
amount of
of data
data and
and lessons
lessons learned
learned within
within that
that phase.
phase.

Empower your staff by giving them ownership for their role
Don’t dictate change, delegate it.

Assign improvement initiatives to various members of your team; have them take ownership in the continual
improvement process by making them directly responsible for the improvements.
Consider recognizing or rewarding staff to keep motivation high.

For example, if your goal is reduce the number of level one tickets by implementing a more effective knowledgebase
(KB), have a rewards system in place for employees who take the initiative to write KB articles.
Rotate Reflect Reward

Allow employees to develop a skill Build team meetings and one-on- Core compensation is one thing;
set that complements their ones into your process. This will forward-looking incentives are
professional goals and carries help you identify pain points another. Some forward-looking
benefits beyond the service desk before they arise – both personal service desks are providing
to the whole organization. This will and technical. Team meetings will incentives and rewards for
align their goals to your success also accelerate the process of tangibles such as
as a service desk. developing solutions. “Knowledgebase Article of the
Week.”
An
An effective
effective service
service desk
desk not not only
only satisfies
satisfies end
end users,
users, itit also
also satisfies
satisfies employees.
employees.
A
A lot of companies don’t realize the true cost of losing someone. While they may
lot of companies don’t realize the true cost of losing someone. While they may say
say “we’ll
“we’ll train
train someone
someone
else,”
else,” in
in reality
reality they’ve
they’ve invested
invested aa large
large amount
amount ofof time
time and
and training
training into
into someone
someone and
and when
when they
they go
go out
out
the door, that loss is difficult to quantify.
the door, that loss is difficult to quantify.

Monitor progress effectively by using small teams
When tracking progress and analyzing metrics, data is easier to gather, share, and
measure if it is gathered in small teams.
For example, let’s say your goal is to decrease the average ticket through-put
Individual process
time by 25 percent in three months.
components are easier to
identify, and multiple
instances of the same
process performed by After one month’s time, you notice that your average time has only
different individuals allows decreased by 5%.
managers to pinpoint what
obstacles are in place.
If you measured the performance of your service desk as one group, it would
A mistake detected in one be harder to accurately measure performance.
team doesn’t provide
compelling evidence for a
correction unless there is However, if your service desk was broken into small groups and analyzed as
another team in your such, you could identify that three of your five level one technicians are
organization to compare it struggling with ticket escalation, despite the fact that the single group data
with. showed that level two technicians were processing tickets effectively.
The multiple
multiple small
small group
group approach
approach allows
allows you to break up the
the service desk system and
employ a systems-based approach
approach to
to make more accurate measurements of performance.

Monitor progress regularly to create measurable
change
CASE STUDY Industry

Source
Scientific Research
Journal of Physics
With automated data being The service desk team mandated The percentage of tickets solved
gathered by ServiceNow, the weekly service meetings in order by level two technicians
service desk team at CERN to facilitate the exchange of increased from 25% to 43%; an
needed to communicate and act knowledge between various increase of around 1,000 tickets.
effectively. levels of the service desk.
Ten training tutorials were given
Not only was proper monitoring Data for tickets processed were in the second year of the
of the data deemed crucial, but analyzed each week and any continual service improvement
implementation of corrective novel solutions or obstacles plan.
actions needed to be done. encountered were shared with
the service desk team. Fifty new FAQs were written for
the knowledgebase, which
Lessons learned were regularly originated from discussions in the
shared, and the team worked weekly service meeting.
together to formulate solutions.

Create your communications plan to anticipate challenges,
remove obstacles, and ensure buy-in
Provide separate communications to key stakeholder groups.
Who: Who will be affected? Who Why: What problems are you
do I go to if I have issues with trying to solve?
the new process? Technicians
What: What processes will it How: How will these changes

affect (that will affect me)? manifest themselves?
Management
When: When will this be

Goal: What is the final goal?
happening? When will it affect
End users How will it benefit me?
me?

Communicate the benefits of improvement initiatives to each
group of key stakeholders
3.1 Build a communication plan for each group of affected stakeholders
1. Identify the groups that will be affected by any improvement

Recommended Participants:
initiatives as those who will require communication.
• CIO/IT Director
2. For each group requiring a communication plan, identify the
following:
• IT Manager
• Benefits of the improvement for that group of • CSI Manager
individuals (e.g. more efficient processes). • Service Manager
• The impact the change will have on them (e.g.
change in the way a certain process will work).
Document as you go:
• Communication method (i.e. how you will
communicate). Document your
• Timeframe (i.e. when and how often you will
communication plan in the
communicate the changes).
Continual Improvement
3. Complete this information in a table like the one below and Plan, Section 4.1.
document in your continual improvement plan.
Group Benefits Impact Communication Method Timeframe
Service desk
IT
End users
Business

Step 7 – Measure outcome
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
goals & success factors assessment of improvement improvement progress outcome
objectives your service initiatives action plan
desk
• Measure progress or success of each initiative. • Service Manager
• Reflect on lessons learned. • IT Manager
• CIO

• List of lessons learned to apply to future continual improvement projects.

Measure changes in selected metrics to evaluate success
Measuring and reporting are key components in the improvement process.
Did you get there? Outcomes of the CSI

process should
Part of the measurement phase should include a review of CSFs, KPIs, include:
and metrics determined in phase one. Some may need to be replaced.
• Improved efficiency,
After a change has been implemented, it is important to regularly monitor and effectiveness, and
evaluate the CSFs, KPIs, and metrics you chose to evaluate whether the quality of service and
change you implemented has actually resolved the issue or achieved the goal
of the critical success factor.
processes.
• Services and
• Establish a schedule for regularly reviewing key metrics that were identified in
Step 2 and assessing change in those metrics and progress toward reaching processes more
objectives. aligned with the
• In addition to reviewing CSFs, KPIs, and metrics, check in with service desk staff
business needs and
and end users to measure their perceptions of the change once an appropriate strategy.
amount of time has passed. • Improved maturity of
• Ensure that metrics are telling the whole story and that reporting is honest in order service and
to be informative. processes.
Make
Make sure
sure you’re
you’re measuring
measuring the
the right
right things
things and
and considering
considering all
all sources
sources of
of information.
information. It’s
It’s very
very easy
easy to
to put
put
yourself in a position where you’re congratulating yourselves for improving on a specific metric such
yourself in a position where you’re congratulating yourselves for improving on a specific metric such as FCR, as FCR,
when
when in
in fact
fact tickets
tickets are
are being
being closed
closed before
before they’re
they’re resolved
resolved and
and customer
customer satisfaction
satisfaction has
has not
not increased.
increased.

Reflect on lessons learned to drive change forward
What
What obstacles
obstacles prevented
prevented you
you from
from
What
What did
did you
you learn?
learn? reaching
reaching your
your target
target condition?
condition?
Ultimately,
Ultimately, continual
continual improvement
improvement is
is an
an IfIf you
you did
did not
not reach
reach your
your target
target goals,
goals,
ongoing
ongoing educational
educational program.
program. reflect
reflect asas aa team
team onon what
what obstacles
obstacles
prevented
prevented you you from
from reaching
reaching that
that target.
target.
By
By teaching
teaching your
your team
team how
how to
to learn
learn better
better
and
and identify
identify sources
sources ofof new
new knowledge
knowledge that
that Focus
Focus on
on the
the obstacles
obstacles that
that are
are preventing
preventing
can be applied going forward, you maximize
can be applied going forward, you maximize your
your team from reaching the target state.
team from reaching the target state.
the
the efficacy
efficacy of
of your
your team
team and
and improvement
improvement
plan
plan effort.
effort. As
As obstacles
obstacles are
are removed,
removed, new
new ones
ones will
will
appear and old ones will disappear.
appear and old ones will disappear.
As
As you
you learn,
learn, you
you can
can use
use that
that learning
learning to
to
improve your processes.
improve your processes.
Compare expectations versus reality

If the difference is small, things are Regardless of the
on track and the issue could have cause, large
Compare Evaluate simply been an issue with timing of differences
the EC the the improvement. between the EC
(expected differences:
and the AC provide
change) are they
great learning
to the AC different
If the difference is large, more opportunities about
(actual than
reflection is needed. Perhaps it is a how to approach
change) expected?
gap in understanding the goal or a change in the
poor execution of the action plan. future.

Avoid pointing fingers when addressing corrections to the CIP
Be hard on issues, but soft on people.
1 Normally a person is not the problem, but a person is doing something they
should or shouldn’t be going. Therefore it’s a fault with the process or a behavior.
Understand why that person isn’t doing something – perhaps they don’t have the
2 time, there is no clear prioritization scheme, the processes they’re running need
reviewing, or they just need additional coaching or training.
When undertaking CSI in an organization, don’t assume that people are the root
3 of all problems. Gain the mentality that if something isn’t running well, you are
failing people, people aren’t failing the organization.
If someone isn’t completing a task

task on time, itit may be
be because their workload is too high;
high; thus
thus
the process
process needs
needs to
to change
change rather than
than the person.

Celebrate and share success to demonstrate the value of the
improvement initiative
Demonstrate the Value
i) Improvements ii) Benefits achieved through improvements iii) ROI
Share: iv) VOI (extra value created by benefits)
i) Quantified metrics ii) Qualitative comparisons of current versus previous quality

Using: of service iii) Positive end-user feedback
i) Service desk staff/IT ii) Business leaders iii) Key stakeholders

With: iv) End users
i) Visually appealing graphs and charts of trends in metrics ii) Quotes from end
Via: users iii) A newsletter or bulletin iv) Regular meetings
• Highlight the successes as it relates to your service desk agents; demonstrate that successes
were due to their efforts.
• Demonstrate the value of the project to the business organization.
• Highlight the realized benefits of the project that you identified at the beginning to the business.
• Even if not every aspect was successful, be sure to celebrate the small successes, and continue
to learn and improve.

Reflect on improvement initiatives to identify lessons learned
• By reflecting on lessons learned, new knowledge is identified and shared with the continual
improvement team.
• The ongoing process of continual improvement not only improves processes, but the knowledge
gained about them.
• This knowledge can often be transferrable to separate projects in the future, so organizations
can gain significant value from each new initiative undertaken in their CIP.
Date, step, What did What What did we

Some questions to consider: & metric(s) you expect? happened? learn?
1. How did the data compare to
Implement step
our expectations? Was the 2 3 4
1
project successful?
2. What obstacles, if any, were Select Expect Impact Reflect
present that impacted the
project?
3. How can we apply lessons
5
learned through this project to
other projects?
Apply Next Project Cycle

Discuss project success and obstacles to identify key lessons
learned
3.2 Reflect on lessons learned Time Allotment: 60 minutes
1. Select a project that was undertaken in your
CIP from your CSI Register. List the date • IT Manager
started, what the project entailed, and the • CSI Manager
metric(s) used in its measure. • Service Manager
• Service Desk Analysts
2. Drawing from your CSI Register, list your
expectations for the project.
3. Once the project has reached a stage of
completion, list the impacts in a separate
column.
4. Reflect on and discuss what lessons were
learned and how they can be applied to the
start of the next cycle of the project.
Document as you go:
5. Apply the lessons learned in the reflection step
to push the project forward into a new cycle. Document measured outcome
and lessons learned in the
Improvement Plan, Sections
4.2 and 4.3.

Be proactive with continual improvement, not reactive
Many organizations only approach service improvement when they

recognize that they’re in trouble.
1 2
As a result, most improvement Because of the poor preparation and rushed nature of reactionary
initiatives undertaken are improvement initiatives, they are often Band-Aid solutions that are not
reactionary. sustained.
3 4
CSI is something you continually Even if there is no pressing issue facing your organization, a true CSI
do; it is not something you do state of mind should constantly spur your organization to dig for problems
only because you’re in trouble. to solve, or search for good processes that can be turned into great ones.
To be proactive and have an effective continual improvement process in place:
1. Put CSI initiatives and processes into the annual budget.

2. Revise job descriptions of certain employees to include time to brainstorm CSI initiatives.
3. Make someone responsible for ensuring the change sticks.
Set
Set aa target
target state
state that
that reaches
reaches beyond
beyond business
business as
as usual.
usual. Continual
Continual improvement
improvement is
is not
not only
only
about avoiding
about avoiding negative outcomes, but
but achieving new outcomes
outcomes beyond what
what you already
know
know you
you can
can achieve.
achieve.

Think long term to sustain changes
The continual improvement process is ongoing. When one improvement cycle ends, the next
should begin in order to continually measure and evaluate processes.
The goal of any framework is steady and continual Have processes in place to ensure that the
improvement over time that resets the baseline to the improvements made will remain in place after the
current (and hopefully improved) level at the end of change is implemented. Each completed cycle is just
each cycle. another step toward your target state.
CSI is a combination of
Ensure that there is a
attitudes, behavior, and
continual commitment from
culture.
management.
One improvement initiative is
Regularly monitor metrics as
but one of many steps in the
well as end-user feedback
journey to the target state. It’s
and feedback from service
important to recognize that
desk staff after the initial
CSI is not only the process
improvement period has
highlighted (to the right) by the
ended. Use this information to
green circle, but the blue oval
plan the next improvement.
and beyond.
Everything
Everything can
can be
be improved,
improved, even
even CSI
CSI itself.
itself.
As
As part
part of
of the
the evaluation
evaluation process,
process, gather
gather and
and evaluate
evaluate feedback
feedback on
on thethe process
process employed
employed for
for continual
continual
improvement,
improvement, and
and consider
consider improving
improving the
the process
process moving
moving forward
forward ifif necessary.
necessary.

Insight breakdown
Overarching Insights
1. Lean into incremental improvements. Mature service desks with the capacity for change are ideally situated to
respond to shifting business priorities.
2. It’s easier to climb Mount Everest than to stay there. Without continual service improvement, sustained service desk
quality will be temporary. Organizations need to put in place an ongoing process to audit, enhance, and sustain the
performance of the service desk whatever its process maturity.
Phase 1 Insight
• Continual improvement must demonstrate its worth to the organization before the process can begin. By focusing the
plan around organizational goals, you will generate support from within in order to effectively deploy the continual
improvement plan in the future.
Phase 2 Insight
• When you build out your continual improvement plan, it is crucial to have your priorities in order. The best approach is to
select “quick wins” that can demonstrate immediate benefits for the business, assisting with organizational buy-in for the
CIP. Once these quick wins are implemented and buy-in is established, major projects that require more effort can be
undertaken.
Phase 3 Insight
• To be effective, your CIP requires open and honest feedback from the service desk team. Knowledge exchange should
continuously occur between all levels of the Service Desk to keep projects on track, and thoughtful evaluation and
reflection on completed projects will ensure that lessons learned will improve both the service desk and the continual
improvement process itself to keep the momentum going.

Research contributors and experts
Marko Jäntti Dave Smith

Head of Research IT Trainer
University of Eastern Quanta Training, Ltd.
Finland
Vince Jennings Brian McKenna

Technical Project ITSM Consultant &
Manager Trainer
Alcatel-Lucent New Self-Employed
Zealand

Attila Révfalvi Joseph Philpott

Senior Associate ISTA Acting Director Service of
Amgen Assurance
Australian Dept. of
Defence
Kathy Campbell
James Monroe
Technology Support
Computer Support
Services Director
Specialist
Anne Arundel
Community College

Dave O’Reardon Ravi Prakash Singh

Founder & CEO MS IS Student
Silversix Stevens Institute of
Technology
Gautam Bangalore Karen Clark

Business Analyst CIO
Sydney, Australia OrthoTennessee

Rick Hamilton Jay Lentz

Support Services ITSM Manager CSI &
Manager SLM
Soaring Eagle Casino & Southwest Airlines
Resort
Rangesh Prasanna
Marc Fransen
Infrastructure Process
Service Desk Technician
Consultant
Gemeente-Eindhoven
Nextera Energy

Related Info-Tech research
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Provide timely and effective
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and resolutions of all incidents.
Extend the Service Desk to t

he Enterprise
Position IT as an innovator.

References
Cabral, Fatima, Gary Case, and David Ratcliffe. “IT Service Desk Health Check & Action Plan.” Pink Elephant, 2003.
Case, Gary. “Continual Service Improvement: Bringing It to Life.” Pink Elephant, August 2009.
“Continual Service Improvement: The Catalyst for Service Desk Excellence and Enterprise Productivity.” Pomeroy, 2012.
“Continuous Improvement: A MOF Companion Guide.” Microsoft, June 2010.
Gerke, Kerstin, Konstantin Petruch, and Gerrit Tamm. “Optimization of Service Delivery through Continual Process
Improvement: A Case Study.” INFORMATIK 2010 - Business Process and Service Science, Proceedings of ISSS and
BPSC. 27 September - 1 October 2010, Leipzig Germany.
ITIL Continual Service Improvement. London: TSO, 2007.
Jäntti, Marko, and Terry Rout. “Improving IT Service Operation Processes.” Product-Focused Software Process
Improvement. J. Heidrich et al. (Eds.). PROFES 2013, 2013. 359-362.
Jäntti, Marko, Anup Shrestha, and Aileen Cater-Steel. “Towards an Improved IT Service Desk System and Processes: A
Case Study.” International Journal on Advances in Systems and Measurements. 5 (2012): 203-215.
Jones, Dave. “Continual Service Improvement - So What's It All About?” Pink Elephant, 11 September 2014.
Kozina, Melita, and Emilija Tomičić. “Planning to Implement Continual Service Improvement Processes.” Central European
Conference on Information & Intelligent Systems. September 2010.

References continued
Linch, David, and Jason Bergstrom. “Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement in an Age of Disruption.” Deloitte
LLP, 2014.
Lithgo, Joe. “Top Ten Reasons to Apply Continual Improvement Out of the Gate.” Burlington, ON: Pink Elephant, 2008.
Orr, Anthony. “Focus On: ITIL® Continual Service Improvement.” BMC Software, 2012.
Probst, Jack, and Gary Case. “Integrating Six Sigma and ITIL® for Continual Service Improvement.” Pink Elephant,
2013.
Rance, Stuart. “Building a CSI Culture.” The ITSM Review. 23 July 2014.
Rumburg, Jeff, and Eric Zbikowski. “The Seven Most Important Performance Indicators for the Service Desk.”
MetricNet.
UCISA. “Chapter 12: Continual Improvement.” UCISA Information Security Management Toolkit Edition 1.0. 2015.
Van Bon, Jan, Arjen de Jong, Mike Pieper. “The Power of Six Sigma for ITIL Continual Service Improvement.” IT
Service Management - Global Best Practices. van Haren Publishing, 2008.
Veihmeyer, John. “Global CEO Outlook 2015: The Growth Imperative in a More Competitive Environment.” KPMG
International, July 2015.

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Build a Service Desk Continual Improvement

Info-Tech Research Group 3

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Design a service desk improvement project

Measure and monitor progress to ensure

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Situation Info-Tech Insight

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Why implement a continual

• Motivates action to make

• Adapts service desks to changes

• Identifies opportunities for

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Improved business satisfaction:

Fewer recurring issues:

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Build a service desk continual improvement plan

goals and 2. Identify CSFs service desk

Organizational CSFs, KPIs, SD Assessment

Key Project Deliverables

2. Build CSI action plan improvement

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CASE STUDY Industry

CERN Computing Centre The Continual Service Improvement Cycle

Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

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1. Focus 2. Build 3. Run

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participants. continual service

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Guided Implementation 1: Focus the service desk continual improvement plan

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Outcomes of this step

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Ensure that continual improvement will benefit

• One of the primary goals of continual improvement

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New staff, new

Technology advances: For Management reviews:

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When discussing improvement opportunities,

If you talk about an improvement, explain the

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Don’t forget to communicate the benefits of the continual

Unless you have

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1 Define the benefits in a clear and measurable way.

Benefits may include:

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Roles and responsibilities can be reassigned throughout the CSI process.

Consider assigning dedicated CSI roles Focus on people in addition to

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1. Schedule a meeting with recommended participants. Recommended Participants

3. Identify specific responsibilities for roles within the

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Outcomes of this step

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