Along with most internal IT departments, in either the private or public sectors, higher education institutions continue to need to provide IT support to their end users – students, faculty members, and other employees – in line with what now seems like an age-old mantra of “doing more with less.” Read More
So you’ve been tasked with selecting a new IT Service Management (ITSM) tool solution? Whether you’re upgrading from a simple ticketing system to a full-scale ITIL® suite or just aren’t happy with your current implementation, procuring the best-fitting solution can be a gargantuan task. Many Request For Proposals (RFPs) fail to ask the right questions, thus leading to disastrous ITSM ... Read More
The annual HDI Conference is done and dusted for another year, although I’m unsure what the Washington equivalent of Las Vegas’ “Elvis has left the building” is. As per usual, there was a lot of great service desk and IT service management (ITSM) learning (let’s call it “nuggets”) to be had – either in-person or remotely via the Twittersphere. Read More
If you've ever visited the UK - well, London to be accurate - and have travelled on the underground (tube) system, then you'll have seen signs, and heard the public announcements, that say "Mind the gap." The US equivalent would probably be "Beware the gap." It's a warning that there's a physical gap between the platform and the tube train, and that dropping or losing things (including oneself) ... Read More
Every now and then someone will ask "What are the best sources of IT service management (ITSM) and service desk (and possibly even customer service) advice?" There are of course many paid-for information sources, such as industry analyst firms, and while I might cheekily state that people should seek help and advice from their ITSM or service desk tool provider - I'll no doubt eventually get ... Read More
Chatbot technology and other artificial intelligence tools represent a watershed moment in customer service innovation. Now businesses can provide their customers with intuitive, human-like support features that improve self-service experiences and raise satisfaction. Read More
Whether you work in retail, manufacturing, healthcare or IT service management, everything you do is ultimately for the customer's benefit. Read More
When the service desk doesn't respond fast enough, users notice. According to MetricNet research, the longer the mean time to resolution, the lower the average customer satisfactions score. You can't argue with those facts. The only thing you can do is to take the necessary measures that will speed up operations. Read More
In the world of IT service management, there are considerable advantages to allowing users to resolve issues on their own. It harkens back to that old saying about the difference between giving out fish and teaching people how to catch fish all on their own. For the average users - either customers or employees utilizing a website, application or SaaS, self-service affords them capabilities that ... Read More
Could artificial intelligence ever convincingly pose as a human? Could a computer imitate humans by "thinking" as humans do? Early computer pioneer Alan Turing's challenge, commonly referred to as the Turing test, set in motion decades of experimentation into machine intelligence to discover an answer. No doubt accomplishment of such a feat would represent a significant milestone in technological ... Read More
