Profile: a company with more than 500 users at head office and several other sites, over 500 computers and hundreds of further devices. User support is handled by an in-house IT team.
Starting point
With five hundred users, support without a system quickly turns very complicated and haphazard. Requests reached us through three channels — email, phone and in person — and it showed. Things got forgotten, some got handled twice, and when management asked how much we were getting through and whether we were keeping up, I had no way to answer. We had no records, no priorities, no deadlines.
Rollout
We deployed a service desk built on the ITIL methodology. We set up request categories, assigned agents and SLA rules, opened up a user portal and email intake, and let the workflow route requests automatically, track deadlines and escalate. We added a service catalogue and a knowledge base for recurring questions. The key step was linking it to MagikAUDIT, which we were already using for asset inventory.
Benefits
- Nothing falls through the cracks. Every request has a record, a status, an owner and a deadline.
- Faster resolution thanks to the link with the inventory. Right on the ticket, a technician instantly sees the station's configuration and the assets assigned to the user from MagikAUDIT, can launch an online stock-take or connect remotely — no more lengthy digging to find out "what's actually running on that person's machine".
- SLA under control. We know whether we're meeting agreed deadlines, and escalation catches critical cases before they turn into real problems.
- Less repeat work. The knowledge base and service catalogue handle typical questions without unnecessary work from a technician.
- Reports for management. We finally have numbers on support performance, and on which problems keep recurring and are worth a systemic fix.
Result
Support that used to just fight whatever fire was currently burning has become a managed, measurable service. Users can see their requests are being handled, technicians have the context they need on every ticket, and our IT support department finally has solid records for management — who did what, how and when. Linking the helpdesk to the asset inventory was the biggest change for us — the two finally work together.
— Roman Štěch, IT Department, Budějovický Budvar, national enterprise
