Do’s and Don’ts for the IT manager

There’s more to service management than just a process-based approach. Users are people of flesh and blood who attach great importance to emotions. The simplest way of improving customer satisfaction is by investing in EQ. What are the kinds of irritations that you can resolve? Eight examples:

Black-hole incidents

Incidents are not only tickets, but also work orders that sometimes need to be scaled up a level when they remain open for too long. When an incident is resolved, the user must be informed. The closing of tickets should be linked to satisfaction measurements. When incidents are not resolved satisfactorily - or are closed ‘temporarily’ to achieve SLA targets - this has to be visible at a glance.

Ideas trash bin

Systematic improvement cannot be realised without the input and involvement of users. When users feel that their ideas are falling on deaf ears, the input will grind to a halt and along with it the improvement process. The ideas process must be concluded as you would incidents, with workflow and escalation.

Too many non-standard changes

Why is the relocation of four workstations seen as a standard change but when five have to be relocated a project has to be set into motion, complete with quotes and the whole commercial rigmarole? An operational change should not be a project. Moreover, functional changes in office computerisation (OC) should be kept to a minimum.

Priority (n)
One 
A printer problem is either a minor hiccup or suddenly a major disaster. If waybills can’t be printed, for example, it delays the rest of the logistics process. Determining what takes priority in this case calls for a non-standard procedure. Defining what is business critical - read: domino effect with rapidly escalating costs as a result - needs to be decided on the shop floor.

Too many service components
What good is a slightly less expensive, austere workspace if upgrading is relatively costly?
More and more services are being provided in the barebones format. But what good is a workstation without Wi-Fi, DVD-ROM or functioning USB ports?

User inter(non)face

When a new application remains unpopular long after the adjustment period, it’s a sign that there’s something wrong with the user interface management. The key focus of front-end applications should be on user efficiency, not on programmer logic.

Integration

Business and IT need to integrate more - in a human form. If you’re an IT worker, why not walk over to your colleagues working on the business side? You’ll be surprised to find that they aren’t at all dumb; they just have different fields of speciality from you. The opposite is also true: a business manager spending a day with an IT consultant will gain understanding of why the IT department prioritises incidents in a specific order.

Home sweet home

The home environment is becoming increasingly far removed from ‘IT at work’. Today’s user can choose from a variety of technological opportunities that allow him to carry out his work outside the office. When do you allow consumer technology into your company? Allowing it can boost innovation and productivity.