Johannesburg, 08 Feb 2012
In a move described as “drinking our own champagne”, Bytes Systems Integration has reduced service call logging times from 4.5 minutes to one minute, and expects to reduce call times by a further 25%.
This has emerged in an audit of the implementation, done in January 2012 by James Gay, CEO of ICCM Solutions. The ICCM eService Desk solution delivers 32 out-of-the-box service management processes, combined with best practices and practical experience, to provide the highest industry accreditations.
Jane Khaled, enterprise support services divisional manager at Bytes Systems Integration, part of Bytes Technology Group, wholly owned by JSE-listed Altron, is tasked with specific ownership of the internal implementation of service management. She says one of the major drives Bytes Systems Integration had in replacing its old helpdesk was to implement ITIL best practice.
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a set of best practices for IT service management (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of business.
Khaled says: “James was here for a very specific reason. We went live in March 2011, so we had a good 10 months' of usage. We knew that we had done good things with the ICCM e-Service Desk solution, but we wanted an independent audit of how well we were actually doing. And we wanted a view of what we could do to improve even more.”
James Gay says: “Becoming 'great' comes from re-using the BPM processes that are intrinsic to the system and applying them across multiple departments within the business to gain a competitive edge. For peak performance, businesses re-use service management principles to leap to 'extraordinary' status, truly accelerating business transformation.”
He is adamant that companies do not buy technology: they buy outcomes. “So when it comes to auditing a technology solution for a service desk, you want to see consistency,” James Gay says.
“For instance, the system should force all agents to log a call in the same way. But it also has to be simple for agents to use and drive the process. As an example, my litmus test is if my mother logs a call in the call centre in a different way to your agents, it's too complicated and you've got it wrong.
“The next outcome we hope for is that, if everything is being logged in your organisation, you can see the whole picture and see what needs changing,” James Gay continues.
Khaled describes the audit as “very enlightening and worthwhile as it pointed out a couple of areas where we can gain even more efficiency.
“It has given us the confidence to take our next steps towards becoming great. We have big plans, and are rolling out the contracts process in ICCM. It will not only be great for our business, but is also something our own customers have a burning need for because it automates governance to a large extent. Contracts management is an integral part of ITIL, so it is the logical next step for us.”
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