Category Archives: Manage Service

Proving The Value Of IT With Monthly Management Reports

Manage Service, ,
High angle view of a businessman generating a report

Thorough monthly IT reporting can improve your IT performance in the long run.

As difficult as it may be to say, IT does not always give people a positive impression. Technology has a tremendous amount of value to a business, but some IT leaders are having a difficult time showing how valuable IT is to a business. When IT leaders are not able to adequately express the value of IT, this can create a problem that may be difficult to amend.

While some Chief Information Officers have been able to make the transition from a lower department to a higher department, many other IT leaders are having a difficult time getting everyone to understand that the role of IT is much larger than many may realize. Unfortunately, many people only view IT as a department or function within the business or organization that does not have any value to the profit.

Since IT is not always seen as a value generator, IT does not always obtain the type of reporting it deserves. Without proper IT reporting, your business or organization can fail to identify how valuable IT is.

Create an IT Strategy

There are various things CEOs, board members, and IT leaders can do to prove how valuable IT is and how valuable their positions are. Your business or organization needs to have an IT strategy in place to ensure IT will still have an impact. However, we understand that changing one’s mindset or foundation is not an easy thing to accomplish.

IT leaders will need to prove how valuable IT is to a business or organization. The IT department should no longer be viewed as a department where money sinks. The IT department should be viewed as a department that can generate a tremendous amount of revenue on a yearly basis. In order to prove how valuable IT is, one will need strong and efficient IT monthly management reports.

IT reporting will not only involve showing how valuable IT resources and departments are, but it will also involve how impactful IT is to the entire business landscape.

There are various details that will need to be included in the monthly IT reports in order to create an effective IT strategy, including the following:

Reported Outages

Downtime and outages can greatly impact your business or organization’s ability to operate. If your business cannot operate as it should, your business or organization will struggle to bring in revenue. If people cannot access your website or if your help desk is not working properly, your entire business operations will be negatively impacted.

It is the job of the IT department to solve the problems, and not be the one responsible for the problems. The number reported outages and the length of time it takes to resolve the problems should be included in the monthly reports. When you have reports that detail the reported outages, you will have a clearer understanding of what issues are common and what solutions can be used to ensure the issues do not become a trend.

Reported Resolutions

One of the goals of your monthly IT reports is to reduce the number of problems that can have an impact on the business or organization. However, we understand that the same problem can occur in different forms. The problems can also have an impact in different forms and in different manners. Regardless of the issues, the IT department will need to resolve as many problems as possible.

The issues that need to be resolved should not be settled on a temporary basis. No one wants to have a problem that will be solved only temporary. The number of resolutions that have been solved permanently should be placed in the IT reports. When the number of resolutions are listed in the IT reports, the number of future issues can be reduced because there will be a better understanding on how to resolve any similar problems that may arise in the future.

IT monthly management reports are needed to prove how important and valuable IT is to a business or organization. There are various reports that can be used to prove how important and valuable IT is. What reports and information do you think will have the greatest impact on your IT strategy?

Contact SystemsNet today for more information on IT monthly management reports.

New Year’s Resolutions For Your IT Help Desk

Manage Service, ,
A happy male technical support operator working in an IT help desk call center setting speaking and assisting a customer online and speaking through a headset.

How well are business owners doing with their New Year’s resolutions for their business’s?

It is very hard to believe that we are already at the start of a new year. With the beginning a year come lists of New Year’s resolutions. 2020 was a difficult year for us, and we are looking forward to making 2021 more enjoyable and more successful.

The beginning of the year is all about getting a fresh start. The new year will present you with an opportunity to start fresh with your IT help desk. After a long holiday break, you have probably been thinking about all the problems and concerns you had with your IT help desk the previous year.

With so many concerns and questions, how do you even know where to start? One of your main points of concern will be to focus on all the factors that will have an impact on your entire business or organization. There are various areas that will have an impact on your organization, including the following:

  • Customer experience
  • Virtual chat agents
  • Employee experience
  • Service transportation
  • Self-service

On the road to greatness and success, individuals, businesses, and organizations set a variety of goals. If you are able to focus on these key areas, you will be able to take the necessary steps to improve your IT help desk this year. Here are a few key resolutions for your IT help desk that we encourage you to consider in 2021.

Implement A Self-Service Portal

If you continue operating your IT help desk without a self-service portal, you will continue missing out on some outstanding benefits and advantages. When you integrate a self-service portal, they can be use as an extended source of help.

Your self-service portal can offer a variety of resources and information to help your users find the solution to their problems. Your self-service portal can provide assistance to the most frequently asked questions.

If your business or organization supports different types of products and services, you do not want your IT help desk team managing all of those things separately. Your self-service portal will allow customers to help themselves.

Decrease Call Volume

With businesses and organizations looking to adopt new strategies, we encourage IT teams to make the necessary preparations. With the addition of new strategies, your IT help desk may experience a sudden increase in call volume. When you have an understanding of the major concerns and incidents, you will be able to utilize your resources in the appropriate manner.

Understanding the major concerns of your customers, clients, and employees will allow you to systematize what will be best handled by your IT help desk team and what can be solved by using your new and improved self-service portal. When you have the appropriate strategy, your IT help desk team members will not be burdened with every service requests.

Many customers will be more than willing to use your self-service portal if it improves their overall experience.

Reduce Operating Costs

If you have been looking for measures that will allow you to operate your business or organization more efficiently while not breaking the bank, it is important to optimize your IT help desk. Optimizing your IT help desk can lead to the cost-effectiveness and cost efficiency you have been seeking. When you create an IT help desk strategy that will allow you to create a better customer service experience, you can significantly reduce costs.

When you have an improved IT help desk and a self-service portal, you can reduce the number of manual procedures, which will play a major part in the reduction of operating costs.

If you faced help desk problems in 2020, you do not have to bring those problems with you in 2021. Contact SystemsNet for more information on how you can improve your help desk this year.

3 Myths About Managed Service Providers (MSPs)

Manage Service, ,
An IT team hard at work

Let us answer your burning questions about Managed Service Providers.

There are many factors to consider when you are preparing to choose a Managed Service Provider (MSP). We want you to be fully informed when the time comes for you to choose an MSP. Here are some of the common myths we have heard about Managed Service Providers.

Myth 1: Bigger Means Better

When it comes to IT services, bigger does not always mean that you will get better services. Businesses and organizations that are evaluating IT service providers for the first time often find themselves in interesting situations. Some workplaces find themselves assigning IT work to an employee who does not specialize in IT work.

On the other hand, there are businesses and organizations who hire a third-party to come in on an hourly basis. Unfortunately, these businesses and organizations will ultimately realize their current strategies are not working the way they intended. The strategies will not be sufficient enough when you have an IT emergency.

Companies like yours will generally ask questions about the size of an MSP in order to determine how much support they may be able to offer when a need arises. Unfortunately, the size of the business and the number of employees they have will not be able to help you determine an accurate response time.

It will not matter how large the MSP is, if the Managed Service Provider has a heavy workload, there is no guarantee that your needs will be met when you need support the most. Instead, you should ask an MSP about their procedures and policies that will help you determine how fast their response time is.

Myth 2: In-House IT Is The Better Option

We know that many businesses and organizations will feel that having their own IT staff and support system will be better than a Managed Service Provider. However, Managed Service Providers will have the ability to serve a variety of needs and roles within a company. If you hire someone to take on the maintenance, management, and troubleshooting, and they are not experts in those fields, that move could have a negative impact on your business.

A time may come when your IT person may not be able to respond to the IT needs on time. If you do not have someone available to address your needs, a major disruption could occur that will result in downtime that could prove costly to your business. Having someone in-house does not always mean you will have a fast and efficient resolution to your needs.

We are not stating that you should not have someone available to handle your IT needs, but you can also have a Managed Service Provider available to help fill in the gaps.

Myth 3: Every MSP Is The Same

Unfortunately, many people believe that all MSPs are the same, regardless of their size. When some business and organizations hear one thing about an MSP, they assume that all MSPs will provide the same services in the same manner. This is not true.

It is important to perform your research and obtain a clear view of the MSP you are considering. When you find an MSP that offers the services you need, you will have a better opportunity to determine if that MSP will be a good match for your business. You will need an MSP that performs prompt services and offers the support you will need.

When seeking an MSP, you will need a provider who will become your partner and support system. If you are looking for an MSP that will provide you with the services you need, please do not hesitate to contact SystemsNet today for more information.

Facing and Defeating IT Help Desk Challenges

Manage Service, ,
IT help desk worker accompanied by his team. Smiling customer support operator at work. Young employee working with a headset.

Limited resources, changing technologies, & other challenges don’t have to put additional pressure on your IT help desk team.

With technologies changing at a rapid pace and strategies following the lead, the Information Technology Service Management will soon experience a major development. We anticipate the Information Technology Service Management market will continue to grow at a steady rate.

However, when we think about the major developments that will take place, it is important to obtain a clear understanding of what IT help desk systems and software will look like. As more developments continue to take place, there will be major IT help desk challenges that businesses and organizations will have to overcome in order to stay afloat in the industry.

If your support team cannot provide employees or customers with the tools and information they need when they contact the help desk, employee productivity and customer satisfaction can be at a great risk. Over the years, an IT help desk can face a variety of challenges that can impact the ability to provide support and serve employees and customers.

Some of the major challenges that some IT help desks will experience include the following:

Technologies that are always changing

Over the last ten years, a wealth of new technologies have come into view and have evolved significantly. While the technologies can be used to significantly help businesses, customers, and employees, the long list of changes can also come with a long list of challenges.

In order for an IT help desk to remain competitive and stay on track, your IT help desk will need to have the tools and strategies that are needed to access the system on a daily basis with zero problems. Your IT help desk team will need to be able to access the system and switch between multiple applications on a consistent basis, and this will improve the productivity and the performance of your team.

Juggling a long list of trouble tickets

It is important to have an IT help desk system that can effectively and efficiently handle all the trouble tickets and requests. Issues will need to be addressed in a timely manner, and the manner in which the issues are handled should be handled efficiently while meeting the high-quality standards that have been set.

We understand it can be difficult to handle so many requests, especially when the IT support team will have to deal with other daily issues. If members of your support team can only handle one service request at a time, the trouble tickets and service requests will begin to pile up and a long list of impatient customers will begin to form.

It is important to meet the needs of your customers and your employees, and this can be created by using the tools that are needed to address multiple trouble tickets at one time.

Limited number of resources

We understand that some of the issues you can face when working the IT help desk can be challenging and frustrating to deal with. When customers and employees do not have a system they can use to help them with their problems, they will continue making calls or sending emails to the IT help desk system.

Can you imagine how much time your service team can have to address other issues if customers had a self-service management system or answers to Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)? When there is no tool for customers or the support staff to use, it could lead to more trouble tickets being created and more customers not receiving the assistance they need in a timely manner. If there is no self-service system in place, the support team’s productivity will decline and the response and resolution times will be poor.

While improvements in technology can certainly lead to a more productive and effective workplace, it can also lead to challenges if you do not have a plan in place that can add to its value. Contact us today for more information on overcoming IT help desk challenges.