| |
| |
|
Management Information |
|
The Dark Side of Help Desk SLAs
You just signed a Help Desk Service Level Agreement (SLA) and now think things will get easier. However, you may soon be falling into one of these traps: 1) COVERING THE TRUTH WITH METRICS In some companies, those under the radar of SLA compliance may resort to doing the minimum instead of really solving the problem. This includes closing or reassigning customer tickets just to meet the ticket queue deadline. While a review of SLA monthly metrics may look like the help desk is meeting or exceeding metrics, in reality the quality of support had started a downward death spiral. 2) DOING ACTIVITIES JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE IN THE SLA When creating the SLA, the customer/management may ask for services and reports because "they are nice to have" and they perceive them as free. However, once the SLA is in force, the help desk staff discover that the customer/management rarely read the reports or utilize these services. But the staff is forced to keep doing them because they are in the SLA. 3) IGNORING ACTIVITIES NOT IN THE SLA Changes in current products, organizations, management, vendors, and users may require currently unsupported services to receive some level of support. Helpdesk staff are now faced trying to make both the SLA and non-SLA users happy. But picking the wrong choice may mean that you may be trading a happy today for a thousand unhappy tomorrows. In conclusion, take the time to create a realistic SLA that both and your management/customer can live with -- today and tomorrow. Schedule monthly reviews to see if the real needs are being met. Periodically sanity check the SLA and see which activities/reports should be dropped and which should in the short-term and mid-term. Good luck in your efforts! About The Author Copyright Alessea Consulting 2004 Hallett German (hallett.german@alessea.com) is President of Alessea Consulting. is president of Alessea Consulting http://www.alessea.com specializing in Identity Management, Project Management, and Business Development
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Gift Giving for Business a Major Headache Corporate gifting is a big headache for most business owners; how much to spend, who to spend the money on, where to get the gifts, what to get and how to gauge the effect of that giving in terms of benefits for the company are all important questions. When a company decides to give gifts it needs to be planned out as part of doing business, not just a last minute impulse. Creative Writing - business principles produce more quality work, faster Maximization methodologies have long been used in business to produce quantities of quality ideas, faster. Creative writers who want to rapidly produce quantities of quality work should apply these same principles. Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Employee Ideas Achieve Work Life Balance This article relates to the Work/Life Balance competency, which investigates how your staff feels with regard to the balance between work and personal life. It explores issues such as priority of family and hours on the job, also covered in this competency. Assertive Communication - 6 Tips For Effective Use What IS assertive communication? Assertive communication is the ability to express positive and negative ideas and feelings in an open, honest and direct way. It recognises our rights whilst still respecting the rights of others. A Comprehensive Sarbanes Oxley Act Summary Individual and corporate security stand in the center of the Sarbanes Oxley Act summary, as they are the areas that suffered most changes. New criminal and civil penalties were announced for security violations and a new system of certification of internal audit efforts was set. The Walmart Cult The CultBecoming a part of the Cult, consists of being recruited a member of the cult, as a person that can be relied on to assume responsibilities and accomplish all or almost all things requested.Depending upon the position you hold and the person that you are attached to the most, any position can be engaging and can be so different from any other experience that you have had prior to Walmart in almost any retail sector that you feel you are being chosen for great things. Counseling Interviews for the Marginal Employee ACTIVE LISTENING: The most frequent cause of failure in therapeutic counseling interviews is the interviewer's tendency to talk too much. Numerous studies have shown that in counseling interviews the average manager will talk as much as 85 percent of the time. Plan for Business Success - 6 Reasons to Succession Plan Succession Planning provides many valuable assets to your business. Yet it is easy to do, with a game plan. The Devil We Know "I'm in an abusive relationship," sighed Andrew. "My bookkeeper annoys the hell out of me but I just can't let him go. Sarbanes Oxley 404 Compliance - How Nov. 15, 2004 Deadline Affects You Fast Relief for Sarbanes Oxley Section 404 ComplianceSection 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires management to confirm the effectiveness of their IT and financial controls in an "internal control report", which is contained within the annual report (10-K) issued to the public. But what exactly is an internal control report, and why is it important to you?The Section 404 Internal Control ReportFirst, the internal control report must affirm management's responsibility for controls and procedure, and second, it must contain an assessment of the effectiveness of the internal controls and procedures for financial reporting. How to Manage Your People Well: Tips for Managers of Training As a training manager, there are two important aspects to managing your people well: hiring, supervising, and motivating (managing with your people) and building up corporate support for your department (managing for your people). Unfortunately, training is not well understood by some executives, and its benefits can be hard to assess. Operating on Perpetual Overload? Check Out Your E-HabitsAnother week has ended. And, despite moving at the speed of light, you've once again barely made a dent in your more important goals or projects. Rules for Running a Meeting As an experienced manager, I can announce without a doubt that the primary reason for lack of effectiveness in the contemporary business world is that people don't follow the rules for running a meeting. Thousands meetings are conducted each day and most of the meeting chairmen have not even heard of the rules for running a meeting. The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - Competitive, Not Complementary Action A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that can indicate a partnership is in trouble.Competitive, Not Complementary ActionJames Carville and Mary Matlin are public relations spokespeople for the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively. Managers Who Spend PR $$ Wisely If you are a department, division or subsidiary manager, your budget is a precious possession whether you work for a business, a non-profit or an association. So why stand by while your public relations team spends too much time and treasure on tactics like press releases, column mentions and brochures? Especially when you could be using an aggressive PR blueprint to persuade your most important outside audiences to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that lead to your success?The good news is, that aggressive blueprint shines the PR spotlight directly on those outside groups of people who have a large say in how successful you're going to be - namely, on your key external target audiences. Why Training Fails Sometimes when I conduct my workshop on Effective Meetings, one of the participants will ask, "Where's my boss?"And I say, "Your boss claimed to be an expert on holding effective meetings."Then the person laughs. Get It Done! Soft Skills not Hard Tools are Required If your organization has people, then interpersonal skills are needed.I work with companies that are on a path they call the lean journey. Preventative Maintenance of Company Delivery Vehicles If you have company delivery vehicles at your small or medium sized business you should have a preventative maintenance schedule and procedures for employees who are drivers of these vehicles. When discussing preventative maintenance over the years with business owners the first thing which comes to mind is 'Oil change' and usually the business owner who is on the hook for the loans on these vehicles is more than aware of that fact. Stopping The Brain Drain: How To Capture Key Business Knowledge Before It Walks Out The Door The verdict is in: More and more baby boomers will be leaving the workplace sooner, rather than later. Many industries are predicting that between 25 and 45% of their more senior employees will soon be departing their organizations. Policy & Procedure Manuals - Tools For Greater Productivity and Efficiency In today's tough retail environment the retailer needs all the tools he can get to help improve efficiency, productivity, and the bottom line. Two of these tools are the company's Policy Manual and Procedure Manual.
|
| home | site map | contact us |