Logicalis US Heralds First-Level Resolution Rates as Key to Understanding Outsourced Service Desk Capabilities

Solution Provider to CIOs: Ask These Four Critical Questions before Choosing a Service Desk Partner

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Logicalis US

Oct 29, 2013, 10:37 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Logicalis US, an international IT solutions and managed services provider (www.us.logicalis.com), there are two often overlooked criteria CIOs should use as benchmarks when comparing technical service desk providers: the organization's employee retention rate and the first-level resolution rate – which represents the number of calls resolved by first-level agents as a percentage of all service desk calls. This rate highlights how often the first-level service desk team solves a problem without needing to escalate a service call to more costly specialists.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130828/MM71035LOGO-a)

Unlike a call center taking orders or messages, a technical service desk is supposed to be just that – technical.  The people hired by a service desk as their first-level responders need to have a strong technical support background.  Service desks are often staffed with lower cost resources, while network engineers and other more experienced – and higher priced – consultants are reserved for particularly difficult customer engagements that need to be escalated to that level of experience.  The more qualified the service desk's first-level responders, however, the more likely incidents are to be solved at level one rather than escalated.

"First-level resolution is important both to the service desk organization itself as well as to the end customer. Being able to resolve callers' questions with a lower level technician means higher productivity for the provider, but it also means faster resolutions at any time of the day or night for the caller, and lower overall costs for the customer," says Bob Chapp, Service Desk Director, Logicalis US.

(Learn more about Logicalis' service desk: http://www.ict-log.us/pdPOu.)

Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Service Desk

  1. How fast can an incident be resolved? When customers call in with a problem, resolving their calls with a level one technician means they can have their incidents resolved and be back at work in 15 minutes or so, versus the one to four hours it often takes when calls are escalated to higher-level resources.  Level-one resolutions increase productivity for the service desk, the caller and the client organization as well.
  2. What tools does the provider rely on? Service desks have many tools at their disposal, but one of the most important is a remote desktop tool that allows the technician to view the caller's desktop rather than relying on a word-of-mouth description of the problem.  The use of such tools can often correlate to the speed and accuracy with which problems can be identified and resolved.  It is important to ask whether such tools are deployed to level-one personnel or if a call must be escalated to be able to take advantage of these resources.  Knowing this gives the CIO valuable information about the technical skill level of the service desk's first-level responders.
  3. Are the agents scripted? At one point or another, service desk agents must rely on the written word to determine the right response to a particular technical issue.  The question, though, is whether or not the agents are critical thinkers; are they empowered to do what they need to do to see a customer's problem through from call to resolution, or are they expected to read from a script and follow a charted response tree? In many cases, the agent's comfort level on the phone can be another indicator of the organization's first-level skill sets and a solid predictor of level-one resolution results.
  4. What time are the best agents available? There is no more 9-to-5; people work at all times, from home, while traveling, from hotels, on vacation, all day, all night, and if they're locked out of their email or unable to make a presentation perform, they need help right there, right then, on the spot.  And they don't just need help, they need meaningful help.  So the real question isn't what time of day the best agents work, but rather, are the same quality of agents available around the clock?

Want to learn more?

About Logicalis
Logicalis is an international IT solutions and managed services provider with a breadth of knowledge and expertise in communications and collaboration; data center and cloud services; and managed services.

Logicalis employs nearly 3,500 people worldwide, including highly trained service specialists who design, specify, deploy and manage complex ICT infrastructures to meet the needs of almost 6,000 corporate and public sector customers.  To achieve this, Logicalis maintains strong partnerships with technology leaders such as Cisco, HP, IBM, CA Technologies, EMC, NetApp, Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow.

The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of over $1.4 billion from operations in Europe, North America, South America and Asia Pacific and is fast establishing itself as one of the leading IT and Communications solution integrators specializing in the areas of advanced technologies and services.

The Logicalis Group is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg and London AIM Stock Exchanges, with revenues of over $5 billion.

For more information, visit www.us.logicalis.com.

Business and technology working as one
To learn more about Logicalis activities through a variety of social media outlets, click here.

Media contacts:
Lisa Dreher, VP, Marketing & Business Development,
Logicalis US
[email protected] 425-201-8111
www.us.logicalis.com

Karen Franse, Communication Strategy Group for Logicalis US
[email protected]
866-997-2424
www.gocsg.com

SOURCE Logicalis US

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