The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has selected Hornbill's Supportworks ITSM to improve service delivery, with contracts signed in March 2009. Supportworks ITSM will enable the council to manage IT requests from over 3,500 staff at 50 sites and track their progress against target Service Level Agreements (SLAs), from a single integrated platform. Hornbill responded to a tender request in September 2008, product demonstrations were completed in December 2008, and contracts agreed in March 2009.

Currently, the council handles 1,300 calls per month and this is expected to rise to 4,000 per month after deployment of Hornbill's service management software. The IT department has plans to extend the efficiencies of Hornbill's solution to other specialist support desks across the organisation. The Council chose Hornbill over seven competitors for its ease of use, functionality and its proven compatibility with the ITIL framework whilst offering a high level of flexibility and scalability to meet the future requirements of the borough.

According to Barry Holloway, Head of Information Systems at Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council: "We wanted a system from which we could gain economies of scale by its expansion to other non-IT service desks. After a rigorous points-based evaluation process, Hornbill's Supportworks ITSM came out as our top solution. We liked the ease and speed of its implementation combined with powerful functionality. We were also impressed with its pedigree and reference sites. Supportworks gives much better visibility of incidents enabling us to provide a significantly enhanced support service with the same resources and provides a platform for us to deploy ITIL best practice."

Service desk agents will use Supportworks ITSM to log all IT requests, replacing an existing call logging solution that had been developed previously in house. The IT department intends to adopt ITIL processes within Supportworks ITSM, initially for new user requests for equipment and systems. Further expansion plans involve the use of the Hornbill service management software for other specialist desks within the council that service employees, including Finance, HR and the families and children's services department.

Gerry Sweeney, CEO of Hornbill Systems commented: "Forward-thinking organisations like the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea recognise that automating routine processes enables any service desk - not just IT - to provide a more efficient and responsive customer service. Hornbill's Supportworks is a management tool that enables service desks to track and monitor requests in a structured and efficient way, while keeping that all important 'Human Touch'. It provides customers with the confidence that requests are being logged and dealt with effectively and enables service departments to maximise their resources, while improving their customer satisfaction."

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NOTES TO EDITORS

About Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an area of enormous historic and architectural interest and renowned for its handsome residential streets and squares. It covers five square miles, 70 per cent of which is located in conservation areas.
It is home to numerous embassies and many London landmarks. It also has thriving commercial centres and significant cultural attractions. As part of the Council's commitment to achieving its vision of a Better City Life in Kensington and Chelsea, it has introduced three new aims: Responding to residents; Really good services; and Renewing the legacy.
These aims describe a Council with huge ambitions, not only to improve the way it serves its residents but to transform the fabric of the borough itself, with new schools, major park and street renewals, sports facilities, public art and much else besides.
For more information please visit:
www.rbkc.gov.uk