East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust has selected Hornbill's Supportworks ITSM Enterprise to manage IT support calls from thousands of staff working in its operations centres and ambulance stations. Hornbill's service desk software passed the Trust's rigorous procurement process, with its functionality and user interface scoring higher than competitive vendor products. ITIL compatibility was also a key factor in the selection. The IT service desk at East of England Ambulance claims improved service delivery since using Supportworks for both incident management and service requests, and expects to see further efficiencies through the planned introduction of the SelfService portal.
Supportworks ITSM replaces a manual helpdesk system based on spreadsheets and emails, and will support the Trust's adoption of ITIL best practice.
Andy Marrs, Service Desk Manager at East of England Ambulance Service Trust commented; "We identified a very specific list of requirements during our procurement process for service management software, including ITIL compatibility, proper call handling and auditable processes.
"Hornbill offered all of the functionality that we required, which included a full range of processes to support our ITIL adoption, not just call handling and change control. Supportworks ITSM has the functionality to communicate call progress directly from the system by email with all staff, from administration to senior management and the chief executive. The web portal will also enable staff to track their own calls. Since going live, our call management has improved. All calls are now logged, whether an incident, service or change request, and the SelfService portal will free agents to be more proactive. The reporting facilities within Supportworks ITSM help us to identify the large issues and trends rather than treat incidents in isolation. Adopting ITIL processes has made us more efficient - we now provide a better service with the same resource."
Service requests for new starters are now handled more efficiently as information required is presented in a set format, ensuring that all details are collected from the outset. The management team at the Ambulance Service monitors trends from the reports including call data on individuals and teams, which helps to identify recurring problems with hardware or software, training requirements and gauge future needs based on peaks in demand.
Frank McIlroy, CEO of Hornbill Service Management said, "The public sector is under increasing pressure to deliver frontline services at maximum efficiency. The Ambulance Service provides a vital part of patient care and relies upon its back office operations to ensure a rapid response. Providing an efficient IT support service now is critical to ensure that staff are able to carry out tasks effectively. Supportworks' automated processes and streamlined call management can assist IT service desks to deploy resources and better manage service delivery."
NOTES TO EDITORS
About East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust
The Trust provides a range of health care services across the eastern region (covering Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk) from its 999 emergency medical services, patient transport services through to a number of out of hours services.
For more information please visit: www.eastamb.nhs.uk
