If you look up the definition of IT Service Management the response from one of the many websites explaining IT terminology is ‘a set of integrated processes that underpins core business processes by linking infrastructure management with business needs’. It is therefore interesting that many companies often do not ‘integrate processes to underpin core business needs’. Instead they have separate processes for the support function of each business area.
Businesses have an emphasis on cost reduction and with the threat of outsourcing looming large; the need for the service desk to become more accountable and professional is growing.

The compartmentalised approach to service delivery stifles the adoption of new services. A more cost efficient way would be an amalgamated service desk, which unites separate disciplines and provides a common system capable of handling queries from internal customers.

To explain this approach further;
Most organisations will have an IT support dept and use an IT Service Management (ITSM) tool of some description. But those ITSM tools are relatively inflexible outside of an IT environment.
The ideal situation would be for organisations to use a single support platform which could be used by the support teams of each of the organisation’s departments, be that IT support, facilities, fleet management, HR and payroll or customer services. The organisation would then, effectively, have ‘one version of the truth’ to work with.
IT Service Management typically uses a language synonymous with IT. For example, each request for assistance is called ‘an incident’. This terminology would not typically be something the facilities or HR departments would naturally use. Straight away use of the IT Service Management tool is compromised in any other department.
There is no reason why an organisation cannot use the same methodology across all its departments. Why use a variety of systems to support HR, fleet, facilities etc when the core principles are the same. Technology is available that allows organisations to connect all support groups, automate support process and control delivery of service from each support group using a single support platform.
To illustrate, if an employee called IT support for assistance, having earlier called the HR department to enquire as to the number of days annual available, there is no reason why the same database could not have been used in each case. The organisation is serving the same customer base so why not consolidate all types of service management into one database and single support solution.
The current situation in most organisations doesn’t allow for this to happen, if it did departments within organisations would benefit from sharing information, each customer would have the same support source and a single platform would mean lower operational costs and reduced administration overhead.
Why would a company have one helpdesk for HR, one for IT, one for facilities and so on? As long as the solution allows each department to create its own views and forms etc, each department can use the same platform and share the common goals of the organisation. The platform would be common across all functions yet tailored for individual departments.
Hornbill’s Supportworks Service Management tool defines the new generation of professional and cost-effective client/server helpdesk and support services software. In 2001, the first completely customisable version of the product was released, enabling us to offer both software and professional services more fully-tailored to individual companies industry and business specific needs.
At Hornbill we have an internal IT support mechanism for our staff and an external support operation for the customers that use our products. We use the same platform and methodology for both. The benefits to this approach are ease of use, ease of management and overall reduced costs. We only need one team of people to maintain and administer one system and one database, instead of multiple teams