The annual service management survey sponsored by the HDI and Hornbill Systems, has found that despite proven benefits, the main challenge to widespread Consolidation of Service Desks lies with the scepticism of potential project champions believing that internal barriers would prevent the completion of the project. The survey respondents felt that the different cultures of each service would hinder the required collaboration for a successful implementation, and that senior management may not appreciate the potential gains, though both the technology and the benefits are well proven. The findings of the survey are available in a whitepaper from Hornbill Systems on stand 220 of the Service Desk and IT Support Show, Olympia, London, 24-26 April.

One of the respondents surveyed commented, “I perceive that one of the major factors inhibiting a consolidated service desk is getting departments such as HR, Payroll, and Finance to accept they are service providers to the business and to embrace the concept of a Service Desk. IT is very much service focused these days and it always seems to be IT that lead in this area.”

Overall, the survey was encouraging regarding the take-up of consolidated service desks, with over half of the respondents understanding the benefits of the concept, and about 5% actively planning an implementation. Of the projects currently planned, the overwhelming driver was improving service delivery and /or increasing productivity.

Of the organisations surveyed, 30% are currently running one or more IT service desks with one or more non-IT service desk and they generally believe that further ‘economies of scale’ can be achieved, this being the justification to explore the wider aspects of consolidating their service desks.

Gerry Sweeney, Managing Director at Hornbill Systems commented, “While the market for Consolidated Services Desks is still very much at the ‘early adopter’ stage, this research shows that those that are harnessing technology to deliver centralised services, are doing it for all the right reasons, that is to provide better customer service and improve productivity. The survey also shows that it is still the cultural differences between functions within organisations that prevent organisations from reaping the true benefits that a consolidated service desk would bring. As ever, team work in the widest possible sense is what is required to deliver truly great customer service, whoever your customer happens to be.”

NOTES TO EDITORS
About the HDI & Hornbill Survey
The survey comprised 233 respondents responsible for the delivery of services across their organisation and who may have an understanding and/or interest in consolidating their service desk. The response was drawn pre-dominantly from the UK but also included a few organisations from Asia, Africa and across Europe.

The organisations are representative of all industry sectors (private and public) with 18% being drawn from education, NHS and local government services. On average most organisations are working with 8 IT service desks (typically across multiple sites) and 11 non-IT services.