So, you’ve worked on Super-Important Corporate Project A for a week now without food or bathroom breaks. You’re just about to ping over Vital Report B to Scary Boss C, when suddenly you get the Whirling Rainbow Wheel of Doom. Your laptop says “Just nope,” before cackling maniacally, and then – the palpitations begin. Oh, the palpitations. Who ya gonna call?
You’re gonna call your IT service desk, that’s who. We’re talking about the superheroes sans capes working the phone/email/annoying ticketing system, who’ll unblock your laptop and get you up and running fast. But this font of wisdom and patience doesn’t exist solely for your sweat-soaked emergencies. A decent IT service desk is a total business asset that supports every area of your operations.
So let’s journey into The Amazing World of IT Service Desks (a new and intriguing theme park ride, we hope), to find out what flavors they come in, what they do, and all the shiny benefits they can bestow upon you and your business.
So, What’s An IT Service Desk, Then?
An IT service desk is a hub of IT expertise that primarily provides IT support to an organization. Traditionally, it’s the first point of contact between IT support team members and end users. This is your go-to contact for fixing IT glitches and a first responder for all IT 911s. But an IT service desk can be so much more than a mere rescue center.
OK, So What Other Services Do IT Service Desks Actually Provide?
How long have you got? Just like there are different IT service desk set-ups (more later), there’s also a whole horde of different types of services from which to choose. Not every IT service desk will provide the whole caboodle, but some do.
Troubleshooting
This is what you typically think of whenever “IT service desk” pops into your head – someone at the end of a phone or ticket trying to solve a glitch in software, hardware, or peripherals. The aim is to reduce downtime and keep business operations ticking along nicely.
Monitoring
An IT service desk will routinely scan your IT ecosystem, monitoring for cool things like:
- Security. Flags up anything that needs attention, including dodgy details like unauthorized access attempts, weird behavior patterns, or too-fun-for-work items in the event log. It’ll also scan for any OS that’s missing updates, antivirus software, or other breaches-in-waiting, and sort them all out.
- Performance. Identifies and reports on efficiency-related issues like network bandwidth, poor software responses, and server performance. It’ll also pinpoint bottlenecks and other potential causes of downtime or outages across your IT infrastructure.
- Capacity. What’s your usage like? Is your storage and memory being used effectively and efficiently? Your IT service desk can find out for you.
Request Fulfillment
Do you need to open a bunch of new user accounts, and close out the ex-hire accounts? Got new software to install? Bought some new devices that need all the configuring and provisioning that ever was? Does Bob in accounts need a password reset (again)? Here’s where your trusty IT service desk takes responsibility for fulfilling those pesky requests that used to get you down. Handy!
IT Asset Management
Especially useful when you’ve got a mobile workforce, an IT service desk will often oversee the cradle-to-eco-grave lifecycle of your IT assets. This might include:
- Procuring new assets on your behalf and managing your IT supply chain.
- Creating and managing a centralized IT asset inventory (gotta love mobile device management!).
- Optimizing licenses.
- Warehousing, repairing, and reassigning spare devices.
- Disposing properly of ancient devices.
System Configuration & Management
Here’s where your friendly IT service desk people make sure that your system is up to speed with the latest OS and software updates, security configurations like DNS filtering and email domain configuration, and other important services like data and system backups.
User Support & Training
Apart from answering IT 911 calls, IT service desks can empower your team with training on software and systems. They can often provide phishing training, to prevent your people from falling victim to email scams like ransomware and other social engineering nasties.
Special Projects
IT service desks can be a bunch of tired IT engineers chained to an actual desk to serve your every IT whim, but they can also be an amorphous team of IT people with, between them, expertise across a wide range of IT specialties. This means you can often find a service desk hero to help with special projects, such as:
- Compliance with cybersecurity frameworks of your choice, e.g., SOC 2.
- Change management.
- IT action planning for start-ups.
- Disaster recovery.
Choose Between Three Flavors Of IT Service Desk
IT service desks sound pretty tasty, don’t they? How do you get one? First, you’re looking at three different types from which to choose:
- In-house IT Service Desk
- Outsourced Service Desk
- Managed Service Provider
1. In-house IT Service Desk
This is exactly what it sounds like. You’ll employ a ton of IT experts and shell out cheddar for the infrastructure they need to do their jobs properly. This way, you’ll gain a deep understanding of the process and challenges of IT support and you’ll have direct control. However, your team’s expertise may not be as broad as you like, and there’s also the hiring, managing, and firing hassles – and costs – to think about.
2. Outsourced IT Service Desk
Again, what it sounds like. You pay a third party to take care of the IT support for you. There’ll be a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between you and the provider defining what they will do, when they do it, and to what level. Traditionally, outsourced IT service desk providers can be quite limited in what they can offer: their core functionality is more reactive, being focused on user support and incident management, but if that’s all you need, go for it.
3. Managed Service Provider (MSP)
This is an outsourced IT service desk on steroids. The depth and breadth of IT services provided by your MSP will depend on what you want and need, but generally, MSPs can provide a full range of customized IT support, far beyond just user support. If your business needs to be adaptable and get involved in strategy, compliance, and special projects, MSPs are more likely to check all the boxes.
Hmm, IT Service Desks Sound Like They Might Have Bigger Business Benefits.
Yep, they do, and they’re more than just about abdicating all the IT stuff to someone who isn’t you. Check this bad boy out:
Improved productivity. When IT systems are optimized and cared for with a ton of TLC, they don’t break down so much. And if they do, you know you’ve got a help desk to get your people up and back to being productive again quickly. You’re looking at faster systems, less downtime, and stuff that actually works.
Improved security and compliance. With a decent IT service desk, you can be confident that someone’s keeping a giant Monitoring Eye on your IT infrastructure, and ensuring it’s compliant with security protocols. And if the Shih Tzu hits the fan, your service desk people will act fast to mitigate security risks. (Also, keep pets away from your IT equipment. Especially Shih Tzus.)
Access to IT expertise. Do you really expect your lone, in-house IT person to have expertise across every area of IT? If you do, shame on you. For special projects or to chew the IT fat, call on your IT service desk specialist.
Business flexibility. Sometimes you gotta scale so fast your knees drop off. Sometimes your product morphs. Or industry requirements change. Your own in-house IT team might not have the bandwidth to respond to change effectively – but your IT service desk will. It’s there to augment your team when the big things happen.
IT Service Desks Are Handy And There’s Probably One For You
And it’s probably US. Yep, extra-hard sell time, but maybe a you-focused IT service desk – peopled by a stunning array of IT experts who not only speak human but actually get a giant kick out of actually helping clients – is top of your “I Want And Need This Now” list. Are too many things going wrong? Do you fantasize about optimized IT? Heck, do you need to onboard, like, 325 people by Friday and you just can’t even? Give our IT Service Desk a ring and ask for Noam. We’re here to help.
Ignition is Silicon Valley’s best (and friendliest) IT security, compliance, and support team. Contact us now – chatting about IT support and cybersecurity is our favorite thing to do!