Computacenter enriches IT support experience and increases staff productivity with Next Generation Service Desk

Computacenter solution
Computacenter turned to its own users to help with the transformation and digitisation of its IT service desk. More than 170 employees took part in a hothouse initiative, which provided the company with a blueprint for its Next Generation Service Desk (NGSD). Computacenter conducted online staff surveys, profiled users and appointed evangelists to help maximise adoption and change behaviours.

Results
NGSD has transformed how Computacenter’s staff access IT support: more than 60 per cent of interactions are now online compared with nine per cent previously. Online chat, knowledge articles, self-serve features, and traffic light dashboards have empowered users and service desk agents alike. By digitising its processes and enabling its users, NGSD will help Computacenter maximise staff productivity and business agility.

Customer profile: Enabling users through IT
Computacenter’s mission is to deliver IT solutions and services that enable businesses and their users. Founded in 1981, it advises on IT strategy, implements new technologies, optimises performance and manages customers’ infrastructures. Computacenter was placed first for end user services in the 2014 Whitelane Research UK IT Outsourcing Study and its Barcelona service desk was voted the SDI’s Best IT Managed Service Desk 2015.

The company’s user support operation is ISO 20000 certified and spans 15 Global Service Desk locations. The service desk supports more than 3.5 million users, managing 350,000 tickets per month in 21 languages. Rooted in core European countries, Computacenter combines global reach with local expertise to help its customers maximise productivity and the business value of IT.

Business challenge: Delivering exceptional IT support in a digital age
As Europe’s leading independent provider of IT infrastructure services, Computacenter needs to continually evolve its customer offerings and own operations to reflect today’s dynamic business landscape. Mark Slaven, Computacenter’s Group CIO, comments: “New digital technologies, such as social, mobile, analytics and cloud, are changing the way our users and customers engage. And we need to change with them.”

In February 2014, Computacenter launched its ‘digital first’ strategy, which will transform every part of the organisation – from mobilising field engineers and capturing sales analytics to engaging with customers. Every initiative has one goal in common: a better user experience. “Our priority is to deliver a superior and relevant experience that enables users to work faster and smarter – whether they are employed by Computacenter or a customer organisation,” says Slaven. IT support services have a significant impact on the user experience, which meant it was a key starting block for Computacenter’s digital transformation.

As Simon Oecken, Group Managed Services Director, explains: “Users want a more consumer-like support experience. They want to choose how and when they interact. They don’t want to have to do the running; they want a system to do it for them.”

Computacenter’s 14,000-plus employees are supported by its own Global Service Desk, which also serves 1,000 customer organisations. Although users had the option of engaging via different channels, the majority of interactions were still by telephone. “We needed to reinvent the IT service desk for the digital age. We needed to create a next generation service desk,” says Oecken.

Solution: Putting users in the transformation driving seat
Computacenter turned to its own users to help with the transformation and digitisation of its IT support services. As Steve Rayner, Group Service Innovation Director at Computacenter, explains: “Delivering a great user experience was our priority, so we asked our users to define what that experience should look like.”

The company built a dedicated ‘hothouse’ environment at its Hatfield headquarters, which was designed to encourage creativity and break down hierarchy. For three days in January 2014, 170 members of staff scoped out not just the portal interface but also the processes that would underpin the new digital solution.

“Six teams submitted a concept for NGSD, and the winning solution became our blueprint,” comments Rayner. “It was a radically different approach that enabled us to tap into the diversity and ingenuity of our user base.” To help bring the best of consumer sites, such as TripAdvisor and Facebook, to the corporate world of IT support, Computacenter also partnered with a user experience specialist.

As well as innovating at the edge, Computacenter also had to make changes to its core to ensure it could support a digitised platform and experience. NGSD is platform agnostic, which made the integration with Computacenter’s existing service desk ticketing system quick and effective.

Implementing a next generation service desk wasn’t just about transforming processes and platforms; it was also about changing behaviours. Computacenter developed a comprehensive adoption framework to help drive adoption and awareness of its new digital approach.

“By surveying and interviewing employees in different job roles and geographies, we were able to group our users into five core profiles, which helped us tailor communications according to their behaviours,” comments Rayner. Computacenter also established a virtual adoption network formed of 180 members of staff who were acted as evangelists before and after deployment.

Results: A new era in IT support
Computacenter’s transformation efforts came to fruition in September 2014, when NGSD was rolled out to all its employees. “We went from an idea to implementation in just nine months,” reveals Rayner. “We were pushing against an open door when we went live as people wanted to recreate their experiences as a consumer in a corporate environment.” The NGSD portal brings together a range of features to deliver this consumerinspired experience, including an intuitive interface, online chat, user ratings and ‘traffic light’ dashboards. The online chat function has proved particularly popular, with more than 8,400 sessions taking place during the first four months.

To ensure its service desk agents can deliver a high-quality and consistent experience across all channels, Computacenter has armed them with new skills for the digital age. As Oecken explains: “We have equipped the team with the emotional intelligence they need to make a connection during a digital interaction.”

The agents have also been trained to explain the new self-service options that are included in NGSD. For example, users can now reset their passwords automatically via the portal – a process that was previously reliant on calling the service desk.

Within just four months of NGSD going live, 89 per cent of possible password resets were being managed online – along with many other support processes. As Oecken confirms: “Prior to the deployment, only nine per cent of service desk interactions with Computacenter users happened online; it’s now more than 60 per cent.”
There has also been an upsurge in knowledge articles available to users, which provides ‘anytime’ access to IT support even if the service desk is closed. Articles can be easily searched and rated, and updates requested by users and agents to improve self-service. In January 2015, Computacenter added a mobile app to its NGSD platform, which is accessible from both employee and employer-owned devices.“With NGSD, users can choose how and when they engage – even when they are working remotely,” comments Oecken. “The user experience is now so good that more people are contacting the service desk.”

By digitising its processes and enabling its users, NGSD will help:
• Maximise staff productivity
• Increase business agility
• Boost user satisfaction.

“NGSD helps us resolve IT support issues faster and in a smarter way,” says Oecken. “This minimises disruption for our users, increasing productivity and satisfaction.” NGSD is not just an internal solution but also an external service. Thanks to the multi-million pound investment made by Computacenter, its customers will be able take rapid advantage of digitised IT support services. As a platform agnostic solution, NGSD can be easily integrated with existing customer systems to maximise investments in core technologies. The various tools and techniques developed by Computacenter during its own journey will also be used to help customers achieve similar transformations. The first customer, a global financial services organisation, went live in April 2015. “We are on the same digital journey as our customers. NGSD is the first step on that journey and will be key as we continue to transform our business to better enable our users,” comments Rayner.