InvGate Blog

Keeping your IT service desk analysts motivated can sometimes be a difficult job. Between the negativity of end-user complaints, the stream of incoming incidents, and the monotony of some service desk tasks, staff demotivation is not uncommon. Don’t worry though, gamification – which essentially consists of merging game mechanics and work – can help you to keep staff motivation levels up.   So, if you feel that your IT service desk analysts are demotivated (or heading that way), unhappy, or simply bored at work, then gamification could be just what you need to inject a bit of enjoyment and fun into their working day. Please read on to find out more.

Topics: Gamification, Service Desk

ITIL is the go-to framework for most organizations in an IT service management (ITSM) environment but just because something works doesn’t mean that it can’t be reviewed and improved on. Especially because business requirements change, as has ITIL in 2019. Here are five questions to ask yourself, and your organization, when you’re reviewing and refocusing your ITIL approach.

Topics: ITIL

Selecting a new IT service management (ITSM) tool is a major project (and a major investment). It’ll impact your IT service desk, your technical support teams, and your end-user community. To help, here are ten tips for picking the right ITSM tool. Tip #1: Figure out what you want Know your organization and plan accordingly. What will you need the tool to do? There’s a huge difference between just doing the basics of incident, request, and change management and implementing a complex set of ITSM practices. Do you want a CMDB? What about problem management? So many people say they want a tool to “do ITIL” but the reality is that only the most mature organizations will ever have the need for support for over thirty ITIL management practices. Also, understand your business and create a plan based on your reality – not what the ITIL textbook says or what ITSM tool vendors are trying to sell you.

Topics: ITSM, InvGate Service Desk

Managing an IT help desk is one of the most visible roles in IT. Done well, you can support your team, inspire great service, and increase customer satisfaction. Done badly, you’ll demotivate your people, have unhappy customers, and a high churn rate (in terms of both team members and help desk users). If you want to improve how you manage your IT help desk, are about to take on a help desk manager role, or simply want to ensure that you’re doing whatever you can to get things right, then here are ten tips for becoming a great IT help desk manager.

Topics: Help Desk

Incident management is front and center of your IT service provider offering. Done well, effective triaging can speed up incident resolution times, make life easier for technicians, and improve customer satisfaction. To help, here are five questions for your IT service desk to ask itself when you’re reviewing your incident categorization approach.

Topics: Help Desk, Incident Management, Major Incidents

A service catalog is a great asset for any IT organization that offers multiple products and services to its end users. It acts as a one-stop-shop – where users can see the services on offer to them and discover any information they might need in relation to those services. For instance, a full description of what the service offers, how to request access, and delivery timelines.

Topics: Service Desk, Service Catalog

If you're reading this, then you're most likely a project manager or have recently passed your certification and are looking for a role as one. Or you might be someone who has temporarily moved into a project management role due to being a subject matter expert (SME). It really doesn’t matter which of these is true for you, as the handy list of pointers for project managers below applies to all. And you can use this list as a reference or a reminder of how to always be at the top of your game when it comes to managing a project.

Topics: Project Management

Dealing with underperforming employees is tough. No matter how many courses you attend, books you read, or years of experience you have, we think one of the hardest service desk manager tasks is supporting underachieving analysts while maintaining team morale. To help, here are ten tips for managing an underperforming service desk analyst.

Topics: Service Desk

Technology is upping the pace of work and increasing the rate of change – yes, it’s making our lives easier but at the same time it’s putting some crazy pressures on support teams who are striving to meet customer needs and business demands. IT self-service capabilities exist to help here, along with the ability to reduce costs, empower customers, and increase staff productivity.

Topics: Service Desk, Self-service