InvGate Blog

Metrics – or, more specifically, getting the right metrics – seems to be a constant challenge for IT service desks around the world. Of course, there are various lists of best practice IT service desk metrics to copy. But, in some ways, this is part of the issue. It’s similar to using another organization’s RFP requirements in choosing a new IT service management (ITSM) tool – what you have is not tailored to the uniqueness of your organization. And, consequently, the results aren’t what you expected (and needed). 

Topics: Service Desk, Metrics

Please find below a message from our CEO in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Dear friends, customers, readers, COVID-19 is having an unprecedented impact on people and organizations worldwide. It's hard to fully grasp the impact of this crisis at this point in time, but it seems safe to assume that it will go down in the history books as a major event – a moment when every single person in the world was impacted in some way. More than ever, this is a time for all of us to work together and support each other so that we can get through the challenges ahead.

Topics: Service Desk, COVID-19

Note: This is part of a larger InvGate COVID-19 response program. You can read all about it in the announcement here. In particular, existing InvGate customers or organizations working directly on pandemic response for COVID-19 have more specific programs available.

Topics: Service Desk, COVID-19

Knowledge management is the practice that helps IT departments to capture, retain, and share knowledge across its teams. Used effectively it can upskill your IT service desk technicians, reduce incidents, improve response times, and up self-service uptake. It’s a corporate and IT service management (ITSM) capability that can seriously improve your IT support operations and outcomes.   To help, this blog explains how to best work knowledge management into your organization. 

Topics: knowledge base, knowledge management

Some IT organizations are still struggling to get their end users – the employees of their organization – to use the provided IT self-service capabilities. In a Service Desk Institute (SDI) survey-based report called “Realizing ROI from Self-Service Technologies” it was found that: “The increase in the adoption of self-service tools is undoubtedly due to the range of associated benefits … reduced support costs, increased customer satisfaction, and around-the-clock support channel. However, the number of organizations that have realized these benefits and have achieved the anticipated return on investment (ROI) are few, less than 12% ...” With this worrying self-service statistic approaching its third birthday, this blog asks five key questions on the current and continued success of IT self-service capabilities.

Topics: Self-service

Change enablement (or change management if you’re using ITIL v3 best practice) is the ITIL 4 management practice that introduces changes into the live environment in an orderly and safe way. Successfully balancing value and risk. Used effectively, change enablement can facilitate everything from essential maintenance to full-on transformation projects. To help, here are ten tips for running your organization’s change enablement practice like the IT service management (ITSM) pro you are. 

Topics: change management, Change Enablement

So, here’s the thing. We’ve all heard horror stories of “watermelon” service level agreements (SLAs). You know the ones where, from the outside, everything looks great, i.e. green. But underneath that green exterior hides a wealth of red. Where the availability targets are being met and incidents and requests are being resolved on time. But sometimes the SLA dashboards that are all green hide the real story.

Topics: SLAs

Customer satisfaction is something that no value-driven service provider organization should disregard. For IT departments, it acts as a sense check for how your IT help desk is delivering against end-user/customer needs, how your IT service management (ITSM) practices are performing, and how your customers are feeling. Here are ten tips for improving your IT help desk’s customer satisfaction. 

Topics: customer service, Help Desk

Want to know more about doing problem management well? If so, then this blog is for you. Problem management is the IT service management (ITSM) practice that improves service quality by preventing recurring issues or at least reducing their impact. Here are ten tips that will help your organization to deliver an effective problem management capability.

Topics: ITIL, problem management