The IT Skeptic - Comments for "How to choose the best Service Desk tool?"

buying the right solution to a problem

TheITILWizard — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:43:00 +0000

I see that you are experienced in the essential technique of buying the right solution to a problem. Vendors have been solving our ITIL challenges with compliant software for years

Reference customers

supportthought — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:54:24 +0000

Also:

1) make sure that the reference customers you are referred to go on a bi-weekly speaking tour espousing the software tool you are evaluating, that way you know you are getting an Expert.

2) Try to see as many Powerpoint slides of the tool in action, so you can be sure you are not missing out on any cool new fully integrated tools the vendor has just purchased.

3) if you see any mention of Service support run a mile, all documentation should mention v3 compliant next to a nice round lifecycle diagram.

4) remember installing ITIL depends on the right software, make sure you get one with a big name on it.

Quote: "I don't see the need

Visitor — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:06:51 +0000

Quote: "I don't see the need to worry too much about SLAs for call tracking, do you?"

Um, yeah, I do, because those "pesky" auditors insist on using CobiT. Take a read through DS8 and DS10.

Mayflower

TheITILWizard — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:22:37 +0000

My dear chap

of course Mayflower is a product www.maysoft.com/helpdesk.html - I remember it fondly from about 1991. Wonderful tool.

I don't see the need to worry too much about SLAs for call tracking, do you?

Good luck
The ITIL Wizard

Anyone ever heard of 'requirements definition'?

ianclayton — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:22:39 +0000

Does ANYONE think of requirements before they leap to a solution? How can you possibly suggest a tool without truly knowing what the requirements are? This smacks so much of what I read on Linkedin every day.... I hope the PriSM credential weeds out this unprofessional streak we have in our industry...

Decide on what you want it to do

ianclayton — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:20:41 +0000

Before you go any further, make sure you know what a Service Desk tool should support in the way of service support functionality. Is your service desk focused on break fix (incidents), or does it also include service requests, which in some organizations represents up to 80% of the workload? Do you need it to be sensitive to the customer, automatically prioritize the work based upon what is in a service level agreement. I need to stop here because clearly this is an April Fool joke but in September.... Skep? Mayflower - is that a tool - I thought it was a shipping company. Interesting that no vendors rose to the bait...

Local vs. SaaS

Prashant Bhardwaj — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:38:41 +0000

This would be an opportunity for an organization to evaluate a locally managed tool vs. a SaaS model like ServiceNow as well?

What, in your opinion, are the key factors which would make an option more favorable over the other?