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10 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2015
INTEGRATION SPAGHETTI
MADE EASY AS PIEThe service landscape is becoming more complex.
Supporting departments use an
endless number of applications and with so many links, mistakes
are easily made.
A comprehensive vision of clear, future-proof services is
essential.
AUTHOR: STEFANIE KLAASSEN | BASED ON AN INTERVIEW WITH
RAMON VAN LEEUWEN, COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR AT TOPDESK
A vast service landscape
Supporting departments in larger organizations operate in a
complex
service landscape every day. Generally speaking, this service
landscape
comprises three parties, working in a chain: the internal or
external
customer on one side; the supporting organization, or the back
ofce;
and on the other end of the chain the internal and external
suppliers.
Together the suppliers and supporting departments provide
services
for customers.
In this landscape there are several supporting departments,
including IT, Facilities, HR, Finance and Marketing. They
support the
same customer and aim for the same customer satisfaction.
Some
processes transcend departments, so there is a certain degree
of
collaboration. Nevertheless, supporting departments often have
their
own process levels, work instructions, agreements and
software:
the IT department uses incident management, Facilities uses
call
management and HR uses its own ticketing system. Different
questions but from the same customer.
… or individual islands?
The customer has to deal with several parties, with each
processing
requests in its own way. However, even though questions are
different,
at the end of the day the IT customer is the same as the
Facilities or HR
customer. This is also true for suppliers: they often have only
their own
integration with one of the back ofce departments. Processes
relating
to management, process management, contract management,
supplier
management and links are often taken care of in different ways
on
different levels.
It is these differences that have customers facing the limits
of
the service landscape. And a fragmented landscape at that:
each
department working on their own individual island results in
an
abundance of application links. This makes the service landscape
more
complex and good, comprehensive services more difcult to
achieve.
Applications are integrated to allow the supporting departments
to
continue serving customers, resulting in integration spaghetti:
many
complex links with many points of failure. And in practice, a
lot goes
wrong – and the customer notices.
The solution is simply working together
Processes run through different departments; from the customer
to
the Self Service Desk and back again. Integrations with linked
suppli
on one side and the customer at the other should be optimal
from
beginning to end. The service chain in the service landscape is
only a
strong as its weakest link: if one part of the chain does not
work,
then the entire chain is not optimized. And the negative effect
impa
the customer. In this story we see that the customer is not put
rst,
and that a fragmented service landscape is still a reality
for
many organizations.
Extensive collaboration offers the solution. Happy customers
are
the ultimate goal of every supporting department. Happy
colleagues
are the best way to make this a reality. Colleagues who work
more
happily and efciently provide better service. The service of
tomorro
rests on three pillars: Standard & Simple, Shared Service
Manageme
and Service Integration and Management. This means
simplifying
the service landscape, seeing the customer as a single
customer,
one integrated service department for supporting departments,
and
optimal service integration at the back end.
Three pillars, one solution
The three pillars streamline the entire service landscape. The
Shared
Service Management perspective helps you provide the best
possible
support for customers by having departments collaborate and
eliminate the fragmented service landscape’s bottlenecks.
Keeping
the service landscape standard and simple results in high
customer
satisfaction levels, as well as happier employees who can do
their job
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more easily. Having a single point of integration for all
suppliers instead
of expensive, laborious integrations makes it easier for
suppliers to
align with and serve their customers.
Even though there are three separate pillars, they are an
inextricable
whole. Often only a part of the landscape is integrated. After
all, what
does your supplier have to do with mine? Not being able to see
the
bigger picture, or a lack of capacity, negatively affects the
customer.
Organizations look at the shared set-up for incident management,
but
not whether the customer at the end of the chain really benets.
And
if organizations are developing largely shared services, there
are still
weak links.
The weakest link
Integrating the three pillars is necessary in order to
continue
developing. As consumers we are already used to current trends
at the
front of the chain, such as self-service, service catalogues and
portal
customization. However, supporting departments are often
behind
the times. These trends require complete coordination of the
chain.
A single portal at the front end is still a mess of integrations
behind
the scenes. And if each application has its own self-service
portal,
organizations with a hundred core business applications cannot
see
the wood for the trees.
Good collaboration starts with the service growth model. This
model
illustrates the problems the service landscape faces and
provides four
steps to achieve completely shared services. Improve
incrementally,
starting with the weakest link. Don’t optimize in the margins,
but
improve the entire chain by tackling weak links further down.
The
customer experience depends on the weakest link, so that is
the
main focus of the improvement process. Step by step, each
service
department grows towards a simplied service landscape and
higher
service quality.
Utopia?We believe that shared services are the foundation of
success, letting
more satised employees do their job and make their customers
happier. This is a drawn-out process. It requires a lot of time,
but it
yields great results. And you can take it a step further:
you can suppo
all core business functionalities with one application. A single
portal
for the entire organization. Not just for IT, but also as an
intranet acc
portal for all underlying information sources. This is what
TOPdesk
strives for every day.
We discern three types of service organization:
1. The starting service organization: one integrated part.
The customer has several access points for different service
departments, and sometimes one of the portals is part of one
of the service tools. Each service department has its own
tool;
each tool has its own integrations.
2. Advanced service organizations. In practice, people depend
on
a primary service tool, usually in the front ofce. For
example:
calls go to the rst line of the IT service tool, and
incoming
Facilities or HR calls are passed via a link. There is a
single
point of contact for customers, usually the front ofce
portal,
and an integration between the front and back
ofces. Behind the scenes, departments continue to
work independently.
3. Complete Shared Service Management: a tool for the front
and back ofces, a tool for all back ofce
service departments, a single point of contact for
customers,
an integration point for all suppliers and third parties.
Standard and simple collaboration.
