Department in the Spotlight: Consultancy

When TOPdesk first opened its doors, the Consultancy department consisted of four consultants. Back then, they managed to install TOPdesk version 2 in a half day, followed by a brief training session. Now, 15 years later, the department consists of more than 70 consultants and 9 planners with offices in Belgium, Canada, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The consultants have performed over 5000 implementations in more than 35 countries. Clearly, the Consultancy department as well as the clients have undergone some significant changes over the years. Something that has not changed, however, is their personal, pragmatic approach.
TEXT: HENRIEKE KORTEN

The early days

To get the inside story behind the evolution of TOPdesk Consultancy, we spoke to a handful of consultants from each of our offices. Sander Jerphanion began working at TOPdesk Netherlands in 2000 before the establishment of the other TOPdesk offices and is now Head of Consultancy. In describing the differences between now and then he remarks, When I started working in Consultancy, the department was having a hard time finding new people. The waiting time was getting longer and longer, despite the economic slump that arose after the internet bubble burst. At the time, just 15 people worked in the department,

and a typical consultancy project was shorter than it is now; back then the focus was on explaining how TOPdesk worked. Another big difference was that our clientele was not as diverse compared to now; for example, we didnt

have any facilities clients and the organizations we worked with were smaller. In 2002, shortly after Sander began working at TOPdesk Netherlands, TOPdesk UK started operations. In those days, they were heavily reliant on the Dutch office, as they did not yet have an actual office in the UK. Consultants from the Dutch office flew to England for implementations. A few years later, when they officially opened an office in London, Douglas Breeuwer was there to greet customers as the first official consultant for TOPdesk UK. In the beginning, I was on my own as a consultant. But weve grown since then, and now

BACK THEN THE FOCUS WAS ON EXPLAINING HOW TOPDESK WORKED.

Sander Jerphanion

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The TOPdesk consultants

IN A WAY, WE HELP CLIENTS TO HELP THEMSELVES.

Gkhan Tuna

there are four of us consultants in the London office. We travel all over the UK and the rest of the world to implement TOPdesk, tells Douglas. TOPdesk Germany shares a similar story. When the German office opened in 2005, customers were served by Dutch consultants or by consultants from

partner companies in Germany. They have since grown considerably and now have five full-time consultants that provide training and implementation services throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland. As the oldest and largest of the TOPdesk offices, it stands to reason that TOPdesk Netherlands has the most consultants and the most extensive range of services. All new consultants still participate

in a training programme in the Netherlands, regardless of their home office. On occasion, consultants from the Dutch office still visit other TOPdesk offices to assist with long, complicated or novel services and implementations this is particularly true for the newest TOPdesk offices in Hungary and Canada. However, as the growth of each office outside of the Netherlands continues to rise, so does their independence from the Dutch office. The German

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and British offices, in particular, are striving towards more independence.

The TOPdesk implementation

Regardless of where they work, all TOPdesk consultants share the same vision and mission: to assist customers in improving their support services and to help them get the most out of TOPdesk. Consultants accomplish these goals by employing a threetiered approach to their services, which includes optimizing the people, process and application in combination with each other. The software and the process must be harmonized and the proposed goals need to be realistic. Consultants, together with the organization in question, make an inventory of their goals and familiarize themselves with the company processes, tells Roeland van Rijswijk, who coaches a team of thirteen consultants. Gkhan Tuna, another consultant, explains the process further. An organizations objectives need to be applied within TOPdesk. It begins with the implementation, and is followed by the employees learning to work with the tool so that a larger goal, such as the improvement of support services, can gradually be achieved. In a way, you could say that we help clients to help themselves. According to Sander, No one knows the tool and the best practices better than the consultant; likewise, no one knows better what is important to the client than the client. Together, we look at how these two aspects can be combined in the tool. The

goal of an implementation is that the client can continue working successfully after we are gone. For this to happen, we need to make these processes as concrete as possible.

CONSULTANCY IS ABOUT ENSURING THAT PROCESSES ARE AS EFFICIENT AS POSSIBLE.

Douglas Breeuwer

order. A consultant can set the configuration manager on the right track by, for example, providing tips on performing regular audits. This is exactly the opposite of what we used to do. In the past, we just explained how a module such as Configuration Management works, whereas now we are much more proactive and alert to possible bottlenecks and problem areas. Gkhan continues, Organizations put a lot of effort into setting up TOPdesk during an implementation, but often do not take the time to evaluate or improve it at a later stage. When we are done completing the intake, determining the goals, setting up TOPdesk and training the employees, it is up to the client to continue improving their processes. If they reach a standstill, we can help out with the next step or implement changes that are better suited to the organization. Even if everything is going well, a TOPdesk Audit, for example, is a good way to get a better picture of the current procedures and TOPdesk configuration, and to determine whether the selected TOPdesk setup is still the best way to go about achieving the clients goals. Every process requires constant supervision. I often see many incidents being transferred back and forth, which ends up being reflected in the clients reports. However, simply identifying a problem is not enough to resolve it. The solution lies in the adjustment of the tool or the process. For example, perhaps the manner in which people log incidents could be improved or the operator groups could be organized differently. After 5000 implementations, weve seen

Douglas points out that, Ultimately, consultancy is about ensuring that a clients processes are as efficient and productive as possible. When we begin an implementation, some people are put off by the price of consultancy which is actually quite reasonable when you compare it to consultancy fees at other organizations but they end up being very enthusiastic about consultancy when they realize just how much time and money it saves them in the long run. That is why we are invited back so frequently.

Follow-up care
Even though the implementation is over does not necessarily mean a consultants work is over. Sander explains how, Occasionally, people will enthusiastically begin setting up, for example, a CMDB without ensuring that Configuration Management is in

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the most common bottlenecks and solutions. Thats why we are so alert to these sorts of things, and also why we are able to get the client back on the right track, adds Roeland.

New goals and challenges

TOPdesks Consultancy department continues to look to the future in a search for new ways to be of service, as Sander relates. We have been noticing that the

collaboration between various departments such as facilities, HRM and IT is becoming more and more important when, for example, a new employee is hired. At the same time, we acknowledge that the support services that these departments provide can vary considerably. We are embracing the challenge of combining their strengths to create an improved whole. Despite having grown rapidly in the 15 years since TOPdesk began,

TOPdesk has not lost sight of what clients value most. Roeland comments that, Many years ago, one of our clients told us that he thought we were very personal and down to earth, but that he expected these qualities to diminish as a result of growth and professionalization. I recently ran into him again and he told me that he had been proven wrong we are now quite big, but our personal touch and accessibility have remained intact. This is something we will maintain in the future.

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