24 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2015

Patrick Mackaaij
is an information distribution coordinator. He is specialized in
technical issues and optimizing processes.

PRAGMATIC SUPPLIER MANAGEMENT

Services or products purchased from suppliers directly affect your services,
and therefore your customer satisfaction. By managing supplier relations,
you can guarantee quality. In this article you can read how TOPdesk can
help you achieve this.

Supplier card

Asset Management

On the Supplier card you can register the suppliers contact details and

You do not always purchase your company assets from the same

contact persons. When you enter the supplier on a different card, like

supplier. Perhaps you normally get your printers straight from the

the Object card, TOPdesk uses the information from the Supplier card.

manufacturer, but incidentally purchase one from a retailer. If one of

This means that you can send an email to the objects supplier via a

these printers breaks down after a couple of years, you would like to

call, for example.

know which supplier you need to contact for repairs. That is why it is

Contract Management and SLM

smart to register the supplier on the Object card right away.

The Contract Management and SLM module lets you create an

Operations Management

overview of (maintenance) contracts with your suppliers. You can

In the best-case scenario, the collaboration with the supplier is in

summarize signed contracts in a few lines, indicate the end date and

accordance with the agreements laid down in the contract. In practice,

provide the possible conditions of a period of notice, for example. This

once in a while you probably need to check whether your supplier

way, you have the contracts essentials at hand.

carries out the agreed upon activities to your satisfaction. You can use

If you set up a reminder date, TOPdesk can notify you well before the

the Operations Management module for this.

end date to either renew or end the contract. Your TOPdesk application

Suppliers usually perform maintenance in accordance with the

manager needs to do a one-off set-up of this underlying trigger in the

agreements and without notice. Some suppliers leave a work order,

Event Management module.

but this can end up with a colleague. You want to be able to check

Not all calls are equally important. Suppliers with whom you have a

whether certain activities have been performed, like a yearly check

good relationship know which calls matter. In practice it is usually not

of the alarm systems. You can use the Activity card as a prompt: you

necessary to check on your suppliers, which saves registration time! If

receive a reminder to periodically check whether the maintenance was

this is not the case in your situation, you can register the agreed SLAs

performed. The Activity card can also be used to record the outlines

with durations in TOPdesk. By assigning sub calls to your suppliers you

of the activities. When a colleague asks if the windows need to be

can see if a call was processed within the agreed resolution time.

cleaned, you can check the Activity card to see when the window

WORKING SMARTER

cleaner is scheduled to visit, for example. This way, you can provide an

Standard solutions in Call Management can also help to improve

indication: The window cleaner comes once every three months, so I

the collaboration with your suppliers. First, indicate in the standard

expect him to come in two weeks time.

solutions what information is required from the caller. This ensures

In these examples Operations Management has been used to

that your supplier has all the information they need. Whats more,

maintain an overview. It is possible to register all planned activities

standard solution categories let you easily see which suppliers you

(including start and end time), but that is often too much of a good

can contact for this type of call. Lastly, you can also record additional

thing. Your suppliers often work with their own checklists, for

information for the caller in the standard solution, such as an

example a list with all things that need to be cleaned in your

indication of the duration.

companys canteen.

Call Management
In addition to regular maintenance, disruptions can occur for which

The topic of recurring calls can be discussed with your supplier.

The Operations Management module lets you could track whether
structural problems have been resolved.

you need to give an order to a supplier. By linking the supplier to

Worcade

the call about the disruption, you can send the call from TOPdesk to

In this edition of TOPdesk Magazine you can also read about the

the supplier via email. To do this, your TOPdesk application manager

supplier portal Worcade, which is currently in its pilot phase. For each

can perform a one-off set-up of a clear standardized work order in

call in TOPdesk you can choose a specific supplier contact to whom

the Event Management module. If you use the TOPdesk Mail Import,

you send the order. You can then indicate the information you want

the suppliers answer is immediately added to the TOPdesk call. This

to attach, like your location, the request, action(s) already taken and a

ensures all information concerning this call is stored in a single location

short summary. Worcade can send the location and an image of the

and the caller can be kept up to date.

object so the supplier knows where to go and what tools to bring.

When the supplier comes to fix the disruption he will probably ask

The supplier receives an email with a link to the call that you have

if there are other activities that need to be performed. Because you

passed on. The link opens Worcade, where your supplier can see the

linked the supplier to the call, you can easily sort the TOPdesk to-do list

order and communicate with you. The communication takes place in

by supplier.

26 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2015

Editorial
Download this issue and more at
www.scribd.com/TOPdesk

real time and begins with a read receipt when the supplier opens the

The TOPdesk Magazine covers subjects that

link. Suppliers can work in Worcade without any further instructions.

are topical in the world of professional

The interface is intuitive and works on all devices.

service desks in IT, facilities and other

Even though the communication runs smoothly, there is always a

service providing organizations. TOPdesk

chance that the response will take a while. If the supplier does not

Magazine is intended for managers, service

respond, you can send a reminder with only the push of a button the

desk employees, facilities organizations and

next day. Worcade keeps you up to date via email about the suppliers

electronic city councils anyone who is

response. From TOPdesk you can see these responses and keep track of

involved with supporting clients on a daily

the status of your calls.

basis. This concerns both the processes and

the technology behind these services.

Want to try Worcade for yourself? Send an email to hello@worcade.net

and we will keep you updated on future developments.

TOPdesk Magazine is a TOPdesk publication,

+44 (0) 207 803 4200, editorial@topdesk.com
Editors-in-chief: Milou Snaterse, Nicola
van de Velde
Editors: Nienke Deuss, Stefanie Klaassen,
Milou Snaterse, Luke van Velthoven
Translators: Laura van Rosenberg, Leah Clarke
and Nicola van de Velde
Contributors: Elisette Daams, Renske van
der Heide, Fiona IJkema, Andr Kevenaar,
Ramon van Leeuwen, Patrick Mackaaij, Debora
Nienhuis, Wolter Smit, Max Veenhof,
Jeffrey Verstegen
Layout: Denise van Rijst
Photography: Menno van der Bijl, Aad
Hoogendoorn
Copy editor: Nicola van de Velde
A print run of 10,000
Quarterly magazine
Languages: Dutch, English
Copyright 2015 TOPdesk. Although this
publication has been produced with the
utmost care and attention, the writers
cannot be held responsible in any way for any
damages that may occur due to errors and /
or deficiencies in this publication.