10 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2015

INTEGRATION SPAGHETTI
MADE EASY AS PIE
The 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

Applications are integrated to allow the supporting departments to

Supporting departments in larger organizations operate in a complex

continue serving customers, resulting in integration spaghetti: many

service landscape every day. Generally speaking, this service landscape

complex links with many points of failure. And in practice, a lot goes

comprises three parties, working in a chain: the internal or external

wrong and the customer notices.

customer on one side; the supporting organization, or the back office;

and on the other end of the chain the internal and external suppliers.

The solution is simply working together

Together the suppliers and supporting departments provide services

Processes run through different departments; from the customer to

for customers.

the Self Service Desk and back again. Integrations with linked suppliers

In this landscape there are several supporting departments,

on one side and the customer at the other should be optimal from

including IT, Facilities, HR, Finance and Marketing. They support the

beginning to end. The service chain in the service landscape is only as

same customer and aim for the same customer satisfaction. Some

strong as its weakest link: if one part of the chain does not work,

processes transcend departments, so there is a certain degree of

then the entire chain is not optimized. And the negative effect impacts

collaboration. Nevertheless, supporting departments often have their

the customer. In this story we see that the customer is not put first,

own process levels, work instructions, agreements and software:

and that a fragmented service landscape is still a reality for

the IT department uses incident management, Facilities uses call

many organizations.

management and HR uses its own ticketing system. Different

questions but from the same customer.

or individual islands?

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 efficiently provide better service. The service of tomorrow

The customer has to deal with several parties, with each processing

rests on three pillars: Standard & Simple, Shared Service Management

requests in its own way. However, even though questions are different,

and Service Integration and Management. This means simplifying

at the end of the day the IT customer is the same as the Facilities or HR

the service landscape, seeing the customer as a single customer,

customer. This is also true for suppliers: they often have only their own

one integrated service department for supporting departments, and

integration with one of the back office departments. Processes relating

optimal service integration at the back end.

to management, process management, contract management, supplier

management and links are often taken care of in different ways on

Three pillars, one solution

different levels.

The three pillars streamline the entire service landscape. The Shared

It is these differences that have customers facing the limits of

Service Management perspective helps you provide the best possible

the service landscape. And a fragmented landscape at that: each

support for customers by having departments collaborate and

department working on their own individual island results in an

eliminate the fragmented service landscapes bottlenecks. Keeping

abundance of application links. This makes the service landscape more

the service landscape standard and simple results in high customer

complex and good, comprehensive services more difficult to achieve.

satisfaction levels, as well as happier employees who can do their job

more easily. Having a single point of integration for all suppliers instead

Utopia?

of expensive, laborious integrations makes it easier for suppliers to

We believe that shared services are the foundation of success, letting

align with and serve their customers.

more satisfied employees do their job and make their customers

Even though there are three separate pillars, they are an inextricable

happier. This is a drawn-out process. It requires a lot of time, but it

whole. Often only a part of the landscape is integrated. After all, what

yields great results. And you can take it a step further: you can support

does your supplier have to do with mine? Not being able to see the

all core business functionalities with one application. A single portal

bigger picture, or a lack of capacity, negatively affects the customer.

for the entire organization. Not just for IT, but also as an intranet access

Organizations look at the shared set-up for incident management, but

portal for all underlying information sources. This is what TOPdesk

not whether the customer at the end of the chain really benefits. And

strives for every day.

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

We discern three types of service organization:

developing. As consumers we are already used to current trends at the

1. The starting service organization: one integrated part.

front of the chain, such as self-service, service catalogues and portal

The customer has several access points for different service

customization. However, supporting departments are often behind

departments, and sometimes one of the portals is part of one

the times. These trends require complete coordination of the chain.

of the service tools. Each service department has its own tool;

A single portal at the front end is still a mess of integrations behind

each tool has its own integrations.

the scenes. And if each application has its own self-service portal,

2. Advanced service organizations. In practice, people depend on

organizations with a hundred core business applications cannot see

a primary service tool, usually in the front office. For example:

the wood for the trees.

calls go to the first line of the IT service tool, and incoming

Good collaboration starts with the service growth model. This model

Facilities or HR calls are passed via a link. There is a single

illustrates the problems the service landscape faces and provides four

point of contact for customers, usually the front office portal,

steps to achieve completely shared services. Improve incrementally,

and an integration between the front and back

starting with the weakest link. Dont optimize in the margins, but

offices. Behind the scenes, departments continue to

improve the entire chain by tackling weak links further down. The

work independently.

customer experience depends on the weakest link, so that is the

3. Complete Shared Service Management: a tool for the front

main focus of the improvement process. Step by step, each service

and back offices, a tool for all back office

department grows towards a simplified service landscape and higher

service departments, a single point of contact for customers,

service quality.

an integration point for all suppliers and third parties.

Standard and simple collaboration.