March 2017, issue 1, volume 19

Happy TOPdesk
customers for
over a decade
Read the interview with insurance company Generali on page 6

In this issue:
The importance of IT security in your organization The advantages of structuring and
digitizing maintenance Wisse Stenchlak about collaboration in facility management
Editorial

The beauty of mistakes

And the Oscar for Best Picture for 2017 goes to La La Land!.
Err, wait, no, theres a mistake. This isnt a joke. They read the
wrong thing. The Best Picture award goes to Moonlight!

This years Oscar finale was epically embarrassing. Jaws

dropped. People were shocked. The La La Land cast had
Omdat je TOPdesk hebt gebruikt
to hand over the precious golden statue. How could this
blunder happen? Well, as we all know, mistakes are easily

20
made. Even at a meticulously planned event like this.

At TOPdesk we believe its okay to make mistakes. As long as

we learn from it. Has something gone wrong? Then well fix
it as soon as possible. Especially now weve adopted an agile
mindset, we can quickly adapt to change or small errors.

In this magazine our CEO Wolter Smit tells you more about
the agile philosophy in everyday life and why transparency
has a higher priority than making promises. Learn more
about the advantages of shift left and read how to get more
attention for IT security.

Happy reading!

Acacia Kooij & Nicola van de Velde

 Contents March '17

04
News
06
Assured of
10
IT security:
excellent services how do I make
How insurance company Generali has been
successful with TOPdesk for over a decade
people listen?

12
Collaboration
15
Column
16
The power of
without Agile service management
Shift Left
monitoring
Wisse Stenchlak about collaboration

20 23
in facility management

ON THE COVER:
Mohamed Anaflous, TOPdesk
functional manager, and Manon
Krijnsen, communications
manager both work at Generali.
Why would I Excellent Read more on page 6 about
how theyve been using TOPdesk
subscribe to maintenance, successfully for over 10 years.

anything? carefree
healthcare

26
Access to the
30
Tips + Tricks
right data with
permission groups
and filters
4 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

Stay up-to-date
To stay up-to-date with the latest
TOPdesk news and service Visit us at the CeBIT in Hannover
management developments,
follow us via these channels. From 20 to 24 March you can visit the CeBIT in Hannover. CeBIT is the largest IT and telecom
show in the world and offers a platform to showcase new products and services. It also features
presentations, discussions, trends and ample opportunity for networking. Major themes this
TOPdesk Newsletter
year include Artificial Intelligence, Cloud, Cyber Security, Drones, Internet of Things, Virtual
@TOPdesk @TOPdesk _UK Reality and 5G.
facebook.com/TOPdesk
Are you visiting CeBIT this year and dont know where to start? Visit us at stand C08 in hall 3.
linkedin.com/company/topdesk
Our account managers and consultants are ready to answer all your questions.
community.topdesk.com

@TOPdesk
IT, UoD
Thanks for the @TOPdesk_UK New TOPdesk release for on-premises
treat! We had a great Valentines
Day launch! Group and mid-cake customers
eating shots to follow http://uod.
ac.uk/2lAVtGx
On 14 February, TOPdesk released its newest on-premises version. This version contains many
bug fixes and new features, which you can download via the Extranet.

One of the newest features is that you can adjust the self-service portals look and feel to match
your customers identity. Moreover, you can add a web widget to your home page, and are able
to grant more insight into cancelled reservations.

Ask Roger!
Our support management is busy
brainstorming with @TOPdesk_NL.
Soon well be able to offer even
better service.
TOPdesk attends Managed Services &
Hosting Summit
On 25 April, the Managed Services & Hosting Summit will take place in the Hilton Hotel in
Amsterdam. TOPdesk is attending. During this event, CEOs and senior managers of managed
service providers get the chance to meet each other. They can also attend presentations, for
instance about the role of MSPs in the digital world. TOPdesk CEO Wolter Smit will give a
presentation about chain integration.

Would you like to attend? Sign up via mshsummit.com/Amsterdam. If youd rather visit an event
in the UK, the London version of this summit takes place on 20 September. More details are
available at mshsummit.com.
 News
Calendar
Consultation hours at TOPdesk UK
22
MAR
23
MAR
BE
Did you know that TOPdesk UK regularly holds consultation hours for customers? If you have
Tooling Event
a maintenance contract with us, we can offer you a free one-hour session with one of our
Brussels Expo
consultants, to help you get the most out of TOPdesk.
27
MAR
Interested? Check our event calendar at http://resources.topdesk.com/en/events to sign up and
Local Government roadshow
see upcoming sessions.
Evergem

28
MAR

Local Government roadshow

Kalmthout

29
MAR

Local Government roadshow TOPdesk on Tour

Stad Hasselt

30
MAR

Local Government roadshow

Evergem, Stad Kortrijk

31
MAR
Just like every year, TOPdesk is organizing a number of TOPdesk on Tour events. This
years theme is the customer journey. How happy are your customers? Try picturing
Local Government roadshow
Stad Mechelen your entire customer journey to find the answer, and what you can do to make them
happier. Maybe you should set up a service catalogue? Implement a self-service portal?
11
MAY
Join TOPdesk on Tour and discover your next step towards customer satisfaction.
Shopt-IT
TOPdesk on Tour is an international event that will take place in Brazil, Denmark,
Germany, UK and the Netherlands throughout 2017. Interested? Be sure to keep
08 15
JUN JUN an eye on the website for the exact dates.
TOPdesk Caf

28 30 UK
MAR MAR

SDI Conference
Hilton Metropole Birmingham

7
MAR
8
MAR

SITS
Olympia, London

20 24 DE
MAR MAR

CeBIT
Hannover Congress Centrum, Hannover
6 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

Assured of excellent services

How insurance company Generali has been
successful with TOPdesk for over a decade
Text: Luke van Velthoven Photography: Aad Hoogendoorn
 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017 7

This Italian insurance company has been active in the Netherlands

for over 145 years. And theyve been successfully working with
TOPdesk for over 10. Lets have a look at how TOPdesk helps
Generali make sure all IT and FM tasks are going smoothly. How
do you keep a tool alive and popular within an organization for
over a decade?

Generali Nederland has 230 employees and provides indemnity, income

life and pension insurance for consumers and businesses alike. Its part
of the Generali Group, which is active in over 140 countries. About 1 in
4 European citizens are Generali customers.
Never heard of Generali before? Most of Generalis customers get
their insurance through a financial intermediary. But about two years
ago Generali started selling insurances directly to consumers through
their website and specialized customer advisors. Manon Krijnsen,
manager customer and market communication, explains: We dont
have tv commercials or large advertising campaigns. Our customers
find us online or through word-of-mouth.

Integrated in the organization

We only use TOPdesk at our Dutch office, but everybody is familiar
with the tool there. Its become such an integral part of the
organization that employees are often surprised to learn that its
provided by another organization. They think its our own tool. This
is hardly surprising: employees can request almost anything to do
with IT or facilities through our self-service portal. From help with
a computer-related problem to asking to work overtime. Because we
need to have security in the building when people are at work.
Even Ristorali, our own restaurant, is connected to TOPdesk. On top
of that Generali has its own brand of wine from Venetian vineyards
thats only sold at our company itself. You can order it with a simple
click. For office drinks, for example, or you can just take the wine home.
You can pick up your order the next day.

Mohamed Anaflous, TOPdesk functional manager and

Manon Kijnsen, communications manager
From office drinks to data leaks
Whether you want to book the bar for drinks or safely report a data
leak, at Generali you can use the TOPdesk self-service portal for almost
anything. Krijnsen: Last week we didnt have hot water for a while.
Its easy to let people see the status of such an issue. Much easier than
emailing everybody updates all the time.
Mohamed Anaflous, who manages TOPdesk for Generali, adds:
And to close all incidents about the water at once, we use the major
incidents functionality of course. Before we started using TOPdesk,
we had to print cards for every incident. The whole process is much
smoother now, especially because we no longer use all these different
systems and instead have all our services in a single tool.
A smooth operation
Krijnsen: We register almost everything in TOPdesk. After a request has
been taken care of, the person who filed it is always asked for feedback
on the process and its outcome. You can simply click a thumbs-up or
thumbs-down button. Employees can easily contact our operators if
theyre not happy. Anaflous: We set up the feedback system ourselves
with HTTP requests and email. The whole process automatic now.
There are other reasons why Generalis processes make for a smooth
operation. Krijnsen: We send a lot of letters to our customers, like
welcome letters or letters concerning their insurance papers. Most of
these letters are sent automatically. If theres something wrong with a
letter, or if we want to improve the format, TOPdesk sends a request. IT
then changes the letter or format, so everybody can use the new version.
A clear division
Anaflous: We have about sixty operators in TOPdesk, most of them from
IT. Theyre in different groups, like application management
and application development. And of course there are groups for
facilities as well. With this clear division, requests are always sent to the
right operator.
We get a great variety of requests through TOPdesk. From printer
malfunctions to feature requests for certain applications. Do you need a
new app altogether? You can request that too. We take a look at what you
want to accomplish, what we already have, and what licences we need.
This way we make sure our employees never work with different tools
that serve the same purpose.

Great set-up, great collaboration

Anaflous: At Generali, weve got a good set-up for TOPdesk. Weve
been working with test, acceptance and production environments for
some time. And our bespoke work is always ready in time for the next
update. This has been going well for the past ten years and were still
happy with the set-up of our tool. Some modules are used by multiple
departments, like incident management and contract management.
This has been going well for
Others, like change management, are the domain of IT. the past ten years and were
We do have to keep in mind that changing settings can affect
multiple departments. And we have to keep up our CMDB in asset
still happy with the set-up
management. But thats the great thing about our set-up: we keep of our tool.
everything up-to-date, for example with HTTP requests that warn us
when licences are about to end. And we register everything. This way
you can keep track of your tool and processes all the time.
10 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

IT security: how do
I make people listen?
Is IT-security getting the attention it deserves in your organization?
With the rise of remote access and cloud-based services, IT-security has
become more important than ever before. Everybodys online and we all
want to access our work anywhere, anytime. The truth is, IT departments
just cant control all actions in the digital world anymore. TOPdesk IT-
professional Mark Herrewijnen talks about how you can make sure
everybody does their part to keep your organization and its data safe.
Text: Fijke Roelofsen

security awareness with managerial staff, starting with

Whats so is important about security
awareness?
IT departments always do everything in their power to
keep the IT infrastructure safe from potential threats.
They try to limit the network and can keep a close eye on
it, but youll never be 100% secure, 100% of the time. You
can also invest a lot of time and money into training other
employees in exact procedures and checklist for using the
network and dealing with threats, but that doesnt mean
that they wont make mistakes.
What you really need to keep your digital environment
safe is people who are vigilant and able to recognize
threats. In other words, you need to make sure employees
are aware of IT security risks and willing to do their part.
This doesnt mean that all employees need to know
exactly how to resolve these problems. They simply need
to be aware that threats may occur and that they should
notify IT if they come across risky situations. So awareness
is a simple step towards a safer digital infrastructure.
If I work in IT, how can I get security aware-
ness on the agenda in my organization?
There are basically two ways to go about getting IT security
awareness on the agenda. The best option is to promote
your own IT manager. If theyre convinced youre on to
something here, its much easier to get them to participate
in an awareness programme. Point out the benefits to the
business. Having excellent IT security policies can make
your company very attractive to potential customers,
and being tech-savvy means youre keeping up with the
times. The path you want to avoid is one where security
awareness is triggered by something going horribly
wrong. Itll get the issue on the agenda, but most likely
other departments will simply say IT, this is your area
right? Can you go and fix it? Thats not the scenario you
want. First of all, this approach gives little opportunity
for preventative measures. Since other employees dont
have the tools to recognize dangerous situations, a lot of
damage can be done before anybody realizes whats going
on. Besides that, fixing major security issues takes a lot
of time and effort that could be spent more efficiently.
There will always be incidents for IT to solve, but making
people aware and empowering them to avoid dangerous
situations can save a lot of time and money.
At TOPdesk, we as a department decided not to wait
for big problems, so we started initiatives to inform our
colleagues about IT security. This establishes a kind of
mutual trust between us and other employees. They trust
that we provide the right information and that what we

ask of them is actually relevant. And we trust that they
keep an eye out, dont take unnecessary risks and inform
us if they have any problems.
And how do I get all my colleagues on
board?
If IT security awareness isnt getting the priority it
deserves, point out the potential consequences of bad
security. Major data leaks are incredibly damaging to the
companys reputation, because customers need to be
able to trust you with their data. If you end up on a list of
companies with security issues, the financial department
is going to notice it in turnover. So if you want to improve
attitudes towards IT security awareness, you need to talk
about the scary stuff too. But be realistic . You could go
on a spending spree and get the best security money can
buy, but what you need is the right balance. The important
thing is to reduce risks to an acceptable, manageable level.
Basic awareness among the rest of the staff is often a big
step in the right direction. Nobody wants to be responsible
for damaging the companys reputation because they were
careless with data, and nobody wants to be forced to call
their customers because they left a laptop with important
information in a taxi. People will still make mistakes, but
with this approach weve noticed people are more likely to
come to us right away. And they know we wont be angry.
We may say were a bit disappointed, but even that we
dont really mean. Nobodys perfect, people forget things.
We can manage risks like that as long as everybodys
honest about them.
Once I have the organizations support for
our IT security awareness goals, whats
the best way to get there?
The right security awareness strategy is different for every
company. If you want to keep things informal, you can
provide short training sessions and present information
in ways that are fun and light-hearted, but still get the
message across so people will remember.
Its definitely a good idea to provide training to all new
employees in their first few weeks on the job. But there are
TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017 11
other little things you can do, such as putting up a simple,
attractive poster with the basics so people are reminded
of them regularly. Sending the occasional email to remind
people to be vigilant can also be very effective, but keep
it short and to-the-point.
Essentially, do whats needed to keep people aware,
but dont distract and annoy them with a constant flow
of information.
Wed rather get ten
false alarms than miss
one high-risk threat.
How can I see if my approach is
paying off?
People tend to think that if there are fewer incidents,
their approach towards IT security awareness is working.
But were noticing something very different. If there
are no incidents, that doesnt guarantee that nothing
is going wrong. There could be other reasons why the
IT department doesnt hear about problems. Perhaps
people are just hesitant to admit they made a mistake.
Or, if security awareness isnt high on the agenda, many
employees may not even notice security risks.
Since we made a point of creating awareness for IT
security, weve noticed that people have started coming
to us more with questions about various situations .
This seems like a lot of extra work, but its actually what
we wanted. Wed rather get ten false alarms than miss
one high-risk threat. The fact that people come to us
means that although they dont know exactly how to
handle the situation, they identified a risk and trust
the IT department to make sure things dont get out of
control. If everybody is aware of threats and knows who
to go to if they encounter them, you dont need to train
everybody to solve every security issue. You just need to
make sure the risks dont go unnoticed.
12 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

Collaboration without monitoring

Wisse Stenchlak about collaboration in
facility management
Collaborating in the new economy doesnt work if organizations uphold dogmas from
previous decades. Todays market should therefore stop working together in the traditional
sense, where success is measured with KPIs, SLAs and fines. Instead we should move
to collaboration without monitoring. This is the vision of Wisse Stenchlak, Commercial
Manager at ArrangeGroup.
Text: Leo Kranenburg Photography: Aad Hogendoorn

More and more organizations are focusing
on their core tasks. Supporting services, like
facilities management, are outsourced to
service providers. Organizations stay on top
of these services by formulating standards,
minimum requirements, desired results and
goals. But this traditional customer-supplier
relationship doesnt leave much room for
service providers to focus on quality. They often
have to deal with price competition without
necessarily being the most successful service
provider, and end up delivering minimum
standards to secure their return. This might
give customers what they want, but they dont
get the most value out of their relationship.
Rationalization
Wisse Stenchlak studied facilities management
at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. In
2009 he took his first steps on the FM market
as Interim Professional at ArrangeGroup, and
now he is Commercial Manager Interim &
Consultancy. He acknowledges the problems
that the traditional customer-supplier
relationships face. The market writes
and speaks a lot about partnerships, says
Stenchlak, but
they often use the wrong definition. Most
partners are focused on their own future and
revenue model, but they often dont know this
about each other. There isnt a mutual interest
and instead they focus on price, achievements
and quality. But do we lean so much on ratio
that we forgot how to manage on instinct and
trust in relationships between people?
Matching and dating
Stenchlak encourages customers and service
providers to work together differently.
Focusing on numbers seems necessary, but its experimented with new collaboration methods
not enough for an optimal relationship. Whats
missing? Concern for the match between
organizations. Take a look at what partnership
means in the private sphere, for instance. If
you enter a relationship after a number of
successful dates, you do this because it gives
you a positive feeling. You like someone and
you have the same morals and values. We can
also apply these characteristics to the business
to business environment. If a friend is short of
money, its likely you wont mind picking up the
tab. But would you do the same in a business-
to-business environment? In the market we
continue to view things from our own position,
while we should work together more.
If you want to work together well, you need
to have the best intentions for each other.
Otherwise it only leads to frustration. To keep
control, the customer continues to manage
things they shouldnt manage at all. And the
contractor has the same attitude towards his
or her employees and customer. This way you
never achieve full transparency.
Best Value
In recent years, facilities organizations have
to overcome these problems, such as best
value procurement. Stenchlak: This approach
has a number of new strategic pillars and is
based on predictability, transparency, win-win,
no silos and no control. Its a good starting
point where organizations select an expert
and stop laying down strict guidelines. They
have a price cap for project and organizational
goals, after which the service provider tries to
meet these goals on a functional level based
on his or her expertise. The level of innovation
is higher, there are fewer mistakes in the
process and more value is created for the
organizational goals.
 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017 13

Wisse Stenchlak, Commercial

Manager at ArrangeGroup

Structure doesnt create value,

people do
Its a step in the right direction, claims
Stenchlak. I believe that best value helps to
select the expert with the best performance.
But its not the method to build the best
relationship. A relationship based on trust
cant be expressed in metrics, and working
with an expert doesnt guarantee the best
relationship. The best value approach reduces
risks and ensures predictability based on
structures and performance data. Stenchlak
believes that trust and a good relationship
thrive on creativity, experimenting and the
autonomy of people in this collaboration.
In the FM market its all about finding a
relationship that creates value by using the
right professionals. They ensure that people
working for a customer are proud of their work
environment, work productively and are happy.
In the end, facility professionals support the
organization by achieving its strategic goals.
Change is never top-down, but bottom-up
instead. Facility management is the internal
service provider that ensures that people enjoy
working at an organization. We can truly call
this creating value.
I look forward to the first customers and
service providers that let go of dogmas and
primarily search for the best relationship, says
Stenchlak. Find an organization with people
that you feel connected to by dating. Then
start to build the relationship, like in real life.
A prerequisite is that you have to believe in
the partnership. Its why this approach isnt
14 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017
right for organizations with mandatory tender
agreements. Or does this make me guilty of
holding on to a dogma?
Effect of a strong economic
climate
Nevertheless, Stenchlak sees the future
of facility management collaborations as
a positive one. The market has reached a
turning point. On the one hand there are new
initiatives focused on creating value. But the
motivation behind this can be traced back
in part to the 2008 credit crunch. We were
creative with available assets. And at the end
of the crisis we were no longer talking about
money, but more about value and innovations.
It looks like were facing some years of
economic growth. Will we return to our own
horizon? Or will the development continue
and will we look for new ways to collaborate?
I wonder whether well continue to pursue
our collaboration ideals in a strong economic
climate, or whether the abundance will limit
the sense of urgency.
Learning to work together
I expect well find a good balance. Im an
idealist and believe that we enter relationships
that add value in every era no matter the
economic, political or social context. Greyston
Bakery is a good example. This bakery
was located in one of the most criminal
neighbourhoods of New York, and was founded
to help underprivileged people find work. Their
motto says it all: We dont hire people to bake
brownies, we bake brownies to hire people.
Everyone can apply for a job and theyre always
invited for an interview. The employees are
also continuously challenged to develop,
which they do. The profits are given back to
the community, the company and employees.
This sounds idealistic, but it illustrates that
relationships and trust are more important
than monitoring mechanisms, structures and
old beliefs.
Eventually, says Stenchlak, well
learn to collaborate without monitoring
mechanisms by trusting each other. Of course
partnerships require plans, contracts and
organizational frameworks, and we need to
uphold regulations. It doesnt matter that you
document the collaboration. As long as you
do this as minimally and simply as possible,
so people understand it and it isnt used to
monitor a good relationship.
In the market we continue
to view things from our
own position, while we
should work together more.
 Column
Wolter Smit, TOPdesk CEO

Agile service
management

Our customers want to know whats coming: is the product moving

in a direction that meets our needs? For a while now weve been
working on making things more transparent. And weve found an
easy way to do so: the TOPdesk Product Roadmap (take a look at
productroadmap.topdesk.com). The roadmap gives more insight into
whats cooking in TOPdesks kitchen.

Weve learned the hard way that it doesnt work to make promises
about when a specific feature will be available. Its proved difficult
to estimate how long it takes to develop these features. Sometimes
we run into unexpected problems. Sometimes other more important
business comes first. For instance, if a new version of an internet
browser causes problems, well tackle that first because it affects lots
of customers. But it could mean that we wont do something else,
which leads to us breaking promises.

The Agile philosophy has become common practice in the software

world. Agile is based on four leading principles. The most important
thing in this context: we choose responding to change over
following a plan. It comes down to the fact that we have to accept
that change will always get in the way of a current plan. Thats why
its better to put something in its place.
You can see this strategy in the communication of our roadmap. We
explain how we see the world (our vision), how we translate this into
our product (the themes) and show which products are coming up:
which projects were working on and which are completed. Instead
of promises we give you transparency. This transparency ensures that
its easier for you to discuss things with us. How can we do better?
Are there things we havent thought of?
The Agile mindset is also gaining foothold outside the world of
software development. Personally, I think its a good development.
But how do you build an excellent service organization from an Agile
philosophy? Service desk customers want to know exactly when
they can expect their laptop. And we also want everything to be
organized on time for the new employee. These are promises that
need to be kept.
I believe this is the big service management puzzle we need to solve
in the time to come: how can we take the good things from Agile
and apply them to our field? Weve been looking at this question
with our customers. Would you like to share your vision on agile
service management with us? Please get in touch with your TOPdesk
contact person. Wed love to hear from you!
TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MAART 2017 16

The power of shift left

A guide towards happy employees
and customers
When a customer calls, support staff cant always find
the answer there and then. They have to ask an expert
for help, and often end up looking into something
their colleague has already figured out. Wouldnt it
be better if first line support could solve the problem
immediately? And not answer the same questions over
and over? Find out below how you can shift knowledge
left, and how this benefits your services.

Shift left = empowering

support staff to resolve
problems independently

Whats needed to make the shift?

People Knowledge base
Support staff needs to work together A good knowledge base helps
to get their knowledge management your support staff document
process on track. their answers.
 KCS = creating and continually
It all starts with knowledge updating knowledge base with
answers to customer questions.
To get the knowledge to the people who need it, you need to manage and
Its basically using and reusing
document it. One method is Knowledge Centered Support (KCS).
your teams expertise.

1. Check knowledge base

When a customer calls, support staff check the knowledge base for answers.
Answer not available?

2. Create content
Support staff get the answers from their
experienced colleague and document the
answer in a new knowledge item.
 Answer available but
insufficient?

3. Update and evolve

Answer available and sufficient?

Great! The call is closed.

KCS changes the way So now, when the service desk answers a question, theyre
not helping one but all future customers as well as sharing
support works knowledge with their colleagues.

50-60% reduced time to solution 30-50% more calls resolved during first contact New employees up and running 70% faster
Business benefits of shift left
Reduced support costs
Calls are resolved more quickly and fewer calls are
escalated to second line support.

Happier customers
Customers experience a higher quality in
service thanks to uniformity in answers, and
being helped more quickly and professionally.

Increased employee satisfaction

Support staff feel more empowered and confident through improved knowledge,
leading to employee satisfaction rise of 20-40%.

Whether youre looking to reduce costs or improve customer and

employee satisfaction, shift left is the way forward.
Want to know more? Visit www.topdesk.co.uk/resources
Knowledge Centered Support is a method developed by the Consortium for Service Innovation. Everything you see in this infographic is an interpretation of that method and in no way suggest to be the
correct one. All rights and interpretations belong to and continue to belong to the Consortium for Service Innovation and can be found on www.serviceinnovation.org.
20 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

George Cox
is Office Sales Consultant at TOPdesk.

Why would I want to

subscribe to anything?
Its no secret that everything from consumer technology to business services are moving
towards a service-based, or subscription-based model. Now, its not uncommon to
bemoan this as a method of industry maximizing revenue (which of course, is certainly
one way of looking at it). However it is important to recognize this trend for what it
delivers to the consumers: value.

The success of consumer
subscriptions
If we truly want to understand the value
of subscriptions, lets start by looking at
the biggest players in the consumer sphere
Spotify, Amazon and Netflix. Although
these are essentially entertainment options,
with the partial exception of Amazon, it is
interesting how many and how much people
are willing to spend their hard-earned cash on
these commodity services.
Spotify had 40 million paid subscribers as
of September 2016. Amazon Prime had a
healthy 63 million customers as of July 2016,
with an increase of 19 million from the
year before. This figure is so high now that
it is estimated that Prime members now
outnumber non-Prime members.
When services such as Netflix and Spotify
started to emerge, there were many
worries. What would happen to CD and DVD
sales? Well, time has told that sad story,
unfortunately for those industries. However,
it has resulted in consumers being able to
access the content they want more easily,
quickly, and affordably than ever. So, when we
ask ourselves why we spend our disposable
income on these services, the answer is
obvious. They deliver more value than any
other delivery method, and give continuously
add to this.
Same buck, more bang
The beauty in all of these services is that unlike
buying a DVD or CD and being stuck with
that one option, they continuously refresh
their offerings. Take Amazon Prime. When the
service launched, it was based around the idea
of free one-day delivery on any eligible items
which was often considered valuable enough.
Then Amazon acquired LoveFilm and produced
an instant video streaming service, now
including proprietary content, like Netflix, such
as The Grand Tour. After this success, they also
bundled in a music service to rival both Spotify
and the less successful Apple Music. However,
the important part of all these additions is that
it at no point affected the membership cost.
So, customers were continuously offered a
more valuable service simply as part of their
existing subscription.
Netflix recently added $800 million of
debt to help fund more and more original
 Omdat je TOPdesk hebt gebruikt
content, leading to hit shows such as Narcos,
new series of unrenewed shows such as
Black Mirror, and many more original ideas.
Suddenly, Netflix is not just a streaming site for
all the TV shows you love, or movies you want
to see but a channel in and on itself. Hooking
subscribers with the promise of new seasons of
content that cant be obtained anywhere else.
The point here is that these subscription-
based services deliver value to the customer
by continuously improving their offerings,
bringing out new features, and delivering more
and more of this value to subscribers.
What does this mean for
businesses?
Its no secret that businesses tend to lag behind
consumer trends. Legacy systems scattered
throughout an organisation usually ensure this,
and the requirement for due diligence over
every penny spent. However, we can already
see some parts of this shift occurring namely
in Microsofts Office 365. Office is of course
the industry standard for word processing,
spreadsheets, PowerPoints. The fact that even
a non-Microsoft presentation will still be called
a PowerPoint is evidence of this.
This suite has taken businesses into the first
step of cloud reliance, with a 70% increase
in subscribers, bringing its numbers up to
18.2 million. No longer do those 18.2 million
organisations need to worry about paying to
upgrade to the next numbered product, when
it just updates automatically.
And this trend is ever widening. Most
business support systems, whether they be
ITSM, CAFM, eHR, ERP, accounting software
or what have you, are starting to offer robust
service-based models. Not so long ago, for
any of these systems, a business would be
urged to pay a huge capital expenditure, with
an operational expenditure support contract
to use these systems. Now at the time this
was all fine and dandy. Budget was found,
used, and a shiny new system was installed.
Great. Now its 4, 5, or even 8 years later. The
world has moved on, but the way of working
hasnt changed. Was that investment really
as valuable as it seemed at the time? Being
cutting edge for a year, but then what?
And then the other issue raises its ugly
head: the sales person like me on the
other end of the phone trying to get their
hands in the business pockets to move from
one version to another and then rinse and
repeat. Trust me, I hate that conversation as
much as you do.
It seems it might be time to learn from the
consumer model. Lower op-ex expenditures in
a subscription format to produce the Amazon
Prime of business support systems. Why
allow departments to stagnate until they are
forced to spend all their budget just getting
TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017 21
back up to speed? Especially when, for a lower
level investment, the business can stay at
the cutting edge with the ever-expanding
portfolio of functionality. You have already
switched to this at home, why not in your
home away from home the office?
Benefit from TOPdesk
subscriptions
Did you know that TOPdesk has moved
to a subscription-based model? Gone
are the days where an environment is
out of date, or in need of an overhaul.
Gone are the days where you pay huge
upfront costs for a perpetual licence. We
offer and apply updates on a fortnightly
basis to bring you the freshest features,
meaning any woes from using a legacy
system can finally be put to bed. Want
to know more? Discuss the possibilities
of SaaS and subscriptions with your
account manager.
 22 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017
ADVERTORIAL

TimeTell
Planning & TimeSheet

TimeTell - The solution for planning and time registration

TimeTell is an extensive system for planning and registration of time, To support the management, TimeTell offers a dashboard with a summary
hours, leave and absence. One of the characteristics is the ease of use; it of the most important information.
is important that people do not hesitate to work with the timesheet. It is a
complete and powerful solution, which can interface with other systems
like TOPdesk or other HR, ERP and financial systems.

Furthermore, you can plan staff and projects. Staff planning can be used
to allocate people to a specific job and project. The TimeTell project
planning functionality helps you make Gantt charts in order to gain more
insight into the process structure and progress. Both planning and
realisation of spent hours can be registered in TimeTell, which makes it
easy to control and manage projects.

The solution is available both online and on-premise. This can be

combined with the TimeTell App, enabling you to work anywhere with
TimeTell.

Every organisation large or small, profit or non-profit can work with

TimeTell. Users around the world are Bosch Security Systems, Bayer,
DB Schenker and the Rail Safety and Standard Board.

Like TOPdesk, the TimeTell software is developed in the Netherlands.

It is used by more than 500 clients worldwide, and is available in English,
German and Dutch.

If you would like to know more about our

solution, please visit our website:

www.timetell.com

+31 (0)70 311 48 11

info@timetell.com
 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017 23

Richard van Veen and Harry Honebecke are technicians at the Dialysis Centre in Groningen

Excellent maintenance,
carefree health care
The dialysis machines at the Dialysis Centre in Groningen, the Netherlands, save patients
lives every day. Maintenance of these machines is quite literally a matter of life and
death. Thats why the technical department has structured and digitized all maintenance
activities. Of course this is very useful for management and auditors. But you really do it
for yourself and the patients: you know you wont forget anything.
Text: Niek Steenhuis Photography: Aad Hogendoorn

Do you see the difference? Harry Honebecke is holding up two
cups of water. He just filled them from two different faucets that are
connected to the water treatment machine were standing next to.
One cup is crystal clear, the other slightly less so. This is the water
we all drink at home every day. The clear liquid is what you get when
you thoroughly filter tap water: this is pure H2O. But pure H2O is too
corrosive for the human body, so after we filter the water we rarefy it
with a controlled dose of other substances. This way, we make sure the
water thats used for dialysis is safe.
When proper maintenance is a matter of
life and death
Harry Honebecke is a technician at the Groningen Dialysis Centre. He and
three others share responsibility for maintaining all machines needed for
over a hundred treatments that are provided at the centre and at patients
homes. They provide maintenance for the equipment at the Dialysis centres
main location near Groningen University Hospital such as the water
treatment plant and over a hundred dialysis machines as well as for the
equipment at a number of health care centres throughout the region.
24 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017
The patients lives depend on this equipment, says Honebecke.
They have to get Dialysis treatment three times a week for four hours,
longer if they choose to be treated at home. These treatments are
exhausting, but patients simply cant survive without them. So proper
maintenance of all the equipment really is a matter of life and death,
and it determines the quality of the treatment. The water has to be
just right, the machinery has to work perfectly and power outages
must be prevented at all cost.
Excel lists and hardcopy calendars
In order to keep up the maintenance, technical staff had to do a lot
of administrative work before they introduced TOPdesk. There were
a lot of lists, says Honebecke. We had several records of assets that
were stored in a cabinet somewhere. And for each piece of equipment
we had an excel sheet to keep track of maintenance. Besides these
sheets, we also used a hard copy calendar for the same purpose, adds
Honebeckes colleague Richard van Veen.
Honebecke: Keeping track of everything at the same time was
a big problem. Maintenance for the most critical equipment like
dialysis machines and water treatment was fine, but for non-critical
equipment, finding the right information was difficult. The lists didnt
provide a simple overview of which tasks needed to be done. You
always had to go through all the lists to check what the status was of
a task and whether you needed to follow up on it. So sometimes we
ended up doing the same tasks twice.
Agreements, questions and ambition
Eventually the situation really started to affect our work. Partly because
management wanted more insight into the organizations assets, such as
what equipment was available, when it needed maintenance and when
it needed to be replaced. Besides that, legal agreements lead to stricter
audits where the auditors would check whether health care organizations
keep track of the life cycle of all their equipment. Organizations that cant
provide proof of this risk losing their certification.
But more importantly, Honebecke and Van Veen themselves had the
ambition to create clear overviews to help them deliver the best work
they could. Van Veen provides an example: When one of us was off sick,
colleagues would often call me saying that that person had promised to
fix something, but hadnt done so. Id have no idea what they were talking
about, which wasnt very professional of course. You dont want to bother
customers with issues within your own department.
Support for your plan is
important, but sometimes you
have to take action and decide:
its time for a change right now.
Throw away the calendar
Two years ago, Honebecke and Van Veen started implementing TOPdesk
to keep a digital record of reactive and planned maintenance. They
were very happy with the system, but their colleagues were initially
sceptical. Van Veen: We and the TOPdesk consultant worked hard to
show them the benefits. We had to do a lot of talking and we used a test
environment to show how it would make their work easier.
The digitization process wasnt always easy, Van Veen admits: We
wanted to get rid of the old calendar, but people simply wouldnt stop
using it. Just after wed decided we werent going to use it anymore, a
colleague walked by and wrote an appointment down in it. It was too
much of a habit. So one day we just threw the calendar away. We didnt
hide it or put it away somewhere safe, we actually threw it out. Its
important to get support for your plan, but sometimes you have to take
action and decide: its time for a change right now.
Easier outsourcing, onboarding and transferring
The technical department has now been working with a digital system
for maintenance work for over a year. Colleagues now submit incidents
for their equipment online and the incidents are processed digitally by the
technical department. For preventative maintenance they plan procedures
beforehand, and they automatically appear on the departments to do
list at the right time. Van Veen has noticed that this digitization has led to
better insight into the departments work. We can see exactly what were
spending our time on. So its also easier to see whether we need to have
some work outsourced because our week is too full.
Digitization has also made it easier to transfer work to a colleague. They
benefited from this almost immediately after TOPdesk was implemented.
Van Veen: In 2015 our team went from four to three people. Thankfully
wed already set up TOPdesk by then, so we had insight into the fourth
persons responsibilities and could transfer them to other team members
easily. At the end of last year a new member was added to the team. He
settled in much more quickly because all the information he needed was
already available in TOPdesk.
 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017 25

A relaxed work environment

Honebecke and Van Veen often use the word relaxed. Honebecke:
TOPdesk has been a great help. It makes the whole process much more
relaxed. Van Veen: We always have an overview of which incidents
and tasks are still open. And because all planned maintenance is
registered, you know all that work will automatically appear on your
to do list.
Of course things dont always go perfectly, Honebecke adds, but
at least were aware of what goes wrong now. And its easier to
determine why something hasnt been done yet.
When things are more relaxed theres a lot less clutter in peoples
minds and their calendars. Van Veen: We know that the basics
are taken care of, so we can focus on other things. For instance, we
switched to a different type of dialysis machine last year. It took a lot
of work: researching the options, getting quotes, buying the machines,
the list goes on. And you have to account for each step you take. We
have a lot more time for things like that now.

The recipe for success at this dialysis centres technical department:

A
 lmost all incidents for reactive maintenance are submitted via
the self-service portal. Every time a colleague called or came to the
department, technical staff kindly asked them to create an incident,
so it became a habit. Now the technical staff just needs to link the
incident to the right machine.
T
 he technical department has implemented yearly procedures for
preventative maintenance. These tasks are automatically added to
the task list at the right time, including a description of what needs
to be checked. Some machines needs to be checked daily, like the
water treatment plant, others are checked each month or year.
E
 ach morning the technical department has a short meeting to
discuss and divide tasks for the day: What incidents have come in,
s hould anything be shared about existing incidents, whos doing
maintenance and where?
E
 very week, one team member is on call 24 hours a day. This person
can be called for emergencies and keeps an eye on incoming
incidents, so that the other three dont have to worry about this.
This person also does that weeks recurring checks.
R
 ight after a team member finishes a maintenance task, they
update the relevant information: they fill out paperwork and close
the incident. The entire team is responsible for this. This requires
discipline, but they worked hard at it from the start, so the system
is always up-to-date.
26 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

Patrick Mackaaij
is a marketeer at team Worcade.

Access to the right data with

permission groups and filters
TOPdesk has many cards and modules. It can be hard to manage them, especially if
all your operators have access to every part of TOPdesk. Thanks to TOPdesk Permission
groups, you can manage the operators access to these modules and cards. In some cases
operators still dont have enough overview. Using Filters in TOPdesk Enterprise helps you
secure drop-down lists and cards on three levels.

TOPdesk Permission groups Operator filter

Permission groups in TOPdesk let you manage the operators access An operator filter grants operators access to assigned cards. This lets
to TOPdesk sections, such as modules. In most cases these modules you use one TOPdesk environment with several departments at the
comprise cards and settings. The TOPdesk administrator manages these same time.
permission groups via Modules > Supporting files > Permission groups. You can expand your access to:
With Permission groups, you can grant TOPdesk operators rights to
read, adjust and create first and second line calls. C
 ards assigned to operator groups of which the operator is
a member
C
 ards assigned to other operator groups, but not yet assigned to a
TOPdesk Filters specific operator
A permission group grants access to everything in the group and filters C
 ards assigned to operators in one of the operator groups of which
nothing. To make managing access to cards easier, TOPdesk Enterprise the operator is a member
offers three types of filters: operator, branch and category filters. You C
 ards not yet assigned to an operator.
can use these filters in almost all TOPdesk modules and Report Wizards.
They ensure that the only visible cards are those the filter gives By default, an operator can only see operator groups of which he
access to. The TOPdesk administrator manages the different filters via is a member. If necessary, you can allow the operators to see all
Modules > Supporting files> Filters. operator groups.

Branch filter
The branch filter lets you grant an operator access to cards that belong
to a specific branch. For instance, you can give a contact person at a
specific branch rights for cards that only apply to his or her branch.
You can expand the access to:
Cards that arent yet linked to a branch
Cards of a sub-branch (if there is a main branch)
Cards of other sub-branches (if there is a sub-branch)
Cards of the main branch (if there is a sub-branch)
Specific branches appointed by you
By default, operators can only choose operator groups of his or her
own branch. But you can also allow operators to choose from all
operator groups.
Categorization filter
The Categorization filter limits an operators access to cards that
were categorized specifically. This is useful when the categorization
in your organization is divided into departments such as IT, Facilities
and HR. You can combine this filter with the Branch filter, for instance,
to specify access to cards even further. You can also expand access to
cards that havent been categorized yet.
You can limit the effect of the category filter to just creating a
shorter category list by going to Settings > Functional Settings >
General, Category filter only filters drop-down lists. Operators can
continue to see cards that are categorized differently.
Combining filters
You can apply multiple filters for one operator. For instance, you can
set up that an operator may only see cards from their own branch,
with the services category. In that case the branch and category
filters are combined.
If an operator if linked to more than one filter of the same type
(branch, category or operator), then this works cumulatively. For
TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017 27
instance, when two category filters are linked to the same operator,
he or she will see values from both categories in the drop-down list.
Pragmatic exceptions
TOPdesk has a number of pragmatic exceptions for using filters.
An operator always sees a card if its assigned to him, so he can
start processing this card. Once the card is in progress, the operator
continues to see the card as long as hes the last person who changed
the card.
An operator with administrator rights can always see all cards,
regardless of whether filters are applied.
Solving puzzles with TOPdesk Consultancy
Filters can have a significant impact on your operators workflow.
The branch and operator filter, for instance, can affect visible rooms
and objects in the planner of the Reservations Management module.
When you apply a filter, it can lead to an operator only seeing the
change activity of an extensive change, but not the change itself.
Is working with filters a complex puzzle in your situation?
TOPdesk Consultancy is happy to help. Contact us and well figure it
out together.
Working together with service professionals
Do you work with suppliers? Then Worcade is a practical alternative for
using filters. Worcade is a collaboration platform that lets customers
and your suppliers communicate more easily, more effectively and with
more fun. You stay in control of which details you share. As a customer,
you easily start a conversation with your supplier via the Worcade tab
in a TOPdesk call. You simply tick the elements of the call card you want
to share with your supplier. Your supplier then receives an email with
the link to a web page in Worcade, where he or she can process your
call immediately.
28 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017
Are you a supplier who works with TOPdesk? Easily link
Worcade to TOPdesk via the TOPdesk mail import. When
your customers start new conversations in Worcade, you
can find these as a call on the Worcade tab. Check out
our website to see how you can set up the TOPdesk mail
import for Worcade: https://worca.de/1e9db
Using Worcade means you dont have to create accounts
for another organization, and filters are a thing of the past.
Moreover, you only send information thats carefully selected,
instead of granting access to an entire TOPdesk card.
Worcade is available as a standard functionality in all
versions of the new TOPdesk. You activate Worcade with
a click on the button in TOPdesks functional settings.
Editorial
Download this issue and more at www.scribd.com/TOPdesk
The TOPdesk Magazine covers subjects that are topical in
the world of professional service desks in IT, facilities and
other service providing organizations. TOPdesk Magazine
is intended for managers, service desk employees, facilities
organizations and electronic city councils anyone who
is involved with supporting clients on a daily basis. This
concerns both the processes and the technology behind
these services.
TOPdesk Magazine is a TOPdesk publication,
+44 (0) 207 803 4200, editorial@topdesk.com
Editors-in-chief and copy editors: Acacia Kooij, Nicola van
de Velde
Translators: Fijke Roelofsen, Laura van Rosenberg, Nicola van
de Velde
Contributors: Mohamed Anaflous, George Cox, Mark
Herrewijnen, Harry Honebecke, Fiona IJkema, Manon
Krijnsen, Patrick Mackaaij, Wolter Smit, Wisse Stenchlak,
Richard van Veen
Layout: Denise van Rijst, Pascal van der Stel
Illustration: Frank van Klink
Photography: Aad Hoogendoorn, Menno van der Bijl
A print run of 10,000
Quarterly magazine
Languages: Dutch, English
Copyright 2017 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.
Official TOPdesk partners: 3Fifty, AskRoger!, Bomgar, DDC,
Delta-N, Gartner, IBIS Software, Mavim, Nexthink, OGD,
Okta, Partners in Technology, Plandatis, RES Software,
Servitect, Scope4mation, Snow Software, Testersuite,
The Backbone, TimeTell, Tools4ever, Victa
 SUPPORT YOUR
EMPLOYEES IN
USING YOUR
SELFSERVICEDESK
To get the most out of this software, it is important to motivate
and help your employees. Use the professional and effective
communication of Agency DDC.

Through professional communication, Agency DDC (TOPdesk

official solution partner) will increase the number of successful
ServiceDesk users.

Visit www.agencyddc.com/changecommunication/ssd
to learn more about DDC services. Or contact one of our
communication advisors at +31(0) 88 012 02 50.

PA R T N E R I N E F F E C T I V E C O M M U N I C AT I O N . W W W. AG E N C Y D D C . C O M
30 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017
tips + tricks
Do you have a (support) question?
Check the knowledge items on the Extranet
The knowledge base on TOPdesk Extranet has lots of
knowledge items about the frequent topics. In fact, we add
new items every day. Here you can find answers to:
technical questions
functional questions
set-up questions
You can also find information about:
known errors
bugs
workarounds
Now you can quickly and easily find answers to a large part
of your questions. Cant find what youre looking for? Then
register an incident directly via the Extranet.
www.topdesk.com
Adjusted design for branches or Self-Service
Portal customers
From now on you can adjust the Self-Service Portals look and
feel to match your customers or branches identity. Persons
logging into the Self-Service Portal will see a familiar design.
This lets you create a personalized look and feel for each
customer, and make it recognizable for users.
Heres how you create the designs using the Self-Service Portal
designer:
1. Go to Modules > Self-Service Portal > Self-Service Portal
designer.
2. Under Designs for the Self-Service Portal you can create or
rename a design, and set up a default design.
3. Under Adjust to you select the branch or customer for
whom you want to make the design available.
4. Adjust the design under Logo and Search and save.
When users log into the Self-Service Portal, theyll now see the
design that you set up for their branch or organization.