Text: Nienke Deuss

Photography: Jonas Mertens

Customer in foCus 19

CiP is ready for the future

Our editors braved a congested Brussels by car to write this article. After a challenging parking experience (and being warned about an exciting corner) the editorial team made it to the offices of CIP, the IT service desk for a complex and particularly varied organization. >>

Serge Morabito, CIP

20 Customer in foCus

lthough CIP receives the type of incidents you would normally expect, about the network or IT infrastructure, it is no average service desk. We provide support primarily

In 2006, CIP decided to further optimize the working procedures by taking stock of and standardizing key processes. And, of course, ITIL is never far away notes Morabito. We decided to look for a tool that would better support our processes and needed less customization. An acquaintance told us that TOPdesk looked pretty good. We attended a demo and were quickly convinced. You can tell that it is written from the point of view of a service desk employee. It is not a product that dictates how you should organize your service desk.

to UNIZO (Union for Independent Entrepreneurs in Flanders) and Zenito, the social insurance fund for the self-employed, explains Serge Morabito, TOPdesk application manager at CIP. Our team of seven supports around 300 people.

diverse customers
Several of the more than 120 professional associations are based at the headquarters, where they represent self-employed entrepreneurs from particular sectors. Zenito has another half a dozen regional relationship management ofces for which CIP provides services. As you can imagine, in an organization like this we deal with a large number of people from a variety of business elds, Morabito continues, This can make our work quite complicated. Each professional association or service has its own requirements; and even the infrastructure can vary between the different locations. Communication is of utmost importance. You dont want to travel all the way to an ofce half way across the country when the problem could have been solved from our own ofce.

added value for the helpdesk and its customers

Once they had decided on TOPdesk, everything went very quickly. A consultant implemented Incident Management, Conguration Management and the Self Service Desk in twelve days. Its not often that Im this pleased with a consultancy project, says Morabito. The other help desk employees were also very enthusiastic about TOPdesk, but what about the customers? Morabito has no doubts. We organized several sessions to inform our customers about our progress. Above all, customers expect an excellent service, and a tool is a matter of detail. However, we were able to convince them of the importance of a good tool for effectively following up their calls, which, ultimately, means solving their problems.

CUSTOMERS STILL FIND IT IMPORTANT TO BE ABLE TO EXPLAIN THEIR PROBLEMS TO A PERSON INSTEAD OF A MACHINE
Serge Morabito, CIP

finding the self service desk

Even though CIP introduced the Self Service Desk immediately after implementation, Morabito has found that most customers still choose to call the service desk. Because we have a relatively small help desk team, the line is often busy. It can take up to half an hour before you get through to someone. We continue to promote registering incidents via email; however, customers still nd it important to be able to explain their problems to a person instead of a machine. It is not always easy for our customers to explain exactly what the problem is. In such cases, having someone

from tool to toPdesk

Ten years ago, CIP decided to purchase a tool to replace the paper forms that were being used. The tool we selected seemed to be a great improvement at rst; it was fantastic to be able to see who was doing what. But as we continued working with the tool, we kept getting updates that took the tool in a completely different direction, or even crashed the application at crucial moments. It no longer supported the working methods we had in mind. When we realized that, we took our time searching for an alternative solution. After all, we had just started working with this tool and we didnt want to give up on it straight away, Morabito recalls.

on the line who understands the situation and can listen is an advantage. We are slowly trying to encourage people to nd their answers themselves, in the Knowledge Base. Thats why we always refer to the Self Service Desk on the phone. A customer can then track the progress of their incident from registration through to closure, which adds transparency to the process. Statistics show us that more and more customers are nding their way to the Self Service Desk, something we welcome wholeheartedly.

Customer in foCus 21

YOU CAN TELL THAT TOPDESK IS WRITTEN FROM THE SERVICE DESK EMPLOYEES POINT OF VIEW
Serge Morabito, CIP

Planned for 2012

UNIZO and Zenito services share the same ofce as CIP employees. As the organization has grown, more space is needed. The rooms are currently being divided to create more work space. I wouldnt lean against the walls here jokes Morabito. Fortunately we are planning to relocate at the end of 2012. Morabito is aware that relocating will present CIP with new challenges. Change on such a large scale will include reviewing our IT and will also bring the current procedures into question. We are
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discussing outsourcing and cloud computing in the private cloud. It will be difcult to weigh up the cost of having our own data centre against a that of a cloud model. The coming year will determine how we handle the future, but if one things certain, its that we will continue to use TOPdesk. We are even thinking about introducing TOPdesk for facilities management.

toPdesk at the Better education through technology show

Join us at the Better Education Through Technology Show from 11 - 14 January 2012 at Olympia in London. We are on stand SW7 and look forward to your visit!

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