InformationWeek Analytics/HDI New Research Finds IT Support Incident Volume Up 61%

SAN FRANCISCO, June 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- InformationWeek Analytics, the leading service for peer-based IT research and analysis, today announced the release of its latest research report; State of the IT Service Desk: Change Management Remains Key, created jointly with HDI, the world's largest IT service and technical support membership association and the industry's premier certification and training body, encompasses analysis of this exclusive coproduced survey to examine emerging trends in IT support. Report author John Custy is founder and managing consultant for JPC Group, a professional services company focused on service management.

Research Summary:

More than 1,200 technology and service management professionals responded to this exclusive survey, which revealed that the primary reason for call-volume increases continues to be change-related: new hardware, new mobile devices, new applications, new infrastructure architecture and more customers. Service desks continue to focus on IT-related and process-based metrics rather than metrics that demonstrate the value the service desk adds to business processes and how the service desk contributes to the achievement of business goals. IT support management needs to better understand and leverage service management frameworks, standards and practices to better align service offerings with customer needs.

Findings:  

• 61% of survey respondents reported an increase in number of calls to their companies' IT service desk in the past year; 11% reported a decrease in incident volume and 26% said there's been no change.
• Just less than one-third of respondents reported improved customer satisfaction in the past year; 11% reported a decline, while 43% stayed even.
• Respondents said their top three financial management priorities are cutting costs (24%), enhancing efficiency (20%) and enhancing effectiveness (17%); ironically, 58% of respondents to this survey and related HDI studies don't know what their service desk costs are.
• 78% said mobile-device security is a key concern, though only slightly more than 25% have implemented formal mobile security management processes.
• More than three of 10 service desks don't know their performance for resolution rate (64%), call abandonment (67%), average speed to answer (71%) or first contact resolution (phone, 66%).

For full access to the research data, members can download now: http://analytics.informationweek.com/abstract/83/7594/IT-Business-Strategy/research-state-of-the-it-service-desk.html

"The IT service desk is typically very tightly staffed, and it's constantly getting hit with new challenges, from major enterprise software deployments to end users sneaking in unauthorized tablets and smartphones," says Lorna Garey, content director of InformationWeek Analytics. "And don't think virtualization and cloud computing solve your support problems—in many cases they just add another layer for support managers to contend with."

InformationWeek Analytics is a subscription-based service, offering peer-based technology research. Its site currently houses more than 900 reports and briefs, and includes a dedicated area where technology professionals can access complete issues of InformationWeek Magazine. More than 100 new reports are slated for release in 2011. InformationWeek Analytics members have access to:

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About HDI (http://www.ThinkHDI.com)

HDI is a global IT service and technical support membership association and the industry's premier certification and training body. Guided by an international panel of industry experts and practitioners, HDI is the leading resource for help desk/support center emerging trends and best practices. HDI provides members with a vast repository of resources, networking opportunities and the largest industry event - the HDI Annual Conference and Expo. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA, HDI offers training in multiple languages and countries. For more information, visit http://www.ThinkHDI.com or call +1 719.268.0174. HDI is part of UBM TechWeb.

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