IT help desk agent productivity is a much-discussed subject, but one that few seem to actually get a handle on. But what are the basics when it comes to increasing the productivity of your service desk agents and still treating them with kindness and empathy? Today, we’ll find out. Plus, we’ll offer some common-sense tips to get you on the right track. If there’s one thing that we can take for granted in the world, it’s that customers need around-the-clock service.

Customer-centered business practices have become a major focal point in IT innovation. The advent of massive communication has brought forth a big challenge, however: how does one provide a top-notch customer experience when there are so many factors to account for? The market’s answer to this conundrum is monitoring software.

With the advent of cloud services and their flexibility in terms of both accessibility and pricing, many companies moving from an on-premise model to a cloud/hosted model. This has become especially true when it comes to service desk operations since they require constant software and hardware support as well as a robust ticketing system that can keep up with user demand.

Internet Explorer (IE) was once the most used web browser out there. You'd have to go back to what was practically the internet Paleolithic for that, but the truth still stands. Now, with this once titanic force being decommissioned by June 15, 2022, we’re facing the end of an era. And nostalgia aside, what does the IE end of life mean for the world of IT and the service desk? Furthermore, what precautions do you need to take now that it's on its way out?

With the wide range of services and flexible pricing models offered by providers, more and more organizations are moving their businesses to the cloud. According to Gartner, enterprise spending on the cloud has grown 18% in 2021 and is expected to be around 14.2 % of the total enterprise IT spending by 2024. With the growth of IoT, AI, and machine learning, we can expect more computing to shift to the cloud.

When you think of the necessary skillset to operate and excel in the world of IT (and certainly in the world of IT Service Management), chances are your brain automatically defaults to what is known as "hard skills." Easily quantifiable, specific expertise on tools and languages. But of course, that doesn't paint the full picture of what is needed to become a well-rounded IT professional able to effectively communicate with teammates and stakeholders.

Recently, we discussed how change management became change enablement with a new version of ITIL, and what that meant for its application. But did you know that ITIL itself also went through a bit of a change? It's a little more subtle, and if you look at its current usage you might not even realize that a change even happened, but it represents a conceptual shift that might mean big things for its guidelines moving forward.

We all know the story. The "knowledge hero," the one Subject Matter Expert on the team, whose expertise everyone relies on. This sounds good in theory but of course reliance on one single point of authority creates problems. What happens if that person is sick or on annual leave? What you really want is for all team members to share their knowledge and expertise. Enter the knowledge management practice.

Change is the only constant, particularly in a rapidly evolving industry like IT. Software gets constant updates, new hardware gets launched, and frameworks evolve with trends. Staying up-to-date on these changes can help you stay ahead of the competition. But it's not always easy to get people used to these new changes. It’s no surprise that change management has been a key aspect of ITIL.

When something works for a specific part of your company, it makes sense to look for ways to apply it to other sectors. Enterprise Service Management (ESM) is your go-to strategy when attempting to optimize, streamline, and generally improve service throughout your organization.