Optimize the Service Desk With a Shift-Left Strategy

Our Advice

Critical Insight

• It can be difficult to overcome the mindset that difficult functions need to be escalated. Shift left involves a cultural change to the way the service desk works, and overcoming objections and getting buy-in up front is critical.
• Many organizations have built a great knowledgebase but fail to see the value of it over time as it becomes overburdened with overlapping and out-of-date information. Knowledge capture, updating, and review must be embedded into your processes if you want to keep the knowledgebase useful.
• Similarly, the self-service portal is often deployed out of the box with little input from end users and fails to deliver its intended benefits. The portal needs to be designed from the end user’s point of view with the goal of self-resolution if it will serve its purpose of deflecting tickets.

Impact and Result

• Embrace a shift-left strategy by moving repeatable service desk tasks and requests into lower-cost delivery channels such as self-help tools and automation.
• Shift work from Tier 2 and 3 support to Tier 1 through good knowledge management practices that empower the first level of support with documented solutions to recurring issues and free up more specialized resources for project work and higher value tasks.
• Shift knowledge from the service desk to the end user by enabling them to find their own solutions. A well-designed and implemented self-service portal will result in fewer logged tickets to the service desk and empowered, satisfied end users.
• Shift away manual repetitive work through the use of AI and automation.
• Successfully shifting this work left can reduce time to resolve, decrease support costs, and increase end-user satisfaction.