ITIL Service Desk Practice

Vocabulary terms covering the purpose, models, technologies, and value chain contributions of the service desk practice based on ITIL principles.

Purpose of the service desk practice

To capture demand for incident resolution and service requests, and serve as the entry point and single point of contact for the service provider with all of its users.

Service desk management models

Varies from a physical team of people on shift work to a distributed mix of people connected virtually, or automated technology and bots.

Modern focus of the service desk

Providing support for 'people and business' rather than simply technical issues, due to increased automation and the removal of technical debt.

Service desk support collaboration

The necessity for support and development teams to work in close collaboration with the service desk to deliver a 'joined up' approach to users.

Service desk value add

Achieved through practical understanding of the wider business context, business processes, and acting as an empathetic and informed link between the provider and users.

Service desk access channels

Includes phone calls (IVR), service portals/mobile apps, live chat/chatbots, email, walk-in desks, text/social media messaging, and public/corporate social media forums.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

A specialized technology used within the phone call channel to support service desk operations.

Virtual service desk

A model allowing agents to work from multiple, geographically dispersed locations using sophisticated, often cloud-based technology for routing and escalation.

Centralized service desk supporting technologies

Includes intelligent telephony (IVR, ACD), workflow systems, workforce management, knowledge bases, call recording, remote access tools, and configuration management systems.

Service desk staff skills

Requires competency in customer service, empathy, incident analysis, prioritization, effective communication, and emotional intelligence.

Service desk role in 'Improve'

Monitoring and evaluating activities to support continual improvement, alignment, and value creation based on user feedback.

Service desk role in 'Engage'

Serving as the main channel for tactical and operational engagement with users.

Service desk role in 'Design and transition'

Providing a channel for communicating new/changed services and participating in release planning, testing, and early life support.

Service desk role in 'Obtain/build'

Involvement in acquiring service components used to fulfil service requests and resolve incidents.

Service desk role in 'Deliver and support'

Acting as the coordination point for managing incidents and service requests.