Service desk calling: solving problems and creating impact

Jai Moran’s first job out of uni was on a service desk, and since then he’s gained more than 15 years’ experience in IT service delivery management. 

As Datacom’s General Manager of ANZ Service Desk Products, Jai works with the 450 or so customers across Australia and New Zealand who leverage Datacom’s service desk capability, analysing workloads and operational processes to identify opportunities for improvement. And if a solution doesn’t already exist to solve an issue, Jai's team looks to create one, which they can then ideally productise and take to market to help other customers grappling with the same challenges. 

Jai also has a slightly less formal way of describing his role: “We're very lucky to have the privilege to just play with a bunch of different stuff to see if we can make improvements to experience, or how our service desk agents interact." 

Jai worked on a blue-collar account in his first service desk job and loved using his skills to resolve issues for ‘non-techies’. Following team leader roles he moved into service delivery, gaining exposure to all the moving parts that come together in a managed service offering.  

Time spent working in service management roles with the New South Wales Government gave him a chance to experience the sector from the customer perspective, before he joined Datacom almost seven years ago.  

“I knew some people at Datacom before I joined, so I had a feel for what the work environment would be like, but I was still blown away by how kind, considerate and helpful everyone was. And it was all underpinned by a real drive to get the job done – to achieve things and do right by our customers.”

Jai has seen big changes during his career. These include the shift away from ‘full package’ solutions to a multi-vendor environment, which allows greater flexibility to meet distinct customer needs. The emergence of SaaS and cloud computing have similarly given customers much more flexibility in how they consume their IT services.  

 And, as in most sectors, AI is the “buzzword of the moment”, he says, with uncertainty about how it will ultimately be deployed one of the most exciting aspects of the technology. 

 An increasing ability to service customers’ unique needs means Jai’s team has to understand those needs, as well as their preferences and pain points, to deliver personalised solutions. While service desk outcomes have traditionally been all about the numbers – like response and resolution times – these days success has a more human face.  

“We're veering away from your standard metrics at the service desk and really focusing on the customer experience now. It’s a far more fun place to play in when you're not just dealing with some arbitrary number but you're actually looking at making an impactful change to someone's day.”

Centralised CX platforms will be key as younger generations – who prefer to communicate via social media and platforms like WhatsApp – come into the workforce. These preferences are shaking up standard models, however there’s still a need for traditional channels and for service desk agents to manage workload outside of customer-initiated inbound channels. Centralised CX platforms (like the single pane of glass we’ve delivered, through a partnership with Genesys, amongst our agents for their workload distribution) ensure agents have a cohesive way of working.  

Self-diagnosing and correcting systems that allow us to fix users’ issues before they even know there’s a problem, are already a reality; we're leveraging our customer experience monitoring tools to deliver this to our customers while building a practice to refine its delivery.

Conversational AI and automation engines are increasingly critical as customers demand simple ways to self-serve standard service requests. Self-service portals quickly become complex and crowded, leading to poor experiences for customers and sending them back to traditional engagement channels (ultimately driving up costs). But by using generative AI to converse naturally with customers, understand their intent, and deliver outcomes, service desks can significantly lower operating costs and increase customer satisfaction. 

Users must remain at the forefront of any potential new implementation, which must not just meet but exceed customer expectations. Deviating from this principle runs the risk of pouring significant resources into solutions that fall short; it's like setting sail without a compass. Remaining firmly focused on the customer guarantees the result goes above and beyond, and creates a positive impact.