Introduction
To help me understand and really grasp the idea of innovation I reflect back on my previous training at da Vince and I look at the innovation module, and the prerequisites of innovation in a technical environment looking towards innovation and making a division as big as ours understand the importance of the mere meaning of the word and the implementation of bigger ideas in this I need to explain my current working situation. I'm a technical specialist specializing in voice and data on Microsoft and voice-data platforms. I work within a team of eight people with specialities ranging in the information technology domain a couple of months ago I was appointed as the team leader of my team and now I manage the team, the transition was easy and I'm already making my mark; working with these people teaches me more and improves my technical skill across many fields. My intermediate team consists of six individuals, all with different cultures and working experience and most of us work on different systems ranging from normal desktop telephones to mayor server systems
Our department is called Front office support which means we're the first line of support for our customers.
In this document I will illustrate my understanding and research in the innovation readiness of altech netstar technology division and how different personalities understand the term and also how the flow of a new technology idea gets to the point of implementation and set the stage for innovation.
The central meaning of innovation thus relates to renewal or improvement, with novelty being a consequence of this improvement. For an improvement to take place it is necessary for people to change the way they make decisions, or make choices outside of their norm. The role of innovation function in an organization understands the value of certain technology for the organization. Continuous development of technology is valuable as long as there is a value for the customer and therefore the technology and innovation function in an organization should be able to argue when to invest on technology development and when to withdraw.
On a lower level, innovation can be seen as a change in the thought process for doing something, or the useful application of inventions or discoveries .It may refer to incremental, emergent, or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations.
Environment Description
At Altech netstar we have three hundred different servers that serve the business with the applications needed to perform they're tasks ranging from financial applications to email exchange
The users use Dell computers to perform they're daily tasks and a alcatel telephone system is used for voice communication if anything goes wrong with any of these equipment we need to be notified and dispatched to the problem for the reporting of problems experienced with our equipment we have a helpdesk.
The helpdesk services the whole of netstar with technologies queries and problems; it serves as an interface between the users on the floor and the technical people in my department. The helpdesk serves as our first line support if a user phones in to report a problem the helpdesk agent will try and resolve the problem over the phone ,if not possible the call gets logged and assigned under a technicians name .The technician will then go out and repair the problem .
Problems we're experiencing is that the calls sometimes do not get logged or if the user email the request the request only gets logged after a period of time that reflex bad on our service and the perception of service fades. Another problem we face is the calls to the helpdesk go missing, or a call is logged and not stored in the database this is the due to the fact that the helpdesk software
One of the main problems we face is the skill of the staff working on the helpdesk ,They need more computer literacy as they are the first line support but calls get transferred to the technicians daily just because of not enough training or the lack there off. The software used to log the calls is out-dated and needs to be updated to a newer spec, Engineers need the ability to close calls via the web browser as this will save on paper and time and customers (internal users) need to be able to log calls via different mediums email, phone, on the Ethernet.
There's another problem we face with the amount of calls that can be taken at any moment as there is only 2 people on the helpdesk there is a staff shortage as a lot of complaints we get from the company are about the unavailability of people on the helpdesk and that they never come through to log a call via phone call
Service is not as it should be, there is no service feel and the users also give feedback that the service is slack and slow by the helpdesk
When evaluating the ability for our division's readiness for innovation we have done a SWOT analysis and would like to send out a survey to the decision makers within our department
This will be used to determine if we are indeed open to the concept of innovation and if we, as a department, have channels and innovation workshops that will provide a means to compile those ideas and make effective use of them, so that those ideas may be transformed into actual innovative products or processes that may provide the other divisions with great innovative products that will "Wow" our customers, our own staff and our competition.
The Altech Netstar technology division is constantly innovating, to provide great processes, systems and actual tracking units to our sales department for them to resell.
Questionnaire outcome
A sample of 20 individuals within the technology division was required to complete the survey and this was the outcome:
When looking at the graph it would appear that the sample group agrees that the one of the minor influences within the company is that of the cost of an innovation, so clearly there is an opinion that there is enough money spent on trying to innovate.
It is also clear that the sample group believes that the innovations that do make it to market are better than other companies and this show a sense of brand pride.
From the graph you can also see that 6 of the 20 believe that they would not get recognition for the idea that they propose and clearly this is an issue and should be addressed.
Recommendation
When making recommendation I posed the question to those who answered "No" how we would go about turning it into a "Yes"
The recommendations that I would like to make in the regard are as follows:
Create a recognition program that allows for everyone to get recognition for idea's they create.
Actively publish and present the communication channel that ideas should be presented along to the whole company and possibly even clients.
Be less sensitive to critique and listen to ideas for enhancements.
Find ways to make the economy work for you in terms of innovation.
Innovation in the environment
The Role of helpdesk
A service desk designed according to IT initiatives functions as the day-to-day operational interface between the IT department and its users for achieving Altech netstar ITS's goals. The service desk also becomes the focal point for integrating the five disciplines in ITS's service support management processes - incident, problem, configuration, change, and release management. To this end, service desk staff must be able to communicate effectively with users, via a number of different channels, as well as use technology, in order to close the loop on tasks in each of the five disciplines.
Improving service through innovation
The first step in bettering a service desk calls for identifying where you are starting from. Assessment should include a formal review of processes and procedures based on the current and future requirements and resources. These guidelines will include measuring service performance against targets, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and aligning services with customers' requirements. You need to compare similar operations and benchmarks to gauge improvements. Define Helpdesk processes, not just what they are, but how they operate, and what affect and significance each process has to the organization. These definitions will encompass the following:
Daily operational procedures
Incident processes
Request handling and workflows
Incident monitoring and tracking
Escalation and closure
Management information
Call volumes, workload, performance, and trends
The outcome of all this should provide you with a better understanding of user requirements, service level agreements, and the operational level agreements that underpin them.
Select the Right Staff or improving current staff to think of innovation
Altech Netstar place a lot of emphasis on getting the right people from the start or training the staff you already have. A proactive service desk must have a motivated and positive staff. Good staffs become a service desk most precious asset. So I'd say we need to invest more into our staff. This effort might mean recruiting new staff and supporting them with training, tools, and resources to be effective. Soft skills, such as good verbal and written communications, hold as much weight as technical or business with decisions about the service desk. Changing the people to think service knowledge. And to involve the staff always and move the team culture.
Appropriate Technology to fit with the Innovation needs
Using technology appropriate to meet the organizations required service levels. The service desk needs to maintain or have access to a wide range of information and facilities that can be provided to users. Some of this might include reference material, such as the corporate file storage structure, contract documentation, process definitions and scripts, and frequently asked questions. Some material might have been interactive, such as links to message boards, intranet services, and external Web sites. Some material might be designed to coordinate service and change management capabilities. For example, this material might enable the service desk staff to manage problem resolution or enabling to assess, coordinate, and deliver service more effectively to users. Implementing Helpdesk software that is paperless and gives the technicians the access needed to close and give feedback on calls logged on they're name.
System management and service management tools can provide invaluable insight into the performance of the complete technical infrastructure and can even highlight where attention is required to fix emerging problems. With early warning of failure, missed thresholds, and poor performance, a department manager can decide on the most appropriate actions to eliminate the causes.
The following is my own innovation idea that we (me and my team sat down and decided on and implemented)
Helpdesk Workflow
Figure 1.
New technology Selecting process
Our current technology we use on our helpdesk is old and out dated we currently work on a paper based system with the printing of job cards to motivate the new technology I arranged a meeting with everybody involved to get input and find out what we want out of a new helpdesk system ,including features and "nice to haves"
This list was compiled:
Paperless environment (No printing)
Technician access to close calls via web page
Notification of logged calls on technicians cellular phone
Notification to user of call and who is assigned to it
Service level agreement notifications to users
Proper audit trail for auditors
Access for users to log calls on the Ethernet
Dashboard displays with SLA levels and technician work rates
The main ideas out of the meeting was then sent out to numerous suppliers and the feedback from suppliers was compiled into one document that was discussed in the follow up meeting to decide which product meets our requirements.
The products where rated on a pros and cons bases with taking in consideration the price and the capital expenditure of the products.
This table was presented and a final decision was made from a technology point of view.
Suppliers:
Solution 1
Solution 2
Solution 3
Requirements:
Paperless
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Close calls web
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Notification logged calls
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User notification
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SLA notifications
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Audit Trail
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log calls on Ethernet
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Dashboard displays
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Figure 2.
By eliminating the other solution we decided to go with supplier 1's solution as it's got all the features needed by us and will work best in our environment.
The quality of the product also played a major role in our selection process as we want a reliable solution that works and does not give unwanted errors and failures.
"technology is only as reliable as the support beside it ,with a competitive price and features that meet the requirements- that's technology that works for the corporate environment" -anonymous
Capital Expenditure explanation
First step in explaining the reasons for buying the new helpdesk software and hardware are the savings we'll have in the coming future that stand as follows:
Paper cost saving
The cost currently incurred -we use a full ream of paper per week this comes up to 500 sheets of paper with a cost of R102.00
And on the new solution there will be no paper cost; this is a saving of R102.00 per week and a saving of R408.00 per month
And a total saving of R4896.00 per year.
Printing cost saving
The cost currently incurred -we replace the toner cartridge 6 times a year with a price of R809.00 per toner cartridge.
Total yearly saving of R4854.00 per year.
Cellular calls to engineers
The cost currently incurred -we have 6 field technicians that get phoned on a daily basis of round about 4 calls per tech
The price of a call is 99c per minute average call length is 2 minutes this gives us a total of R4752.00 and a total saving of R57024.00 per year.
Time saving
The cost of any user in netstar sitting and being unproductive as his computer or telephone's not working (the cost cannot be predicted as it varies so much from users and positions.
Licensing
With the current helpdesk software we need to buy a yearly license for use at a price of R10234.00, on the new system the purchase is a once off payment of R489000.00 and this includes service and support for 5 years. This means a saving of R10234.00 per year.
To motivate the new helpdesk technology I will present the saving of R77008 per year with an initial layout of R489000.00 that includes sales and service for 5 years. This brings to the table the need for a new revision of the helpdesk and what the environment means to the company and the benefits it holds for netstar to implement the new solution.
A preproduction area will be setup to test the new product on a POC basis, just to see and experience the new helpdesk software and the impact on our current environment.
New Product benefits:
Full integration into the netstar environment
Paperless environment
Web access for users
SMS and Email notifications for technicians and users
Full auditing flow for auditors
Full support for 5 years
Beter SLA's to the company
Call closing by technicians
Current and after (the effects of innovation on my department)
Currently our helpdesk is run as the following flow chart the time taken to do a normal computer repair call is 121 minutes, this is a bad reflection on the service we provide as the physical work only takes 20 minutes.
So I implemented TBPM into this process.
The current process is as follows with times being assigned to each process.
Helpdesk request for service call flow before TBPM implemented:
1) User logs call by phoning helpdesk (2 Minutes)
2) Helpdesk logs call on helpdesk software (15 Minutes)
3) Call is logged and assigned to technician (10 Minutes)
4) Helpdesk prints call and places it on the IT information board (10 Minutes)
5) Technician gets up and checks information board, Takes call and goes to user with the problem (20 Minutes)
6) Technician comes back to office to get stock needed to repair the user's problem (30 Minutes)
7) Technician repairs problem, Technician comes back to office and signs off the call (20 Minutes)
8) Call is closed by Helpdesk on the helpdesk software (5 Minutes)
9) Feedback is sent to user (5 Minutes)
10) Call is closed (4 Minutes)
Total time taken to resolve the problem was 121 minutes.
By implementing TBPM the time line got smaller leaving us with a beter response time and we were able to beter our SLA to business , the changes we made to our helpdesk software made the technology work for us by implementing email and sms notifications to technician made they're response time to calls logged to they're names faster and we also gave the users in netstar the ability to log they're own helpdesk calls on the company's internal Ethernet.
After implementing the TBPM process on the helpdesk call process the time line changed.
Changes made in the process where:
1) User logs call on Ethernet (1 Minutes)
2) Technician receives call notification on email or sms and goes to user to repair problem (15 Minutes)
3) Technician comes back to office to get stock needed to repair the user's problem (30 Minutes)
4) Technician repairs problem, and signs off call via mobile or user logging on the Ethernet (20 Minutes)
5) Helpdesk solution receives call closed and sends feedback to user (1minute)
6) Helpdesk does quality control and feedback to user (5 Minutes)
Total time taken on helpdesk process is 72 minutes.
Conclusion
By implementing TBPM I saved time and by saving time, expanded my maintenance team to perform better and give beter results on our SLA levels to the business.
My research project consists of all my different experience and training I received from da Vince the decision to go with innovation and the readiness of our technology department to innovate derived from the idea that innovation drives new business and better ,faster business and in the process you get the buy in of everybody participating in the innovation process. My research led me to the conclusion that innovation in a company provides the structure to grow with the times with everybody's different attitudes towards business and the business process.
