Reimagining the IT Service Desk to the Employee Helpdesk

We cause Employee experience we don't create it. It's not done intentionally it's done as an outcome of the technology that we touch. I think the challenge of today's IT services desk is to flip this statement to intentionally cause a positive user experience for employees. 

While scrolling through TikTok, I stumbled upon a clip from "Patch Adams," one of my favorite films. It struck me how the essence of the message, when adapted to the service desk industry, carries profound significance. This recontextualization underscores the transformative power of empathy and personal connection in what is often seen as a purely technical field. Just as "Patch Adams" advocates for healthcare with a human touch, this adaptation champions a service desk experience that goes beyond troubleshooting to genuinely understand and address the human needs behind each query. I believe this approach can redefine the value and impact of service desks, making each interaction not just a problem solved but a moment of genuine human connection. What are your thoughts on this interpretation? 

Until a few days ago, I had not heard of the concept of humanizing IT. While working out in the Gym (My 5-year-old keeps telling me I have a big belly, but denies saying I'm Fat LOL Kids are special) I was listening to one of my favorite Podcasts "The DEX Show" from Nexthink.

Katrina Macdermid and Wesley Eugene  from HIT Global  both were talking about humanizing IT and reimaging the Service Desk to the Help Desk. This resonated with me from what I wrote in my first blog on "The Digital User

The article was " Digital User Experience (DEX) What is it? " I said the following

"An aspect of the user experience that remains undefined yet plays a significant role is the interaction with IT services designed to support users when they encounter problems or have additional requirements. The ease and swiftness with which users' needs are addressed or met also significantly affect their overall experience.

I realized that what I was talking about and thinking was humanizing IT. I found this definition from the Prasna IT website.

"Humanizing IT support is about recognizing that technology exists to serve people and that the experience of using technology can be frustrating or pleasant depending on how support is provided. It's a shift from a purely technical approach to a more holistic view that considers the human aspect of IT services. This approach can lead to improved user satisfaction, more effective problem resolution, and better collaboration between IT and non-IT teams within an organization."

During the Podcast, Wesley Eugene identified 3 core experiences within an organization, "Employee experience, Client Experience, and Delivery Experience"

I thought about these three experiences and did some reading and asked Chat GTP to define and describe each of them in the Context of Digital User Experience and Humanizing IT. What hit me with the description of these three descriptions is that they hit all the points that determine the success and failure of a business. In my experience, businesses break these all up into many categories many departments with no clear communication between them. (HR, Finance, Operations, Sales &Pre-sales, Professional services, etc.)

Employee Experience (EX) encompasses every interaction an employee has with their employer, from the recruitment process through to the end of their employment. In the digital and IT context, this particularly refers to how technology and systems support, engage, and enable employees to do their best work. A positive EX in IT involves providing intuitive, user-friendly tools and platforms, ensuring cybersecurity without overburdening users, and creating a culture where technology innovations are embraced and feedback is actively sought and implemented. This aims to increase satisfaction, productivity, and retention among employees by making their daily tasks as seamless as possible.

Client Experience (CX) is the sum of all interactions between a customer (or client) and a company throughout their business relationship. This includes the digital touchpoints clients encounter, such as websites, mobile apps, and other user interfaces, as well as the quality of service delivered through these channels. In IT, enhancing CX involves designing user-friendly and accessible digital products, providing responsive customer support, and leveraging data analytics to personalize the service and predict client needs. The goal is to delight clients at every step, fostering loyalty and long-term business relationships.

Delivery Experience (DX) focuses on the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of delivering a product or service to the end user, whether they are internal employees or external clients. In IT, this encompasses the methodologies, tools, and practices used to develop, deploy, and maintain digital services and products. Emphasizing DX involves adopting agile development practices, continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, and robust testing and quality assurance processes. The aim is to ensure that software updates and new releases are delivered smoothly, with minimal downtime or disruption, and that they meet the users' needs and expectations.

Technology plays a crucial role in shaping the Employee Experience, with platforms like ControlUp, NexThink, Goliath, 1E, and Liquidware, among others, offering metrics to evaluate and define Employee Experience within organizations. However, these tools often overlook the aspects of Client Experience and Delivery Experience.

Client Experience is determined by how an organization's customers interact through technology or personnel, guided by the company's processes and contracts. These processes are frequently focused on quantitative outcomes, such as whether all tickets were closed within the Service Level Agreement (SLA), the number of service outages, or whether user onboarding targets for migrations were met. Yet, this perspective may neglect the quality of the individual user or employee's experience.

Delivery Experience heavily relies on technological tools and platforms provided by companies like Microsoft, Citrix, VMware, Liquidware, Liquit, Ivanti, Dizzion, and Igel, to name a few. These technologies directly influence both Employee and Client Experience by offering the necessary infrastructure and settings. Furthermore, they equip frontline service desks—the pivotal point of interaction between employees and these technologies -with the means to swiftly and efficiently address employees' issues and needs. Despite their importance, the impact of these technologies on the overall experience of employees is often underappreciated.

In revising this perspective, it's essential to recognize that enhancing Employee Experience goes beyond merely deploying technological tools. It involves a comprehensive approach that includes but is not limited to, understanding and improving Client and Delivery Experiences. By adopting a holistic view that values each experience equally, organizations can ensure that technology not only meets functional requirements but also positively impacts every stakeholder involved, fostering a more engaged, satisfied, and loyal base of employees and clients alike.

A significant factor influencing Employee Experience is the service desk staff. Often, these teams are understaffed and lack adequate training or documentation. This persistent challenge is a battleground for many companies, which contend with the need to expand their customer base and increase revenue before they can justify hiring more personnel.

I believe companies will discover a powerful ally in AI as it becomes integrated into the applications and tools used daily. A recent webinar on Microsoft Copilot for Security provided some compelling discussions on this, highlighting AI's potential as a valuable partner moving forward. With AI assistance, junior members and new hires become less dependent on senior administrators. This demonstrates how, if properly utilized and implemented, AI can significantly empower service desks with the information they need.

Concluding this topic, I encountered a fascinating video. While it's unclear whether the content is real or generated by AI, this ambiguity is not the main concern. The video illustrates AI's potential to engage on a deeply human level. The challenge we face is ensuring that AI-enhanced interactions do not become more humanized than those with actual humans. This will be a significant consideration for the future evolution of service desks into more effective and empathetic help desks.