SBS Broadcasting looking for more insight
IT management is more than simply repairing malfunctions. SBS Broadcasting, Europe’s second largest broadcaster, has proved this by implementing its service management application across much of the organisation, creating a bridge between the IT department and the management as a result. Because with 10 European television channels, 53 radio stations in five countries, hundreds of employees, numerous implementations of bespoke work software, a million subscribers and branches in seven countries, efficient service management is of the utmost importance.
In search of insight
To cope with the vast amount of broadcasting, SBS has implemented 200 instances of bespoke work software applications. Remco Kaphorst, head of the Automation department at SBS: “This software is very sensitive and breaks down on a regular basis. We need to be able to effectively manage the average 350 calls that we receive from employees on a weekly basis; simply a notepad and a pen is no longer sufficient. In the past, by the time we had resolved one call, the next one had already presented itself. We were unable to deliver the desired service level to our employees.”
Upon the introduction of the Sarbanes Oxley (SOx) IT Governance legislation, the appeal for more insight into the work of the IT department and the infrastructure was also raised at SBS. Kaphorst, together with his colleague Dannis Noom from Veronica (a commercial television channel in the Netherlands), where the IT help desk supports 120 employees, went in search of a company-wide solution for the registration and management of the calls, which simultaneously contains the functionality to meet the standard.
In the case of Veronica, it is interesting to note that the employees that compile the Veronica Magazine use Macintoshes, whilst the rest use Windows PCs. The help desk at Veronica is therefore set up to specialise in both Macs and Windows. Eight branches of SBS Broadcasting abroad have since followed the example set in the Netherlands by also implementing TOPdesk.
One million subscribers
In addition to managing calls, TOPdesk is for SBS and Veronica also a means to report to the management and acquire more insight into the work of the help desk. At the end of the month, a report of all calls is created. At Veronica an application manager is employed on an almost fulltime basis to manage the subscription software. Noom: “For the management this is difficult to imagine, yet Veronica magazine has a million subscribers and any amendments to these data are kept track of in a separate system. It is important that the support of this application is up to standard.”
Kaphorst and Noom have also drummed the importance of registering all calls into their employees. “TOPdesk is a good means to maintain discipline; otherwise you quickly get bogged down in ad hoc actions. Paperwork is certainly not a favourite pastime of our technical staff, but is still important. To every category of calls we have linked a deadline in the system. This is a good way of getting things done quickly and it helps us to monitor our service level,” tells Kaphorst.
Complete implementation
Veronica has demonstrated the complete implementation of the service management by saving all data of the entire inventory in TOPdesk. To do this a configuration has been made for each room. Noom: “As soon as someone says ‘I want a new PC’, you can immediately check whether the old one has already been written off. We can now see exactly what the oldest machines are and how many of these there are, so that we can adjust our purchasing policy accordingly. It is then much easier to approach a manager with a request.”
The reports in TOPdesk are also used to appeal to suppliers. The registration of many calls for a certain software application is not a good sign and demands further optimisation of the application by the supplier.
SBS is shortly to begin using TOPdesk’s Change management module for a new project. Kaphorst: “We are going to implement a new version of our broadcasting time sales system - an important project for us as wholesaler in tv-seconds. In Change management of TOPdesk you can divide the project into tasks among the various disciplines for internal and external staff, indicate deadlines, and by doing so monitor the progress.”
SBS and Veronica prove that there is more to a service management application than only registering questions and malfunctions. Accurate registration means that trends can be picked up in time and the exact problem can be pointed out. Furthermore reports can help to bridge the gap with management, for example by acquiring insight into the ratio between the work pressure and the number of employees in the IT department.
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