THE KNOW Spring 2017 | Page 13

IT SERVICE DESK 13 Congratulations to the IT Service Desk team who were finalists at the IT Service and Support Awards T he team was shortlisted for Best Small Service Desk at the awards held by the Service Desk Institute, on Wednesday, March 29th, showcasing Britain’s best service and support desks within the industry. Keele’s team of professional IT Advisors and Assistants are the first point of contact when staff and students need help with various IT services and facilities. Sandra Gillham, IT Service Manager, said: “As a team we thought it would be a good idea to enter the awards this year, because we felt it’s the right time to tell our story about the initiatives we’ve taken on the IT Service Desk. We believe they have benefited our staff and students within the Keele University community who we support.” As part of the award entry the team starred in and created a video to showcase what the IT Service Desk do and how vital their services are to the University. Sandra added: “Getting a bunch of camera- shy IT professionals to make a film has been quite fun. We don’t often take time out of our busy day jobs to look back on what we’ve achieved and this gave the whole team the chance to do this.” Speaking about the team’s successful initiatives Sandra said: “There are two aspects that have been really successful including helping other service departments utilise our ITSM tool to record enquiries, which has in turn helped the IT Service Desk respond to enquiries much quicker, as now we can now pass enquiries on to other service departments without having to pass the person around – making it a far slicker service for our students and staff. “Also employing students to assist with IT queries has certainly enabled us to increase our opening hours and enabled us to provide valuable work experience for our current students – hopefully some becoming IT Service Desk professionals in the future.” In the finals of the Best Small Service Desk category the Keele team were up against NBCUniversal, a leading media and entertainment company, and national law firm Browne Jacobson LLP.