Aton’s Service Desk is not a Help Desk

Let’s start from the beginning… what does Service Desk mean?

The ITIL 4 Glossary defines the service desk as ‘the single point of contact between the service provider and users‘. The Service Desk is the centre where customers can obtain assistance from their IT service provider. Regardless of the type of assistance provided, the objective of a service desk is to offer customers a timely and high-quality service.

To help you identify better with the role, I enclose this reading, which immediately made me think of the approach we have with our customers:

“Instead of accepting the default, we take the initiative to go and look for a potentially better alternative. And that act of initiative, however small, is a reflection of what we do at work”

Sometimes I realise that it is difficult to explain what our work consists of, especially to those who do not yet know us or have not experienced the reality of the Service Desk, or rather, Aton Desk. With this example of dialogue, I would like to convey to you our daily mission and bring you closer to what we are, what we do:

A: What do you do?
B: I work at Aton’s Service Desk.
A: Oh, what’s that? A switchboard?
B: No, it is not a switchboard. We provide all-round multilingual support to clothing, shoe stores, supermarkets. We support sales agents with order picking software, help cashiers and sales staff immediately with problems with receipt issuing or till software, in shop hardware and peripherals, internet connection problems, etc.
A: Oh, you provide support on your customers’ shops! I thought you solved your colleagues’ IT problems, so it’s a Help Desk?
B: No, it is neither a Help Desk. In addition to immediate support over the phone, we study each customer’s software, updating from time to time if procedures or versions change. We provide training services in Italy and abroad! I wouldn’t call it a Help Desk, do you agree?
A: Ahh, well yes, but what a bore to always only answer people who have problems to solve!
B: Well, it is not always and only solving problems. It is also exchanging constructive ideas and aligning with the customer and then taking the initiative to find a solution and get the shop up and running in a short time, it gives you great satisfaction! Don’t you think?
A: What if you can’t solve the problem? What do you do?
B: We work with a super-organised network of dedicated supports with whom we interface to solve specific problems. With escalation and their help, we definitely find the solution!

Each ticket for us is both a small goal to be achieved and a big challenge to solve.

Aton’s Service Desk is: customer care, collaboration with the customer, it is support, listening, understanding, it is understanding urgency, it is building trust, it is care and precision.

Aton’s Service Desk is not a help desk, it is more.