Should a service desk be classified as IT? *long read*

Discussion in 'Employment & Jobs' started by ninjadeathcult, Mar 19, 2011.

  1. ninjadeathcult

    ninjadeathcult Bit Poster

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    Hi there,
    Been a long time since I posted here but I really wanted to get some opinions from yourselves as you do seem like a clever bunch :D

    I work on a service desk for a finance company in the UK essentially our role covers a few different things

    * First point of contact for both office and field based colleagues where we will report technical issues and allocate the calls to different resolver groups.
    * Will offer basic troubleshooting advise to colleagues having technical issues (clear temp files, setup outlook etc)
    * Millions upon millions of Password resets and the security checking that goes along with that
    * Service escalation - Raise major incidents to different resolver groups including 3rd party suppliers.
    * We are also a first point of contact for Car dealers who are having any issues using my companys software, and offer technical advise for resolving (temp files (again) , configuring IE, talking through installing our client software, helping dealers configure the software so they can print documents) + another million password resets. also talking dealers through fixes for software issues as well.

    There are a few more bits and pieces but I wont bore you any longer.

    Essentially we are the bottom of the pile in the company IT wise, but I just found out the company does not classify us as IT? which of course means they don't put us into the IT pay grade (which would be about an extra 2-3K pa)

    An interesting thing is that they recently had a look at the roles within the company and decided that an admin department who work closely with us (who create user id's as well as recertifications and re-validations) and who offer no technical guidance at all are now classfied as IT?

    So my question is...Is my job classified as IT? and how would you define a job as IT?


    Thanks for taking the time to read my post any opinions, ideas experience would be helpfull.
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2011
    Certifications: MCP, MCDST
  2. steve_p1981

    steve_p1981 Byte Poster

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    sounds to me like someone in the admin department has a friend in high places, get a job in the admin section and hello pay rise :-) personally i would class your job as IT. Thats the type of role i'm going for as the stuff tech guys do or any other retail repairer seems a: hard to find and b: quite limited in scope for progress. If you feel it's not technical enough for you, you probably have enough experience to go for a 2nd line job, which is more technical.
     
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  3. coolc

    coolc Nibble Poster

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    service desk is I.T of course it deals with technology.
     
  4. ninjadeathcult

    ninjadeathcult Bit Poster

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    Thanks for your reply mate, yes I did actually take this Job as people have gone from this role into a lot of different IT roles within this company, and I actually took a significant pay cut (previously I was an underwritter) in order to to start here and hopefully progress into a proper IT job. It's been 3 years now so I am getting pretty disillusioned with it all and when I found out they dont classify what I do as IT I was kind of bummed out.
     
    Certifications: MCP, MCDST
  5. greenbrucelee
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    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    Service desk is totally IT even if it invloves minor technical problems.
     
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  6. coolc

    coolc Nibble Poster

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    service desk/helpdesk is where alot of good i.t pros started.
     
  7. Kitkatninja
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    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    The following are my opinions only, added to that each company can implement any best practice methodolgy in any way...

    It doesn't have to be, the servicedesk is intended to provide a Single Point of Contact to meet the communication needs of both Users and IT employees (eg logging jobs, updating jobs, informing customers/clients, etc). So technically speaking it doesn't have to be an IT Pro manning it, it could be an admin person, etc...

    However this is where I would class your Servicedesk as IT - as soon as you start dealing with and/or resolving technical issues. Using the info that you've given, I would class your role as a tier 1 support.

    -Ken
     
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  8. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Sounds like IT to me...
     
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  9. onoski

    onoski Terabyte Poster

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    Judging from your brief outlined job descriptions and duties it clearly outlines first line IT support service issues.

    It might help if your company adopts or works in line to ITIL processes as that would give whoever does not classify your work as IT support services an insight:)
     
    Certifications: MCSE: 2003, MCSA: 2003 Messaging, MCP, HNC BIT, ITIL Fdn V3, SDI Fdn, VCP 4 & VCP 5
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  10. ninjadeathcult

    ninjadeathcult Bit Poster

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    Thanks for all your replies...
    To the poster who mentioned ITIL practices yes my work apparently do use those principles but by the sounds of it not for my role.

    It sounds like they they have skipped the tier1 support out of the structure and go from the service desk to tier2 support and have put a lot of the functions of a tier1 support to the service desk.

    I kind of thought this was the case when I started this thread and I am considering challenging this in my workplace if I can find a way do this without putting myself in the bad books and jeopardising my chances to progress in the company.

    If the service desk at my work was to stop giving technical advise to users and just stuck to logging/updating calls and incident management duties it would result in a huge amount of calls being logged to desktop support (Tier 2) and also a lot of calls being raised to the developers (as there is no dedicated application support for the different software)

    I don't really think my work would really like developers who are on 40K+ calling car dealers advising them to delete their temporary internet files for a few hours a day, as well as having to hire more desktop support technicians to deal with the influx of calls that would be allocated to them.

    I have asked for a description of what our duties on the service desk should be but have not got an answer yet
    I am considering joining the union and bring this up as an issue with them.

    I'm really not sure what to do... myself and my colleagues really feel that we are being screwed over but none of my colleagues have really challenged this. And I for one don't like being screwed over especially by a very wealthy large corporation.
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2011
    Certifications: MCP, MCDST
  11. kevicho

    kevicho Gigabyte Poster

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    Agree with whats been said before, any company that uses ITIL as an outline for its procedures and processes will instantly recognise the term service desk as basically a step up from a traditional helpdesk, so if this is CV related then your job title IT Service Desk would be accepted as at bare minimum incident logging and dealing with minor changes (such as password resets as you have already stated you do :) )

    Might be worth looking at ITIL foundation if you are looking at certification and want to know more about this terminology and how things work from a more managerial/process perspective.
     
    Certifications: A+, Net+, MCSA Server 2003, 2008, Windows XP & 7 , ITIL V3 Foundation
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  12. kevicho

    kevicho Gigabyte Poster

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    Just seen your latest post

    ITIL is not a definitive how to, its a library of best practices that can help management define how to set up your processes and procedures, one main aim is to make (for want of a better word) your better employees more productive in the areas you want them to be, so to shield them from minor incidents in this way is common, so yes it sounds as though this area has been overlooked.

    At work we have a call logger who deals with issues that can be resolved quickly, a tier 2 support which are the technicians who try to resolve the incident, then a problem management tier, which is pinpointing root causes and trying to resolve them, also this deals with issues the tier 2 support couldnt resolve.

    This design is due to staff numbers basically, larger companies may do things differently.
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2011
    Certifications: A+, Net+, MCSA Server 2003, 2008, Windows XP & 7 , ITIL V3 Foundation
    WIP: CCNA Renewal
  13. ninjadeathcult

    ninjadeathcult Bit Poster

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    tell me about it! I have a lot of respect for the admin girls as they do a lot of work but 80% of their day is creating user id's which is a very easy (and boring job) and something which was taught to us on the service desk when they were short staffed so we could help them out. If took me about 15 minutes to learn how to do their job, but it took me a couple of years to become knowledgeable about all the duties I have on the service desk, and yet the admin girls are considered "IT" with a fairly significant higher pay than myself.

    So essentially if I want a promotion in my workplace I could get a job creating user id's (something which took me 15 min how to learn) ...madness :ohmy
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2011
    Certifications: MCP, MCDST
  14. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    It is madness. To be honest it looks like the politics of the company you are working for seem to be the problem here.
     
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  15. steve_p1981

    steve_p1981 Byte Poster

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    i have a virtual server on my pc with server 2003 on and i figured out myself how to install AD and set up user accounts. i find hard to believe that some one thinks that's more technical than even basic user support. you should show this thread to you manager next time you have an appraisal.
     
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    WIP: none at current but poss 70-680 soon
  16. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Not sure what you are getting at here mate? :blink
     
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  17. steve_p1981

    steve_p1981 Byte Poster

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    my point is if i can do something that his work regards as technical with no training in that part of IT then the stuff he does will probably blow their minds. It doesn't take rocket science to make an account but do diagnose faults quickly is a skill no matter what level you're at.
     
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  18. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    True. But there is always someone who deletes a group in AD which causes major problems. :biggrin

    I regard to the desktop troubleshooting I get what you are saying, some peeps just can't follow any logic to troubleshoot a problem but can follow documented steps to create a user account.
     
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  19. jonsey

    jonsey New Member

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    yes it should.

    i work at a service desk which, though the 1st tier is very dumed down from what it was 3 years ago (to the point you can hire IT illeterates and they will be competant after 6 weeks) still requires a technical knowledge above creating usernames

    i take is you have more service desk agents than administrators? and is your service desk considered more customer service? sounds like a nice way for the company to save ££££
     
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  20. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Yes, what you do on the service desk at your place would most definitely be considered a level 1, IT role in most companies. Although, having said that.. How your company defines specific roles, is entirely up to them :rolleyes:
     
    Certifications: C&G Electronics - MCSA (W2K) MCSE (W2K)

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