20 Questions for your IT Service Desk Assessment

The IT service desk is one of the few operations that functions across all divisions in an organization. It is a critical asset in any enterprise, especially now that more people than ever are working remotely. As more people start working from home, service desk technicians find themselves more frequently troubleshooting home Wi-Fi networks, training end-users in new remote access best practices, and addressing potential security risks that may not have arisen before. Now more than ever before, it’s important to ensure that your IT service desk is performing properly with a regular assessment.

A regular service desk assessment keeps your IT capabilities and your organizational goals aligned, so you should conduct one as often as any other important organizational review. WBM recommends an assessment at least once every two years, with high-level reviews of your service desk every 3-6 months.

Service Desk Assessment

Here are 20 questions to ask during an IT service desk assessment, divided into four categories. For each question, rate your organization’s ability on a scale of 1 (low) to 5 (high). The total score will highlight where to start improving your service desk operations.

Process Implementation

This category assesses your incident identification, problem and change management procedures, and response processes.

1. Are there formal processes for recording incidents reported to the service desk?
2.  Are there formal processes for problem management and change management reporting and procedures handled by the service desk?
3. Are all processes codified and adhered to by the service desk team?
4. Are processes and practices based on the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) or a similar best-practice framework?
5. Does the service desk follow incident management processes consistently across the full incident lifecycle including opening, tracking, resolving, and feedback?

Organizational Alignment

These questions address the alignment of service desk practices with the organization’s needs.

1. Does the organization understand the service desk’s role?
2. Has the organization defined the service desk’s responsibilities?
3. Is the IT team involved in all IT-related discussions?
4. Is the service desk the primary point of contact for communicating IT information across the organization?
5. Does the service desk measure IT’s performance against meaningful metrics such as those in service level agreements (SLAs)?

Technology Optimization

This category assesses the service desk’s use of automation to report, track, and solve issues.

1. Is there a mechanism for standard, regular incident reporting?
2. Is there reporting capability based on meaningful metrics?
3. Are most repetitive processes automated? Processing incoming tickets, ticket status updates, and productivity analysis are a few examples.
4. Is there a mechanism for logging problems and solutions?
5. Are there self-service tools for common problems like password resets or incident management?

Change Management

How well can your service desk support change and growth for employees across all teams? These questions will help you to find out.

1. Is there a formal process for internal teams and clients to consistently give feedback on service quality?
2. Is there a mechanism for the service desk team to understand organizational and team needs?
3. Is there a mechanism in place for the service desk team to provide status updates, measure SLAs, and gauge customer satisfaction?
4. Is the level of staff turnover on the service desk team high? High turnover = 1
5. Does the service desk team contribute meaningfully to organizational change and growth?

Add up your score to determine your IT service desk status score in the chart below. Does your organization have room for improvement? On which of the five areas outlined above do you need to focus your efforts?

Developing a fully mature service desk strategy is a process that requires time, resources, and strategic planning. The list of questions above is not exhaustive, and we recommend doing a more in-depth analysis to pinpoint in greater detail the specific areas requiring improvement.