While those of us here in Canada are still feeling drowsy
from the effects of the tryptophan from turkey I began to wonder if the value
of having a VIP queue is like saving a certain bit of turkey for your uncle.
It is likely that if you ask the VIP they may have mixed
reviews on whether they should in fact be on the list. On the other hand they
may not even realize that they are on a list as their executive assistant
handles all things great and small.
First of all, what makes up a VIP? It could be a fairly
subjective thing. It is possible that your team determines anything above a
certain title qualifies. The challenge I pose is are their requests more
important than that of the staff which are in the business performing daily
activities. In some cases you may have a senior leader who would rather not be
on an executive support list and would rather see the support teams focus on
those things which impact the business
So to ask again what makes a VIP? Is it possible to make
it service centric. If we were able to identify services which were of a VIP
nature perhaps we could have those who work with those services defined as VIP
as well.
The challenge is that there needs to be a way to manage
this list as well as the expectations behind it. If you have a system which is
able to tap into people attributes and identify if they have a particular role
whether VP or executive assistant you may be able to keep on top of it. However
if you do not there may be more effort spent on keeping the VIP queue accurate
than if you just focused on providing service equally across the board.
Another consideration is the management of the support as
it must be consistent throughout IT. Just because the service desk is able to identify
a VIP and escalate it to a specific team does not mean that they will action
that request first. It must be understood on what is the expectation for VIP
service much like an internal SLA in essence. If teams are expected to drop
everything to get this request handled it could impact service for the general
staff down the line. In some cases if desk side support is required in person
they may have to re-arrange their day to account for this need at the last
minute which could adversely affect the delivery of service and actually
increase resolution rates for the majority of people because of a small group
of VIP’s
The real question you need to address:
Are the “VIP’s” asking to have this implemented or are we
assuming that they need/want it. At the end of the day we are accountable to
ensuring exceptional service delivery. Does this satisfy that?
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@ryanrogilvie or connect with me on LinkedInLabels: ITIL, ITSM, Request Fulfillment, service desk