The IT Service & Support Awards take place every Spring in Birmingham, UK to celebrate all that is great about the global IT service industry. These awards are the only one’s of their kind to recognise and reward the shining stars of the global IT service industry; to highlight and showcase those who are going above and beyond to achieve the incredible and offer something truly inspirational for their customers.
Here we interview Mary Langsford, manager of the growing multi-lingual service desk at Babcock International – winners of the Best Large Service Desk Award 2017 – which supports customers mission-critical environments around the world. A highly contested category featuring some truly inspirational service desks, the finalists in this category included Capita Education Services and Virgin Media Business.
What made you decide to enter the awards?
Hot on the heels of our 3 star certification last summer, an entry into the awards seemed the next logical step. Whilst there were multiple reasons for entering, knowing you’re ‘doing it right’ is an incredible boost for the team.
What was the best part of the process for your team?
We regularly feedback to our teams – we tell them and show them how proud of them we are and how well we are performing. To be recognised for their efforts by an industry led external body is the ultimate confirmation of this.
In the last 12 months, what has been the most successful initiative your team has implemented to help your business improve its performance?
Customer service and process improvement initiatives are an everyday part of what we do here but if we had to pick just one I think we could single out our new telephony system which for us, has been a game changer. It’s proving to be flexible and reliable to such an extent, other areas of our business are also adopting its use. Couple this with its Work Flow Management capability which supports us in anticipating call rates which means we can forward plan to ensure we have the right number of analysts in at the right time.
Which aspect of your service do you believe your customers appreciate the most and why?
I think our customers appreciate the friendly, efficient and approachable service we provide. Frustrations at being unable to do your job due to IT issues are appeased by a friendly and concerned voice empathetically helping to ease and fixing the issue in hand allowing them to get on with their day.
What one thing do you think really makes you stand out as a service organisation?
Our flexibility and ‘can do’ attitude. With such incredible growth over a short period of time, we need to be ready for anything heading our way and often at short notice. More and more this additional workload comes from International activities which means we have to be positioned to be flexible and adaptable whilst protecting our BAU service.
How are you preparing to evolve your service desk over the next few years? Please share your most exciting plan with us!
International Growth is high on the agenda for us and the Service Desk has a huge part to play in positioning itself to successfully deliver support for these customers and the additional challenges
What did it mean to your team to win your category this year?
It gave us a very exciting end to a very eventful year. Winning this award provided the team with the impetus and motivation to carry on and do even bigger and better things in the coming financial year.
How can your service desk win an award, just like Babcock International, in 2018?
To enter your team simply take a look at the ‘How To Enter’ web page here. Or why not speak to a member of the SDI awards team? Simply email us at awards@sdi-e.com or call us on 01689 889100.
