Where Do IT Services Come From?

What is an IT service desk?

The IT service center is intended to be a main point of participation between users and an IT organization. According to ITIL, the service center is the only point of contact (SPOC) between the service provider (IT) and the users for daily activities. A typical service center handles incidents (interruptions) and support requests (regular service activities) as well as managing user communications for things like interruptions and planned service changes. A service center is usually large in size and is designed to provide the user with a single location for all of their IT needs. This leads the service desk to play a key role in facilitating the integration of business processes with the technological ecosystem and a broader service management infrastructure.

Where do IT services come from?

The role of the IT support service was born in the late 1980s as a support capacity for solving IT problems. It was a highly technical feature focused on technology rather than end users. Early computer helpdesks did not have the concept of SLA or time targets for problem solving. It wasn't until ITIL entered the scene in the 1990s, capturing IT service best practices, that the user-centric concept of the IT service table began to emerge. The service center was seen as an essential part of "IT management as a service".

In the mid-1990s, a study by Iain Middleton of Robert Gordon University found that value came not only from a responsive response to user problems, but also from the help desk's unique position for communicating daily with many customers or employees. Information obtained about technical issues, user preferences, and what satisfies users can be useful in planning and developing IT services.

With the release of ITIL v2 in 2001, the Service Desk function and its role in handling incidents and requests has become an important component of IT service operations in many organizations. Over the decade, globalization combined with increasing pressures to reduce IT operating costs have led many organizations to centralize the functions of the IT service center with many external support partners who have hired them. The outsourcing of IT service center functions has led to greater standardization of processes and the growth of the support ticket software market.

Modern technological trends, including cloud services, the widespread use of third-party components in the IT ecosystem and advances in detection and monitoring capabilities have led to the integration of independent support service ticket systems into more complete ITSM platforms that act as an operations center not only for the IT helpdesk, but for the entire IT function. As businesses seek to modernize and move forward with digital transformation initiatives, the IT services office is evolving again to focus more on the business, with greater awareness of business processes and data , becoming in many cases an integral part. business operations of companies.

Read Also : help desk support services