Service Desk Reporting

What is a KPI in service desk?

KPIs are key performance indicators. When it comes to service desk KPI reports, these indicators typically relate to customer support and ticket resolution. Service desk reporting and KPIs are an important measurable outcome for determining the failure or success of your customer support system. Tracking the right KPIs can give you the insight you need to improve your service desk performance and to make sure you are creating and meeting service level agreements (SLAs). 

When it comes to customer support, you have your service desk and all the data that comes with it, but how can you consolidate this data to identify what’s working and what isn’t working? SolarWinds Service Desk reporting capabilities allow you to quickly identify areas for continued improvement by using KPIs to provide a deep level of insight into your customer support.

This level of insight helps make it possible to spot trends within your customer support services, identify weaknesses, and find and capitalize on strengths. You can then use those insights to help you make your organization more consistent, cohesive, intelligent, and successful overall.

What are the main KPIs for service desk reporting?

Service desks help ensure customers get the appropriate support they need to resolve their questions, issues, and requests in a timely manner. While there are hundreds of KPIs you can measure and monitor when trying to collect data on your customer support services, a few metrics can give you the key information you need without overwhelming you with information. 

Six KPIs that can give you high visibility into your service desk are:

1. Cost per ticket: This KPI helps measure the efficiency of your customer support processes and agents. It’s calculated by combining your annual expenses for customer support, including agent and managerial or administrative salaries and benefits, both hardware and software tech expenses, telecommunication expenses, and facility costs, then dividing the sum by your annual ticket volume. Given how much information goes into this one metric, it’s a good way to judge your overall service desk performance.
2. Customer satisfaction: To calculate this KPI, you need to send out a feedback form to your customers. Once a significant percentage of customers respond, you can calculate the percentage of respondents who were satisfied with their customer service experience. 
3. Technician utilization: This KPI helps you see how productive your support technicians are. You can calculate it by dividing the overall workload of the service and support team by the individual technician’s work capacity. You need to keep an eye on this KPI because if your technicians are overworked, they’re more likely to leave, leading to high turnover. But if the KPI is too low, then you’ll likely have a high cost per ticket.
4. First touch resolution rate: This KPI shows the percent of tickets that aren’t escalated or reassigned. This is a key driver for customer satisfaction, since the more times customers are transferred from one technician to another, the more frustrated they are likely to become. 
5. First level resolution rate: Many organizations have more than one level to their support and service teams. This metric is determined by calculating the rate at which resolutions occur at a Tier 1 level.
6. Mean time to resolve: This KPI represents the average total cycle time for a ticket. The total cycle time is the time from which a customer enters a ticket to the time when the service and support team closes it. If tickets are resolved quickly, this number will be low.

How can I improve my service desk performance?

One way to improve service desk performance is by using measurable service desk metrics to determine current performance and identify areas where performance can be improved. 

Effectively improving service desk performance begins with engaging in service reporting based around measuring and monitoring the seven key metrics stated above. These metrics can help you identify both the strengths and weaknesses of your customer service and support experience, so you can engage in targeted interventions to improve service desk performance.

More specifically, KPIs can help you improve: 

• Accountability: With clear data tracking how each of the members of your customer support team is performing, your technicians are accountable for their success. This accountability can make your organization stronger and more productive.
• Clarity: The deep insights provided by KPIs can help you see exactly who and what in your customer support system is underperforming, so you know where to direct your optimization efforts. By knowing exactly where to focus your support, training, and motivation, you can improve service desk performance and, in turn, customer satisfaction.
• Loyalty: When it comes to improving service desk performance, loyalty to your organization matters. If your customer support and service staff are motivated, happy, and engaged, they are likely to be more loyal to your organization and provide an exceptional employee service experience. This improved performance can translate into a better service desk experience for customers, which translates into a greater chance of the employee having what they need to get their job done efficiently.

What is SLA reporting?

Service level agreement (SLA) reporting is a means of checking to ensure both parties (and the relevant assets) are upholding contractual expectations around service. The goal of any service desk should be to maintain the maximum possible SLA compliance rate. 

Tracking SLA compliance can help service desks in several ways. This KPI can help you determine whether your promised service levels are realistic and attainable. It can also help you identify which areas of your service desk are working well and which ones need improvement.

Fortunately, if SLA compliance rates are lower than they should be, comprehensive SLA reporting can offer useful metrics to help you improve the rate. SLA reporting can help you improve SLA compliance by:

• Providing guidance to help you set realistic SLAs based both on IT capabilities and business requirements.
• Improving communication around SLAs and the risks of SLA violations.
• Setting rules for necessary escalation.
• Automating the routing and assignment process for tickets. 
• Developing training programs to improve technician performance.

Related features

• Risk Management 
• Problem Management
• Change Management Software
• Configuration Management Database Software
• Release and Deployment Management
• Asset Discovery
• Employee Service Portal