Email and the Service Desk
The ability to integrate email into the Service Desk is such a useful capability that I wonder how we were ever able to live without it.
When I think back to FootPrints versions 1 and 2, I remember how many customers requested variations on this 'integrated email' theme, some with simple requirements and others with much more complex needs. This business requirement, which essentially allows a customer or agent to create or edit a ticket via email - in addition to the web interface - is just so important.
First, obviously, you want to be able to email a ticket into the Service Desk and be able to receive confirming emails back. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Email integration and management offers so much more, including:
- Correct threading of a response to the corresponding ticket: When you reply to the email confirmation of a ticket, you want your reply to appear in that ticket, not create a new one.
- No duplication of text: You want to cut the text which is repeated out of the update to the ticket, so the same words do not appear over and over, once per email response.
- Ability to update fields: You want to update not only the general description of the incident, but also the ability to update specific fields of the ticket which is created or edited.
- Perform queries: You want email to allow queries of the system. Like 'list my current assignments.'
- Different emails for different people: You probably want to have different rules for what different types of roles (customer versus agent) see in the email messages. So you need to be able to customize emails per role.
- Different emails for different devices: You also want different devices to see different email message text, perhaps based on device size. So a pager or email-enabled phone receives a reduced email template, since the screen is so much smaller.
- Having customizable escalation and change management emails, based on role and escalation or CM rule.
- Allowing files attached to an email to attach to a ticket automatically.
But these featureas and capabilities are also just the tip of the iceberg. Once someone starts using email as a primary access mechanism for the Service Desk, even more functionality is mandated. Just this week, I was reviewing some new features for some upcoming releases, here are some excellent examples:
- "I want to be able to update time worked on a ticket from an incoming email."
- "I want my agent to submit email as if they were the customer they are helping."
- "I want to turn off replies to an agent or customer when they have submitted the issue."
Especially as more and more people in the field need the full capabilities of the Service Desk via email, more and more of the advanced Service Desk function is needed to make email a comprehensive and powerful channel. Thus, functions like escalation, change management, service level agreements (SLA), etc, need to be triggered automatically by email services in the Service Desk.
Every time we review functionality for a new FootPrints release (discussed in my last blog entry) email functionality is near the top of the list: Email integration is so vital that as more and more people adopt for their agents and customers - and especially field force personnel - new features are always near the top of our consciousness. We have always been at the forefront of email management and I look forward to pushing the envelope and making it even more useful and transparent to the Service Desk and everyone who interacts with it.
Write to me at msk@unipress.com with your comments.
Mark