Exploring Atlassian and ITSM

How do you handle your IT service management? In this post, we share our key takeaways on Atlassian and ITSM, as well service desk best practices, from our Dublink 2016 event.

How do you handle your IT service management?

On Tuesday evening, Clearvision hosted Dublink 2016 at the Westbury Hotel in Dublin: an evening of discussion around the Atlassian tools. See the photos from the event on our Facebook page.

dublink

Along with some very delicious canapés, we got a lot of food for thought on the night as well!

Dublink was an evening of discussion around Atlassian, but the prominent theme of the evening was IT Service Management. Atlassian and ITSM go hand in hand.

It’s clear why – just take a look at this infographic from Atlassian. ITSM is under discussion and evolving around the world. In Europe and Australia in particular, the standardised set of IT practices known as ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is considered a “must have”, leading to quality, longer term outcomes, and risk management. 

ITIL

In fact, more than half of organisations are using their service desks outside of IT, which is a key indicator of just how important the right software is in service management. And how are teams adopting these best practices and boosting their service management?

 It’s all in the tools – and JIRA Service Desk is a big favourite

Feedback

We know that customer satisfaction is a top priority for ITSM across the globe – it was also an ongoing theme throughout the talks of the evening.

We also know that customer feedback is essential in achieving higher rates of customer satisfaction. It’s one of the key principles of agile working, which leads to better quality software and more satisfied customers. The Dublink talks highlighted how feedback can come in many ways, shapes and forms.

Kevin Dunne of QASymphony’s talk covered exploratory testing, with a focus on how it not only drives higher quality and improves morale, but also improves customer feedback and communication. Exploratory testing requires more engagement throughout the development process. User acceptance testing and beta testing, for example, are particularly important phases of exploratory testing, and especially relevant when it comes to customer feedback.

In their talk, Nick Coombs and Andy Howells of Sonatype were focused on software supply chains, but there was a similar message to take away. A better supply chain means faster releases and easier maintenance – which means your customer feedback can be incorporated and the resulting release deployed far more rapidly.

A customer who knows you’re listening to them and acting on their feedback is a satisfied customer! And what’s the simplest way for customers to communicate with an organisation in a clear, visible manner? The organisation’s service desk.

Reporting and visibility

The importance of reporting and visibility was another recurring theme. Without visibility across each stage of a project, bug tracking and feedback is difficult to implement, while reporting adds an added layer of visibility to the progress of a project.

This is what Colm Hayden of Service Clarity’s talk focused on: the importance of reporting and the role JIRA Service Desk can play in this. Since it’s highly configurable, it can provide detailed reports on an endless number of operational metrics, for departments from development teams to HR.

Most importantly, it offers measurements that are customer focused. Are customer expectations being met? Are teams prioritising the right issues? With JIRA, it’s quick and easy to answer these questions, and you can be sure your project is heading in the direction your customers need it to.

Digital disruption

Clearvision’s own Paul Renshaw gave a talk on digital disruption, exploring the effects of the Ubers and Tinders of the world and how consumers are embracing a software-oriented world.

Digital disruption has had a huge impact on service management. Customers are used to services on demand, and while so software has a key role to play, it’s vital that this software allows organisations to listen to their customers. This is the key to finding success in a digitally disrupted world.

The talks

If you weren’t able to attend the Dublink evening, want to explore any of the above topics in more detail, or even if you were there but would like a refresh of the talks that took place on the night, the slides are available below.

  • Improve Customer Feedback with Exploratory Testing by Kevin Dunne, VP of Strategy and Business Development at QASymphony
  • Agile Reporting for JIRA by Colm Hayden, CTO at Service Clarity
  • What’s in your software? by Nick Coombs, UK Sales Director, and Any Howells, Solutions Architect at Sonatype
  • Digital Disruption & Love by Paul Renshaw, Head of Sales at Clearvision

If you want to be sure your teams are getting the most out of your service desk, Clearvision offers expert training for JIRA Service Desk. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re part of an experienced team looking to refine your practices, we have courses available for all abilities.

Explore our training offerings here.

Alternatively, get in touch for more information on any of the topics we’ve covered in this post, or check out Clearvision’s upcoming events to make sure you catch the next one in your area!

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