topdesk magazine 2008 issue 3

7/29/2019 TOPdesk Magazine 2008 Issue 3

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October 2008, Issue 3, Volume 10

Looking Towards the Future of Development / TOPdesk on Tour Report /

SaaS Security / TOPdesk on the Go / Trends

New GenerationSoftware


2/202

New software

If you want to start using a new piece of software, you mostlikely nd yourself a CD and click setup.exe. You wait for a bit,

restart your computer and youre ready to go. This is, however,

only one of the possibilities. In the past few years, other ways

of using software have presented themselves.

For instance, you do not always have to locally install

software to be able to use it. In some cases, the application

is installed on a central server in the organization and is

then accessible from your PC, laptop or PDA. Its web-based

software, and all you need in order to work with it is abrowser and login data. In addition, the amount of online

software and number of SaaS services are growing. With SaaS,

you not only outsource the installation of the software, but

also its maintenance.

This relatively new form of software inuences the way in

which software is developed and marketed. Functionalities

that are common in a windows environment turn out to

be difcult to programme in a web interface. One example

of this is the right-click menu. Security also plays a big role,especially for SaaS services. If you entrust your condential

information to a third party, it is all the more important that

these data are secure.

This edition of TOPdesk Magazine explores the possibilities,

challenges and risks associated with the new generation of

software. What should you look for when choosing a SaaS

provider? What is the latest in the world of SOA? In addition,

we reveal how the development department at TOPdesk

combines the possibilities of web-based software with thefunctionalities of a windows interface and how they use

mangos to make it all happen.

Enjoy!

Niek Steenhuis

TOPdesk Magazine, a service management

platform, discusses subjects that are topical in the

world of professional service desks in IT, facilities

and other service providing organizations.

TOPdesk Magazine is intended for managers,

service desks employees, facilities organizations

and electronic city councils - anyone who is

involved with supporting customers on a dailybasis. This concerns both the processes and the

technology behind these services.

Want to comment? Go to

www.topdeskmagazine.com

COLOPHON

TOPdesk Magazine is a TOPdesk publication

tel: +31 15 270 09 00

email: [email protected].

Editorial board Amanda Dirkse, Niek Steenhuis

EditorsMartin Beijering, Carrie Brandt, Rianne vanDijk, Fred Epe, Miriam de Hoogh, Johanna Kirn,

Henrieke Korten

Translators Carrie Brandt, Clare Donald, Fred Epe,

Niek Steenhuis

Lay-outCathy van den Berg, Louise van der Laak

Website Erik Pols, Glen Young

This magazine is printed on FSC-certifed paper,

using an eco press with cadmium-free ink for all

colours and distilled water instead of alcohol.


3/20

4 News

6 Looking Towards the Future of

Development

10 TOPdesk on Tour

13 TOPdesk on the Go: PDA Module and

Barcode Scanner

14 SaaS Security

16 Service Management for

Citizen Support

18 Trends: Cuil Developments in Software

20 Tips + Tricks

10

ContentsOctober 08

14

13

6


4/204 NEWS

TOPdesk expands services package

TOPdesk plays a critical role in the business processes of

an increasing number of organizations; therefore, it is of

utmost importance to guarantee the continuity of the

software. In reponse to this, TOPdesk has extended its

services package with the following services:

Emergency support;

Onsite Application management;

Extended help desk opening times (per week).

If you would like more information on these services, pleas

contact TOPdesk UK on +44 20 8846 8516 or at info@

topdesk.com or TOPdesk Deutschland on +49 631 624 00-0

or at [email protected].

TOPdesk Consultancy clients areofcially satised customers

Research from the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands

has revealed that the majority of TOPdesk clients are

satised to very satised with their experiences with

TOPdesk Consultancy. The combination of quality, reliability

and expertise demonstrated by TOPdesk consultants

prompted this positive evaluation.

The researchers surveyed 250 clients of TOPdesk

Consultancy. Consultancy services focus on improving

service management processes and implementing the

TOPdesk application.

This is a big compliment for our Consultancy department,

comments Sander Jerphanion, Head of Services at

TOPdesk. We think it is important that a consultant not

just implements a technical tool, but assists the client in

optimizing his or her work processes in a no-nonsense

manner. It is great to see that the client recognizes and

appreciates this.

Upcoming Shows

This year, the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF) event

will take place from Monday 10 November to Wednesday

12 November at the Birmingham Hilton Metropole, in the

United Kingdom. This three-day event offers a wide variety

of service management knowledge to suit all levels. Titled

Driving Real Value, this years programme will be jam-packed

with seminars, workshops and interactive sessions. TOPdesk

will be exhibiting on all three days at stand P12. Drop by to

make acquaintance or get answers to all those questions

youve been dying to ask.

For more information on the show, please visit http://www.

itsmf.co.uk or email a member of staff from TOPdesk UK at

[email protected].

From Tuesday 21 to Friday 24 October, TOPdesk will be

attending the Systems fair the leading Business-to-

Business trade show for IT, Media and Communications a

the New Munich Trade Fair Centre in Munich, Germany. Thi

years motto is Ideas for better business, and exhibitors wi

be attending from across Europe as well as further aeld.

Five staff members will be representing TOPdesk at the fair

on all four days. Visit us at stand 530 in hall A2 with all you

queries or just to say hello. For more information on the fai

please visit: http://systems.de/link/en/19137019 or email a

member of staff from TOPdesk Deutschland at

[email protected].

News


5/20NEWS

Column: Facilities

In a short time, TOPdesk has grown from being

just an IT service provider to a major player in the

facilities market. Entering into the facilities market

from IT may seem like an illogical step, and manyclients have asked us how and why we have done so

Account Manager Martin Beijering explains why for

TOPdesk, it was a very logical step.

TOPdesk has been established on the facilities mark

for a long time. The processes involved in providing

IT and facilities services are, for the most part, the

same; therefore, TOPdesk can also be an excellent

tool for facilities. Development and sales progressed

rapidly in 2006 and, consequently, a separate

Facilities sales team was created. This enabled us

to gather our facilities knowledge and experiences

into one place, and provided TOPdesk employees

who have an interest in facilities management with

an opportunity to focus on the facilities sector. For

instance, I have an architectural background from

the Technical University in Delft and have always

been interested in facilities management and the

construction industry: as a researcher for Rabobank,

as a freelance designer and as an assistant project

leader in Cambodia. Joining the Facilities team was

therefore an ideal way for me to apply the things

that I have learnt.

The Facilities team also has many benets forclients: our specialized knowledge helps us to better

address client concerns. There is a growing demand

among clients for one application that can be used i

multiple departments, in order to ensure a clear and

simple way of working and providing information.

To make that a reality for our clients, we work closel

with the Facilities team of TOPdesk consultants

and the developers. From product design to

implementation, we do our best to serve the facilitie

sector.

And it works. TOPdesk is not just seen as being good

enough for facilities, but as a complete service

management package that is widely applicable. At a

recent help desk show, we spoke with a client about

TOPdesks facilities possibilities. Afterwards he asked

us, And can we also support our IT department with

TOPdesk? Well, that is a sign that were doing a goo

job.

Martin Beijering is an Account Manager for the

Facilities team at TOPdesk.

TOPdesk employee joins SaaS expertpanel at Computable magazine

Xander Orth, Account Manager and Press Ofcer at TOPdesk,

has joined the SaaS expert panel at Computable magazine.

The creation of a SaaS expert panel stemmed from the

desire to pioneer a new SaaS discussion. Although thisservice is gaining popularity across Europe, there are still

many questions on the subject. What exactly does SaaS

involve? Is it really safe? What does the future hold for SaaS?

By publishing articles and responses thereto, the SaaS expert

panel is fuelling the SaaS discussion and attempting to nd

answers to these questions.

In 2007, Xander Orth, on behalf of TOPdesk, conducted

research into the need for a SaaS service management

tool in SMEs (small and medium enterprises). His research

revealed that SMEs are not yet entirely sold on the SaaS

idea. While most SMEs view SaaS in a positive light, they

are reluctant to actually purchase a SaaS service. As an

Account Manager, Orth currently plays an advising role in

the marketing strategy of the SaaS product from TOPdesk:

TOPdesk as a Service.

TOPdesk employee takes homeOlympic gold

At the Olympic Games in Beijing, Manon van Rooijen, a

TOPdesk help desk employee, won a gold medal with

her swimming relay team. She and her team beat the

United States and Australia, who won silver and bronzeconsecutively, in the Womens 4x100m Freestyle Relay. With

a time of 3:33.76, the Dutch girls beat the Olympic record.

During the 4 x 100 metre freestyle heat, Van Rooijen swam

with her team to place themselves in the nal.

Upcoming Shows

8 - 10 October HIT@HealthCare Brussels, Belgium

21 - 24 October Systems Munich, Germany

27 - 28 October ITSMF Jaarcongres Nijkerk, Netherlands

10 - 12 November ITSMF Conference Birmingham, UK

12 - 13 November Tooling Event Utrecht, Netherlands

14 - 17 January BETT Show London, UK

4 - 5 Feburary Legal IT Forum To be announced


6/206 THEME

Roel: To answer your rstquestion: after 15 years of

software development, we have

landed in the fourth generation of

TOPdesk software an extensive

web application with a very

advanced and user-friendly

interface.

the ease of a self service desk intoa desirable step in the direction

of attaining better service

management. In 2005, TOPdesk

Enterprise 4, the rst TOPdesk

version to be entirely web-based,

was released on the market.

The product was released as our

agship, for those clients who

The development of theTOPdesk web interfaceSince 1999, a web interface

has been available for the

windows applications of

TOPdesk Operational 2, TOPdesk

Professional 3 and lite. During this

period, internet use in the business

world increased rapidly, turning

How far has 15 years of development brought TOPdesk software? How is TOPdesk

involved in developing software geared towards the future? We spoke to Roel Spilker,

one of the senior software developers at TOPdesk, to nd out. His job is to research the

technical possibilities of TOPdesk and keep up to date with market trends. He and his

colleagues are responsible for planning the next steps in the development of TOPdesk

software.

TEXT:AMANDA DIRKSE

Looking Towards the Future of

Development


7/20THEME

wished to work with an MS SQL or

Oracle database and in particular

need to be able to support a large

numbers of callers.

Roel: In 1999, the step towards

an entirely web-based application

was still a very distant dream

for TOPdesk; however, we

certainly had the future in

mind when developing the

software. There were many extra

requirements, ideas and dreams

for the development of the next

generation of software, the web-

based application TOPdesk 4.

User-friendliness, however, has

always remained a top priority. We

want everyone to be able to work

with TOPdesk software, without

having to install additional

programmes or be confronted with

unnecessary costs. Thats what

we mean by service management

simplied. The development of

TOPdesk 4 then also involved a

signicant investment in time for

research and development. Many

functionalities that are typical of a

traditional windows environment

were not available in a standard

web application for a long time.

However, we did not want that to

be an excuse for a poor interface.

We have therefore paid a lot of

attention to the design of the

interface. And although we

are continually working on the

improvement of the interface and

from a technical point of view there

is still a lot more possible we are

very satised with the result.

Roel: Alongside user-friendliness,

the idea of the standard application

is of great importance for our

development strategy. We believe

that the same problems are evident

A Person card in TOPdesk Enterprise 4.0.9 (left) and 4.1 (right). In the 4.1 version, an entire module with cards that were

made with Mango was available for the rst time. All cards in the Supporting les module (Person, User, Operator, etc.)

have been ported to Mango.

Cards in Mango function more dynamically, bringing many advantages:

When browsing through cards, the card itself does not refresh, only the values in the card do. This means that cards can

load more quickly and the image on the screen is easier on the eye.

You can edit an open card directly; you dont need to rst click the Edit button in order to change details on a card.

When lling in a card, it is immediately obvious which elds are mandatory or contain an invalid value. These elds will

turn red in a Mango card.

User-friendliness has always remained

a top priority.


8/208 THEME

in many business processes and

that by developing one good

application numerous companies

can optimize their service processes.

This in turn makes TOPdesksoftware a very affordable or

possibly even cheap application.

We can guarantee our clients that

the software is stable and functions

as it should. Finally, we can release

updates on a regular basis meaning

that our clients will always have the

newest functionalities and technical

improvements.

TOPdesk and MangoFor several years now, TOPdesks

development team has been

working on its own framework,

Mango, in which to build TOPdesk

software. Roel: We made this

decision with the future in mind

it didnt simply appear out ofthe blue. We were involved with

a number of problems and had

many ambitions, which could not

be resolved or achieved with the

working procedures that we had

at the time. Web browsers were

the main problem as every browser

interprets and displays HTML

differently. What is considered

necessary code in one browser

cannot be read in another.

Nowadays, everything can be

programmed; however, this has

two very signicant disadvantages.

First, developers need to spend

a large amount of time learning

the dialects of browsers, which

also slows down the development

of the software. The second

disadvantage extends from

this because the chance that a

developer makes an error in the

code with these various dialects

is much greater than when heor she can focus entirely on one

programming language.

These factors combined were the

reason why we decided to begin

developing Mango four years ago.

After a long period, during which

we had to develop the framework

ourselves, weve reached the

point where we can create new

and existing cards in Mango.

Mango not only eliminates the

disadvantages for our developers,

but helps us to deliver solid and

reliable software to the client. Our

developers programme all cards

in Mango in the same way. In

small and quick steps, we delivermodules and functionalities so

that the client can directly prot

from the improvements and will

receive a much more dynamic

application. One signicant

improvement is, for example, the

ability to validate elds in cards in

less time. In the past, the user had

to save the card in order to check

whether all elds had been lled in

correctly. When entering data in a

Mango card you can immediatelysee which data are still missing

or are incorrect, without having

to rst save the card. This enables

people to work much faster.

Web browsers and webapplicationsThe development department is

keeping close track of the newest

developments in the world of web

browsers and web applications.

Roel: Increasingly, frameworks

are being introduced, whichenable us to incorporate deluxe

functions in browsers such as

Flash, Flex, Air, Google web toolkit

and Google Gears. These allow

you to submit more than just links

and forms; you can adjust tabs,

right-click menus and pages by

entering different values. Such

developments in the area of web

applications are also often referred

to as Rich Internet Applications

(RIA). TOPdesk Enterprise has been

able to do this for years now, but

not until recently was it known as

RIA.

Another trend is Prism, which

is a spin-off of Firefox. Roel:Prism enables you to use a web

application when not online. The

recently released Google browser,

Chrome, works along the same

lines. As a result the application

that you use within these browsers

resembles more closely a windows

application than a web application,

whereby users dont become

confused by the possibilities and

impracticalities of web browsers.

Nowadays, much more is possiblewithin web applications than a

few years ago. Many users do not

expect, for example, that useful

right-click menus are available

and will therefore not use them

intuitively. This is a real shame and

goes at the expense of the user-

friendliness of an application. It is

A web application should not be an excuse

for a poor interface.


9/20

interesting for us to experiment

with these sorts of tools because

we can then capitalize on the

intuitive expectations of the user.

The futureThe most important objective

for TOPdesk is to improve the

support of service processes for

organizations increasingly with

our software. Mango has now laid

the foundations on which we will

continue to build our software.

The challenge of software

development in the Netherlands

is not always in the technology

itself but also in nding suitable

developers. Roel: We are very

careful when selecting new

colleagues. The inow of new

developers is limited; however,

that is most likely not the result

of the work atmosphere. A survey

of companies in the Netherlands

in 2007 by Intermediair Magazine

revealed that TOPdesk is an

excellent employer, and we even

achieved the highest score for thecategory: enjoyment at work.

However, many other Dutch

organizations also seem to be

having trouble nding suitable

developers. Roel: Although we are

primarily involved in expanding

our team in Delft, we are also

looking towards developers

from other countries. The

internationalization of TOPdesk is

enabling us to set up development

teams abroad. On the German

market, for example, an increasing

number of qualied developers

are looking for a job. In our

German ofce in Kaiserslautern,

a development team of eight has

been hard at work for the last year.

The expansion of the development

team is certainly helping us to

attain results. Alongside this, we

are also looking towards Central

Europe.

So, what else can we expect from

the technology in the future? Roel:

In the coming years there will be

more than enough opportunities

to make the web applications even

more advanced and we will try

to take full advantage of these.

However, there may come a time

when web browsers are no longer

adequate for the requirements

that are set for applications. If

and when that time comes, we

will, thanks to Mango, be able to

develop cards for either native

windows or traditional non web

applications.

THEME


10/2010 TOPDESK

TEXT:HENRIEKE KORTEN

Co-organizer Kirsten Crown

explains the origin of the

TOPdesk on Tour idea: In 2006,we organized a symposium in

Rotterdam. Days like these give

us the opportunity to show new

functionalities and the benet

they can be to our customers. We

want to organize a symposium

every eighteen months, but

in 2007 we chose a different

approach. Although the symposium

was rather large-scale, we wanted

to operate at a more regional level.TOPdesk on Tour was the ideal

solution. 250 people attended the

rst TOPdesk on Tour, which was

spread over several days.

Kirsten: Because of the success

in 2007, TOPdesk on Tour was

organized for a second time.

However, we went about a few

things differently than before. For

instance, every day was given atheme and we also organized an

exclusive day with guest speakers.

TOPdesk employees presented

the latest trends in the eld of

service and facilities management

and explained the implications

of these for businesses. Each

speaker also presented examples

TOPdesk on TourMeeting Customers throughout the Netherlands

From 27 May to 19 June, TOPdesk travelled throughout the Netherlands with TOPdesk on

Tour. Approximately 450 customers and visitors attended one of the afternoon sessions,and 75 people visited the facilities-themed TOPdesk on Tour in Amersfoort, making this

the most popular day of the tour. In contrast to the rst TOPdesk on Tour, there was also

a special day in Rotterdam, which included presentations from external experts.


11/20TOPDESK 1

Knowledge base is set-up and how

the procedures have been drawn

up.

Kirsten: This year we introduced aspecial TOPdesk on Tour day, which

included nine presentations from

guest speakers within the four

themes: Business IT Alignment,

Compliancy, Management sourcing

and Organizational design of the

service.

One of the most valued

presentations was from Glenn

Timmins of Smurt Kappa Group.

Under the theme Compliancyhe explained how Change

management has helped his

organization to comply with

the strict requirements of the

Sarbanes Oxley Act. Using very

clear examples, he shared a

number of useful experiences with

the audience.

Another popular presentation

concerned Management sourcing.

Frank Willems of Twijnstra Gudde

explained the changing role of

the IT organization and how achange approach helps to control

management sourcing. Kirsten:

The exclusive day was a rst and I

am very pleased with the outcome.

The speakers were denitely the

crme de la crme of their eld and

discussed very important themes.

The subjects were unrelated to

TOPdesk, so for us it was also a

surprise as to how it would turn

out.

The days concluded with network

groups. These discussion groups

offered visitors the opportunity

to exchange ideas on the theme

of the day and share experiences

from the eld. Kirsten: We

deliberately chose not to assign

themes or participants to a group.

on how TOPdesk can be used to

achieve these. Presentations on

ITIL3, Conguration management

and practical experience from

customers were the most well-received. All presentations can be

found on the TOPdesk Extranet.

The presentation TOPdesk in

practice discussed two customer

cases. Sabrina de Baets of NIBC

Bank explained the importance

of Change management and its

set-up in TOPdesk. In 2006, after a

negative outcome of an audit on

the use of Change management,

she made every effort to betterorganize and utilize the module.

During her presentation, she

gave an account of the success of

her efforts. In addition, Evert de

Rijke of the District Water Board

explained how knowledge is

secured using the Knowledge base

in TOPdesk. He described how the

Kirsten Crown opens TOPdesk on Tour in Haarlem


12/2012 TOPDESK

However, the survey that was sent

to all visitors revealed that some

customers did feel the need to sit

down with clients from similar

organizations. Therefore we willlook into other organizational

possibilities at the next TOPdesk

on Tour.

Individual discussions with clientsalso provided input. Kirsten:

I have spoken to a number of

customers whose companies use

Professional and they expected

that most of the presentations

would be regarding this version

of TOPdesk. This was not the case,

however. The Enterprise version is

our nest product and allows us

to show the latest developments

and possibilities. Professionalis still very important to us,

but it is simply less suitable for

presentations on the latest trends.

Next year, Kirsten and hercolleagues will organize another

symposium, followed by a TOPdesk

on Tour in 2010. Kirsten: Just like

this year, we will assign themes to

each day as this worked out very

well. I expect the TOPdesk on Tour

to grow even more. Its a great

opportunity for us to inform our

customers of new possibilities and

tips for their modules. And for us

it is a good way of getting to knowour customers and their needs.

TOPdesk Consultant Ard van Spelde discusses Enterprise with two visitors during TOPdesk on Tour

The exclusive day was a frst and I am very

pleased with its outcome.


13/20MODULE IN THE SPOTLIGHT 1

Despite their job title, many service

desk employees do not necessarily

sit behind a desk all day. Their work

often requires them to visit clients

on location. And this is certainly the

case for eld technicians. Withoutmobile access to their service desk

applications, employees have to do

double the work: they rst need

to manually record all necessary

information while on location, and

then again in the actual application

once they have returned to their

computers. Providing employees

on the go with mobile software

will save them time and enable

them to focus on other tasks. This

will increase the efciency of your

service desk. Mobile software

is also the ideal solution for

managers who travel frequently,

but still want to monitor the

activities of their employees.

The TOPdesk PDA module enables

your employees to register callswirelessly while on location. The

incident is entered immediately

into the TOPdesk database,

thereby keeping the database

completely up to date for all

service desk employees. You can

also use the PDA module to view

conguration items.

And to make it easier for your

eld technicians to quickly scan

conguration data on location,TOPdesks barcode scanner

solution is very handy. The barcode

solution allows employees to scan

various objects, locations and

assets in your organization using

barcode scanners. The data can

then be entered into TOPdesk and

analyzed further in the form of

reports. You can also create and

print barcode labels with TOPdesk.

Like the PDA module, the barcode

solution is an ideal way to increase

the efciency of your department,

thereby saving your organization

valuable time and money.

TOPdesk on the Go:

PDA Module and Barcode ScannerThe days of being tied to your ofce so that you can access software on your computer

are over. The new generation of software is providing us with increasingly more ways to

mobilize ourselves. These days, you can access most software from just about anywhere

in the world via your laptop, PDA or mobile phone. TOPdesk is certainly no exception.

TEXT: CARRIE BRANDT


14/2014 THEME

stored in different geographical

locations. A number of providers

employ underground back-up

data centres or store back-ups at

locations that are hundreds of

kilometres apart in order to protect

data from natural disasters or other

calamities. Legislation regardingdata protection must be veried

if a provider is located outside of

the EU. Regardless of a providers

location, the client must remain the

owner of the data after the contract

expires. In some cases, outsourcing

security to experts can become a

positive side effect of acquiring a

SaaS service, especially for small

companies that do not have large

automation departments.

A suppliers reliability is also largely

determined by the availability of

the service. As a rule, providers will

only guarantee the availability of

the software and not a working

internet connection. This needs

to be taken into account when

establishing a service level

In order to develop a clear picture

of a provider and to make a

well-considered choice, we have

divided the criteria into three

categories: the integrity of the

provider, the security of the data

and the availability of the service

as guaranteed by the provider.

Crucial business data belong in

trustworthy hands. In any case,

these data should not end up

just anywhere. Not only does the

method of handling sensitive

information need to be taken

into consideration, but also the

continuity of the SaaS service.

The continuity is determined

by the future outlook of the

provider. SaaS software is notsomething you purchase for just

a couple of months; you need a

business partner that will not

go bankrupt in a years time.

General information can provide

indications of a providers integrity.

Aspects to consider include the

experience a provider has in the

SaaS arena and its client portfolio

preferably one with clients

similar to your own organization.

Financial information, such as a

providers annual returns and its

predicted growth as a business can

also be of help.

Besides a providers integrity, the

security measures that a provider

follows must also be investigated.

The SaaS provider must clarify,

in detail, its security strategy to

protect data from unauthorized

persons as well as in the event of

natural disasters. However, the

information about these measures

must not be publicly accessible, for

example, on the internet, in order

to prevent it from being misused.Besides the risk of damage to or

loss of hardware, there is also a

chance that the software is lost

due to viruses, malware and other

external causes. To reduce the risk

of data leakage (the loss of les) as

much as possible, back-ups of the

data must be frequently made and

SaaS Software as a Service is a growing offshoot in the world of web

applications. This form of service, in which software is, in a sense, leased out,

means that clients do not only entrust their application to external parties, but

also their data. It is therefore necessary to choose a supplier that is trustworthy

and reliable. How, then, do you make an informed decision when selecting a SaaS

provider?

SaaS Security: Criteria for Selecting

a Provider

TEXT:JOHANNA KIRN & XANDER ORTH


15/20THEME1

agreement (SLA) for availability.

In the SLA, it is advisable to strive

for availability for 99% of the

month, as opposed to 99% of the

year, as establishing an SLA basedon availability for an entire year

could involve a lengthy downtime

period, which the provider could

then claim as part of the allowed

downtime, without exceeding the

1% allowance.

If you take these criteria into

account when selecting a SaaS

provider, then there are no security

or reliability reasons not to

purchase SaaS services. You can ndadditional information about SaaS

in general in the SaaS edition of

TOPdesk Magazine (October 2007)

at: www.topdeskmagazine.com.

TOPdesk also provides a SaaS service: TOPdesk as a Service. At

TOPdesk, we are thoroughly aware of the risks associated with an

online application and for this reason have invested a lot of time

and energy into ensuring that TOPdesk as a Service is as secure

as possible. We use SSL certication, which is also used by banks

for internet banking, to ensure data integrity, encryption and

authentication. The Dell servers are also continuously creating

back-ups. Should something happen to the productivity of one

environment, then a back-up system will immediately take over.Finally, the data centres also support the security of SaaS services.

These centres are located in Haarlem, the Netherlands (Evoswitch)

and Schiphol-Rijk, the Netherlands (Easynet). By investing in the

latest re safety, cooling and anti-theft technologies, we have

taken every precaution to ensure that TOPdesk as a Service is as

safe and secure as possible. You can nd more information at

www.topdesk.com/saas.


16/2016 TOPDESK

Lack of communicationCommunication within

governmental organizations is

a complex process. Due to the

large diversity of incoming calls,

many different departments

are needed to process the calls

prociently. For example, an

application for a passport requires

different expertise than does a

complaint about a fallen tree.

Each department is specialized

and has, therefore, a distinctset of rules and communication

procedures. Some departments

receive requests and comments by

telephone, while others deal with

letters. Furthermore, the various

departments are often separated

physically from each other. All

these different aspects mean that

effective communication betweendepartments is vital. TOPdesk

consultants have noticed that

internal communication within

governmental organizations is

often lacking or ineffective. This

in turn leads to a situation where

departments become isolated

from one another and employees

are not kept up to date on what is

happening in other departments.

One TOPdesk consultant came faceto face with an example of this

situation at a local council. After

TOPdesk had been implemented

in the Citizen Affairs department,

it came to light that the software

had already been installed

within the same local council.

The Environmental Management

department, to which most CitizenAffairs calls are forwarded, was

using the same application with

a nearly identical set-up. All calls

were being recorded and processed

twice in different versions of

the same system. Call resolution

therefore took longer than was

necessary and both the status and

the person responsible for the

call in the other department were

unclear.

Information sourcesBesides communication issues,

the multitude of information

sources creates a challenge.

Detailed information is needed for

the registration and processing

of incoming calls. Citizens must

be identied by name, while

Service Management for

Citizen SupportTo improve customer service, many governmental agencies

are looking to digitalize their services and procedures.

TOPdesk consultants have noticed this trend as a result

of the growing number of government agencies that are

using TOPdesk software to support their citizens. While

the desire to digitalize citizen support services exists,

the reality is that many are resistant to the change.

Communication problems, a plethora of information

sources and a paper-dependent corporate culture ensure

that the implementation of a digital tool does not always

produce the desired results.

TEXT:MIRIAM DE HOOGH


17/20TOPDESK 1

addresses need to be complete

and spelt correctly. Furthermore,

information about citizen

records, applications, procedures

and policies is required. Thisinformation is often classied

within different systems. A change

must therefore be carried through

multiple times, which certainly

does not add to an organizations

overall efciency.

Post-it notesThe largest barrier to digitalization

is perhaps the current corporate

culture within governmental

organizations. The paper culture

that still exists in many local

councils is striking: a large portion

of work procedures are dealt with

on paper. Calls are registered on

notepads, many colleagues use

post-it notes to communicate

and booking locations is done in

writing. Involving IT in relatively

simple processes is considered

inefcient and unnecessary.

A culture like this can hinder

the digitalization process. Not

only may there be resistance to

the introduction of IT tools, butusing new systems can prove to

be challenging for some. Using

IT demands a new mindset; if

the mindset is not adjusted, then

the application will not be used

optimally and the digitalization

will not save anyone any time.

A wide variety of local councils

have already employed TOPdeskto keep track of their calls.

Upon closer inspection, the calls

appear to be neatly entered in

the application, but are often

still printed out. When calls are

transferred to other colleagues,

it does not always happen in

TOPdesk; the calls are instead

printed out and placed on the

relevant colleagues desk.

Playing catch-upMany governmental organizationsare currently playing catch-up

in the digitalization arena. The

problems that they run into can

often be solved with IT tools.

Registering calls in a centralized

system, to which multiple

departments have access, will

improve communication between

departments. The various

information sources can be linked

together, so that changes can

be introduced and monitored in

one place. And while there is still

talk of the beloved piece of paper,e-culture is steadily on the rise.

One of the local councils that

implemented TOPdesk has involved

the software in their entire

service restructuring process.

The local council has been set

up with a front ofce, a back

ofce and a eldwork ofce. The

calls rst arrive at the reception(front ofce), where they are

categorized and sent to the correct

department. The department

secretary (back ofce) assigns the

call to the correct operator, who

resolves the call or sends it to a

eld technician (eldwork ofce).

The eld technicians receive a

work note or an automatic text

message when a new incident is

logged. Everyone, except for the

eld technicians, works in TOPdesk;

the communication related to

logging and processing calls is,

for the most part, digital. Since

every department works with the

same application, it is clear to

everyone who is handling a call

and what the status is. The entire

process has been claried, and

the communication between the

departments of the local council

now proceeds smoother than ever.

TOPdesk plays a large role in the

rising trend of the digitalization of

citizen support. Many local councils

already use TOPdesk Professional forCitizen Support. Moreover, TOPdesk

Enterprise 4.2 is currently being

adapted to the various needs of

Citizen Support organizations.

Calls are registered on notepads,colleagues use post-its to

communicatie.


18/2018 TRENDS

business applications by 2010. It

seems the SOA trend has only just

begun.

Another thing to look out for in

the coming weeks and months

is Cuil (pronounced cool). This

so-called Google rival, created by

former Google employees, boastsa search index that spans 120

billion pages a number that is

supposedly three times that of

its rival. Is bigger really better

though? Plagued by crashes due

to overwhelming trafc, its 28

July launch was certainly less than

spectacular. So far, users have

been largely unimpressed by Cuils

seemingly random, irrelevant

search results. Although Cuils

method of sorting search resultsinto idea categories, coupled with

its complete user privacy claim do

indeed have potential, its nal fate

has yet to be determined.

As far as the service management

software world is concerned,

SaaS applications are continuing

Service-oriented architecture,

or SOA, has received a lot of

attention in the past few years.

SOA is an architectural concept

that promises to go beyond linking

and import/export capabilities

by bridging the gap between

various software applications and

thereby providing consumers withbetter, more advanced services.

The possibilities of such software

integrations are endless.

Many recent SOA success stories

have involved Google Earth. For

instance, Flickr, the popular online

photo sharing application, has

been integrated with Google

Earth, enabling you to view the

location of a photo. Likewise,

Earthify is a new applicationthat has integrated housing ads

from Craigslist, a popular online

community in the US, with Google

Earth so that users can see the

exact locations of homes on the

market. However, many software

engineers hope to take SOA much

further in the years to come. They

envision a future in which our

lives are transformed by SOA: for

example, by web services that

communicate with each other as

well as with various electronic

devices via radio-frequency

identication (RFID). Still, others

ask why progress on the SOA

front has been so slow. SOA maybe suffering a similar fate to

renewable energy: the technology

is certainly available, but for social,

political and economical reasons it

has not been implemented often.

The causes behind the so far

lacklustre progress of SOA are

difcult to pinpoint. Some critics

point to conicting technological

approaches and even a lack of

consensus on a proper denitionof SOA. Others assert that it is a

people problem, involving poor

management plans and resistance

to change. Whatever the cause

may be, a recent study by AMR

Research showed that SOA growth

doubled in 2007 and will be used

in more than 80 percent of large

Needless to say, innovation in software has fuelled profound changes in the way we live

our lives and go about conducting business. Current and future software trends will

undoubtedly continue to do so. What, then, are the latest software trends, and what

can we expect from the newest generation of software? This article explores current

developments in SOA, Cuil, SaaS and more.

Cuil Developments in Software

TEXT: CARRIE BRANDT

Trends


19/20

to grow in popularity. The

benets of SaaS applications are

certainly attractive; maintenance

and upgrades are included,

no installation is required,the application is accessible

worldwide and payment is on a

monthly basis as opposed to a

large initial investment. However,

questions have been raised about

the security of SaaS, of which you

can read more about in SaaS

Security: Criteria for Selecting

a Provider in this edition of

TOPdesk Magazine. Regardless,

Saugatuck Technology researchers

estimate that, by 2012, at least 70

percent of businesses with more

than 100 employees will use at

least one SaaS application. The

service management industry cancertainly expect to see more and

more demand for SaaS applications

in their software.

To end on a lighter (or darker?)

note, some scientists are now

predicting that human and

articial intelligence will merge

to form a sort of super being

that is radically smarter than

the average present-day Homo

sapiens. For example, Dr. Ray

Kurzweil, a well-known futurist

and inventor, predicts that by the

2030s humans will have become

essentially non-biological creaturesthat can upload their minds onto

the internet, live in various virtual

worlds and even avoid aging and

death. If Dr. Kurzweil is correct, and

the new generation of software

helps us to achieve such feats, then

there will be a quite a few more

Trends worth discussing in the

future

TRENDS 1


20/20

tips +tricksSorting overviews

Version: Enterprise 4 & Professional 4

You can sort lists in overviews by clicking at the top

of columns. Most users already know this; however,

you can take this sorting a step further. Imagine,

for example, that you want to sort incidents; rstly,

according to the clients site and then within each site,

according to the caller. This can be done as follows:

First click at the top of the Caller column. The

overview will now be sorted according to the caller;

Then click on the top of the Site column. The

overview will now be sorted rstly by site, and

secondly by caller.

The incidents will now be grouped alphabetically

according to site. Within each site group, the incidents

will be listed alphabetically according to the name of

the caller.

This is one way to adjust the layout of your overviews

to your own preferences. You can also, for example,

sort incidents according to the type of call, and withinthat group, according to status. You will then be able

to see all requests, malfunctions and user queries

grouped separately, with each group being sorted by

status.

Quickly edit multiple cards

Version: Enterprise 4 & Professional 4

On some occasions, you may wish to be able to adjust

several cards at once. For example, if a large delivery

of laptops has arrived, you would need to update the

CMDB by adding serial numbers to the hardware cards.

To speed up the process and save a few clicks, you can

do the following:

Open an overview of the cards that you want to

adjust;

Open the rst card by holding down the CTRL key

and double-clicking on the card; the card will open in

an editable mode;

Change the necessary data;

Instead of saving, go directly to the next card;

TOPdesk will ask you if you want to save the card.

Click on Yes or press Enter;

The next card will open immediately in the editable

mode, so that you can quickly move on.

This trick can be used in many different situations.

You can add a new email address to a series of Personcards, for example. Or, if you have purchased a new

module such as Change management, you can add the

Change manager role to a series of Operator cards.

As of TOPdesk version 4.1, many cards are being created

in Mango, the framework developed by TOPdesk. These

cards open in the editable mode by default, enabling you

to work faster. In the long run, the intention is to create

all TOPdesk cards in Mango; until then, you can use this

trick to save time.

TOPdesk UK limitedt +44 (0)20 8846 8516e [email protected] www.topdesk.co.uk

TOPdesk Netherlandst +31 (0)15 270 09 00e [email protected] www.topdesk.nl

TOPdesk Deutschland GmbHt +49 (0)631 624 00 0e [email protected] www.topdesk.de

TOPdesk Belgiumt +32 (0)3 292 32 90e [email protected] www.topdesk.be

TOPdesk Canada Corporatt +1 416 800 2118e [email protected] www.topdesk.ca

topdesk magazine 2008 issue 3

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