SOCITM Conference, Hilton Brighton Metropole Hotel
Brighton, 10-12 October, Stand No. 60

Hornbill is delighted to congratulate Kent County Council on becoming the first public sector organisation to achieve a four star rating from the Service Desk Institute. Since 2008, the Council has deployed Hornbill's Supportworks ITSM Enterprise to drive IT service excellence. Kent uses Hornbill's service desk software to support the core ITIL processes of Incident, Problem and Change management. To support the council's transition from a focus on technology to a focus on service, a SelfService portal has been deployed to all staff. Customised SelfService portals have been provided for Adult Social Services, Children & Families and Libraries directorates, enabling Kent County Council to tailor the service experience in accordance with the needs of the customer. This has resulted in measurable improvements in customer satisfaction, a major requirement of the SDI certification.

Marie Beard, Operations Service Manager at Kent County Council said; "Joining up Incident, Problem and Change management was important because it gives us a much more efficient way of working. However, for the SDI certification, we needed proof that we had integrated the three disciplines and improved service quality, which Supportworks ITSM provided. We are delighted to have received the four star rating from the SDI. Kent is the first public body to do so and using Supportworks has certainly helped us to achieve this level of service excellence."

Key results since implementing Supportworks service management software, include:

• call abandonment rates have fallen by 70%
• around 80% of calls are now resolved within one working day
• call waiting reduced by over 75% to an average of 19 seconds

Customers are able to rate the service they receive for each call simply by clicking on a link in the email they receive notifying them when the call is closed. This has encouraged customers to give feedback, which has helped the service desk to monitor performance of both individuals and teams to determine how service can be improved.

Frank McIlroy, CEO of Hornbill Service Management said; "We at Hornbill are delighted to congratulate the IT Service Desk at Kent County Council on this great achievement. IT Service Management and ITIL provide organisations with wins on so many levels. 'Bite-size' ITIL enables service desks to implement features quickly to gain those all important quick wins that prove the concept and help to gain customer buy in. Disciplines like incident, problem and change management help the service desk to work more efficiently, freeing resources to focus on service improvement. Providing a self-service facility offers even greater levels of efficiency and improves communication with the customer, resulting in a better service to the business. A true focus on service improvement, when adopted throughout an organisation, results in a well run business and happy customers, with industry accolades being the icing on the cake."

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Kent County Council

Kent County Council is one of the largest councils in the UK, employing over 44,000 full and part-time people. It has achieved a four star rating from the Audit Office in its annual Comprehensive Performance Assessment for the last six years.

The council provides a wide range of services including; maintaining roads and highways; processing and recycling half a million tons of rubbish each year; educating 200,000 children; running libraries; providing adult education; and providing youth and community services. It provides care packages for older and handicapped people, and for children requiring 'looking after' including arranging foster care.

Kent County Council is based at County Hall in Maidstone with over 500 other buildings across the county.

For more information please visit: www.kent.gov.uk