6 CUSTOMER IN FOCUS

Photography: Jonas Mertens

From left to right: Maastricht Councils Leon Geilen, Nicole Keizer and Enno Soeren

Text: Stefanie Klaassen

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TOGETHER WE STAND STRONG

The Maastricht city council is not only blessed with a magnicent view of the river Maas, their internal business is also well organized. The council has aligned all their supporting services in a single Shared Service Centre.

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TOPDESK GRANTS INSIGHT INTO WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE AND BY WHOM

Leon Geilen SSC operational manager

The councils Shared Service Centre (SSC) encompasses all supporting services: not only IT and FM, but also HR, nance, communication, a team for administrative support and a team that manages all company information systems. The SSC includes all the councils nonprimary processes, says Leon Geilen, SSC operational manager. We have twelve teams in total, comprising three hundred people. This calls for a streamlined approach!

They should be as efcient and streamlined as possible. This is where the TOPdesk implementation is a great help. You nd that the need for additional modules grows as the system implementation progresses. We use these moments to evaluate the process set-up again if necessary. For now, the module implementations are going really smoothly and we take everything step by step.

A smooth implementation
To efciently manage all processes, we started using a service management tool, explains Geilen. We used to work with two other systems: one for IT and one for facilities. We wanted to use one system, and that system is TOPdesk. Our aim is to use TOPdesk for all our SSCs tasks. We are also working on an extensive self service solution, which we want to set up as a webshop environment for our end users. The council went live with version 5 in September 2012. Enno Soeren, SSC manager, is pleased with the implementation. It didnt take much getting used to; the implementation went really smoothly. Initially we implemented TOPdesk for IT, which meant SSC employees could get used to the principle. When we set up additional TOPdesk features, we noticed people were already used to TOPdesk and the process was a lot easier. The upgrade to a single tool resulted in a lot less work for the service desk, explains Nicole Keizer, implementation project manager. Two tools means double the work. You need to check them separately and add data to both tools.

A new Self Service Portal

The Maastricht Council is currently setting up a self service portal. TOPdesk lets you easily display and generate issues via the self service portal. For instance, customers can automatically ll out forms so they no longer have to send an email. This means fewer procedures for the service desk and more time to actually work on solutions, says Geilen. Soeren adds: We want to start using the self service portal for more things. This enables us to help the end user more quickly and efciently, but it especially lets them do more themselves. The advantage of TOPdesk is that you can do this adequately: you do not have to re-enter your name or details when you order a service. Certain parts of the portal are entirely operational, says Keizer. This includes reserving rooms in our Work square. People are really enthusiastic: they can follow and adjust their own reservation, see which rooms are available and book the desired room. This never used to be an option, as the service desk allocated the room for you. Now end users organize these things themselves and it takes less time. We can already save on waiting times at the service desk.

Transparent, also for the customer

TOPdesk grants insight into what needs to be done and by whom, says Geilen. In the past, the SSC teams activities were not always registered. We now register these tasks proactively. Another advantage is that its easier to create reports, Soeren adds. This lets you become more transparent towards your customers. We want to show them what we do, whether we meet our agreements, and how we manage our service level agreements. For instance, customers can quickly and easily check the status of their calls. As a Shared Service Centre we want to make our processes lean.

Additional councils in a single SSC?

The success of the Maastricht Councils SSD has not gone unnoticed. There are plans to include other councils and start working together. We are in the middle of a process to set up a Shared Service Centre for half of the county, says Soeren. The larger councils are researching the options together. We currently use the SSC and have worked like this for a while, so we can set an example. We are now researching how our council has handled this and if we can implement it further, says Soeren. We also offer more support to the smaller councils in our area, such

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THE SELF SERVICE PORTAL ENABLES THE END USERS TO DO MORE THEMSELVES
Enno Soeren SSC manager

as telephone services. Soon we will have a centralized procurement process, which is something each council currently organizes individually. There are a lot of advantages to a collaborative approach. However, to arrange this we need an overview of all contracts. It is possible to enter them in the tool via one central contract register, so why not use it regionally? We are gathering more ideas as we go

along and the number is slowly growing. Other council departments have also picked up on the tools advantages, says Geilen, and we are curious to see whether it can also help them optimize their company processes. We are taking a positive approach and are happy with our success. However, we should take things slowly we need to keep it manageable!

The Maastricht city councils magnicent views of the river Maas