Every person within an organisation, whatever the department or role, who has any form of communication with a customer, whether an internal or external customer, is accountable for their actions and the way in which they manage their business relationships.

Understanding a customer's mood and how they are feeling is important when they require service, support or assistance - whether from ICT support, HR, finance and so on. We need to realise that our attitude and approach can have an important and potentially long lasting effect on others.

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The Marval Nordic Swedish site was developed to follow the style and format of www.marval.co.uk but with information specifically targeted to its native audience.

Feedback from visitors to the site has been very positive and work has now been commissioned to develop a Norwegian language version.

We would love to see you over there so come and check us out!

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MSM ITSM Software Solution:
1. Probably the fastest 100% WEB based ITSM tool in the world
2. Flexible licensing model - permanent, on-premise, rental, SaaS
3. Lowest cost of ownership with no surprises
4. Unbelievable drag and drop reporting and management dashboards
5. Scalability and resilience - with full cluster and web-farm support, from 1 to 10,000 analysts
6. Infinite integration options
7. Extensive security, governance and audit controls
8. Complex organisational and support structures mapped in minutes
9. The most powerful yet simple to use logic and routing engine in the industry
10. Pink Verified  and ITIL Swirl to 15 processes, ISO/IEC 20000 compatible

5 minutes with... Don Page, CEO, Marval

What was your first job in the industry, how old were you and what did it teach you?

My first job in service management (from 10 to 16 years' old) was working on the market. My first boss Neville, a seasoned market trader, although hard taskmaster, prepared me for what lay ahead. If we don't deliver what the customer needs, no job. If we don't look after them, no job. If we don't.....you get the point.

Who have been your big influences in the industry/life?

Apart from Neville, it's my wife and son Jordan. When he came along, I had to learn new skills, be more responsible and adaptable, control my money better. I wanted a new car, but ended up purchasing the very latest pushchair, which was nearly the same price! I also had to work more as part of a team, rather than just thinking of myself. Time management was a new skill to learn (still working on it). I couldn't just go to the pub or away for a weekend break as before. Thinking of it now, what we do in service management is pretty easy really.

My biggest industry influence is being a member of the IT Service Management Forum (ITSMF). Here, I have had the opportunity to network, share and debate with my peers.

How do you think the industry has changed in the last 10 years?

Not that much. Yes, technology has advanced at an unprecedented rate. We have more bull***t, three-letter acronyms and hype than ever. From the perspective of managing customers, service and IT infrastructures, we have the same challenges. We still have people, communication and technology issues. We continually believe and expect technology to be our saviour, and it has consistently let us down. Are we communicating with customers and colleagues better? Are we controlling risks better? Are our jobs more secure? Probably not. If anything, the industry has taken a few steps backwards. Maybe more people understand what they should be doing, but the adoption of best practices is not where it needs to be.

What will service desks look like in 10 years' time (if at all)?

I believe that, although the delivery mechanisms and technology used to facilitate and deploy them will constantly change, the need for humans to interact with a single point of customer contact, whether virtual or physical, will not - even when the patented 'Marval multi-lingual psychic support module' becomes available in 2014.

What do you think the service desk industry's biggest challenges in the next year will be?

Keeping up with new technologies and approaches. Currently, it's 'SaaS' and the 'cloud'. Both are new deployment methods, which will bring their own challenges, rewards and failures. We won't get away with just adding the word 'cloud' or 'SaaS' to our marketing materials or products. Organisations looking to adopt new technologies are wising up and will spend more effort on their due diligence. Some organisations may simply choose to do nothing, until the real risks are better understood.

What direction should service desks take to modernise even further?

Modernisation is not just about having the latest technology or toys. It's about having the right culture, skills, people, process and technology in place to support the needs of the business at all times. For the service desk, it's about understanding its own value proposition and positioning itself so that the business would not consider looking for
alternatives. Ask yourself: "If I started my own similar business today, with my own money - would I hire my own service desk?"

If you could give one piece of advice to a service desk manager, what would it be?

Invest in your team; they are your most important asset, even if you think they are better than you in some areas. It's having the right team around you that will contribute to your personal success or failure.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever had?

"Buy shares in Lehman Brothers."

A copy of this article is available as a download on our website. If you have not done so already - register here

The day, hosted by Marval's Tom West-Robinson, started with the ever popular 'magic wand session'. This encourages customers to meet and network, share ideas, discuss and openly present which aspects of the Marval ITSM solution they like and where they believe improvements and new features would benefit the wider Marval user community.

The workshop continued with a presentation from The Godfather of ITIL - Marval CEO Don Page. Don presented what's new in MSM v8. The session was followed by Don's views on why ICT departments need to re-focus in order for ICT to "sell" to the organisation, stakeholders and customers - what a great job they do, citing some practical approaches, pitfalls and examples along the way.

Straight after lunch saw a lively session from Paul Smith who provided an overview of what Marval Group have been up to in various countries and a short Youtube video on the recent ITSMF UK conference in London - where both Don and Allan Stear of Marval were presenting.

This was followed by Marval's Simon Lawrence presenting the very latest web-based management dashboard and reporting tool from Marval - 'MSM Xtraction' which is available for both the MSM client and web based versions. Like any great demo, it started off with a minor technical hitch ("Damn computers"). Simon went on to impress the audience with what this exciting new tool offers Marval users for the future.

Next up was Jackie Earl from Halcrow. A Marval customer who recently migrated from the client server MSM v8 version to the ASP.NET,MSM v12 version. This is an outspoken and straight talking lady who lives and breathes Service Management. Jackie presented on how the Halcrow HR team are now using MSM v12 to deliver HR services across the group. She presented their journey, successes and challenges faced, deploying a Service Management solution into a non-IT user environment.

As a global organisation, many other Halcrow business units are now showing interest in the work the ICT department has done with MSM v12. A previous advocate of MSM v8, Jackie confessed to loving MSM v12, its overall functionality, flexibility and general "sexiness".

The last session of day was left to Paul Smith who provided the audience with a short but informative overview of the latest asp.net MSM v12 functionality.

The customer feedback survey showed that a great day had been had by all.

• Magic wand and customer feedback session
• Advanced web based management information, dashboards & reporting
• Whats new in MSM 8.2 (client server)
• Whats new in MSM v12 (100% web)
• Guest customer speaker session

Start: 10:00 - 16:00

Location: Marval UK HQ Kettering

Guest customer speaker

Jackie Earl, from the Halcrow Group, will be giving a frank and open view about their experience and exploitation of MSM v12.

About Halcrow:
Halcrow delivers planning, design and management services for developing infrastructure and buildings worldwide. Halcrow operates through a network of over 98 offices around the world with around 6,000 employees.

The session will include a round up of this year's successful itSMF conference in London and the Dutch Tooling event.

Don Page, CEO of Marval - this year's sponsors of the ITSMF UK "Service Management Project of the Year"   presented the award to the winners:

HM Revenue & Customs - Enterprise Release and CSI Project