Powerful ITSM for H.Essers

• ITSM based on Jira Service Management, Confluence and Insight
• Improved user experience for IT support and users
• High transparency and automation

H.Essers is a leading transport and logistics company in Europe for various sectors such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals and healthcare. One of their strengths is having full control over the entire flow of goods and so retaining optimal control of all strategic processes. In recent years, H.Essers has expanded substantially. This expansion results in it being one of the largest logistics service providers in Europe.

The challenge: qualitative and efficient IT support

The current H.Essers IT service desk solution is part of Microsoft’s System Center suite. The 2500 end users of this IT service desk submit an average of 100 requests per day. However, a survey among these users shows that the service desk is complex and difficult to navigate, with a limited search function. Because of these barriers, the service desk is not used to its full potential. 

H.Essers wanted to fix these problems with a new service desk solution and achieve four goals: 

• a high degree of transparency for the expected ticket resolution time,
• guarantee a positive user experience by simplifying and automating as much as possible,
• streamline processes so that the support team can focus on the most complex and critical reports,
• and aligning end users and the support team with a centralized portal. 

Finally, the new service desk should provide better insights through business intelligence, so that H.Essers can accurately analyze trends.

Our solution

A modern and lean ITSM based on Jira Service Management, Confluence and Insight

H.Essers is exchanging the current platform for a modern Jira platform that is mainly characterized by a very strong workflow engine and enormous flexibility. Together, we chose Jira Service Management from Atlassian as the solution, mainly because of the enormous flexibility and clear interface. In addition, Jira Service Management integrates out-of-the-box as a built-in customer portal (AskIT) with Confluence as a knowledge database (DocIT).

The follow-up of notifications via the customer portal of Jira Service Management is done through a clear interface for the end user, which does not require a manual. The most frequently used types of requests are immediately available because they are clearly displayed in 9 categories.

Strong automation and reporting

In addition, we are strongly committed to automation within the portal. Where users first had to send emails to the right people, the customer portal is now also used for access or approval requests. An approver will then automatically receive a notification and can immediately see the request, its submitter and ask for additional information. After approval, the request automatically continues its way through the flow based on automation rules. These automation rules then perform actions based on specific events and conditions. This way, end users can obtain approval for their requests much faster and more structured.

The support team has also an overview of the backlog of all requests via dashboards. End users themselves have easy access to their requests through the portal where they can monitor the status of their report and communicate with the support teams.

Furthermore, Jira Service Management also enables the support team to report on key KPIs or SLAs through the powerful app EazyBI. In this way, H.Essers can accurately measure the quality of the services offered.

Knowledge sharing within the organization

The Confluence knowledge base is available directly from the customer portal. This means that all knowledge within the organization is made available centrally. End users can solve more of their problems themselves: after all, they have the opportunity to quickly find a solution to their problem in the knowledge database. In addition, recurring questions are often bundled in FAQs.

This approach relieves the pressure on service desk agents, as fewer requests will be registered thanks to the greater independence of the end users. Moreover, it is also an advantage for the end users themselves, who can now find a solution to a problem faster.

Integration with asset and configuration management database

We chose a modern configuration management database (CMDB) for asset and configuration management, namely Insight from Mindville. Thanks to tight integration, Insight extends the Jira platform with a flexible solution that allows the support team to monitor assets. Insight houses a complete inventory of the entire IT infrastructure of H.Essers, linked to the relationship with the users and the different locations. This way, the company always has a complete overview of who has which device, which licenses are active, whether the warranty is still valid and so on.