The software that was developed internally was not able to meet established SLAs.
Milano Serravalle must always be ready to respond and intervene to fix problems occurring anywhere along its extensive road network, which can range from issues with computing systems at toll booths to failures of telephone systems or printers or networking.
Stefano Zangarini, IT System Manager at Milano Serravalle, said, “The Milano Serravalle motorway and bypass is one of the most travelled and congested road networks in northern Italy. Our IT staff carries out maintenance and technical assistance services for systems all along the network. If something goes wrong, we need to be ready to take action in the shortest time possible and in compliance with established service level agreements [SLAs].”
To handle technical support requests, Milano Serravalle previously used internally developed software, which was unable to support reporting against these SLAs and could not manage the incoming assistance or emergency calls properly. Marco Pedrotti, CIO at Milano Serravalle, said, “We wanted to deploy a more advanced and professional ticketing system based on ITIL [Information Technology Infrastructure Library] so that we could improve the speed and quality of service we offer to our users.”
Milano Serravalle manages the infrastructural road network in Milan and the surrounding Lombardy region – one of the most travelled areas in Europe. Founded in 1951, the company employs around 700 people and monitors motorways that serve hundreds of thousands of people every day.
After evaluating several applications from leading IT vendors, Milano Serravalle decided to implement Service Desk.
“We were already using Micro Focus ZENworks, and when we learned that also offered a helpdesk solution, we saw that this would create a good synergy. Having another product in support of ZENworks would mean increased integration, ease-of-use, standardization and, of course, more satisfactory results,” said Zangarini.
Service Desk is highly scalable and easy to deploy, and the solution’s seamless integration with Milano Serravalle’s existing applications helps the company to gain centralized management of all IT resources
Following a rapid implementation – which included full on-the-job training for the company’s IT staff – Milano Serravalle started to test the product right away to check its potential and become more familiar with its functionalities.
Pedrotti said, “We were able to take advantage of the product’s integration with our existing infrastructure, thanks to the easy customization of the tool, as well as the native interface with ZENworks. We were so positively impressed that we decided to extend the suite to benefit from a more centralized way of managing our environment. It was easy to connect Service Desk to our Lotus Domino email system, and to set up a mail gateway between the old ticketing system and the new one.”
Stefano Zangarini said, “What happens now when we receive a request for technical assistance is exactly what we wanted. Service Desk automatically escalates calls and directs them to the appropriate person, removing nearly all need for manual intervention.”
With Service Desk, Milano Serravalle monitors its performance and its users’ IT requirements from an all-round perspective. Pedrotti said, “Service Desk has enabled us to improve our service to the users, to keep a close eye on all aspects of service delivery, and to ensure adherence to our SLAs.
Service Desk has allowed Milano Serravalle to create a centralized, up-to-date and comprehensive view of all its support and maintenance operations, eliminating manual tasks which previously made it difficult to provide a fast and reliable service to users. The solution has also enabled Milano Serravalle to create a hierarchy of priorities in order to fully comply with its strict SLAs.
Pedrotti said, “We noticed that a large proportion of support requests are not about real ‘incidents’, but are requests for technical help, which often turn into bespoke mini-training sessions. We are very confident in the analytic potential of the product to provide feedback to the training department, in order to organize targeted courses for groups of users.”
Zangarini said, “With Service Desk, every single request for assistance is now monitored, registered and directed to the department of reference, which helps us to provide faster, more reliable and targeted support.
Stefano Zangarini – IT SYSTEMS MANAGER
Milano Serravalle
