Graphisoft, founded in 1982, has grown from one of the first Hungarian garage startups into a global enterprise. Its flagship product is Archicad, the market-leading BIM (Building Information Modeling) architectural software, which has facilitated the work of thousands of architects and designers, and is today available in 27 languages across 108 countries.

Growing service desk challenges

As the IT service desk's responsibilities have grown, the range of tasks it deals with become more numerous and complex. The 17-member team is responsible for an approximately 700-strong community of users, who have a very variable range of IT proficiency and use many different tools. Previous solutions to support the service desk team were fragmented: different IT teams used different platforms, making things much more difficult for customers and users.

The company required a stable, unified IT service desk platform that worked at an optimal level and could meet the needs of clients and staff on a global scale.

Jira, a familiar solution

The company was no stranger to Jira: its developers had been successfully using on-site Jira solutions for years. So when it came to optimizing the company’s service desk processes, Atlassian's cloud-based Jira Service Management product was the clear frontrunner.

The first stage in implementing Jira was to optimize IT procurement workflows. An outdated paper and Excel-based solution were substituted for a modern, user-friendly Jira interface, which was a big hit with both team members and clients.

In terms of satisfaction, there was no question that Jira would be the new platform for further service desk processes.

Advantages of Jira Service Management

Following a successful migration, service desk workflows were restricted to only two interfaces, Jira and Microsoft Teams. Tickets can be created either via the transparent, intuitive Jira interface or – thanks to integration – Teams chat. Unlike before, all support teams can be accessed from the same portal, and individual notifications are handled under a single support ticket, even when multiple participants are involved. Well-defined queues and dashboards ensure tracking and transparency, and the status of each ticket is visible to everyone, making the resolution process faster and smoother.

From a managerial point of view, Jira's built-in reporting features are extremely effective for effortlessly monitoring both service level agreement (SLA) metrics and the ratio of tickets created to tickets closed, helping ensure the highest level of customer service.

To support self-service workflows, extensive and continuously expanding external and internal knowledge bases were also made available on the portal, with topics to support both customers and service desk staff.

There was no lack of positive feedback once the transition had been made. Customers were happy because they could create tickets quickly in an informed way and without lengthy searches. At the same time, staff was able to use the new interface effectively, making their daily work easier.

Productivity aids add-ons

Though the native Jira functions are extensive, the Graphisoft staff also employ add-ons to help get the most out of the platform. For example, META-INF's Email This Issue add-on makes it possible to quickly and effectively create customized emails based on individual support tickets, which facilitates communication with customers. In addition, the Queues add-on from Deviniti helps to make lists more transparent and easier to handle.

What's next?

Naturally, just like with most optimizing processes, there are always improvements to be made. Future plans include the integration of the Procurement and Support portals, the introduction of a translator add-on to facilitate communication, CMDB (Configuration Management Database) integration, the addition of external notifications, customer satisfaction assessments, and making the mobile app available for users.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shSHStyovBc

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