Watch the 2020 Single Point of Contact webcast here! The term SPOC refers to a Single Point of Contact support organization. This means that all IT issues, service requests, problems and incidents are first directed to the level 1 service desk to be logged in the ticketing system, and then either resolved at level 1 or dispatched to another source of support where the ticket can be resolved.A SPOC service desk is not expected to resolve every ticket it logs. Rather, a SPOC service desk is a facilitator and coordinator of the entire end-user support process. They are responsible for resolving the tickets that can be resolved at level 1, and expeditiously dispatching tickets that cannot be resolved at level 1 to the most appropriate source of support. This could be desktop support, level 2 IT groups, the NOC, a vendor, or even specific individuals in the organization with unique expertise, say for a particular application in IT.Finally, a SPOC monitors the progress of all open tickets, prompting action on tickets that appear to be stalled, and closing tickets that have been resolved satisfactorily. A SPOC service desk is ultimately responsible for ensuring that all tickets are resolved within the service levels that have been established for the organization. The value of SPOC is that it brings order, discipline, and consistency to the support process. Support organizations that follow a SPOC model typically have lower costs, and higher customer satisfaction that those that do not follow a SPOC process.Key SPOC principles include:The enterprise takes an end-to-end view of user supportUsers/customers have single point of contact for all IT related incidents, problems, questions, and work requestsThe Level 1 Service Desk is the SPOCDesktop “drive-by’s”, “fly by’s”, and “snags” are strongly discouraged, as they violate the SPOC model, and drive up the Total Cost of Ownership for end-user supportMetricNet conducts Service Desk and Desktop Support Benchmarks for organizations worldwide. For more information, please visit our benchmarking store, or contact MetricNet.You can register for MetricNet’s free webcast on Desktop Support Best Practices by visiting our webcast page.
