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News Release from: Atkins Design Environment & Engineering | Subject: Optimised IT Service Management Strategy
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 20 November 2007
Optimised IT Service Management Strategy
Help Desk Institute announce that Atkins Global is realising a number of key business benefits following the implementation of its Service Management strategy.
Atkins is one of the world's leading providers of professional technology-based consultancy and support services The company plans, designs and enables the delivery of complex capital programmes for clients in public and private sectors across the globe
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 5 Nov 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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It is the largest multidisciplinary consultancy in Europe; the largest engineering consultancy in the UK and the world's third largest design firm.
The company has consistently been listed in The Sunday Times 'Best Big Companies to Work For' league table and has won a clutch of industry awards; most recently Computer Weekly's 'Best Places to Work in IT 2007' Award.
Atkins initially approached HDI in August 2005 to provide advice on its disparate range of service desks within its business.
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The company wanted to standardise a best practice approach across all of its helpdesks to reduce costs and improve efficiency throughout the organisation.
Atkins runs four customer-facing Help Desks as part of its Facilities Management and Advice Line business offerings and one internal IT helpdesk.
It currently hosts and manages business helpdesks for large corporate clients such as Barclays Bank and Marks and Spencer PLC - primarily dealing with supply-chain queries.
Atkins also runs an advice line and backup consultancy services for the Carbon Trust and manages the UK's only centralised Control Centre for Highways and Transportation service providers - alerting contractors and Government bodies in real-time to road or rail disruptions throughout the UK.
"HDI had unparallel knowledge of the Service Desk industry, compared to other consultants," said Atkins' Central Services Manager, Jason Kirk.
"HDI really knew what type of products we needed and as they are completely vendor-independent, we knew that they would give us clear impartial advice without any potential conflict of interest." As part of the project, HDI delivered extensive ITIL training for over 80 agents across four separate departments at Atkins.
This process helped to create a more centralised approach to Atkins' service management delivery, whilst significantly reducing costs within each department since services and tools could be purchased and acquired for the benefit of all, not just independently within each department.
"By making use of a common practice, our four Help Desk teams were able to learn from each other's Service Desk 'best practice' processes which has significantly helped to break down barriers between the different operations," comments Kirk.
The programme has increased service and cost efficiencies within Atkins' IT department, which has positively impacted the organisation as a whole and resulted in better business continuity and a reduction in downtime across the enterprise.
Another key benefit of the Service Management programme has been fact that the new best practice processes have enabled Atkins to extend their Service Desk offerings to new and existing customers.
Helpline services are a key part of Atkins' pastoral care and maintenance programme and increased Help Desk competencies have helped to create faster, more efficient service offerings as a result.
"The greatest benefit for Atkins following the implementation of HDI's strategy has been the fact that the new best practice processes have helped us to significantly reduce our time to market for bids".
"Rather than having to re-invent the wheel every time we put out a contract proposal, we can now send out costing proposals quickly and respond to new business opportunities in a more timely fashion thanks to a better co-ordinated system," said Kirk.
"HDI have been able to deliver a highly achievable strategy that is closely aligned to the business requirements of Atkins as a whole and we are looking forward to working with them over the next few years to complete our best practice programme," adds Kirk.
"Large, multi-disciplined design and engineering companies like Atkins need to be able to respond quickly to secure new contract tenders and we are delighted that HDI's Service Management strategy has helped Atkins to better differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market".
"More businesses are acknowledging the fact that carefully managed Service Management programmes using best practice processes such as ITIL can be beneficial, not only to the IT department and the Service Help Desk, but to the business as a whole," said Barclay Rae, professional services director at HDI Europe.
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