Nationwide operating public institution - DATAGROUP

For several years, DATAGROUP has been responsible for IT support at eleven public institutions that operate in the federal states, but are also united and organized in a nationwide network. DATAGROUP's experts are available at the service desk by phone or email to answer employees' IT-related questions and faults. For problems that can only be solved on site at the PC workstation, they also provide on-site support at six of the facilities. All that so the public clients can fulfill their tasks and obligations to citizens in the best possible way.

Gradual roll-out after start with pilot project

The takeover of the service desk and field services in the network of facilities took place in several stages from 2019: In a pilot project, these services were taken over by DATAGROUP in one facility of the network - both from internal departments and from external service providers. The DATAGROUP experts were able to make ideal use of their know-how to standardize the processes in this upheaval situation. The implementation phase also coincided with the start of the coronavirus pandemic. DATAGROUP's flexibility was demonstrated here by making mobile working from home possible for all employees at the facilities in a short space of time.

Further facilities in other federal states will follow after this first successful roll-out. In view of their federal organization, DATAGROUP's adaptability was required and experience from the previous roll-outs could also be put to valuable use. The association was commissioned until 2024 with an option to extend for a further three years.

Standardization where possible, individual solutions where necessary

DATAGROUP was awarded the contract after winning a tender. One of the aims of this tender was to homogenize the IT services across several institutions in the network. The transition projects at the individual institutions were used precisely for this purpose in order to move away from the fragmented IT service landscape towards more standards and uniform processes.

DATAGROUP was able to score with its expertise in such projects and fully meet expectations. Processes were standardized across individual facilities of the network. DATAGROUP ensured the transfer of knowledge between the units and was on site alongside the IT teams in the individual institutions during the concrete implementation. For example, the experience gained from the pilot installation during the introduction of Microsoft Teams and Office 365 was passed on - for a faster conversion of the systems.

One centralization measure that DATAGROUP implemented for the network of institutions was the development of a joint ticket tool, which is now in use throughout Germany. As part of this, the support environment was completely redesigned, including a standardized support backend system. The highlight: the previous ticket system can still be used for individual units, but is based on the new, standardized basis. This meant that no complex IT conversion was necessary in the units, as this was implemented centrally in the background by the DATAGROUP experts.

The customer's IT units are very satisfied with the fact that DATAGROUP creates meaningful standardization, but can also offer individual solutions when needed. This high level of customer orientation is a key factor in the success of this major project.

Excellent service for around 19,000 callers per month

The centralization of the support system was a preparatory step for the subsequent establishment of a central service desk for eleven facilities in the network. The friendly DATAGROUP contact persons in Hamburg are now easily accessible for employees of the customer organization throughout Germany. They process around 19,000 incoming calls per month with a standardized service and reliably achieve the agreed initial resolution rate of 80 %.

Onsite support for on-site challenges

The telephone helpdesk at five of the public institutions is supplemented by the field service. This service handles IT requests and faults that require on-site support at employees' workstations. This can be the replacement of individual devices or the installation and removal of one or more entire IT workstations. In addition, service counters have been set up at 14 locations where employees can get personal advice from DATAGROUP contact persons or spare parts can be issued easily.

However, DATAGROUP's experts are also deployed for larger projects, for example when hardware has to be replaced on a large scale as part of a roll-out or IT workstation relocations have to be coordinated and implemented. Here, too, DATAGROUP's strength comes into play in that it has the know-how to standardize processes and is always willing to go the "extra mile" to adapt to the specific requirements of the institutions.

Key service figures