5.5 Explain Roles and Responsibilities

5.5 Explain Roles and Responsibilities

The responsibilities for marketing and communicating IT's services is borne by all the IT staff, but some organizational entities have more critical and specific roles to play.

5.5.1 Account Management

The role of the account management function as it relates to marketing and communications is one of primary overseer of the flow of information to the user. The account manager is responsible for ensuring that the user is fully informed about the services available to him or her and coordinates the flow of information back from the user to IT. This is not to say that account management is responsible for being the primary or exclusive conduit of information to the user , especially on a day-to-day operational basis. It is that function's responsibility to provide general oversight of the two-way informational flow and ensure that the overall needs of the user are met.

5.5.2 Help Desk

The marketing and communications role that the help desk plays is basically a reactive one as compared to the proactive approach that account management must utilize. The help desk may be the only assessable resource available to users during off hours or nonoperational hours. The help desk must be prepared to provide accurate, timely responses to user queries. The responsibilities of the help desk are to maintain a current base of knowledge and information so as to provide first-level support to users and make them aware of any immediate or projected events that could impact their operation.

5.5.3 IT Management

IT management's role in marketing and communications is to lubricate the information and communication channels so that IT service information can flow easily throughout the IT organization. It is IT management's responsibility to "fly cover" for his or her subordinates that sometimes have to market and communicate service reductions or other news that may be viewed as less than positive. Ensuring that the key channels of communication (account management and help desk) have access to the information they need to do their jobs is also a prime responsibility of IT management.

5.5.4 Operations Management

Operations management's role is to clearly and completely communicate the needs of the users to the IT organization. They have the responsibility of ensuring that user satisfaction of services received and future needs for services are identified and communicated. Both IT and user management must jointly take ownership to ensure services are marketed and communicated fully.



IT Services Costs, Metrics, Benchmarking and Marketing
IT Services: Costs, Metrics, Benchmarking and Marketing (paperback) (Enterprise Computing Series)
ISBN: 0132621959
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2000
Pages: 93

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