20 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2015

Pouyan Daddeh
is a TOPdesk consultant who specializes
in technical solutions.

IN LINE WITH
YOUR SUPPLIER
TOPdesk offers various possibilities for linking to other systems.
A TOPdesk customer who has cleverly utilized this is Open Line:
a supplier for managing different organizations IT services.
Open Line can easily share information about calls with their
customers thanks to a two-way link.

In the current service industry, the

The end users role

another department, or even to a supplier.

collaboration between an organization and

When your employees are confronted with

If this party cannot view calls in TOPdesk,

its suppliers is becoming more important.

a malfunction or a request (like a suggested

the communication will take place outside

Several services are entirely or partially

functional change in an application), your

TOPdesk.

outsourced to suppliers, and applications are

own organizations service desk is the

running in the cloud. This gives customers

registration point. The employee opens the

even more reason to want to stay on top of

TOPdesk Self Service Desk and logs a new call.

how your suppliers support the purchased

His call is then picked up by the service desk.

services. For instance, you can inform your

In some cases, the service desk cannot

end users when their call is closed, or whether

resolve the problem themselves. For

theres a delay. It goes without saying that

instance because they do not have the

the communication with your supplier should

required knowledge, or the rights or tools

be as clear as possible. In an ideal world, you

to resolve the malfunction. In those cases

wouldnt have to worry about it at all.

the service desk has to assign the call to

TOPDESK MAGAZINE - MARCH 2015 21

Open Line

TOPdesk environment, where it is assigned to

significant advantage for the customer. Both

Open Line supports its customers with

the service desk.

parties have insight into the call: there are

TOPdesk. Several Open Line customers use

Open Line starts processing the call. As

direct lines of communication and they can

TOPdesk internally to register calls from

soon as Open Line submits text to the action

their end users. Some of these customers

field, it is directly sent to the customers

have even switched to TOPdesk as a service

TOPdesk environment and added to the

advantages. Communication about the calls

management tool to ensure maximum

current call. This ensures that important

status barely happens over the phone or by

compatibility with Open Line.

information is automatically shared with

email, explains Ghelen. Both parties have

the customers service desk. Once Open Line

a real-time overview of the calls status and

helped Open Line implement a link based

has completed the call, the call is closed in

actions. This used to be necessary, causing

on XML messages. This link automatically

their TOPdesk environment. The customer

delays and confusion in some cases.

synchronizes customer calls with Open

is sent a confirmation message that the

Lines TOPdesk environment. Danny Ghelen,

call is resolved, and the solution method is

Best practice link

consultant at Open Line, explains: This link

explained. Because Open Lines customers

TOPdesk also uses best practices for creating

helps us process calls more efficiently and

do not use the Self Service Desk, their service

links. As a result, little effort was required for

effectively. It raises the quality of our services.

desk communicates the solution to the caller.

the initial development of the bidirectional

When the problem is resolved, it is closed.

link for Open Line. A best practice template

In 2013, a technical TOPdesk consultant

The link in practice

switch easily, says Ghelen.

The link also offers Open Line many

was used as the starting point for this link.

How does the link work exactly? A message

Helped more quickly

is generated from the customers TOPdesk

The link used by Open Line is bidirectional,

environment, featuring the required details

meaning changes to the action field by

(such as the request and the original call

one party are directly synchronized with

in a single day, because Open Line offers the

number). This message is sent to Open Lines

the other party. This eventually leads to a

initial link as best practice to its customers.

The desired adjustments to the template only

take three days of technical consultancy.
Setting up a new environment can be done

If desired, it is possible to expand this link

to a more complex link that supports more
specific process flows. It is also possible to
link to other systems than TOPdesk.
Before a technical TOPdesk consultant
creates a link between two TOPdesk
environments, the customers wishes
are mapped out. TOPdesks best practice
template is then used as basis for the link.
Depending on the customers wishes, a
number of consultancy days are required
to implement the link and set up the
environments. Open Line is a good example
of a successful realization of a link with a
solid return on investment.