The Global Sales Desk needs help improving ticket prioritization to ensure timely resolution by the right employees.

• How to prioritize messages, organize them, and ensure that people get responses promptly?
• How to quantify the inbox's activity and verify the team's impact with data?
• Is there a better way to handle this tremendous workload and infinite email stream?

Recommending transitioning the Global Sales Desk to ServiceNow for improved ticket management and communication.

• Exploit needed functions to support daily work.
• Set up ticket categories, assigning process, and ticket prioritization.
• Implement complete training for all Global Sales Desk team members.
• Designate a company-wide representative for ServiceNow.

A structured approach incorporating qualitative research methods was used to understand challenges and inform the system's optimization.

• Initial Problem Identification:
  
• Method: Background Research
  ‍Conducted background research to define the initial problem and gain context around the existing ticketing system and workflows.
• Understanding User Challenges:
  
• Method: Contextual Inquiry
  Engaged in contextual inquiry with the Director of the Program Management Office, Global Sales Desk and Sales Operations Systems team, uncovering key pain points and inefficiencies within the ticket escalate and resolve process.
• Synthesizing Findings:
  
• Method: Affinity Diagramming
  Utilized affinity diagramming to categorize user insights and identify patterns, helping prioritize areas for system improvement.

Extensive research was conducted to understand the client's workflow and the challenge in current ticketing system.

• Industry and System Research:
  
• Investigated on client’s industry, evolution of ticketing systems, and relevant use cases such as library services, customer service, and IT support to understand high-volume request handling.
• Competitive Analysis:
  
• Analyzed current ticketing products in the market, focusing on features that support ticket and workflow management, to identify strengths and gaps.
• Interview Planning:
  
• Collaborated with the manager to identify key employees from the Global Sales Desk and Sales Operations Systems teams for interviews, and finalized the interview protocol to ensure relevant insights were captured.

• Goal 1: Understand Team Collaboration
  
• Investigated how teams interact and communicate to ensure smooth workflow and address collaboration challenges.
• Goal 2: Understand the Ticketing Process
  
• Explored the end-to-end ticketing process to identify inefficiencies or opportunities for streamlining.
• Goal 3: Understand Users' Pain Points
  
• Gathered insights into key challenges faced by users when interacting with the ticketing system.

• Real-time Note-taking:
  
• Captured key insights at 1-3 minute intervals during each interview to ensure comprehensive coverage of user feedback.
• Affinity Note Collection:
  
• Generated a total of 203 affinity notes, representing major observations and recurring themes.
• Information Architecture:
  
• Applied information architecture principles to structure the notes into an affinity wall with four layers, organizing them by key themes and insights.
• Synthesis and Key Takeaways:
  
• Synthesized the organized notes into actionable takeaways, highlighting critical workflow inefficiencies and 6 user pain points.

• Exploit Functions:
  
• Identified key ServiceNow features to support daily tasks, including ticket transparency, team collaboration, and statistical insights.
• System Setup:
  
• Recommended establishing updated ticket categories, an automated assigning process, and uniform ticket prioritization to improve workflow.
• Training and Support:
  
• Suggested comprehensive training for the Global Sales Desk team and a dedicated representative to manage ServiceNow implementation and resolve issues efficiently.