Service Desk Analyst (SDA) course

The SDI Service Desk Analyst Course provides the essential skills and knowledge required for delivering customer service and support excellence. Covering three days of learning, plus the qualification exam at the end of the course, analysts will fully explore the modules covered in SDI’s professional standard for Service Desk Analysts.

Who is this course for?

While the principles are relevant to all service and support staff, the SDA qualification course is primarily aimed at first and second-line IT service and support analysts with some experience of the service desk environment.
The course is ideal for analysts looking to grow in their role and gain a recognised qualification within their profession. It enables
them to gain a deeper understanding of the impact their role has on business efficiency and empowers them to identify opportunities for improvement.

Why should managers consider it for their teams?

Establishing standards for professionalism in customer service is the foundation of any successful service and support operation.
This course will support the elements, skills and competency matrices of the service desk analyst and can easily be integrated into the induction and training programmes for IT support staff.

Benefitting individuals and the organization…

The principles learned on this course can be embedded into quality assurance activities for IT service operations. Broadening the scope across the whole support operation can assure quality in the end-to-end support service.

Gaining the SDA qualification provides a clearly defined measure of success for recognising and rewarding analysts as part of career progression, as well as raising the profile and promoting the professionalism of the service desk and support operation.

Analysts will gain:

· A thorough grounding in the skills, competencies and knowledge required of a professional service desk and support analyst
· The essential skills and competencies to deliver efficient and effective support in line with SDI’s best practice industry standards
· The ability to identify customer needs and motivations and the impact this has in dealing with a variety of situations
· An awareness of relationship building techniques and the need for cultural sensitivity
· A clear understanding of the importance of teamwork in the support environment
· Knowledge of core IT service management processes
· Creative problem-solving techniques to develop new and alternative solutions to customer issues
· Understanding the importance of measuring and monitoring customer satisfaction
· An understanding of quality assurance activities and awareness of key service desk metrics
· An appreciation of the benefits and risks associated with support tools and technologies
· A globally recognized professional qualification (on passing the exam)

This course contains everything that is typically core to the role of a Service Desk Analyst:

Roles and responsibilities: Learn everything you need to know about being a professional, efficient & effective service desk analyst & the key features of delivering service excellence.
Relationship management: Discover the importance of collaboration, team – work, customer relationships & cultural awareness across a global perspective.
Effective communication skills and competencies: Explore the principles of good verbal, non-verbal, formal & informal communication skills, the benefits of active listening & the different ways which people communicate.
Problem-solving: A close look at problem solving techniques, critical thinking, inductive & deductive reasoning & reaching resolutions faster.
Effective rapport and conflict management skills: Learn how to develop rapport with your colleagues & customers, understand the importance of good emotional intelligence & how this can aid conflict management & negotiation.
Resilience: Understand & develop emotional resilience to help detect & manage both positive & negative signs of stress.
Managing practices, processes & procedures: Establish the need for practices, processes & procedures for interaction handling & how to create & maintain high-quality documentation.
IT Service Management: Learn the purpose of key IT Service Management practices including incident management, service request management, problem management, knowledge management & information security management.
Quality assurance program: Review the importance of quality assurance activities, commonly used quality assurance practices, customer satisfaction surveys & the benefits of metrics.
Managing customer feedback: Understand the purpose, objectives & components of successful feedback management.
Support methods: Gain an insight into the different methods of delivering support, including the benefits of remote support and self-service.
AI & automation: Identify common examples, benefits & challenges of AI & automaton within service management.

“A wonderfully passionate and enthusiastic execution of the course. I will implement much of what I’ve learnt and use it to encourage
my team!
Stephen Alexander, Audatex

“Just want to thank Lynne for making it fun! -You are a fantastic trainer and it was a pleasure having you teach our course! ”
Service Desk Officer, NHS Wales

“An inspirational experience, thank you.”
Service Desk Analyst, Sheffield Hallam University