More flexible configuration makes it possible to adapt more quickly to new requirements

In 2014 Mitel took over the enterprise communication provider Aastra, which was already well established in Europe, meaning that the teams had to deal with a restructuring of the IT departments in the context of the two companies’ merger. The decision for an internally managed central IT service for what had been two equally-sized businesses also involved an evaluation process to find a uniform IT support software. While the company was benefiting from OTRS locally with their German IT operations, they decided to deploy it within the IT department globally. Furthermore, the business communications industry is undergoing significant changes: in a context of digital transformation and a growing need of customers for mobile first designed solutions, businesses are increasingly moving to IP and thus to cloud services. The business is thus switching from hardware systems to managed services, where platform-independent operations become more and more important. The central help desk system had to be able to meet these new requirements, and the hosting and operation of the solution was to be the responsibility of the software provider. As Andreas Szameit, EMEA Service Delivery Manager and responsible for OTRS Implementation at Mitel, explains: “In order to concentrate our efforts on our own digital transformation, we wanted to reduce the workload for routine IT tasks by focusing on our core business and assigning agents to the necessary M&A projects as well. The more than 100 employees in total that work in the department are already fully occupied with maintaining the corporate applications, IT infrastructure, IT governance and IT technology, among other things. So it was clear to us that the running and hosting of the help desk system had to be taken care of by the provider.”

Furthermore, the merging of the IT areas had to take as little time as possible: “Many software provider estimates for evaluation-analysis cycles were more than 20 days. That was not an option for us, because we wanted to move on quickly to work efficiently with our new team members,” states Szameit regarding the most important requirements for a centralized IT support software.

“Since we already used OTRS in our German subsidiary, we could estimate very precisely which benefits it would bring to the system. Above all, we wanted to go live with a global solution very quickly, and OTRS made this possible: It only took 12 weeks from the day we chose OTRS to its productive start. That was an enormous relief in the context of the whole IT restructuring phase,” says Szameit, pleased about the simple implementation of OTRS as a centralized IT support software. Besides, as a managed service, OTRS offered the optimal solution for the bigger size and new task areas of the IT department after the merger. Now, OTRS Experts take care of the smooth operation and maintenance of the help desk software and reduced the workload of the newly formed IT area. In general, Mitel employees were impressed with the flexibility, multiple functions and easy implementation of OTRS, as Szameit explains, “Our colleagues were quite amazed when they started to see all the individual configuration possibilities. Just with the OTRS Process Management module and the Postmaster filter it is possible to achieve a high degree of automation, which ensures more efficient workflows and can be maintained by internal employees.” It quickly became apparent during the evaluation phase that not only did the operation of the solution have to be outsourced, but that additional functions – available exclusively for customers – were required: “OTRS has a system like building blocks that offers many useful features that can be combined differently in each company according to its requirements. We wanted to finally try out the full potential of this approach,” says Szameit.

“A key argument for choosing OTRS was its speed – in more ways than one: First of all, the system was up and running for productive use very quickly. In addition, when it comes to any internal requirements, the timeframe between an idea and its realization is extremely short. In many cases, it’s only one day! That’s surprising, especially for our colleagues who hadn’t worked with OTRS yet, as with their former system changes were rarely possible and always required an external systems consultant. Another bonus point for OTRS is its performance – OTRS is incredibly stable and fast!” states Szameit regarding the benefits of the software. In addition to typical aspects, such as the monitoring of inquiry response and solution times and the amount of tickets handled, IT employees are extremely satisfied with the OTRS Process Management module.

Automated workflows made work much more efficient and less prone to errors, as Szameit explains with an example: “Our HR department initializes onboarding and termination processes that we have to carry out in IT. For example, for the termination process, all of the former employee’s accounts and access data to critical systems have to be removed and closed. To start this process workflow, HR sends out a specially formatted email. OTRS reads this email and splits it into different tickets. This way, the different areas such as the active directory team, the ERP team or the sales team get a notification that the accounts of the employee have to be closed.” After the teams have responded accordingly, the process is finally closed successfully. The single process steps can be drawn up and adapted individually to each workflow. Aspects such as the employee responsible, the department, approval loops, etc. are all flexibly changeable, even afterwards, without having to replace the whole process. “These automation possibilities really help us to keep track of everything and to think of all the process steps,” states Szameit about OTRS Process Management.
“Thanks to OTRS’ report generator, we can now easily monitor our KPIs, something that was impossible at the same speed previously,” states Szameit, pleased with the development of OTRS since its introduction at Mitel. In addition, the potential for upgrades in the future is nearly unlimited: “We are planning connections between further software in the next few years. For example, soon OTRS will be initiating change processes in a change management tool automatically.”