DXS South Africa, the Cape Town-based local subsidiary of DXS International, are providers of clinical decision support solutions to the healthcare sector through the proprietary DXS Point of Care platform.
This platform integrates with patient record systems and delivers content relevant to the patient’s condition during the consultation, to assist healthcare workers with making informed decisions and diagnosis and providing appropriate patient information.
When the company tendered for a project with the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom at the end of 2013, they were awarded the contract with one of the requirements that they implemented an ITIL-aligned and ISO20000-based Service Management (SM) solution for reporting on service queries. DXS turned to Marval Africa and the MSM Expert tool to provide the solution.
“The ability to process service desk requests and deliver reports based on NHS requirements helped secure the contract. We needed to implement an ITIL-aligned service desk solution as well as report on service queries and issues in a standardised manner. We required software that would enable us to report on information such as how long calls take to be answered and processed, and whether or not service levels are met as defined within the Service Level Agreement (SLA). We also needed a solution that would support us on our journey toward becoming ISO20000 certified. MSM Expert from Marval Africa was the ideal solution,” explains Hentie de Vries, Managing Director of DXS South Africa.
Previously, DXS South Africa was making use of an in-house database system that integrated with their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution. The existing CRM solution lacked in functionality, and upgrading this tool would not have provided the required levels of IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) alignment. The organisation required not only reporting capabilities but also the ability to effectively process internal and external service requests, handle change management requests, identify the difference between incidents and problems, enable proper prioritisation and more. MSM Expert addresses all of these needs and more without requiring extensive development or customisation, providing complete alignment between DXS and their customer.
“Going through the tender process, we realised our existing systems fell short and we needed a more effective tool to process service requests. We began our search for the right software solution, and after discussing our challenge with Marval Africa we realised their MSM tool was the perfect solution. It offers us all of the functionality we needed to secure the tender and improve our SM, including asset management, a Configuration Management Database (CMDB), the right levels of reporting, release management, knowledge management and more. The decision to implement MSM Expert was also made with an eye to the future. As we journey towards ISO20000 we will be able to use the same solution and grow our use of its functionality,” De Vries adds.
The service desk has gone live, which enables DXS to communicate better with customers, providing immediate benefit. Customers are now able to email support and obtain an immediate response, and any updates or changes in status are automatically communicated.
In addition, the system enables proactive SLA management as managers are notified before a breach occurs so that corrective action can be taken. In addition, incident and problem reporting is now live, and implementation is ongoing as additional functionality is added including asset management. Phase two of the project will extend reporting functionality to the service desk, while future phases will incorporate change management, release and deployment management as well as incorporate financial management and extend the solution throughout the organisation.
“Implementing Marval’s MSM solution has not only delivered numerous benefits, it has also changed our way of thinking about SM. It has made our processes and approach to SM far more structured, and has afforded us greater visibility and improved escalation as a result of linking similar incidents to identify problems. We also approach the addition of new services differently as we have a more complete picture of the implications and impact of such an action,” says de Vries.
“Aligning with ITIL requires not only the right supportive software such as MSM, it also requires people, process and partners to support the transition and new approach toward continual service improvement. DXS has taken the first steps on this journey and will continue to reap the benefits into the future. For Marval Africa, DXS is an excellent reference site, not only as a customer with international clients but as an expansion of our national footprint into the Cape Town market. We look forward to assisting them on their ITIL and ISO20000 journey,” says Edward Carbutt, executive director at Marval Africa, concludes.