Client in focus: Marlieke van Puffelen, SQL Integrator

Based in Curaçao, with branches in the Netherlands, Brazil and the U.S., SQL Integrator is an international company that provides IT solutions and services. Their core business is to develop and support programmes - often Oracle and Java-based - for managing mortgage, financial, document management and logistics systems. Seven years ago, Marlieke van Puffelen moved from the Netherlands to Curaçao to work and live there. We asked her how TOPdesk is used on the Caribbean islands.

What is your role within the organisation?

Apart from my task as TOPdesk application manager, I take care of the technical and functional support of the financial system for which we are reseller.

Which TOPdesk version do you use? And which modules?

In 2004 we started out with TOPdesk lite, and upgraded to TOPdesk Professional in November of last year. Apart from the standard modules, we make much use of the Event management module to automate the information flow; we find it important to ensure good communication with our customers. We encourage them to log incidents via the Web interface and we use automatic emails to keep them up to date on the status of their incidents. When we’ve set a target date, they can indicate whether or not they agree with the estimated duration. When an incident has been resolved, we complete it and the customer receives an email that they can close the incident themselves - provided they are satisfied with the offered solution of course.

How many callers does your organisation have and how large is your service desk?

In total we have about 90 registered - mostly external - callers, who are supported by ten employees. As our expertise is spread all over the world, it happens that a second line incident is sometimes processed further in Brazil.

What does your organisation use TOPdesk for?

At the time we purchased TOPdesk to register the questions we received about our mortgage programme, but now we also use it to support the other products for which we are reseller. Another TOPdesk feature we often use is the Report wizard in the Self Service Desk. We’ve created standard reports for our clients, which provide an overview of the incidents that have been registered but not yet closed by their organisation, so they know which incidents still need to be tested and closed.

What is an example of a call which occurs frequently?

That depends on the product. In most cases the incident concerns bespoke work and therefore cannot be resolved within five minutes. Another difficulty is that our incidents are logged in many different languages; we try to use only English and Dutch in TOPdesk, but some incidents are processed in Papiamento from start to finish.

Do you have a tip or trick for using TOPdesk?

I’m an IT person, so up until recently I’ve figured out TOPdesk for myself. A few months ago however I decided to read through the manual for a change, to find out what other functionalities TOPdesk offers. TOPdesk is a very rich application, and consulting a manual might be a good tool to discover its possibilities to the fullest extent.