I am very excited about the latest release of LANDESK Service Desk. We’ve introduced a totally new concept that we call SnapIT. I think it’s fair to say, this one really is something quite different.  It’s new, unique, innovative and potentially game-changing for IT service management technology.

What is SnapIT?

SnapIT is not a product, it’s a new concept or capability that you can design into your service desk to offer a totally new user-experience to your end users or customers. It is provided by combining a number of LANDESK product technology features and uses LANDESK Workspace mobile app (or mobile browser) with LANDESK Service Desk and Incident and Knowledge processes. It also extends to extraordinary integration across the LANDESK portfolio too.

With SnapIT,  an end user gets immediate, relevant IT advice, on their mobile phone, helping on whatever their mobile camera can see at the time.

What a mobile camera can see leads to IT knowledge, advice, choices, and solutions. 

SnapIT translates uncertainty into productivity. 

SnapIT puts IT knowledge in context, in sight and in the palm of your hand.  

I sometimes say it’s a little like Wordlens – the cool mobile app which converts text in one language seen through a phone camera to another – except with SnapIT we convert what you photograph into good IT advice. SnapIT translates questions into answers, uncertainty into productivity.

Innovative? Certainly. Transformative? Could be. Game changing? Quite possibly.

Here’s some examples where we’ve seen SnapIT transforming the individual question-to-solution personal experience.

  • An error that appears when you try to log in to your computer. You’ve not forgotten your password – something somewhere is broken. what do you do if you can’t even get into the computer?

SnapIT recognises the error and lets you click a link to push a fix to your computer. You wait until its says complete, and then log in.

  • An error that appears when you launch that application or website, or when you try to modify or save something. You’re stuck. What do you do? 

SnapIT recognises the error and shows you the steps to make the correct settings. Holding your phone, you follow the steps and then you are working successfully. If it didn’t work, SnapIT also has a link to notify IT that you need further help.

  • A message appears ‘warning: something… continue or cancel’. What? Is that safe? is that dangerous? Should you worry? What do you do?

SnapIT recognizes the error and offers you a link to receive the correct, newer, or fixed version of the application. You click, wait, see the application installed and away you go.

  • A message that appears ‘You now need to do…’but you don’t understand how to do it.

SnapIT recognizes the message and presents you the documents and videos showing how to do the required action. Watching the video on your phone you proceed through the required steps and complete the needed activity.

And we’re not limited to computer screens of course. You see them also on printer screens, phone displays, projector and TV displays. I’ve even read some IT posters and technical manuals that I’ve not understood.

SnapIT changes the game. Now what you see on your computer screen can be converted into advice. in the palm of your hand. No phone call, no screenshot, no forms, NO TYPING, no waiting. Right there on your mobile device.

Overall, SnapIT makes it easy to get advice. So easy. The individual journey – the user experience – from question to answer is transformed. This places your IT department in the hand of every individual end user.

It’s also easy to apply. As we often point out, service desk design needs no code developer skills. Our customers can apply SnapIT into their service desk design without  having to write and understand complex code scripts.

Sounds pretty impressive, doesn’t it As well as being innovative technology, I’m also excited about the way that SnapIT places the value of IT knowledge front and centre once again in the purpose and objective of ITSM. The value that IT brings is business-specific, role-specific, user centered. Good IT Service Management changes individuals productivity and the creation and sharing of knowledge is a vital part of that.

The technical bit : How does this magic work?

Just like lego pieces, you put the following features of LANDESK Service Desk together in the right order.

1 – LANDESK Workspace mobile app or mobile browser, which can launch a new SnapIT support process and take and attach photos. 

2 – SnapIT process :

– Extracts the text from the image using OCR services

– Searches the extracted text against the IT knowledge base (as the end user to ensure correct knowledge scope)

– Refreshes screen and shows relevance-ordered matches to knowledge search.

3 – Bonus features

– Yes, this works for email as well – emails create or sent from the above steps.

– Yes, you can also do this with screenshots on a desktop browser in self-service – you don’t have to use a camera

– You can add LANDESK Total User Management to allow knowledge advice to also PUSH corrective fixes, so an end user can see an error, see the advice, click the link and watch as the fix is applied in real time to their computer.

– If the answer is not in the knowledge base, the SnapIT process can automatically generate a brand new knowledge article from the photo and the solution that IT provide. This will  then be presented to an end user the next time they encounter that issue. Using SnapIT builds knowledge.

–  If you really also want to search Google, you can present a ‘now search this text in Google’ link alongside your IT knowledge advice.

– And finally, Yes, SnapIT works equally in-cloud or on-premise. Just like LANDESK Service Desk.

I’m very proud of SnapIT and the people who managed to conceive, design, build and deliver this new idea out to our customers. It’s the result of a great deal of hard work and creativity. Now it’s over to you – I’d love your feedback. What do you think?

You can see SnapIT in action in our video here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMB-H1WP2ps&feature=youtu.be

You can see the first blog The Problem with IT Support – Why we need SnapIT