DSGi expects to reduce the number of incidents its IT helpdesk deals with by between 10% and 15% this year.

The retailer currently receives an average of 14,000 calls to its helpdesk every four weeks, and has introduced a system to proactively prevent problems occurring.

The improvements will come off the back of simplification in the way DSGi handles incidents and problems, and improved information on incidents and visibility of IT assets.

DSGi adopted CA’s Service Desk manager system in September 2009 across its UK and Ireland business, and it is used by the helpdesk that supports all of the company’s IT users.

DSGi IT services director Stuart Freer told Retail Week that the system had been introduced to improve service quality rather than to reduce costs.

Freer wants to get to the point where 80% or more of calls to the helpdesk are resolved first time, up from the 60% to 70% figure that DSGi is currently achieving.

Freer added that the system is helping to prevent problems occurring as DSGi implements its transformation plan, including IT and business changes.

He said: “What I’m trying to do is put in place a set of robust processes to support us as we change our systems and business processes.”

Over 150 changes to systems are occurring each week. Freer concluded: “I can see which areas are doing which changes on which days, and identify changes that conflict and could cause outages.”