So much has happened socially and in the workplace in the last few years. As a result, various factors have changed the corporate demands on IT service management (ITSM). There’s the increased corporate reliance on technology, new ways of working (usually based on digital transformation, which increases the dependence on technology even more), the need to reduce costs, and higher employee expectations of IT service delivery and support.
But how do your ITSM capabilities need to change to reflect these differences? If you use it, ITIL service management best practices have evolved (with ITIL 4) and are better aligned with current business and employee needs. However, these needs continue to evolve and to help, this blog looks at some of the ITSM changes needed to better serve and support the new ways of working seen in most organisations.
How Business Operations and ITSM Needs Have Changed
The global pandemic accelerated digital transformation (or digital enablement) initiatives and increased end-user needs and expectations, which are inextricably linked with technology reliance. The ITSM impact of these changes is broad, for example, in:
- Increasing operational resiliency – especially because the effect of the pandemic wasn’t considered in many corporate business continuity plans.
- Improving end-user experiences – including how IT services meet employee needs, technology ease of use, and IT support’s focus (on people rather than technology).
- Supporting work mobility and flexibility – where end-users now expect to work from anywhere, anytime, and on any device.
- Enabling collaboration between remote-working employees and third parties – through productivity tools such as video conferencing and shared workspaces.
- Increasing automation and integrations between systems – to facilitate the improved employee productivity and cost reductions businesses require.
- Enhancing information security capabilities – to address the risks associated with the distributed ways of working and the higher levels of cyber threats.
There’s Much to Change, But is it Worth it?
On the one hand, the various drivers for change make that change inevitable. It’s a Darwinian “survival of the fittest”, do or die, scenario where survival can be viewed on multiple levels – from senior IT leadership, through the IT organisation as a whole (with outsourcing a potential alternative), to the parent business struggling to compete if technology disadvantages hinder its operations and people.
On the other hand, the need to change can be justified in terms of what matters most to the organisation – where improved IT capabilities lead to better business results because of increased competitive advantage. For example, with changed ITSM capabilities focused on:
- Improving end-user productivity
- Increasing resiliency and agility
- Reducing costs
- Facilitating better decision-making.
Facilitating Better Decision-Making as a Change Example
In many ways, this improvement is the bedrock of ITSM’s ability to better serve and support new ways of working. Because many IT organisations will need a better understanding of what’s required and reliable insights into the IT service delivery and support status quo.
If these two elements are underserved or overlooked, it will be challenging for an organisation to understand where IT services fail to meet existing business and employee expectations. Plus, reacting accordingly through further improvements when these needs continue to evolve.
Some organisations’ decision-making capabilities are currently impeded by the use of traditional IT metrics that focus on operations and, at best, outputs, i.e. the mechanics of IT service delivery and support. These metrics are why there’s often a disconnect between what IT and business colleagues think about IT service delivery and support – while the operationally-focused metrics show performance targets being met, the business-outcome view of things is less positive.
This insight into outcomes can bring ITSM improvements to the right places – allowing IT organisations to focus on “what matters most”. Whether related to employee productivity, organisational resilience, mobile working, collaboration, or anything else, IT can prioritise based on business need rather than operational metrics or “IT gut feel”.
Be Prepared for Challenging Times in ITSM
Changing ITSM capabilities to better serve and support new ways of working might sound straightforward, but for most organisations, there will likely be barriers to the required improvement efforts. So while the improvement ambition is there, turning this into reality might be hampered by issues such as:
- Budgetary limitations
- Employee resistance to change
- Skills gaps
- Other business priorities
- Security and compliance needs affecting ease-of-use
- Legacy technology
Unfortunately, the potential people-related issues – employee resistance and skills gaps – will most likely be overlooked by organisations (at least initially). Organisational change management tools and techniques will help with the first of these. However, the second might be more complex, where existing personnel cannot switch from the status quo to deliver service and support that’s different due to employee-centricity, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled, or another change. However, this “tough nut needs to be cracked” for ITSM to truly support the new ways of working across the business.
New Ways of Working Need New Ways of Working
Hopefully, this blog has done enough to outline how the new ways of working for all employees also require new ways of working in IT where ITSM capabilities need to change across both IT service delivery and support – whether it’s the provision of new services, changes to existing services (such as revised service-level targets), or a different focus for IT support, where the emphasis is addressing the employee productivity issues not simply tackling the presented IT issue.
HaloITSM is here to help you elevate your IT service management to better support modern ways of working. Unlock improved end-user experiences and streamline your IT operations. Schedule a session with our expert team to enhance your ITSM capabilities today by clicking the button below!
