The A – Z of Enterprise Service Management

Enterprise service management – the use of IT service management (ITSM) principles, best practice, and technology in other business functions (such as HR and facilities) to improve operations, services, experiences, and outcomes – is a way to digitally transform your organization from a slow-paced, siloed company into an efficient and integrated working environment. Something that’s definitely needed in this “new normal.”

Much happened in 2020 that necessitated the acceleration of corporate digital transformation plans and the need for digital workflows to replace your organization’s traditional, potentially antiquated, manually-reliant, business processes. With enterprise service management a ready-made solution to the global need for back-office digital transformation and the adoption of business-function-enabling digital workflows.

To help with your organization’s digital transformation needs, I’ve updated my A-Z of enterprise service management to better reflect the new normal that we now find ourselves in.

Automation

Automation takes away painfully-boring manual tasks and allows staff to focus on more important, engaging work. Helping to create a working environment where everyone feels that they are adding value. It’s also a boon for the remote-working environment that many people now find themselves in.

Business alignment

Data and processes flow better between departments. So, wave goodbye to siloed areas and say hello to a business where everyone is aligned and is able to work collaboratively even when they’re no longer working in the same building.

Communication

When the business becomes more aligned, communication between departments improves dramatically. The use of enterprise service management technology will further help here too.

Digital workflows

These are what your organization and business functions will be seeking help with in 2021 (and not necessarily something called “enterprise service management”). So, use your terminology wisely.

Efficient

Automated digital workflows, a fully-aligned organization, and better communication. E couldn’t stand for anything other than “efficient” really, could it? Importantly though, “new normal” efficiency isn’t just about greater speed and lower costs, it’s also about the employee and customer experience too.

Flexibility

Although there’s only one system being used across the organization, each department owns its individual solution. This means that departments can adapt their solution to suit themselves. Thus, offering flexibility across the business – an integrated system that suits individual team requirements. With that flexibility also including the ability to quickly change digital workflows as needed.

Governance improvements

When your organization adopts enterprise service management, you’ll see improvements in governance. This is because the organization can now see “the whole picture” making it simpler to understand whether departments are adhering to company procedures.

Holistic

Rather than having each business functions separate from the others, enterprise service management ensures all areas are connected and working together as one. Employee onboarding is a great example of this connectivity and the benefits the approach brings.

Integration capabilities (that support multiple business functions)

As your organization grows you can add additional capabilities to your chosen solution. Having integration capabilities means that you no longer need to spend large amounts of money on customized systems each time your organization expands – with the integration potentially serving multiple business functions rather than just one.

Justifiable investment

With everything you’ve read so far, it has to be right, doesn’t it? We’re not even halfway through my A-Z and you’ve already aligned your entire organization, improved communications, automated workflows, and become more efficient. Who’s saying “no” to this? Especially when your organization is crying out for digital workflows to enable a now disparate workforce.

Kick-ass

Your organization certainly will, when you implement enterprise service management. (Can you tell I was struggling with “K”?)

Lowering costs

Sure, the cost to change might look like a lot of money upfront but it’s a no-brainer that, over time, you’ll be saving a considerable amount by eliminating wasted resources, duplicated efforts, and inefficient manual work processes across multiple business functions.

Monitoring

Because your business functions are working together within one solution, your organization is much more equipped to see the full end-to-end process/service journey. This level of monitoring allows your organization to easily detect pain points – for employees and/or customers – and work to resolve them.

Ninety-nine problems…

… but service management ain’t one. Your IT organization is seasoned at service management and able to extend its benefits to other business functions.

Optimized service operations

The aim of enterprise service management is to make other business functions all three of “better, faster, cheaper.” When your organization is working as one, automating tasks to the correct people and working efficiently, service operations and their outcomes will be optimized.

Process improvements

Automation is a simple way to improve processes and operations, but enterprise service management offers so much more. Imagine a world where your tasks are directed to the right people, immediately. A world where a task is completed in one department and the information flows around your organization such that the same task doesn’t have to be conducted in another area. The end-to-end service journey is mapped out, made visible, and works correctly the first time, every time. That’s some pretty-major process improvement right there.

Quality

When you have an organization that works as a team, communicates effectively, and has the ability to adapt quickly, then you’re highly likely to deliver quality results to employees and even customers.

Responsive

When your business functions are working together and sharing information, they can be much more responsive to employee needs. They can respond quicker and work faster because they’ve got everything they need in the right place to get the job done, including the help of automation and service orchestration.

Service orchestration

Service orchestration extends traditional automation capabilities to include the invocation of other systems and tools. For instance, automating the process for onboarding and offboarding employees, ensuring they have everything they need – and can thus be productive – on day one.

Transformation (and not just digital)

Your organization will go through a huge transformation once enterprise service management has been adopted. Importantly, this isn’t just the addition of technology to enable digital workflows, there’s also a need to transform ways of working which not only necessitates process change but also – and importantly – people-based change too.

User satisfaction (or employee experience) improvements

Your organization can offer its employees one solution to request whatever they need from whichever department they need it from. They are also able to see the status of their tickets meaning that they don’t need to call your staff to find out what’s going on. This is far more in line with the experience employees have come to expect in their personal lives where what they need can be with them quickly.

Visibility

When you’re working from one solution you have increased visibility across your entire organization. Remove the guesswork, eliminate the concealment that siloed departments create, and gain visibility across all of your business journeys.

Workflow automation

I’ve already mentioned digital workflows, automation, and service orchestration but it’s important to view these three business enablers together too. If you have departments in your organization who are reliant on manual activities, email, or even paper-based workflows, you can scrap all of that and digitize them. Then introduce automation and service orchestration to the workflows and you’ll not only save time and money but also improve the employee experience and significantly reduce your staff’s stress levels as they wave goodbye to tedious, manual working practices.

X-ray vision

Ok, ok. I’ve already mentioned visibility so this one is a bit of a cheat but it’s also worth the reiteration. Enterprise service management really is that good – you don’t just get increased visibility; you get x-ray vision allowing you to see not only the flesh but also the bones of your entire organization. Come on, please let me have this one 😊

Your way

The enterprise service management approach is unique to each organization. There isn’t a single out-of-the-box solution that you simply implement and you’re done. It takes time and effort to create a match for your organization’s enterprise-wide needs if you’re going to do it well. And it needs proper planning before you progress. Suitable enterprise service management tools give you the ability to customize, integrate products down the line, and do everything your own, individual way. And, obviously, the easier it is to do these things the better it is for all involved – my SysAid colleagues in Sales tell me that our ability to implement quickly is a great selling point for us.

Zero fuss

I think I’ve made this clear, right?

So, there you have it. The A–Z of enterprise service management revisited for 2021 and beyond. A guide on how enterprise service management works and how it could benefit your entire organization. If you would like to know more, then please leave a comment below.