How to Transform Service Management Beyond IT

 Taking ITSM beyond IT is not a new concept, but it is gaining popularity in the face of digital transformation initiatives. With the advances in technology, Enterprise Service Management (ESM) is now easier to understand and use than in the past, and can create numerous benefits for businesses of all sizes.

An ESM strategy can elevate your company’s goals and fasttrack digital transformation, but to understand these benefits, it’s important to first understand the areas where you can transform processes beyond IT.

Benefits and Examples of Using ITSM Beyond IT

Service management software enables seamless communications between the customer (usually an employee of a company) and the service desk (usually the IT department, but in this case any other internal team) by creating trackable tickets and using an established set of best practices. This doesn’t need to be limited to the IT department, and can be used in HR, facilities, marketing, sales, and a variety of other teams to streamline communication.

Here are some benefits and examples of expanding service management beyond IT:

1. Improved efficiency and reduced operational costs

In a post-pandemic world, companies are vying to do more work with fewer employees. This can lead to a stressed-out workforce if efficiency is not prioritized.

With the uniform procedures of service management, companies can see a decrease in costs by as much as 50% and an increase in productivity by 30%. The streamlined efficiency will also lower operational costs overall, as problems will be resolved more quickly with less downtime.

Another way ESM may reduce costs is by tracking company assets and equipment. This is vital in a rapidly changing remote work environment. Equipment and other assets that may have been sent home with an employee can become difficult to track without asset management software associated with an ESM solution.

A great example of this benefit in action can be found by reviewing a case study of the MENTOR Network. Through streamlining asset management, new hire onboarding, and IT service requests using an ITSM self-service portal, they have seen a decrease of 25% in the amount of service calls and tickets being processed daily.

2. Maximize Your ROI on a Corporate ITSM Solution

Using an ITSM solution outside of IT with a low total cost of ownership can have a major return on investment. This is important because it means that the more people who use a corporate ITSM solution, the better the ROI when compared to using the software for IT alone.

To calculate the ROI of your service management solution, there are several factors to take into consideration, including the number of tickets handled each month, the percentage of tickets reduced, the average cost of each ticket, and monthly licensing costs. To request an in-depth calculation of your potential ROI using a service management solution, click here.

As an example, think about the ROI of utilizing service management in IT, marketing, HR, and facilities. The more departments use the software, the better the ROI and the fewer the wasted features.

3. Enterprise Service Management Maximizes Self-Service Efficiencies

When used with self-service technology, ESM maximizes self-service efficiencies. The different types of self-service capabilities, including the ability to search for and submit HR requests, facilities requests, marketing requests, or any other need, work together to increase the use of the ESM tool and boost productivity.

Just as ESM maximizes the ROI on a corporate ITSM tool, self-service boosts the ROI of an ITSM or ESM tool. To fully calculate the ROI of self-service technology with service management, request an in-depth calculation here.

4. Improve Communication and Collaboration Across Your Company

Enterprise Service Management provides a uniform way to create requests and complete onboarding, ultimately leading to improved communication and collaboration. However, beyond just providing uniform procedures, ESM makes it easier to collaborate, even when working remotely.

Consider if you are working on a project with a remote team member, and you need a uniform place to track notes or progress on resolving the issue. In this scenario, you’re working in the corporate office and notice that a marketing request has been open for a longer time than usual. With ESM, you’ll be able to check the notes on the ticket and contact the parties involved through the same ticket, ultimately leading to faster resolution. If a ticket needs to be elevated, it can easily be done without multiple calls or emails.

Not only does this empower employees to work remotely and manage their tasks better, it also improves employee retention. Providing an omnichannel (or one-stop-shop) experience to your employees is increasingly important as millennials and Gen Z dominate the workforce and come to expect the same level of convenience at work as they get in their personal lives.

5. Deliver a Better Customer Experience

When employees are spending less time searching for answers and jumping through hoops within the organization, it results in a better experience for customers outside of the organization.

Think of facilities requests for a moment. Imagine that a light fixture has become damaged and needs to be repaired or replaced in a convenience store. With ESM, the store employees are able to submit facilities requests quickly, which are then passed to a vendor for repair, all while progress is trackable and traceable for all parties involved. As a result, the light will be fixed in fewer steps and customer and employee safety will remain a priority.

However, if the process is cumbersome to submit or escalate a ticket, the light stays out longer. Employees and customers may be unable to see other issues because of the poor lighting, or it may open the door for an unsafe situation where cameras can no longer monitor the area. Those extra days or weeks can cost more than if the repair had been done quickly because employee and customer safety may be compromised.

When employees can make internal requests between business units more quickly, it boils down to a better experience for customers.

The Future of Service Management Outside of IT

Although ESM is being adopted at higher rates each day, companies are still learning the benefits and adopting ESM solutions. Post-COVID-19, enterprises will be looking to increase their ROI on traditional ITSM solutions, and will find that Enterprise Service Management helps propel ROI and other goals to the future.

With the incorporation of knowledge management, AI technology, chatbots, self-service, and predictive analysis, the future of ESM looks bright.