“The Work You Do Everyday Matters.”

Each year, HDI is assisted in its mission by an advisory board of industry professionals. These IT service and support thought leaders help us analyze trends, course offerings, and network opportunities to help us better serve you. 

We're profiling the members of the HDI Strategic Advisory Board. Here, we ask a few questions of Bruce Randall, Head of Product and Solutions Marketing, Service Operations, ITSM and AIOps, at ServiceNow. 

Thank you for agreeing to be a part of HDI’s Strategic Advisory Board. Why do you think it’s important to give back to the IT service and support community?

I love and want to amplify the passion of the community in helping each other, and the people they serve every day.

I’ve been on the vendor side of the IT Service and Support community on and off for the better part of two decades. In that time, I have seen the strategic nature of IT service and support communities blossom. The process itself is core to delivering both employees and customers the great experience with technology that they want to have. At the same time, I’ve seen this community’s passion for helping customers and employees succeed literally explode. And working with so many successful customers in this space, I’ve seen all sorts of best practices develop that I enjoy sharing. So therein lies my reason for giving back.

What lesson did you learn from your biggest success in your career? And from one of your biggest challenges?

If I were to pull out one lesson, it would be to be confident in being who you are and stop worrying about trying to become someone else. And this applies to work as much as anywhere.

I found when I wasn’t true to my core, I wasn’t believable anyway and I often stunted my own growth, so all the work I put into pretending didn’t usually help in the end anyway. I like myself a whole lot more and am able to give more and better help when I fearlessly move forward without pretense and with a desire to do what’s right all the time.

A challenge I’m reminded of daily is how I’m unfortunately very good at overcomplicating things. But with all the information we have coming at us every day, the power of simplicity can’t be overstated. A simple message or thought or activity typically rings the bell a lot faster and causes far less stress.

In your opinion, what skill or skills will be most needed in the next decade in this industry?

My mind goes two places with this question. First is the empathy and compassion that are and will be necessary to understand what the end user experience really looks like. The needs there are only growing.

And secondly, the rise of AI, AIOps, and chatbots in the service and support community likely means that most of the “easy” questions will get answered by systems in many cases. So the frontline roles in service and support will need to become the level 2/3 teams of today – providing support for more complex issues in live fashion. And then these teams will be asked to use their learnings from these complex interactions to even train AI better.

What are you most proud of in your career, and why?

I know it sounds a bit cliché, but I’m still a baseball coach and father at heart. 😊 My greatest joys have come from times when customers and employees that I have been working with find success.

You find yourself in a room full of IT service and support professionals and you have the opportunity to give them just one piece of advice to set them up for success. What would you say?

That the work you do every day matters. Employees are more productive. Customers are happy and want to buy more or are more willing to help your organization fulfill its mission. And your organizations run more smoothly, in all ways, when the service and support organization is thriving.