In this blog series we’re looking at strategies for simplifying IT to better meet user expectations and add more business value. I’d like to focus this time on ITSM processes.
Excessive process complexity can make the task of delivering service needlessly difficult. There are a couple of important ways you can streamline your service provision and enhance efficiency:
Automated business processes
ITSM automation has tended to be limited because service management tools typically require specific expertise and/or expensive consulting resources for workflow customization. Look for an ITSM solution that enables you to automate processes and orchestrate tasks via graphical tools that require no coding or technical skills.
Best-practice processes configured for your business
Despite best intentions, it’s unusual to define all your ITSM processes before you select a Service Desk tool. Even if you try to do so, you’ll have to adapt the processes later as your service improvement program evolves. So what you should look for is best-practice processes out of the box, plus the ability to configure them easily later – preferably using graphical visualization of the process with easy drag-and-drop configuration.
I’d like to throw in an example here of what I mean by this idea of customizable best-practice processes. Our product Hornbill Service Manager has a feature called “progressive capture”. This means that instead of filling in a complex form to record a customer request, agents put in concise information through a staged process, ensuring accurate, effective handling and efficient resolution.
By reducing complexity in this way, you can:
- Ensure the consistent application of your ITSM processes
- Obtain complete info needed to progress requests
- Speed up the logging process
- Hide the complexity of the underlying processes from 1st line agents
Service provision is made more efficient through process automation, task orchestration, and best-practice processes. You can quickly customize your service desk tool and processes to suit the way your team work. And your team becomes more productive because everyone can focus their attention on delivering value where it’s really needed.
My next blog post will be about another strategy for simplifying ITSM: that of meeting modern user expectations arising from consumerization.
