Public sector IT leaders are increasingly looking to move to broader, all-encompassing platforms – and momentum is building for an Enterprise Service Management (ESM) platform as the solution.
However, deploying an ESM platform can be a complicated process due in part to code-heavy platforms that organizations may already have in place, according to a recent report conducted by TeamDynamix and InformationWeek, and a senior TeamDynamix official who explained the findings and technology benefits during a new webinar organized by MeriTalk.
“Clients are coming to the market but they’re no longer looking for just an IT Service Management platform. They’re looking for ESM platforms because the collaboration required to deliver services and the amount of service being delivered outside of IT is such that it no longer makes sense to look at just an IT-centric solution,” said Andrew Graf, chief product officer for TeamDynamix, during the webinar.
Graf explained that IT Service Management (ITSM) platforms can be limited and labor-intensive, while ESM allows an entire organization to work from one unified and connected platform. That helps employees access the tools they need easier and faster, which in turn is pushing more IT leaders towards deploying ESM platforms.
Nearly 50 percent of IT leaders surveyed in the new report explained the need to simplify workflows for departments with high volume was their driving force for adopting ESM. A little over 40 percent said the top driver was improving collaboration across their organization.
Some other reasons for the adoption of ESM included: better project management and prioritization (nearly 40 percent); faster response time to inbound requests (about 35 percent); cost savings (a little over 30 percent); better satisfaction among department workers (about 25 percent); improved employee experience (about 20 percent); and a one-stop shop experience for employees (nearly 10 percent).
However, making the transition from code-heavy ITSM platforms to ESM can require more tech help.
The top two challenges for IT leaders who have an ITSM are the heavy reliance on IT to administer the system (44 percent), and excessive manual processing or insufficient automation (41 percent), the report found.
“IT is incredibly constrained and there is an ever-expanding level of complexity in the environments that they’re asked to support,” Graf explained. Thus, he said, many IT leaders want to shift toward no-code ITSM/ESM deployments.
However, according to the report, 49 percent of IT leaders are still managing a code-heavy platform that prevents ESM adoption.
IT leaders who have successfully rolled out ESM explained that there are a few components to think about – first, how to improve the self-service component of IT; second, how to improve service delivery while easing administrative burden’; and third, how to automate “mundane activities” while remaining cost-effective.
Graf also explained that flexibility is an important aspect of ESM platforms.
“They should be easy to maintain by the department, not through IT. An organization should be able to collaborate across these different portals,” he said.
About 31 percent of IT leaders reported their organizations having one central platform with different portals for each department, which essentially allows for simple collaboration across the different portals.
Those organizations, Graf explained, are often the ones who can expand to ESM much more quickly because IT is more of a guide instead of the organization performing the work.
“Our most successful customers actually see the ITSM as becoming almost consultants to the rest of the organization, becoming very strategic helping them set up their applications, and then supporting the department level users,” Graf said.
Graf also emphasized that a stellar end-user portal also should be easy to navigate, accessible, incorporate feedback, easy to build, and have a responsive design.
Please enjoy complementary access to both the on-demand webinar and the report.
