Why IT service management is crucial to the success of your digital transformation

We’ve written extensively about implementing digital transformations that embed meaningful change and enable your business to achieve its goals, on our blog. But one area that is vital to the ongoing success of your digital operations, is IT service management (ITSM).

In short, without effective ITSM the potential benefits of a digital transformation can easily be lost.

Bridging the expectation gap

Most senior leaders recognise the competitive advantage digital transformations can create. That’s why they’re embracing them. McKinsey’s 2022 Global Survey on digital strategy and investments found that nine out of 10 C-level executives said their organisations had carried out at least one large-scale digital transformation in the previous two years.

The focus has therefore moved on from whether to carry out digital transformations to making sure they deliver genuine return on investment (ROI). After all, the same McKinsey report found only 31% of organisations surveyed achieved the revenue increase they had hoped for following a digital transformation.

Clearly there is work to be done to bridge that expectation gap. One key part of the puzzle is ensuring the digital systems and processes you put in place operate smoothly and offer a brilliant employee experience, around the clock.

Preventing downtime that holds back your team and your organisation requires agile ITSM that can keep pace with your new digital capabilities. As business processes become more reliant on technology it has driven a steep increase in IT tickets. Applications and systems are also continually evolving and upgrading. Your ITSM needs to have the scale and agility to rise to these challenges.

Developing a fit-for-purpose ITSM

The most successful ITSM applications achieve this by harnessing many of the innovations that are driving wider digital transformations, to deliver more effective IT services. For example:

• Machine learning and artificial intelligence can help to continually enhance the ITSM experience, for example by analysing data, patterns and habits to predict future incidents.
• Collaboration software, self-service web portals and multi-experience apps enable users to quickly access IT knowledge and solve problems themselves.
• Agile ITSM working practices enable IT service desk teams to adapt quickly to digital transformations and other change projects, so they are not left behind by the wider business.

By incorporating these advances, ITSM helps to ensure that IT teams are up to the job of maintaining complex, fast-paced digital systems. But no change project is straightforward.

What’s holding your ITSM back?

Organisations attempting to upgrade their ITSM application or introduce ITSM for the first time often come up against several common barriers to success.

If there is ambiguity about the benefits of investing time and money in ITSM, and a lack of clarity around its positive impact on strategic objectives, people won’t be onboard with the change. Without a sense of purpose from the top, encouraging people to commit to the hard work of implementing and adapting to ITSM is a struggle.

This amplifies other issues that inevitably crop up both during and after implementation, such as:

• The complexity of integrating ITSM with other tools and systems.
• A lack of the right skills to get the most from new functionality.
• The continued use of existing processes by employees, which impacts ITSM effectiveness and increases workload for the IT team.
• A reduced sense of ownership and empowerment due to standardised IT processes.
• Culture clashes or working practice differences with out-sourced ITSM support.

In a nutshell, if an ITSM implementation isn’t handled well you could find yourself with a demotivated workforce and a new IT service management applications that nobody is using.

Setting your digital transformation up for success

Overcoming these challenges will play a key role in developing an ITSM that supports your digital transformation and helps it deliver ROI.

Implementing an effective ITSM starts by elevating its importance within an organisation. That means incorporating it into your digital transformation strategy and aligning it with your core business goals. To embrace change, people need to be able to understand the rationale behind it and why they should adapt to new processes and responsibilities.

It then comes down to the nitty gritty of selecting the best tech for the job, training people how to work with it and negotiating water-tight service level agreements with out-sourced ITSM providers.

If you want to discuss how we can help you develop and embed an ITSM that underpins the success of your digital transformation, get in touch today.