ITSM needs to be focusing on enabling business operations through the delivery of optimized digital workflows.
What your business needs from ITSM in 2021
The global pandemic not only showcased the heroics of many IT teams, but it also started to demonstrate the “art of the digital-workflow possible” versus the current process status quo. In particular, how traditional processes and practices are limited by their reliance on manual tasks and interventions – with this something that was likely affecting all three of quality, speed, and cost even before employees were forced to work remotely.
In response to the impact of the crisis, technology-based band-aids were applied to keep businesses, and their employees, working. And now, even as many countries are unfortunately ending 2020 with a second “lockdown,” there’s a need for these new technology-enabled processes and practices to become optimized digital workflows.
Digital workflows are “the order of the day”
Thanks to the pandemic, and all the associated pain it unfortunately brought, your organization has hopefully woken up to the need for optimized digital workflows. Including the knowledge that:
There are better ways for work to be handled
Employee productivity is critical to business success
Improved insight into operational performance, service quality, and outcome delivery is a modern-day business must-have.
Digital workflows help your organization and all its “parts” to be all three of “better, faster, cheaper.” Their adoption will be a critical business strategy going forward, with your IT organization leading the way with its knowledge, skills, and experience of delivering optimized digital workflows using the corporate service management tool.
The enablement of digital workflows across your organization won’t, of course, be the only focus for your ITSM-based improvements in 2021, but it will likely be one of the most important.
The key to enabling your organization’s digital workflows in 2021
Before continuing, I need to stress that while I’ve called out the above trend specifically for ITSM, in reality it’s a 2021 business trend. Because, while ITSM, and ITSM tools, have a big role to play here, it’s ultimately about providing the capabilities that enable your business to function as it needs to.
The implementation and adoption of digital workflows is ultimately a key 2021 business trend.
Similarly, and importantly, while many will see the introduction of digital workflows as a technology change, the reality is that it’s a people change – because it impacts the traditional ways of working.
This will need organizational change management tools and techniques. The digital enablement of operations should also be viewed as being people-centric IT in terms of its benefits. For example, in ensuring that employees can remain productive (or perhaps perform even more productively) given the new ways of socially-distanced and remote-based working. Or helping to influence the wellbeing of employees – in terms of providing better working practices and outcomes, and less friction and frustration, for both service providers and service receivers during the strange times that we’re living in.
In 2021, your organization’s ability to quickly implement and adopt digital workflows will be a key competitive differentiator. Whether those workflows are in business operations, human resources (HR), legal, facilities, customer services, IT, or any other part of the organization, your optimized digital workflows will help to ensure that operations and delivered outcomes meet what’s needed by your business. Everyone wins.
So, that’s my view of what 2021 will hold for ITSM – that the need for digital workflows will drive so much of the year’s ITSM and business change. What do you think?
The original article was published on Sysaid.com
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