You’ve most likely noticed that about every business vertical is undergoing phenomenal technological changes, and companies are doing all they can to keep-up by leaning more on their IT departments to align with broad business goals. In this article, we will explore how some companies are using IT Service Management (ITSM) to turn things around in business to transform the way all we work and live.
ITSM has been described as the art of coordinating IT services, end-users, quality, costs, and core business functions to help make a business run as efficiently as possible. Now that is a hefty weight to bear! In a bid to gain insight into how ITSM works, especially its role in facilitating digital transformation, an extensive survey was recently carried out by Forbes Insights on business executives. Fifty-six percent of the executives surveyed agree that IT transformation is significantly accelerating in the market and half admitted that their organizations need more training and skill development to stay on pace. 41% believed that staffing resources are stretched to too thin to be able to catch-up.
Business Transformation Goals vs. IT Priorities
Identify the Challenges to Transformation
There are several challenges with prioritizing new transformation projects. One of such is the lack of IT skills. 36% of the executives surveyed believe this is the most tasking part of aligning IT with larger business goals. A firm with little or no IT skill is unlikely to make meaning contributions to his business, let alone to technology.
The second challenge is a lack of understanding of core business services, and it accounts for 34% of the pain in transformation. If your IT staff doesn’t understand your company’s product or the functions of other departments, then you can imagine it would be difficult for them to get very creative with the types of solutions they bring to the table.
Another pain point listed was the pace of IT change. IT is always evolving and as it does, changing along with it can pose a problem in staying educated and versed in various software engineer product solutions, market trends, and the various issues of concern throughout your entire company.
ITSM’s Role in Leading New Initiatives
Information Technology service management plays a vital role in the digital transformation endeavors of firms. The 2017 Fortune Insights ITSM survey shows that 88% of the executives agreed that ITSM is important. One respondent likened the absence of ITSM to driving a state-of-the-art sports car without any gauges to tell you how fast you’re going or if something is about to go wrong.
As a result of the importance of ITSM, many companies (about 65% of those surveyed) plan to increase their ITSM budget, with up to 70% of this increase expected within the next few years. With increased funding, companies can now focus on developing, sourcing, and delivering technology services that effectively align with the concerned business units.
In keeping up with the latest trends in IT, almost all of the firms surveyed have put in place self-service and support functions for end-users to conveniently carry out primary functions. CIO’s and Directors are looking more and more to their IT departments to develop software engineering proprietary solutions, either in-house or with the help of outsourced teams.
If you want to break it down, Information Technology Service Management is 43% operational efficiency, 31% employee productivity, 23% Digital enterprise transformation 23% Risk Minimization, and 19% cost reduction. Companies that employ ITSM are more successful in their business because their teams are more productive, focused and result-oriented. Their cost of production is reduced, so also are the business risks.
