executive predictions from ron muns - hdaa · executive predictions from ron muns i t won’t be...
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Service Management in
20/20Executive Predictions from Ron Muns
It won’t be long before Siri, or a version of Siri-meets-Watson, will be able to understand our technical questions and find the answers or solutions not only to our technical support questions but also to many other types of situations. Whether we’re asking about a business process, searching for a product,
fi xing a technical issue, checking stock options, or try-ing to understand our benefi ts packages, quicker, more automated, more robust, and easier-to-use self-service options will be able to provide answers on demand.
By 2020, much of what we see today will be, in a word, more: more integrated, more accepted, more automated, more predictive. Business as we know it, and the stan-dards of support for that business, will change drastically, expanding to the point where IT teams will do more than just enable the business to innovate—they’ll be partners in innovation.
To make this leap, we’ll see an evolution and expansion in all of the areas touched by service management, and we’ll see a shift in the dynamics.
• Technology user experience: Employee productivity will emerge as a top ITSM objective.
• The ITSM workforce: The offi ce landscape will change as the population of remote workers surges.
• Industry-accepted process standards: Integrated processes will foster true collaboration.
• Support technologies: IT support leaders will become innovators as technology advances.
Customer: Siri, why am I getting an error when I try to send email from my work account on my iPhone?
Siri: I do not understand. Would you like me to search the web for the answer?
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Although many trends are in full swing, we’ve only just
begun to see the potential in some of these areas.
Employee productivity will emerge as a top ITSM objective.
Today’s tech-savvy users are capable of fi nding answers
online or through self-help, but not without effort. Often,
after they’ve made multiple attempts to navigate systems
and haven’t found the answers they seek, they give up and
call support. The fi rst question they hear is, “How may I help
you?” This forces them to start all over again.
By 2020, this will be an ancient method of support. Users
want convenience, speed, simplicity, and effortless answers.
They don’t want to wait. They expect one method of support
to pick up where the other left off. In the near future, if Siri/
Watson technology can’t fi nd the answer, then all previous
interactions will be captured and delivered to the support
agent in real time so the agent can take the next step and fi nd
the answer quickly, without backtracking.
The agent will have access to information on the environ-
ment, the location, the history of the asset, and the history
of the person using the technology, all without needing to
ask the user. Problem resolution won’t rely as much on the
technical ability of the user as it will on system integration,
ease of use, and well-trained professionals who know how to
access and use information.
BYOD will be history, and ADAW (any device, anywhere)
will take its place. Users will customize their devices with
apps that increase their productivity and make their lives
easier. They’ll have instant access to their information in
the cloud. Security will be complex and smart. It will require
proof of identity on fi rst use, and it will know whether a given
user has accessed a particular device before.
Business apps and tools will be integrated with personal
social media, all in the pursuit of employee productivity.
Corporations’ internal offerings will no longer lag behind
consumer offerings, as they do today, and users will have
instant, simplifi ed access to apps on their devices of choice.
The offi ce landscape will change as the population of remote workers surges.
The integration of information, knowledge, technology,
and processes will change the offi ce landscape. Instead of
using the ability to work from home as an incentive only, it
will become the norm. With new priorities focused tightly on
employee productivity, nine-to-fi ve schedules will be a thing
of the past. Systems that allow workers to trade or negotiate
their work schedules will be commonplace. Support workers
will have more fl exibility in their schedules and will be able
to work from anywhere, on any device. By 2020, workers will
value this fl exibility even more highly than compensation.
These support professionals, who enjoy problem solving,
will be more challenged and better equipped to do their jobs
well. Tightly integrated data from a variety of sources will
eliminate redundant steps and the need to re-enter infor-
mation. And because routine requests will be automated,
these workers will be able to use their logic and skills to
interact with users, other areas of IT, and partner with the
business—even with androids!
Integrated processes will foster true collaboration.
By 2020, there will be industry-wide integration of
standards and processes. Best practices and standards
have already enabled organizations to gain efficiencies,
decrease the cost of doing business, and improve services.
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But this is just the foundation. In the future, processes
will be integrated both within and between organizations.
Organizations have long recognized the importance of
processes, standards, and certifi cations, yet they continue to
struggle with implementation and maximizing the potential of
their people. By 2020, process implementation will be stream-
lined and refi ned. Certifi cation will enable employees to drive
service effi ciency and improvement. Industry models and
standards will be modifi ed to meet corporate requirements.
The business’s goals and needs will drive IT innovation.
Communication between departments, organizations, and
vendors will no longer rely on the initiative of individuals, nor
be at the mercy of human error. Processes and tools will be
fully integrated—across the business, not just IT—connect-
ing people to answers, people to people, groups to groups.
With more integration and standardization around how
organizations communicate with each other, people will
work together better. Ultimately, organizations won’t need
to have a technical support representative and a business
process expert. They’ll be one and the same.
Knowledge management is key, but not traditional knowl-
edge engineering. Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS),
where the experiences and knowledge of many are collected,
combined, enhanced, and made available in terms the user
understands, will be the way we solve issues. As more people
interact with that information, the accumulated knowledge
will expand and ease-of-use will be signifi cantly improved.
Everything will start with a search—just like Siri/Watson!
We’re already seeing evidence of this today. When we
search for information on Google, we often fi nd answers
from other users in wikis, on blogs, or on message boards.
By 2020, Siri/Watson will lead the way in performing those
initial searches and connecting users with solutions. Live
agents will focus on resolving more complex issues, instead
of the routine, repetitive issues many of them focus on today.
They will become business support professionals, instead of
IT or departmental support professionals.
IT support leaders will become innovators as technology advances.
The automation and integration of applications, systems,
data, processes, and knowledge are the keys to accelerating
employee productivity. Although some service management
tools, like Cherwell Service Management (CSM), currently
offer many automatable and “integratable” modules, CSM is
pushing the envelope. The next version, scheduled for release
in the summer of 2013, includes pioneering technology like
location awareness, which allows support professionals to
interact with what’s physically around them, and business
intelligence, which helps support professionals understand
their data so they can make smarter, data-driven business
decisions. However, only companies with mature processes
and holistic approaches to IT, or those working toward that
end, will be able to leverage those tools fully.
In 2020, IT will drive innovation and organizations will
see it as a true business partner. Integrating processes and
technology across the organization will break down the IT
silos as well, maximizing integration. This will enable the
successful use of autonomics.
Systematically, organizations can be proactive about
making sure that every aspect of the infrastructure is up
and running. By integrating the confi guration management
database, the system will be able to perform regular self-
checks to confi rm that all systems are working as expected.
At the user level, when an automated system notices a
condition, it could use geolocation tools to inform the user
of the issue and either send a replacement device automati-
cally or direct the user to the nearest distributor, depot, or
fi eld technician. Rather than learning of a condition from
the user fi rst, which causes knee-jerk, reactive support, IT
will be able to take proactive, corrective action.
Predictive analytics will fi nd correlations between seem-
ingly unrelated data (e.g., incident data, network traffi c
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data, user profi les, weather, device features/versions, appli-
cations/versions used, operating systems/versions, SLAs).
This will improve IT’s ability to accurately predict fail-
ure before it happens, trend user activity, and identify the
staffi ng skills required in a given period, and make better
decisions and recommendations as to which technologies
should be purchased and which should be retired.
2020 in 20/20: The Future in Focus
So what’s the bottom line? By 2020, the focus on employee
productivity will tighten, forcing organizational dynamics
to change. Because the IT support organization has been the
touchpoint for the IT community, this group will become
the touchpoint for all things that affect employee productiv-
ity. With robotics, autonomics, unlimited knowledge access,
and Siri/Watson technologies, organizations will be able
to build a single command center for employee productiv-
ity—the Employee Productivity Command Center—a faster,
simpler unit that is more robust, more proactive, and more
productive than today’s IT service desk.
Who better to drive this initiative than ITSM support
teams? The service desk will become this command center,
a true single point of contact (SPOC) for all employee needs,
questions, resources requirements, research, policies, pro-
cedures, human resources, and collaboration. It will use
a single, integrated tool set, and it will be the fi rst line of
defense against cyberattacks. These teams won’t be large, but
they will do so much more. The opportunities are limitless.
Continual service improvement will be the standard mode
of operation, focusing on employee productivity across
the whole business. Productivity will become the measure
of success, not how many calls we answered, how long we
talked, or how many calls were abandoned. These metrics
will be used to drive effi ciency within the command center,
but they will not be used to measure value to the business.
In addition to their technical responsibilities, command
center analysts (human and automated) will organize
knowledge and help employees fi nd the answers to any
question and solve any problem. With Siri/Watson as the
fi rst tier of support, future business support professionals
will be true partners, innovators, and productivity coaches.
So, we end where we began, but with 20/20 vision.
Customer: Siri, why am I getting an error when I try to send email from my work account on my iPhone?
Siri/Watson: Because the outgoing mail server SMTP is incorrect. I’ve updated it, and your emails are now being released from your outbox. Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Based on an interview with Ron Muns, HDI’s founder and Cherwell Software board member. Written by Rae Ann Bruno, president of Business Training Solutions, Inc., on behalf of Cherwell Software.
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About Cherwell Software
Positioned on the 2012 Gartner Magic Quadrant for ITSSM Tools and recognized by
Forrester as one of the top three enterprise SaaS ITSM tools worldwide, Cherwell
Software is unique within the ITSM software industry. As a privately held company with
no debt or public funding, Cherwell’s primary objective is to create innovative software
that meets the needs of our customers. Founded and led by some of the industry’s most
distinguished leaders—including HDI’s founder, Ron Muns—Cherwell was built upon
the premise that if we listen to our customers, care about and strive to meet their needs,
and provide quality products and extraordinary customer care, then our company will
stand the test of time, all while having a little fun and building great relationships along
the way. Visit www.Cherwell.com to learn more.
Cherwell Service Management TM is a trademark of Cherwell Software.
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