With businesses scaling up operations amid the increase in remote work, extending IT services across business units to HR, Facilities and beyond is essential.  

Enter enterprise service management (ESM), extending the proven principles of IT service management (ITSM) across various departments and functions within an organization. 

The benefits of ITSM

Ivanti’s experience with ITSM offers clues to the benefits that ESM can spread across an organization.  

30%

faster ticket resolution with automation and improved workflows.

20%

improvement in resolving issues on the first contact.

50%

reduction in tickets by empowering users with self-service options.

Properly managed ITSM creates efficient standardization and commonalities within processes and assets. These can include the IT services catalog, knowledge management repository, forms, reviews and approvals and self-service portals.

Why evolve to ESM?

With the success of ITSM, it makes perfect sense to extend its benefits to other parts of the organization. ESM goals are very similar, if not identical, to those of ITSM:

  • Simplify access to services: Improve operational efficiency using simplified workflows and streamline access to services and support by removing complexity.
  • Engage employees anywhere: Streamline self-service to enable employees across any digital experience and remove barriers for employee engagement.
  • Support hybrid work: Enable support for employees regardless of location. Automate and simplify processes to facilitate work from the home, office or remote location.

Begin with a solid ITSM foundation

To evolve toward ESM, start with a firm foundation in ITSM best practices. Only once you’ve optimized core processes can you be sure you can explore expanding that success into other business areas.

It's not effective to promise solutions to other units if the IT department is known for not delivering on time or if users encounter constant digital employee experience (DEX) issues. Additionally, some employees are simply reluctant to change their processes, especially if they believe their current methods are working well. They might not see a need to seek external help; sometimes, it's easier for them to do nothing.

Is ESM really needed?

When looking at a specific organizational unit, are you positive they need ESM?

To answer that question if you’re an IT manager, ask yourself: How do you currently interact with the department(s) in question, such as HR or Facilities? Do they have multiple locations? Are interactions only via email? How long do they take? How much visibility is there into processes? And in dealing with them, how does it make you feel?

Some complimentary questions that should be asked on the line of business (LOB) side: How does a manager know a team’s workload? How is work prioritized? Are communications recorded and audited? What workflows are automated? How do teams conduct handovers? How is service delivery measured?

Answers to these questions will tell you if you should move forward with ESM.

Keys to ESM adoption

If ESM implementation is warranted, observe these key steps:

Start simple

New ESM users within a different department might have to be gradually acclimated to the new tools being provided, so begin with these foundational functions:

  • Segregate email intake: Make emails automatically generate a case or query; this is readily accomplished using a full-featured ESM solution.
  • Build reporting and dashboards: This not only provides visibility into processes so users can identify and address issues, but also lets them track performance against KPIs to justify expanding services and promoting ESM adoption to other units.
  • Knowledge management and policies: This is the stage where it makes sense to put the right systems in place to record (and share) how issues are remediated and what best practices should be followed.

Evolve ESM capabilities

Once ESM has proven its value and gained traction with its new users, then:

  • Implement self-service: “Shift left” is eminently desirable in ESM, too, so provide tools such as a self-service portal where everyone in that unit or department can access a knowledge base that’s specific to their group or submit requests.
  • Automate: Automating basic or oft-repeated responses will cut costs, minimize errors and accelerate remediation. Analyze incidents within each business unit to find its specific common cases that should be automated: HR and Facilities, for instance, won’t have the same issues.
  • Set up chat: Users should be able to request a chat session with a live analyst via the self-service portal.
  • Establish SLAs: In extending ESM to different business units, establish SLAs specific to that unit so there are clear expectations, service standards and objectives.

Integrate

Integration is key, especially when it comes to seamlessly aligning HR, Facilities and IT systems. A good ITSM/ESM solution should offer integration platform as a service (iPaaS) tools that make it easy to connect with enterprise systems that include:

  • HRMS
  • Payroll management
  • Employee onboarding
  • Other LOB systems

Use their terminology

Understanding the unique terminology and requirements of different business units is vital. Don’t throw IT jargon at them; use language they’re familiar with. An HR staffer might want to open a “case,” while a Facilities worker will think in terms of a “work order.”

Tailoring communication fosters better buy-in and engagement and helps prevent the wrong lingo from confusingly popping up in their forms and processes.

Know their services

To help them enable better service delivery, it's crucial to wrap your head around their service offerings. One action you’ll need to take is to build a service catalog that contains a centralized list of all ESM services available to employees of that business unit, clearly organized and presented.

Prioritize the services listing so the most important or commonly requested services are first and users won’t have to search for them.

A strategic move: Begin with HR and Facilities

These departments typically have a wide variety of service needs that can benefit from ESM. Each deals with a diverse assortment of needs that provide excellent use cases that can demonstrate tangible benefits to support broader ESM initiatives.

HR pain points

  • Reducing the time to fill open positions by streamlining recruitment, improving candidate tracking and accelerating hiring processes.
  • Improving employee experiences through proactive HR services, self-service options and transparent communication.
  • Reducing employee turnover through proactive employee engagement strategies and improved talent management.

Facilities challenges

  • Reducing maintenance costs via preventive maintenance and efficient work order management.
  • Improving space utilization by optimizing space allocation and tracking space usage.
  • Enhancing occupant satisfaction by addressing comfort and safety concerns promptly.

Overcoming resistance

Transitioning from ITSM to ESM is not without challenges. Common hurdles include resistance to change, budget constraints and the need for IT departments to earn credibility.

By focusing on delivering a better employee experience and showcasing the value of ESM through tangible metrics, you can drive successful ESM adoption.

Beyond initial implementation

As organizations navigate toward wider ESM adoption, continuous improvement and collaboration are in order. Regular check-ins and metrics tracking will help monitor progress and refine strategies over time and further prove ESM’s value.

By empowering business units with visibility, reporting and efficient workflows, ESM can be a catalyst for organizational growth and innovation. This journey from ITSM to ESM is really a strategic evolution of an organization’s operational DNA, resulting in a business that’s more agile and responsive across the board.