Shift Left

As an IT professional, you’re a problem-solver at heart. Solution-oriented is written on your sleeve and you’re pretty darn good at it. 

But for longer than you can remember, you’ve been spending the majority of your day troubleshooting problems. And there are so many that you can barely keep up, which has left you with no time to work on more strategic projects that will increase the organization’s effectiveness. You feel stuck in an almost permanently reactive mode. 

You’re not alone. This is where many IT teams find themselves as the complexity of their IT landscape continues to increase without the technology to match it. It doesn’t have to be this way because the more you can “shift” your department “left,” the more these problems can actually take care of themselves. Imagine that! 

This article aims to help you understand the benefits of shift left and how it can make an impact on your organization. Keep reading to learn more.

Shift left meaning

In ITSM, "shift left" refers to resolving issues and providing support as close as possible to the point where the issue arises.

Shift left makes problem resolution and other key activities less costly and accelerates how quickly issues are resolved. This is achieved in large part through automation, so that problems typically handled by the frontline support desk analyst resolve themselves automatically. The ultimate way to shift left?  Put the power to resolve a problem in the end users’ hands so they can do it themselves.

Both approaches shift the resolution left, closer to the original issue. It’s also not a process that's one-and-done. It’s a constantly evolving practice that requires constant revisitation and reevaluation and fosters an environment of innovation. As a result, this can save time and money, and increase security and productivity in the long-term.

Shift left benefits

There are several benefits to implementing a shift left IT strategy.

Faster Resolution: It decreases the amount of time it takes for your team to resolve tickets. This takes them from a reactive to a proactive state and frees up your team to put their brainpower behind more strategic initiatives that have a bigger business impact.

Reduced Escalations: Shifting left will also minimize the number of tickets that require advanced human intervention. This leads to decreased work disruptions that helps keep agent efficiency high and improves user productivity.

Improved Employee Experience: Being able to resolve issues seamlessly, without having to wait for an agent or interrupting their work increases employee satisfaction and improves IT’s reputation across the organization.

Optimized Costs: With issue resolution being handled more on the front line and less by costly specialists, you’ll be able to save costs related to hours and even headcount. Additionally, you’ll free up your team members for more strategic work. You'll better use your resources and assets and organize the most effective resources to the right projects.

What’s involved?

From empowering customers to encouraging accountability to improving user and IT staff experience, shift left presents a huge opportunity for IT departments. What are some key considerations to keep in mind in undertaking a shift-left initiative?

• Knowledge sharing. Shift left aims to enhance customer satisfaction and foster teamwork within IT and the broader organization. This means knowledge becomes the top asset in the ITSM value chain, as the service desk is a critical point where customers seek help for IT issues. This underscores the importance of building knowledge and expertise across the IT support hierarchy to effectively address challenges and drive improvements.
• Self-service. Shifting left enhances customer empowerment through true self-service, enabling quicker access to solutions without impacting efficiency. Significant improvements in ITSM come in automating the service catalog, identifying services suitable for self-service portals, leading to higher user satisfaction and freeing IT resources for strategic business projects.
• A focus on employee experience. Shifting left involves moving away from traditional "command and control" towards better customer experience, responsiveness and end-user empowerment. This may require an initial investment in cultural change, knowledge management and process design, along with ongoing maintenance and improvement, rather than focusing primarily on cost reduction.

How to get started with shift left?

Getting your IT department to shift left won’t happen overnight. But an IT service team can kick off that journey by focusing on a few basic steps.

1. Identify repetitive tasks

Drill down into your service desk data to get the insights you need to launch the first phase of this journey. Generate reports to identify which tasks are monopolizing the time and attention of your support team.

Are there frequent password reset requests, basic software troubleshooting tickets or repetitive access requests for pre-approved applications? These are the proverbial “low-hanging fruit,” the tasks that require the least human intervention that are prime candidates for automation.

2. Unleash automation

Harness an ITSM automation solution and use it to design automated workflows to handle those repetitive tasks you identified earlier. 

For the most common pain points, there are usually out-of-the-box or easily customization workflows available. Many vendors offer pre-built automations that address common ITSM bottlenecks. Investigate these pre-built workflows, as they can be a great time-saver and provide a solid foundation for further modification.

3. Empower self-service

Invest in building a robust knowledge base that features user-friendly guides, FAQs and even video tutorials addressing frequently encountered issues. An ITSM platform with generative AI can quickly and automatically generate knowledge articles for incidents. The easier it is for users to find solutions themselves, the less weight on your service desk.

Self-service portals make it far easier for users to help themselves. Use your ITSM platform to deliver one that empowers users to access knowledge base articles, reset passwords or submit routine requests – all without ever needing to contact the service desk.

The results?

• Reduced ticket volume. Automating routine tasks removes the drudgery and costs they impose on your support team.
• Improved user experience. Easy-to-access self-service options empower users to resolve basic issues independently, slashing wait times (and frustration!).
• IT staff liberation. Shift left allows support teams to dedicate more time to proactive tasks like preventing issues, researching solutions for complex problems and providing enhanced user support.

Shift left testing

In software development, “shift left testing” means moving application testing cycles closer to the start of the software delivery lifecycle. This means issues can be identified much earlier and fixed before they become more expensive to fix, and before they reach the user. 

In IT service delivery, it can mean much the same. Here’s a linear process for testing new processes and/or technologies that you want to apply in ITSM. 

1. Gather data. Analyze caller data, issue types and questions to identify patterns, like frequent password reset requests, for strategic planning. 
2. Choose "low-hanging fruit." For your pilot efforts, focus on areas suffering frequent issues, long resolution times and high costs.  
3. Empower lower-tier employees. Train staff to use new tools and systems so they can take on greater responsibility for more helpdesk needs, freeing higher-ups.
4. Set escalation triggers. Create clear criteria for issue escalation, such as time spent or number of attempts, to streamline support and prevent overload.
5. Test your program. Perform A/B testing to measure the effectiveness of your new processes and techniques versus standard procedures to refine your approach.
6. Measure success. Be sure to have proper KPIs in place to assess the team's performance, cost of service and ROI to judge financial impact and justify program expansion.
7. Expand on success. Build on your initial success by analyzing data to look for more efficiencies and apply what you've learned to improve other service areas.