What do you want out of your Service Management?
I had a client recently refer to ServiceNow as a “Cadillac Escalade”, and that they “just needed a Kia”. This is certainly a long way from when I started at ServiceNow in 2010 and the company and the platform was still just emerging from its “gutsy startup” phase. We’ve now reached the point where ServiceNow has become a “gold standard” in cloud platforms and Service Management, and customers are having to decide if they can afford such a high-end solution.
Anyone who has spent time in business realizes that many decisions are made strictly on financial conclusions, or at the least, what is the minimum required solution for the minimum price. While this exercise is black and white, it’s often overly simplistic and short-sighted.
I’d like to use the remainder of this article to talk about the decisions made about using ServiceNow as your Service Management platform: What do you get out of it, what do you want to get out of it, and are you thinking about both in the right way?
Deciding what Service Management is to your business
For much of IT’s history in business environments, upper management’s view of it (and often the whole company’s) is mainly or purely operational: While it automates a previously manual process, it is there simply to “keep the lights on”, and isn’t core to the company strategy. As a subset of IT, Service Management serves the same function: Ensure people can do their work, and speed up the process of getting people what they need where possible.
Only recently have I started to see a shift in philosophy where companies and company decision-makers start to view IT and Service Management strategically: How can this business function actually be leveraged to make us more competitive, increase our margins, allow our people to focus on strategy and not day-to-day repetition. Let’s explore what this means. The following image shows the upward pyramid of Service Management from operational to strategic:
Here’s each tier in greater detail:
Tier 1
Organizations have a central mechanism for taking in issues and requests, assigning them, and working them through to completion. Issues and requests are lumped together; customers and fulfillers view everything as a “ticket” to get reported and completed. Processes are manual: the customer calls or emails, queue managers or general fulfillers assign out the work. No SLAs are defined or tracked – work is done “catch as catch can”. Knowledge and solutions are tribal. No CMDB exists or is leveraged for ticket alignment. No attempt to recognize patterns or recurrences. Reporting is basic and often compiled and manipulated “just in time”.
Tier 2
The central mechanism begins to delineate between types of requests, and defining SLAs around each. For example, an issue preventing a person or persons from doing their job is prioritized over a request for a new software installation. Customers have other interfaces to submit and view their issues and requests – portal, mobile apps, etc. Fulfiller queues become better defined and therefore easier to assign. Management starts to standardize reporting and it becomes more real-time in nature. Knowledge begins to be documented. A CMDB is started for aligning issues and requests with physical and logical infrastructure. Fulfillers begin to recognize and report patterns.
Tier 3
Based on information in submissions, some routing is automated, bypassing the initial queue. SLAs begin to be used to measure performance and enforce accountability. The customer experience becomes both broader and more intuitive – more information and paths to get service exist, but the interfaces are easy to navigate and the correct information is presented at the correct place and time. The CMDB becomes core to understanding and analyzing the service environment – where are issues arising and how is it tied to the broader environment? Reporting starts to move up and down the enterprise hierarchy and is not just limited to single service areas or tiers. Knowledge management processes become defined to ensure knowledge is relevant and up-to-date.
Tier 4
The service desk becomes de-centralized as the CMDB and other mechanisms define and route tickets to the correct initial fulfillment groups (bypassing the generic “service desk” or “help desk”). Correct and available knowledge begins to deflect ticket creation as customers are able to self-serve. Other tickets, particularly requests, are auto-fulfilled (require no human interaction) with orchestration. CMDB relationships are defined allowing fulfillers to see impact across services and the enterprise infrastructure.
Tier 5
All ticket types are defined based on the information presented and the service required – the “right tool to get the job done”. SLAs are defined by type and measured, viewed and accountability exists for meeting them. Almost every submission is routed to a minimum level 2 support group based on the information provided. Fulfillment flows are defined and automation/orchestration is used wherever possible, and fulfillment flows are not implemented without exploring and understanding what automation is possible. CMDB and core data drive the routing, the fulfillment flows and the reporting. Fulfillers leverage the CMDB relationships to understand issues and change impacts across the enterprise. Reporting can be done from the fulfillment teams and ticket type level all the way up to the enterprise, based on available core data. All opportunities for self service and ticket deflection mechanisms are implemented and exposed to the customer. Knowledge is cultivated, managed, standardized and available to the correct audiences. The service management system becomes a system of record for all services delivered and aligns with systems of truth for devices, licensing and access.
Where do you want to be in this tiering?
As stated earlier, it’s much easier to do a cost-benefit analysis of Tier 1. But the real ROI comes from leveling up towards Tier 5. ServiceNow’s flexibility allows you to reach any of these tiers, so a goal of Tier 5 is very attainable. When your employees are no longer focused on day-to-day operational concerns, but rather focus their energies on business improvement, strategic initiatives and outside the box thinking, your business becomes a leader.
In Part 2, we’ll examine the key differences between Tier 1 and Tier 5.
