A new era of IT
In the last few years IT and market watchers have formed a consensus that digital business is emerging as the dominant model for success in a new era of IT. Blurring the lines between the physical and digital realms, digital business represents the convergence of social technology, cloud, mobility, data analytics and security to drive new business models and engage, enable and support an increasingly tech-savvy workforce and customer base.
The central role that service-management technology can play in implementing digital business is one aspect of the phenomenon that is less commonly discussed, but very important nonetheless. In fact, I believe that service-management technology is the key enabler for the transition to a fully functional digital-business model. A service management platform aggregates and integrates the key elements – service catalog, analytics, delivery channels, and more – for successful deployment and management of a digital business model.
Service Management to aid transition
An online poll we recently conducted at Unisys substantiates this perspective: 112 IT professionals around the world indicated that their organizations are investing in service management technology to pave the way for a smooth transition to digital business.
Seventy-four (74) percent of the poll respondents said that their organizations have already invested in embracing digital business or were planning to do so in 2016. Regarding projected 2016 investments in specific enabling technologies, 27 percent cited cloud and 23 percent cited mobility. Forty-five (45) percent of the respondents said that they already have plans in place to incorporate data analytics to support digital services, revealing a strong interest in the value of that technology as part of a comprehensive service-management approach to enabling digital business.
Service Catalog is key
Above all, the respondents indicated that a comprehensive service catalog is key to executing digital business. That stands to reason, because the service catalog provides the principal repository of business and IT service processes and assets available throughout the organization. Those processes and assets are the backbone and connective tissue of digital business.
Forty-one (41) percent of the respondents to our poll said that they already have a service catalog in place or are well along in implementing one, and another 25 percent had implementation on the roadmap for 2016.
Powering digital delivery
The respondents also indicated that they are using their service catalogs to power digital delivery of both IT and business services, with IT services currently predominating:
- 71 percent said that their catalogs contain end-user support services, such as help and incident management;
- 58 percent said that the service catalog includes internal IT provisioning services, such as server deployment;
- 56 percent say that they use the catalog for end-user device provisioning for PCs, laptops and mobile devices;
- 38 percent said that they use the catalog for business services such as human-resources and facilities management; and
- 32 percent have integrated services from external providers into their catalogs.
Service Management – a must-have
These poll findings clearly show the growing interest among IT professionals in making use of advanced service management technologies to manage their enterprise-wide digital-business assets.
Having a sophisticated service management approach is critical to taking advantage of the power of digital business. It’s no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have.
