A few months back I wrote an article for the itSMF USA's Source magazine on Next-Generation IT. The original is here but I wanted to pull a few of the points out into a shorter blog …
Next-generation IT?
When asked to write, or talk, about next-generation IT, one can go down a number of routes. There's the super-sexy technology route—full of shiny stuff such as wearable technology, modern-day automatons, cloud services, and "big data," with a dash of Skynet and The Matrix if you fancy some real next-generation technology excitement.
Another route is through the buzzword no-man's-land that sits between technology and those that consume it, where it's easy for people to pontificate around, if not get lost in, words or phrases such as consumerization of IT, gamification, quantification, genius bars, and the ilk. Then there is always of course the "do nothing" route — a favorite with the risk averse, even though it's probably the riskiest option in terms of employment longevity.
For me though, next-generation IT is about the corporate IT organization, or whatever it becomes, and their customers, rather than the technology. It's about the people that make and consume IT services, the people-to-people and people-to-technology interactions and touch points, the IT services that are created and consumed, and the service experience. It's about matching supply to demand whilst also meeting expectations around service.
Consumerization: the IT service delivery goalposts have well-and-truly moved
Whether we like it or not, employees are using their personal, or consumer, service experiences to influence their expectations of the corporate IT organization and other corporate service providers. Outside of work, these employees are enjoying a consumer service experience geared toward ease-of-access, ease-of-use, self-service, service request catalogs, anytime and anyplace access, knowledge availability, social or collaborative capabilities, and customer-centric support.
Employees now want, demand, and deserve a corporate service experience that is enabled by service-centric people and fit-for-purpose technology. Rather than being underserved by corporate service providers bogged down by manual processes, antiquated messaging technologies, a lackluster approach to service, and an inability to monitor and manage service delivery performance.
But this is just the demand-side view of next-generation IT. The supply, or technology, side will also influence or even dictate the future, in particular:
- The need for service integration and management (SIAM) capabilities to manage and govern multi-supplier technology and service provider environments; and
- The increased use of public cloud service provider offerings. (This particular influence being relevant both to a singular service delivery and a SIAM perspective.)
The challenge and opportunity for IT: services and service
The corporate IT organization already has a high bar to reach: the universal CIO challenge of reducing the cost of IT service delivery while simultaneously improving service quality. Then there are supply-side challenges related to SIAM and cloud. Adding consumerization and the associated service experience demands into the equation is yet another challenge, but it also offers a great opportunity. An opportunity that involves the next stage of evolution for the corporate IT organization.
Many corporate IT organizations have already improved considerably over the last ten years; most recently using ITSM tools (including self-service capabilities and service request catalogs) to help improve service delivery. But for many there is still more to do within the IT service delivery ecosystem in relation to consumerization and improving service experience. And it's a challenge that will only be addressed through the better understanding of employee expectations around service and support.
However, there is an even bigger opportunity outside of IT, one that goes beyond increasing the value, or worth, and perceptions of the corporate IT organization. The opportunity lies with the other corporate service providers such as HR and facilities. The consumerization of service (as opposed to IT) gives savvy CIOs the opportunity to transform business operations by leveraging the corporate IT organization's service management ecosystem, experience, and service automation for other corporate service providers. Especially where the IT organization is already focused on improving the service experience.
Building a new role for IT? Go beyond being a service broker
Many industry pundits have speculated that the new role of IT is one of a service broker, assembling the offerings of third-party IT service providers to create the required portfolio of IT or business services. But next-generation IT can offer a far bigger role for the corporate IT organization—a role that supports and enables enterprise services on the back of ITSM.
But replicating ITSM across the enterprise is not enough. Remember those moving goalposts? The effects of consumerization must be factored in to IT operations as well as the operations of other corporate service providers; employees, the consumers of corporate services, will demand it. As with BYOD, employees will find alternative solutions for their needs when corporate service providers fail to deliver against these service experience expectations.
Next-generation IT: services and service
Thus, next-generation IT is services and service driven. And while the services mindset continues to be accepted within the IT industry, that of service, and service experience, still has a long way to go. So this is the first challenge or opportunity for corporate IT organizations—meeting employee expectations on service experience, and meeting those expectations whilst seamlessly managing multiple service providers. It is the equivalent of juggling whilst riding a unicycle, but in this scenario, the clowns will be the ones that fail to meet the challenge.
The second enterprise opportunity will potentially redefine the corporate IT organization. As IT morphs from provider of applications and manager of infrastructure to service broker, there is an opportunity to think beyond IT. A chance for the corporate IT organization to become the service backbone for the enterprise, taking its wealth of ITSM experience and providing consumerization-enabling technologies to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and governance of all corporate service providers through self-service, service request catalog, knowledge, collaboration, and better record keeping, automation, and management capabilities.
In many ways, the future of your corporate IT organization is as big or as small as you allow it to be. So what will your future be? In the words of William Shakespeare: "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."
Image source: https://accounts-flickr.yahoo.com/photos/krupptastic/
