Thankfully this isn't one of those "The IT service desk is dead, long live the IT service desk" type blogs. Instead it's hopefully evidence that IT service desks and IT service management (ITSM) professionals are adapting to both the changing IT and business landscapes. Recognizing the need to not only change support processes and technologies but also their requirements for support people.
It's based on the recently-produced HDI and Robert Half Technology research document called "The Technical Support Center of the Future." If you want to read the full report it's here (no registration required). If you want some quick stats and opinions, please read on.
The headline stats — the necessary people capabilities for support
According to the research, industry professionals believe that technical support organizations will need staff with the following "top five" characteristics (more than one response was permitted):
- A passion for supporting customers (i.e., a customer service mindset) — 88%
- A desire to continue learning about technologies and trends (on and off the clock) — 80%
- Social intelligence (i.e. human connection in a digital world) — 75%
- A proactive approach to solving problems and/or creating efficiencies — 71%
- Greater collaboration with staff inside and outside the technical support center — 71%
It's interesting that the customer mindset is top — possibly evidence of the last 12-18 months being full of industry pundits talking of customer-centricity, Outside-In thinking, business outcomes, and business value. IMO it would be great to start to reverse out much of the scriptbot-mentality and "processification" that valued support center efficiency over effectiveness — somewhat of a "yes, now we can fail to help you more quickly than we used to" legacy.
I have in the past, rather rudely, commented that we have collectively dumbed-down IT service desks over the last ten years or so through a combination of espoused best practice and then cost cutting. I think most of us have called a service desk, IT or otherwise, and struggled to get help because our situation didn't match that of the script. This needs to change as IT complexity increases and customer expectations grow.
The drivers for change
Not unsurprisingly, technical support leaders identified three workforce trends related to the consumerization of IT that are disrupting IT services organizations and will consequently impact the future skill set requirements for support centers:
- Mobility — interestingly, more than half (53%) of the survey respondents said they believe technical support centers will serve as liaisons to mobile device vendors within the next three to five years.
- Bring your own device (BYOD)
- User demand for anytime, anywhere access to IT services and support — sometimes called the Martini Effect
The third point could also be extended by adding in "increased expectations" — or to be more specific "increased customer expectations." So not only is it "anytime, anyplace, anywhere," to quote those 1980s Martini ads, there also needs to be recognition as to how internal business user (or customer) expectations have risen on the back of external supplier levels of service delivery, support, and customer service.
Corporate self-service and service catalog initiatives are now the norm but it's more than the access, communication, and delivery channels (and enabling technologies) that need to change — it comes back to the above 88% statistic and thinking not only of what we do in IT but also how what we do is perceived and consumed by our business users/consumers/customers. Changing everything bar employee mindset will probably not deliver as well to increasing customer expectations as expected (and needed).
But the Martini effect needs another dimension
So the famous 1980s Martini jingle was "anytime, anyplace, anywhere," but with the rise of shared services — especially using ITSM tools and processes for other business functions — will we see greater demand for "anything, anytime, anyplace, anywhere"?
At ServiceNow we think so and have seen many customers leveraging our technology for other lines of business, such as:
- Service Stream, the Australian utility and networking provider, which selected ServiceNow as a business automation platform that they could also leverage for ITSM.
- MetroPCS, an operator of one of the largest telecommunication networks in the United States, which implemented 15 custom applications to improve governance and to automate workflows across HR, Engineering, Network Operations, Legal, and other service domains.
The real question is not whether this will happen more but rather how will it happen. Will it be similar processes and technologies in disparate business units or will it be a consolidated front-end with specialist resource as needed (think hub-and-spoke)? Or will it be a completely new operational model that evolves to reflect that customers don't care what is hidden behind the Wizard of Oz's velvet curtain — they just want to make a request for a product, a service, information, a change, or assistance with an issue. They don't care whose organizational domain it sits (or previously sat) under.
Surely we need to think "employee services" rather than IT, HR, Facilities, etc. services, so demand rather than supply-driven, if we truly want to be customer-centric or Outside-In? Unless of course "customers" want to be served by a disparate group of functional silos with different processes, standards, and technologies (and the potential for confusion and inefficiency).
As always your thoughts and opinions are encouraged.
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dellphotos/
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