Customer Experience
Future Proof ITSM: Why it's time to put humans first
Think about a brand or business you like, and more specifically why you like them.
Chances are, the reason they stand out is because of the experience they deliver, not just the goods or services they offer.
Just look at the likes of Amazon, Uber, and Deliveroo. A large part of their success is down to the fact that they each make their users' lives easier, providing a seamless experience and one-click gratification.
And they’re not alone. Our CEO Bill McDermott once said, “Every CEO I meet is trying to solve the experience gap.”
So, with rising expectations of a society used to getting what they want quickly, with minimal fuss, how can we ensure IT service remains at the forefront of user experiences?
It’s simple. We have to put human experiences first.
What do we mean by human-centric design?
In the past, technology would be deployed across an organisation because the IT department felt it was necessary or useful, not because there was any significant customer or user demand for it.
This worked at the time – and yes, we need the expertise of our IT teams to steer our technology in the right direction – but in today’s competitive landscape, we must evolve beyond this way of thinking.
Because IT doesn’t interact with end users in the same way that customer service or sales does, leaving technology entirely to one team risks employees and customers alike with clunky tools and applications that didn’t fit the way they actually used them.
The result? It becomes hard for employees to provide the best possible customer service, meaning customers don’t get the one thing that matters in today’s landscape: a great experience.
To resolve this problem we must revisit the way we look at implementing IT. CIOs must ensure that technology is implemented to serve people – not the other way round.
With human-centred IT Service Management (ITSM), technology is designed with the needs of the people who use it every day in mind.
If there’s one area in the workflow that typically holds employees up and causes delays, that will be taken into consideration during the design phase. Low-risk or manual tasks in that phase of work can then be automated, freeing up staff time to focus on the rest of their job, and provide better customer service.
The time for human-centric IT is now
In our current landscape, everybody’s talking about change management. Whether it’s dealing with the impact of the pandemic, adapting to economic instability, or preparing for a supply chain crisis, we need to be ready to adapt.
A human-centric design allows us to do just this, meaning that change management – which can be a slow, painful process – becomes easier than ever.
By standardising processes and keeping everything in one workflow-driven platform that we know meets the everyday needs of our employees, we can better handle change and disruptions because we have visibility over them.
This not only works to improve the employee experience, reduce stress, and increase productivity, but it also means businesses are in a much better position to handle our current landscape – where change is not just expected, but inevitable.
We can see this in action with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). When the pandemic hit in 2020, the company – which is one of several agencies helping British citizens stay safe on roads – had to work out how to best support colleagues working remotely, and they had to do it fast.
Luckily, with the right technology, and a human-centric approach, this wasn’t a problem.
“ServiceNow allows me to see what work is scheduled and share that workload equitably across the team,” says a VSA service desk team leader. “The information I get from ServiceNow helps me balance statistics, performance, and identify any issues our users may have.”
Learn more at SITS 2022
Looking to explore how to optimise human-centric design for your own business and implement Next Generation ITSM?
We’ll be exploring how to get started at The Service Desk & IT Support Show (SITS) on 11th-12th May.
Register for free or learn more about the event here.
