The IT landscape hasn’t been easy to navigate over the last couple of years, given the sluggish economy and increased technological complexity. Despite these challenges, many executives expect more from their IT managed services than ever before. Emphasizing the “service” in IT service management can set your IT department on course for improved performance and intra-office appreciation.
What is the focus of your IT service management team? Do you focus on maintaining IT equipment and IT managed services, or on supporting the people who use that equipment and rely on those services?
Here are a few techniques for making IT service management more service-centric:
Make IT costs transparent. Being service-centric means focusing on what matters to your internal and external customers. Internal customers adore cost transparency because it can easily be translated into ROI. To build trust, share how much your IT managed services cost.
Teach good customer service to all IT staff, not just customer-facing staffers. IT service management impacts your fellow employees as well as your customer base. All IT employees should have service in the forefront of their minds when providing IT managed services. Don’t forget to provide excellent service to BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) users as well as those with permanently networked machines.
Encourage and reward on-your-feet problem solving. We’ve all experienced the overwhelming frustration of calling a utility provider, only to be trapped in an endless loop of customer scripts, foolish system rules and downright ignorant customer service representatives. Expect your IT service management team to step outside of the box when the situation calls for it. This will empower and engage your IT employees while improving IT service.
In the end, good IT service management is about people – those individuals who use the technology you maintain. IT service desks, office events and ongoing IT managed services are the lenses through which the effectiveness of IT service management is judged. Providing internal and external customers with helpful, responsive service proves the worth of IT to the wider organization.
Next-generation service-centric IT departments can be developed by CFIOs. These departments will be proactive in understanding the needs of their customers and adapting to their changes.
In order to develop a service-centric IT department, CFIOs have to invest in the way they work with different stakeholders and then prioritize their efforts based on customer feedback and needs. They also need to provide more training and resources for employees within these departments, which can help make them more competitive in today’s marketplace.