So what is ESM?

We hear ESM, or Enterprise Service Management banded about a lot these days and it means different things to different people for sure.

There are members of our team who have very distinct recollections of helping forward thinking companies exploring Enterprise Service Management (ESM) as far back as the 1990’s. Yes, even 30 years ago ESM was a thing, and it is still very much so today.

So if anyone tries to convince you that ESM is new, I’m afraid we’re here to spill the beans; it’s not. That said, something doesn’t have to be new and shiny for it to be a good thing.

ESM is a great idea and when pursued carefully and with deliberation, it can be move beyond being a good idea and into the realm of an amazing idea.

So what do we mean by ESM?

Our definition of ESM is simple, it’s applying the best or good practice from (typically) IT Service Management to other service-oriented areas of the company such as HR, Finance, Legal and so on.

To expand on that further, we include within that definition the idea of applying practices, value-streams, processes, systems, workflow platforms, documentation, job descriptions and anything else quite frankly; there is no limit to what could be ‘re-purposed’ when it comes to applying Service Management across the Enterprise (company).

Why is this a good idea?

As stated above, forward-thinking companies have been doing this successfully for the past 30 years. We have consultants in the team who recall examples, such as the Scandinavian bank who purchased and configured one of the leading ITSM workflow platforms at the time, specifically for the purposes of a Finance Service Desk.

This was certainly unusual (back then), and the company in question did not replace their existing IT Service Desk, but nevertheless the purchase of the ITSM workflow platform was solely for the Finance Service Desk and Service Management within the Finance function.

The company had identified a growing demand for questions, cases and requests for the finance function but they had no way of managing that increasing demand. So their immediate requirement was to control and manage the demand into a single contact centre (or Service Desk) but they soon then realised that they required additional practices such as Service Catalogue, Self-Service Portal, Service Demand Management, Service Capacity Management, and so on.

Without consciously realising it, the Finance area were taking on the same good old Service Management practices that their IT colleagues had been working on for years and they were yielding the same Service Delivery and Performance improvements. The Finance function had moved from a state that verged on chaotic to a state that was optimised and providing great value to all employees of the company by adopting a Service Management approach.

So there are various examples and takes on ESM depending on who you talk to, but in it's simplest form, it's about applying IT Service Management practices to those areas across the business that could benefit from it.

But let's be clear, this isnt just about Service Desks!

We have recently carried out an Enterprise-wide Service Management assessment for one of our long standing clients. Time and time again products and services were being sold that relied on multiple parts of the organisation to deliver them; Product Development, IT, Legal, Finance etc, who would all play a part in fulfilling the solutions being sold by the sales teams, yet would rarely be consulted until a deal had already been signed.. aggggh!

So in addition to uncovering areas of the business that could benefit from the obvious ones like Incident Management, Request Management, Problem Management, Service Level Management and Service Catalogue Management, what became abundantly clear very quickly, was the lack of Service Design, transition and governance across all areas and how the different departments were all working in silo's, with little consideration for other partnering departments and their key processes, or ensuring appropriate collaboration and sign-off from all those involved in new services, before they were sold, created and implemented for clients.

Uncovering these operational issues has now triggered an entire Operating Model transformation journey, with the client now creating an 'Enterprise Service Management Office', i.e a Service Management team and set of underpinning practices to govern all appropriate areas across the business, by taking the key learnings from the ITIL4 Framework.

In addition, to help glue this all together, our lead consultants have set up Communities of Practice, involving members from various departments (across the globe) getting together to talk about their values, issues, priorities etc. This has been hugely successful in breaking down silos and building the relationships and levels of understanding between different teams to get them working more closely.

But of course it doesnt need to be as significant as that, you could just be needing to improve how your HR team handles user requests and require some templated workflows to deal with them more efficiently, or to introduce a Live Chat service for the Facilities team.

In which case, why re-invent the wheel, when we have decades of tried and testing practices in IT that can be broadened to other areas across the Enterprise?

If you'd like to talk to us in more detail about this topic or understand how we can help you with it, please email us at hello@itsmpeople.co.uk

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What is ITSM?

Information Technology Service Management processes include a range of activities designed to deliver and support high-quality IT services for your business. These can include incident management, problem management, change management, and service-level management. Additionally, ITSM involves continuous enhancement processes to improve service delivery, increase efficiency and reduce costs. By adopting strong ITSM practices, your business can improve service quality, customer satisfaction and achieve greater alignment between IT and business objectives. This holistic approach ensures that IT services are effective and integrated with your overall business goals. As ITSM focuses on aligning IT services with your business’s needs, you can ensure that IT processes and services support and enhance business operations. This is achieved through a structured approach to managing IT services, guided by best practices and methodologies such as ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library). These models provide guidance on best practices for delivering and supporting technology and other enterprise services and can help companies align their capabilities with their business goals and strategic objectives.
What is ITIL and how does it underpin ITSM?

We adhere to the ITIL Framework in delivering our ITSM consultancy services. ITIL is a globally recognised set of best practices for ITSM that helps businesses provide consistent, high-quality IT services. By implementing ITIL processes and principles, we ensure that your IT operations are standardised, efficient and aligned with industry standards. ITIL4 is the latest version of ITIL, designed to help enterprises navigate the new technological era known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This version introduces a more flexible, modern approach to ITSM, emphasising its integration with other areas of business management.
What are the core practices and processes in ITSM?

Effective ITSM revolves around a number of processes. Whilst there are 34 practice areas in ITIL4, there are often a core set of practices that many of our clients are particularly interested in optimising. As understanding and implementing these processes can significantly enhance the performance and quality of IT services within your organisation. Incident Management Restores all service operations back to normal as soon as possible, minimising to lessen the impact on your operations. This process might involve logging, categorising, prioritising, and resolving incidents, ensuring which can help mitigate disruption to users and the business. Configuration Management Keeps an updated record of IT infrastructure - hardware, software, and network components - in a centralised configuration management database (CMDB). This database provides accurate data on configuration items (CIs) and their relationships. Change Management Ensures any changes to your IT services are controlled and coordinated. This process evaluates the impact of changes, approving them through a structured workflow, and ensuring successful implementation with minimal risk. Service level Management Defines, negotiates, and monitors service level agreements (SLAs) between the service provider and the customer. This process ensures that agreed-upon service quality and performance levels are consistently met. Asset Management Tracks and manages your IT assets throughout their lifecycle to ensure efficient use and cost control. You maintain an accurate inventory of hardware, software, and other IT resources through this. Problem Management Identifies, analyses and resolves the root causes of incidents. Proactively addressing underlying issues can prevent recurring incidents. This, in turn, provides improved system stability and reduced downtime. Request Management Handles the lifecycle of user service requests, such as access to applications, software installations or information enquiries. It ensures requests are managed efficiently to provide a streamlined approach that fulfils user needs and enhances satisfaction. Knowledge Management Captures, organises and shares knowledge to improve efficiency and support decision-making. By leveraging a centralised knowledge base, your IT teams can quickly resolve incidents and problems, and end-users can find the right solutions to common issues.
Why is ITSM important to organisations and their IT (and Enterprise) teams?

Implementing the right ITSM strategy and optimising your tooling can provide a range of benefits for your company, including: Improved Efficiency and Cost Savings By streamlining processes and automating routine tasks, ITSM can help your enterprise work more efficiently and reduce the time and resources required to deliver and support IT services. Good ITSM is a silent enabler of success across a range of organisational goals. Improved Compliance and Risk Management ITSM can help you ensure that your IT systems and processes comply with industry regulations and standards. It also ensures that you are effectively managing risks associated with your IT operations. This can help you avoid costly disruptions and legal consequences. Increased Productivity Effective ITSM practices can help your business prevent problems and fix them quickly if they do occur. This can help you lower costs—outages cost money—and increase productivity and employee satisfaction. Better Customer Satisfaction You can improve customer satisfaction and build stronger relationships by delivering high-quality IT services that meet customers' needs. Improved Service Quality ITSM ensures that IT services are delivered consistently and meet agreed-upon service levels, leading to higher customer satisfaction and better overall service quality. Business Continuity ITSM processes like incident and problem management ensure that disruptions are minimised and services are quickly restored to ensure business continuity. Strategic Alignment ITSM aligns IT services with business objectives, ensuring that technology initiatives support and drive business growth. This alignment helps you make informed decisions and prioritise projects that add the most value. Enhanced Collaboration ITSM promotes a collaborative environment where IT teams can work together more effectively, sharing knowledge and best practices to improve your delivery of services. Proactive problem-solving Through problem management and a proactive approach, ITSM helps your IT teams identify and address the root causes of incidents to prevent future issues and reduce downtime. Continuous Improvement ITSM encourages continuous monitoring and improvement of IT processes, allowing your IT teams to refine and enhance their service delivery regularly. Better Resource Management With ITSM, IT teams can manage resources more effectively, ensuring that personnel, technology, and budget are allocated optimally to support business requirements.
Do you provide ITSM tooling support and what tools do you specialise in?

The ITSM People are completely agnostic with ITSM tools and not tied to any vendors. Given the close relationship between ITSM related processes and ITSM tools, we often get involved in tool selection projects, or making recommendations on how to improve tools and get the best value from them. We work with tools such as ServiceNow, BMC, Jira, ManageEngine, Fresh, Halo and Xurrent.