IT Infrastructure Services. White Paper. Adopting an Omni-channel Approach to IT Servicing for Superior End-user Experience

Transcription

1 IT Infrastructure Services White Paper Adopting an Omni-channel Approach to IT Servicing for Superior End-user Experience

2 About the Author Swetha Ragavendra Swetha Ragavendra is a Lead Consultant for the Service Desk group within the IT Infrastructure Services (IT IS) unit at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Swetha has more than 11 years of experience and has worked in service delivery, consulting, and pre-sales for TCS' clients across geographies. She has anchored several initiatives for the IT service desk including consulting, assessment, roadmap development, service improvement, and IT transformation. Swetha is certified in Six Sigma Methodology, Helpdesk Institute's Support Center Management, and PRINCE2. Her core competencies include IT operations and delivery, service solutions, service management, operations excellence, consulting, and auditing.

3 Abstract Rapidly evolving technologies and converging channels of communication such as , chat, social media, voice, and video chat are driving significant changes in today's work environment. In order to empower users in this complex, multi-device environment, organizations are looking for ways to create a 'self-service' workplace that extends flexible IT support options. This paper discusses the different channels that exist in an IT environment, associated adoption challenges, and the need to take an omni-channel approach to IT servicing. It also discusses how analytics and user segmentation strategies can help organizations improve their understanding of the needs of millennial workers, thereby aligning business objectives with user preferences to provide seamless IT support across channels. In this paper, the term 'customers' refers to users who consume IT support services.

4 Contents The Evolving Nature of IT Support 5 Designing an Omni-channel IT Servicing Strategy 6 Critical Success Factors for an Omni-channel IT Servicing Strategy 8 Conclusion 9

5 The Evolving Nature of IT Support As the world becomes increasingly hyper-connected due to the advent of digital technologies, the field of IT support is also undergoing a notable change. Users are demanding an option to engage with IT support personnel through several different channels, as against the erstwhile model where only a single channel (such as a telephone) was used. With customers embracing advanced technologies and leveraging different touch points to seek service and assistance, an omni-channel approach to IT support has gained focus. Users expect the IT service desk to track their requests, proactively offer problem resolutions, and provide a seamless service across channels. As a result, we are witnessing a major shift in the IT support services model: more and more organizations are looking to adopt an omni- channel service approach to satisfy the evolving needs of the millennial customer (see figure 1). PHONE It s All is in still the WEB King It s All in the WEB You ve got MAIL Let s CHAT MOBILE First Mindset Let s Stay Connected - SOCIAL Service Desk Figure 1: The Emerging Landscape of IT Support 5

6 With digital technologies gaining center stage, workplaces seem to have undergone a drastic transformation. Gone are the days when users would access only enterprise systems to conduct daily work activities; Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and Bring Your Own Apps (BYOA) are fast becoming the new ways of working. This heightens the need for organizations to deploy an all-encompassing IT support strategy that caters to the diverse devices and applications that enter its IT ecosystem. In addition, the increased use of mobile devices and mobility apps, especially by the on-the-go workforce like sales representatives, calls for an IT service strategy that ensures 'anytime, anywhere' support. Another major driver for organizations to establish an omni-channel IT support strategy is the digitally empowered consumer they have to interact with, in the form of both internal as well as external stakeholders. As all of us become a little more tech-savvy with each passing day, getting an IT problem fixed seems more doable and convenient through channels such as online forums, social networks, and communities, instead of the regular customer care call-in option. It is worthwhile to note that in addition to including several different channels in the IT support framework, organizations should also ensure a consistent and uniform experience across these, for a winning omni-channel strategy. Designing an Omni-channel IT Servicing Strategy Should enterprises follow a multi-channel or an omni-channel strategy? What is the difference between the two? And, what is the likely impact of each strategy on the customer after it gets rolled out? To answer these questions, let's first examine what these two variants mean: Multi-channel engagement refers to enterprises using multiple channels such as telephone, , and web to engage with customers. This model does not essentially focus on delivering consistent messaging across multiple touch points, and may therefore result in more chaos than convenience. Organizations put in minimal effort to optimize the customer experience across different devices such as desktops, laptops, smartphones, and tablets, which customers use to interact with the IT support personnel. Omni-channel engagement on the other hand, refers to the use of multiple channels to engage with customers, with a strong focus on providing consistent messaging across channels and devices. For instance, to enable a seamless customer experience, organizations deploying mobile apps, social channels, and online portals, must ensure the same look and feel, and consistent messaging across each of these touch points. As the multi-channel engagement approach gives way to omni-channel engagement models, it is important to understand the associated operational challenges. Even as organizations strive to provide better and faster support services, they face significant challenges in meeting the multi-dimensional requirements of omni-channel service management. Complex technology platforms, varying expectations of different user segments, as well as the increasing demand for skilled resources and real-time data accessibility are putting organizations under immense pressure to enhance and accelerate support services. 6

7 There are three major areas that merit consideration when embarking on the complex exercise of deploying an omni-channel IT support strategy (see figure 2). Strategy n n n n n Need for the channel Market analysis (customer requirement, competitor benchmarking) Alignment with business objectives Ownership Resource and investment analysis Operations n Roles and responsibilities matrix n Process definitions (hand offs between channels, consequent and disconnected interactions) n Performance tracking and monitoring mechanism Technology n Build versus Buy (in-house, managed services) n Integration with existing enterprise systems n Underlying data flow logic n Personnel training Figure 2: Designing a Comprehensive Omni-Channel IT Support Strategy (Source: TCS Internal) Strategy: The first and foremost step in the deployment of an omni-channel support framework is the design of a comprehensive foundational strategy. This calls for a holistic assessment of the need at hand covering aspects such as customer requirement, competitor analysis, market trends, and so on. Once the need for a particular channel is established, a business case outlining the requirement, its consumption and benefits with regard to various user groups within the organization, and alignment with the overall business objectives is drafted. Such a business case when presented to relevant stakeholders, provides the basis for deliberating on technology and resource related investments. Operations: It is important for organizations to consider and evaluate in detail the operational nitty-gritty of an omni-channel support framework up front. The efficacy of this strategy is heavily contingent on the roles and responsibility matrix, hence aspects such as ownership, communication mechanism, performance tracking, and accountability details need to be clearly defined. In addition, strategists should lay down all relevant process definitions such as, how the handover between channels happen, how consequent and disconnected interactions are tackled, and so on. This leads us to believe that process optimization and business process reengineering are the important prerequisites to establishing a successful omni-channel support strategy. Technology: With the strategic and operational aspects laid down, organizations are one step away from an omnichannel support framework: technology the third component of the triad. An important consideration is the build versus buy decision, that is, whether to develop an in-house capability for the chosen channel or to avail managed 7

8 services or outsourcing options. Once the organization decides which route to take, another vital aspect that needs attention is ensuring a seamless integration with existing applications and processes. The single most important goal of an omni-channel strategy is to deliver a consistent experience across all channels, in real-time. This requires a single source of information with regard to the customer data, knowledge base, and any other underlying database, which augments the need to integrate the new system with the existing IT landscape. Critical Success Factors for an Omni-channel IT Servicing Strategy The highly connected environment that businesses operate in today, is less conducive to the traditional 'push' strategy and calls for a collaborative adoption approach. Organizations should therefore consider employing a 'pull' strategy (see figure 3) while focusing on the following factors for the successful deployment of the omni-channel servicing model: PUSH Strategy PULL Strategy Phone Channel Relevance Phone Device Organization Multi- Channels Chat Organization Chat Mobile Time of the day Type of Job Customer Social User Attributes Mobile Social Web Omni Channel Deployment Geography Technology Used Figure 3: Push versus Pull Strategy for IT Servicing Ensuring customer segmentation: This calls for segmenting customers based on their requirements, behavior, and characteristics. For instance, designation, technical, or functional skills, or any other guiding criteria can form the basis for this segmentation. This method enables a customer-centric approach to designing and executing the rapid adoption of an omni-channel servicing strategy across the user base. Leveraging predictive analytics: Predictive analytics can help organizations mine existing user data to find subtle yet relevant patterns about usage behavior, which serve as insights into customer requirements. The information thus obtained helps organizations segment users into logical groups, thereby enabling them to design an objective, evidence-based omni-channel strategy and ensure its successful adoption. Predictive analytics involves data collection, statistics and measurement, and modeling. It drives the entire segmentation process - from gathering customer information at every interaction to analyzing the data and providing specific, real-time recommendations on omni-channel requirements for a particular customer segment. 8

9 Deploying a unified technology platform: To address the growing expectations of the tech-savvy customer, enterprises should deploy a unified platform. An all-inclusive technology platform will not only reduce complexity, but also lower the deployment cost overheads. Such a unified platform is also important because customers expect IT support services to be agile, robust, and integrated where they initiate an interaction through one channel and end it with another. Ensuring consistent messaging and personalized experience across all channels is an important prerequisite. Guaranteeing ease of use: Organizations need to move away from duplicating their efforts with mere web presence such as employee portals, blogs, forums and communities, FAQs on online portal, and more. Enterprises should deploy the right channels, aligned with customer requirements, to help them easily access support services for issue resolution. For instance, an organization engaging with a large number of mobile users should actively consider deploying mobile solutions and apps that can enable its customers to access support services anytime, without delay. Tracking customer experience: An important aspect of the omni-channel deployment strategy is to capture customer feedback with regard to the various channels in the ecosystem. This feedback collected on a regular basis can be used to identify gaps in service delivery, and can help organizations provide services that are in line with what users expect. Conclusion The proliferation of smart devices in the work environment is transforming the traditional work structure and is increasingly resulting in a diverse, distributed, and mobile workforce. To adapt to this change, organizations are increasingly focusing on deploying innovative IT management services across channels to provide consistent and efficient support services. We believe that deploying an omni-channel framework will help organizations successfully leverage modern technology to improve IT support. Such a strategy will not only help organizations reduce down time and increase productivity, but also ensure uninterrupted connectivity for a superior service delivery and enhanced end-user satisfaction. 9

10 About TCS' IT Infrastructure Services Unit Leading organizations across industries work with TCS to realize their business transformation and innovation objectives by enhancing the availability, performance and agility of their IT infrastructure. Leveraging a combination of the cloud, new generation delivery models such as IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, virtualization, and managed services, our offerings deliver the secure, flexible, and reliable IT infrastructure needed to power critical business applications, services and data. TCS infrastructure offerings encompass data center services, end-user computing (EUC), mobility services, cloud services and transformational solutions, converged network services, managed security services, application management services, enterprise systems management, IT service desk, and IT service management. Backed by our Assess-Build-Manage-Transform framework, extensive partner ecosystem, tools and automation frameworks, and technology Centers of Excellence (CoEs), analytics-led approach, to understand the 'as-is' state, and arrive at the 'to-be' state. As a result, you seamlessly transition from traditional infrastructure management services towards new generation delivery. Contact For more information about TCS IT Infrastructure Services, visit: itis.presales@tcs.com Subscribe to TCS White Papers TCS.com RSS: Feedburner: About Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled infrastructure, engineering and TM assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata Group, India s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has a global footprint and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India. For more information, visit us at IT Services Business Solutions Consulting All content / information present here is the exclusive property of Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS). The content / information contained here is correct at the time of publishing. No material from here may be copied, modified, reproduced, republished, uploaded, transmitted, posted or distributed in any form without prior written permission from TCS. Unauthorized use of the content / information appearing here may violate copyright, trademark and other applicable laws, and could result in criminal or civil penalties. Copyright 2015 Tata Consultancy Services Limited TCS Design Services I M I 05 I 15