Five Ways to Satisfy Both Business and User Demands for IT Service

Five Ways to Satisfy Both Business and User Demands for IT Service

Evaluating IT Service Performance in the New Normal Executives have known for some time that the new normal of the business landscape, where the need for effective, low-cost service management to meet ever-expanding user and technology demands, is anything but new. And with few IT budgets expected to see an increase in the near future, they know they must find ways to innovate and improve operations in an environment where demands are increasing, but budget isn t keeping up. Incident Response Satisfaction at 9% Many companies have focused on incremental improvements for IT service and support, and on the surface, they seem to be working. According to the 01 HDI Support Center Practices & Salary Report, 9 percent of users were satisfied with incident responses from their help desk, and costs per incident across chat, email and phone were down compared to previous years. 1 While these metrics tell the story of effective IT service and support, a closer examination reveals that an emphasis has been placed on traditional response to a reported incident. However, thanks to the consumerization of IT, today s users have been trained to expect more compelling and higher-value experiences from their online interactions so the old ways of doing things may not cut it going forward. Very Satisfied Satisfied A 01 InformationWeek survey reported that 6 percent of companies expect IT budgets to decrease or stay the same. 1 Rains, Jenny. 01 HDI Support Center Practices & Salary Report. HDI. 01. Feldman, Jonathan. 01 IT Spending Priorities Survey. InformationWeek. 01. 0

IT is Not Meeting Business and User Service Requirements A 9 percent satisfaction rating for incident response is encouraging, but there are other metrics that show IT service is simply not keeping up with modern user demands. For example: 76% of workers feel their organizations need to do more to fulfill mobility s potential for productivity % percent of business people consider IT a support or maintenance organization, rather than an innovator 9% of business people consider their IT organization to be distributed, agile and flexible These numbers show a large disconnect between what the business and users expect from IT and what IT is actually capable of delivering. In order to see how IT can change its focus from incremental satisfaction improvements to delivering innovation and value, one must consider how business and user expectations have changed in recent years. McCafferty, Dennis. Companies Fall Short on Providing Mobile Support. Baseline. 01. Lundquist, Eric. How IT s Perceived by Business. InformationWeek. 01. Ibid. 0

A Shift in Communication Preferences Drives New User Expectations As the employee population has evolved to include nearly equal numbers of people from the baby boomer, generation X and millennials demographics, service and communication preferences and strategies have changed alongside it. So while a baby boomer might prefer to conduct business face to face or via the phone, a millennials worker is often more at home with teleconferencing or instant messaging. Workforce Generation Percent of Workforce 6 Communication Preferences 7 Communication Barriers 8 Baby Boomers (196 196) Generation X (196 1978) Millennials (1979 1997) 8% Telephone Face to face Fax Email Meetings % Email Cell phone Text message Instant message Online forums % Text message Social networking sites Email Instant message Social networking sites Blogging Texting Face to face Formal letters Team meetings (better one on one) Face to face Telephone Formal or casual letter writing At the heart of these differences is choice. When it comes to IT service, today s users want: To quickly find their own resolution to problems Fewer technology issues to deal with To know about issues ahead of time To use devices and communication formats that they are comfortable with 0 6 Bureau of Labor Statistics. Household Data, Not Seasonally Adjusted, Table A-1: Employment Status of the Civilian Noninstitutional Population by Age, Sex, and Race. 01. 7 Fields, Bea. A Company Divided: Bridging the Generation Gap at Work Through the Power of Communication. Write Speak Sell. 8 Ibid.

Business Goals for Service and Support We know that today s users want choice, flexibility, self-service and collaboration when it comes to consuming IT services, but what do executives want? This table shows a typical IT support organization cost structure, which accounts for both the average volume and average cost per incident across common interaction channels. It s clear that a high concentration of costs occur on more synchronous channels, such as phone and email, whereas fixed cost channels like self-service and collaboration are underutilized. Cost Today s executives want to: Reduce the cost of service and support Leverage productivity enhancements Drive value for IT Increase user satisfaction Collaboration No longer truly separate Self Service Web Request Chat Email Walk-Up Phone In other words, they are looking to increase the use of low-cost service support channels, such as collaboration and self-service, while at the same time reducing the amount of time IT spends providing synchronous support. 0

Five Ways to Satisfy Both Business and User Demands for IT Service It s been established that trends, such as the proliferation of cloud, virtualization and mobile devices, have fundamentally altered the technology landscape and changed how the business and users interact with IT. Despite this, many organizations are still running a service desk platform that is the same or similar to ones they used a decade ago without evolving with the times and they often suffer from the same high cost, complexity, slow response and inflexibility challenges these legacy platforms are infamous for causing. With the right solution, however, IT has the opportunity to satisfy both business and user demands for delivering and consuming IT services in the current business landscape. A next-generation service desk platform will help by: 1 Being easy to use and understand Providing self-service and collaboration to help resolve issues Leveraging one point of contact to get work done Providing modern interfaces to match the experience Reducing cost of ownership 06

1 Being Easy to Use and Understand Usability is everything for modern technology consumers, so it is important that an organization s service desk platform provides an interface that is both familiar and easy to use. Such an interface will help: Increase adoption Reduce training time and expenses Improve user satisfaction and utilization 07

1 Providing Self-Service and Collaboration to Help Resolve Issues The majority of technology users today are more comfortable searching for their own answers than contacting a help desk. A next-generation service desk platform will support this with a searchable knowledge base and forums where users can interact and source common solutions. This kind of collaboration helps: Satisfy user expectations for self-service Reduce escalations Lower overall costs for service and support 08

1 Leveraging One Point of Contact to Get Work Done As IT service needs change over time, it s important that a service desk platform can evolve to meet them. Users need a one stop shop where they can manage their tickets, order goods and services and find answers to their common questions. Having a single point of contact for IT service helps: Eliminate the need for multiple point solutions Accelerate response to business needs Simplify administration 09

1 Providing Modern Interfaces to Match the Experience In order for it to be effective today, IT service and support must be compatible with the mobile devices users spend increasingly large portions of their day using. Therefore, a next-generation service desk platform must enable true mobile integration via a native smartphone application. This kind of mobility support helps: Deliver a satisfying, modern user experience Increase user adoption and engagement Elevate IT s status within the organization from operator to innovator 10

1 Reducing Total Cost of Ownership More and more, organizations are looking to shift the economics of their IT platforms by taking advantage of the lighter footprint and lower TCO cloud and software as a service (SaaS) provide. The right service desk platform will offer the option of a SaaS deployment, which helps: Simplify implementation, maintenance and upgrades Shift capital expenditures (CapEx) to operational expenditures (OpEx) Reduce the need for expensive coding and other highly technical resources 11

About the Solution From CA Technologies CA Cloud Service Management is designed for the people who use it delivering a fast, flexible, powerful and personal solution for every technical issue. This simple and intuitive service management solution lets people get back to what they should be doing. Whether that s downloading a new app, managing a marketing campaign, or running a business CA Cloud Service Management empowers everyone to do more. CA Cloud Service Management enables organizations to satisfy both business and user demands for IT service and support by: Meeting customers expectations for communication capabilities by providing a positive service experience across a wide variety of communication methods. Improving total cost of ownership for service operations with true SaaS by eliminating reliance on on-premise infrastructure and ensuring companies stay current with the latest release. Reducing reliance on technical and programming staff by leveraging less skilled and fewer personnel, rather than expensive technical programming personnel to set up and maintain the solution. Why Customers Choose CA Cloud Service Management In 01, TechValidate surveyed existing CA Cloud Service Management customers about their experiences with the solution. This table shows the top three differentiating factors that led these customers to choose the CA solution over competitive offerings. 9 Differentiating Factor Ease of Administration 80% Ease of Use 7% Total Cost of Ownership 69% 0% 10% 0% 0% 0% 0% 60% 70% 80% 90% 9 TechValidate. TechValidate Research on Nimsoft. Survey Commissioned by CA Technologies. 01. 1

What Customers are Saying About CA Cloud Service Management Enhanced User Experience CA Cloud Service Management has an improved client-facing experience. IT Director, Small Business Computer Services Company Increased Efficiency CA Cloud Service Management allows us, as a managed services provider, to get more out of each analyst, which makes us more profitable through efficiency. Brian McGushin, Senior Executive, Stefanini TechTeam Global, Inc. For more information about CA Cloud Service Management, please visit ca.com/clouditsm. Accelerated Response Times and Seamless Administration CA Cloud Service Management has allowed us to become more nimble in our response times to customers. In addition, updates are seamless and administration only requires a part-time resource. IT Director, Small Business Media and Entertainment Company Simplified Setup and Maintenance Basically, CA Cloud Service Management has offered an easy solution implementation and operation, which has reduced deployment costs, maintenance and operation. So far it has been positive in terms of practicality and support services we deliver to our customers. Application Manager, Medium Enterprise Computer Services Company * Customer quotes collected by TechValidate. TechValidate Research on CSM Survey Commissioned by CA Technologies. 01. CA Technologies (NASDAQ: CA) creates software that fuels transformation for companies and enables them to seize the opportunities of the application economy. Software is at the heart of every business, in every industry. From planning to development to management and security, CA is working with companies worldwide to change the way we live, transact and communicate across mobile, private and public cloud, distributed and mainframe environments. Learn more at ca.com. Copyright 01 CA. All rights reserved. ITIL is a registered trademark of AXELOS Limited. All trademarks, trade names, service marks and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies. This document is for your informational purposes only based on survey information and customer feedback. Actual results may vary. CS00-8678