ITSM Automation Archives

ITSM: The 5 Keys to Intelligent Automation Adoption

One of the biggest hurdles those in IT service management face is the misconception that all the necessary tools and information for success are already available, understood and being put into practice. As such, introducing intelligent automation is often met with resistance that hinders progress and impedes the ability to further improve operations. So, what’s the solution? Well, it starts with good communication. To follow are five steps to help establish a foundation of consistent, open and organization-changing communication that will facilitate positive results.

Don’t take on too much.

You don’t have to solve all of your organizational problems in one sitting, so don’t wear yourself or your team out attempting to do so. Define your goals and set manageable milestones, incorporating intelligent automation into the mix. Then communicate those smaller, incremental objectives to the team via open-plan meetings that keep everyone in the loop. Over time, you’ll begin to figure out what works and what doesn’t so you can improve the meeting process moving forward.

Leave management out of the mix.

Obviously having IT leaders heading up key projects is important, but often times – particularly in a group meeting-type setting – having management present can be intimidating, ultimately hindering progress. The goal is to facilitate more open, honest communication and a more positive relationship with intelligent automation, so it may be wise to hold at least some of the scheduled gatherings sans management representatives. When front-line workers are free to express themselves, it can help to identify new and better ways to improve operations.

Keep things short, simple and focused.

The goal of meetings is to improve communication, but if these gatherings drag on and on without clear focus, they’ll have the opposite effect. Remember, the reason for implementing intelligent automation is to make the lives of IT personnel easier and make operations more efficient. Design meetings with the same purpose in mind. Have an agenda and encourage attendees to arrive with their ideas already prepared. A round-robin type setting where everyone has a set amount of time to share their thoughts and sell their ideas can keep things moving smoothly and on schedule to maximize everyone’s time.

Keep the conversation going.

Ideas, thoughts, feedback and suggestions don’t only arise just prior to or during a meeting, so make sure you’re making it easy and straightforward to keep the conversation going by creating an avenue where people can share and engage with one another any time the need arises. It can also be helpful to have a source of documented ideas to refer back to. Some companies use a Wiki or other open-source forum tool. Others use an enterprise social network that is devoted to all things intelligent automation related. Whatever happens to work for your group, get on it.

Take action.

Ideas and suggestions are great, but they won’t do you or anyone else any good until you actually put them into action. By facilitating open communication and inviting your team members to share their thoughts and feedback, you’ll have a pool of valuable data from which to start building out some intelligent automation initiatives. The best part is, when employees see that their voices are heard and that their opinions make a difference, it will further promote and foster communication going forward.

Support your great communication policy with a powerful intelligent automation tool. Request a product demo of Ayehu today.

The Future of IT Support

Last year, the folks over at Service Desk Institute (SDI) published an in-depth report projecting the future of IT support entitled “Analyst 2.0.” The report spans a number of areas, including the way IT service desk analyst skills and staffing are evolving as well as the growth and impact of automation and self-service technologies. If you’re curious about what the IT support of tomorrow will look like but haven’t got time to dig into the full report, this blog should help by providing a broad overview of its finding, focused primarily in three key areas:

Skill requirements of future service desk analysts
Artificial intelligence (AI) adoption thus far
Service desk challenges as they relate to customer experience

Let’s take a more detailed look at each of these points below.

Skill requirements of future service desk analysts

The SDI report drew contrast between the top three skills that are currently require of service desk analysts and those that will be expected over the next three to five years.

Skills needed in 2017…

Skills needed in 2020 and beyond…

While the increase in analysts’ customer service/empathy skills may not come as much of a surprise, some of the other projected changes may. In particular, the marked jump of tech industry knowledge from 34% to 67% and the ability to be flexible rising from 8% to 27%.

Both of these things are indicative of the need for IT support analysts to know and be capable of performing more complex tasks, particularly in light of the fact that self-service and automation will be eliminating the simpler, more repetitive tasks from their to-do lists.

Further, the increasing need for adaptability and flexibility signify the fact that the service desk will experience frequent and ongoing change.

Artificial intelligence (AI) adoption thus far

Of those surveyed for the SDI report, 27% indicated that they’ve begun the process of researching AI or virtual assistants for their organizations. A smaller percentage is either interacting with potential partners or have already implemented AI to some degree. While trends indicate that these numbers have already risen since the date of the SDI report’s publication, it still appears that the current use of AI in a help desk capacity hasn’t yet caught up with the industry buzz surrounding the technology.

There may be several reasons why this is the case, including the fact that the opportunities for and benefits of AI for IT support haven’t been adequately “sold” to the market (something we are working hard to change here at Ayehu). Other hindrances may include budgetary restraints and fear of change.

A second, perhaps more telling question asked of survey participants was whether or not they felt technology is keeping up with the “hype” surrounding AI and automation. The responses were an even split between yes and no (both at 29%). The rest indicated that they were unsure.

Service desk challenges as they relate to customer experience

The third noteworthy component of the SDI report involved a particular question relating to the customer experience. Specifically, participants were asked: “Do you feel pressured to provide the same level of customer service as big businesses?”

The response is demonstrated here:

As you can see, there is significant pressure (whether real or perceived) on corporate IT support teams that extends far beyond the “consumerization of IT.” Service desk leaders need to respond to these pressures accordingly. In particular, adopting self-service and automation can improve the end-user experience and alleviate some of the pressures agents are facing. It will also free up skilled IT staff to focus on more meaningful and fulfilling work, boosting morale in the process.

These are really just a few of the many intriguing points uncovered by the SDI report. You can view the full report here for free.

And if you’re ready to start preparing your support desk for the wave of the future, AI and automation are the place to be. Experience the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities by taking Ayehu for a test drive today.

How to Maximize ITSM Efficiency Through Intelligent Self-Service

June 15, 2018/in Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, ITSM Automation /by Gabby Nizri

Managing the lifecycle of IT services is a complex and challenging undertaking. Further complicating matters are the many different facets of IT service management (ITSM), of which even one minor failure can disrupt the entire operation.

Meanwhile, IT service desk teams are being asked to do more than ever before, even while operating with limited staff and managing ever-increasing workloads. This, coupled with bottlenecks, delays, and time-consuming manual processes, leaves IT teams feeling frustrated and on the brink of burnout.

There’s got to be a better way. Thankfully, there is.

Inefficiency Impedes Progress

In an ITSM benchmark study by AXELOS, when asked to prioritize their most pressing challenges, ITSM professionals listed inefficiency as their biggest problem to overcome.

Without question, IT operations and development teams across the globe want to improve the way they perform their jobs, and eliminating inefficient practices is the number one concern. In fact, the benchmark study found that 55 percent of ITSM professionals are interested in identifying and eliminating wasteful work.

But how?

Sure, there are plenty of tools and platforms available that can be used to streamline IT operations. While considering the fact that siloed working also made the list of biggest headaches for ITSM professionals, is it really wise to bring on yet another tool for an already overwhelmed IT team to manage? Won’t that just contribute to an already significant problem and make matters worse?

Not necessarily. The key? Integration.

Improved ITSM Efficiency Without Increased Complexity

For a machine to work efficiently, all of the cogs within must be fully functioning. More importantly, they must fit and work seamlessly together as they were intended to. The same concept can be applied to ITSM efficiency. Utilizing codeless service desk management software, such as Cherwell, can help streamline ITSM by automating service delivery.

Integrating Ayehu with Cherwell can lead to even more powerful efficiency for service desks.

Creating an Intelligent Self-Service Help Desk

The integration of Ayehu’s intelligent automation and orchestration platform with Cherwell extends the ITSM solution capabilities and provides significant IT process gains and efficiencies. The integration enables the automation of current manual processes, to reduce time to resolution and allow the service desk to ignore the noise and focus on more critical and complex issues.

Ayehu’s integration with Cherwell allows IT departments to:

Automatically open, update, close tickets, and query tables in Cherwell
Leverage two-way SMS and email for event notifications and escalations
Accelerate the reporting, escalation, and resolution of incidents
Eliminate manual work and human errors
Ensure fully documented end-to-end processes
Reduce the amount of “noise” at the service desk
Enforce change management procedures such as ticket status changes

Two-way communication ensures that Cherwell platform is constantly kept updated on the status of tickets, from initiation to resolution. The two systems are always in sync, providing accurate status snapshots regardless of which platform is being viewed. A live dashboard displays all issues handled by the system, along with their time to resolution, providing an overview of what Ayehu is handling.

Most importantly, with this integration, the IT service desk can fully automate and mimic the response of experienced operators and analysts, including complex tasks across multiple, disparate systems, executing thousands of well-defined instructions without any programming required and helping to resolve virtually any alert, incident, or crisis.

In other words, combining Ayehu with Cherwell enables busy or short-staffed ITSM teams to create intelligent self-service desks with fewer (or no) agents, finally making it possible to solve the “do more with less” conundrum.

Maximum Efficiency with Minimum Complexity

Integrated with Cherwell, Ayehu acts as a force multiplier, driving efficiency through a simple and powerful IT automation and orchestration platform powered by AI. The agentless platform is SaaS-ready for hybrid deployments and is powered by machine learning driven decision support, for fully enhanced and optimized automated workflows. It can also be installed on-premise connecting seamlessly with the Cherwell platform.

Managing IT services will never be simple, but with the right tools and technologies at your disposal, you can make it far less difficult than it has to be.

What is ITSM Automation?

December 27, 2017/in IT Process Automation, ITSM Automation /by Gabby Nizri

IT Service Management (ITSM) is the lifeblood of an organization. Yet, if the people, processes and technology that are in place aren’t appropriately optimized, the very function of ITSM cannot adequately add value. Automation can pull all of this together and streamline operations for maximum efficiency and service levels. But what, exactly, is ITSM automation? More importantly, what can it do for your business? Let’s take a look.

There are several different levels of ITSM automation, each offering a certain level of functionality. The most basic form of automation used in the context of IT service management is that of ticketing workflow. This involves automating the following tasks:

Opening tickets based on the service catalog
Updating ticket SLA based on priority
Setting ticket attributes based on category
Initiating ticketing status workflow

The next level of ITSM automation is capable of repeatedly opening tickets based on a particular schedule. For instance, the IT team can schedule weekly or monthly maintenance workflows for network equipment.

Beyond this is advanced ITSM automation, which is intelligent and intuitive and adds the most value. With this type of automation, tickets can be moved from creation all the way through resolution without the need for any human intervention. A sample workflow using this type of automation might be as follows:

Monitoring software detects low disk space on a specific server
Monitoring software opens a ticket in the ITSM automation platform
The automation tool automatically assesses the ticket request and categorizes it accordingly
ITSM tool initiates the automated workflow for disk space remediation (i.e. deleting temp or large files that are no longer needed)
Upon completion of the designated workflow and a follow-up disk space analysis, the ITSM tool automatically updates the ticket and marks it as resolved

Of course, this is just one example of the myriad of tasks, workflows and processes that can be fully automated. Perhaps the most important takeaway here is that an advanced ITSM automation tool can dramatically streamline the way IT operates, shifting most or all of the system administration tasks from human to machine. And because the automated processes are recorded, management can review these events to determine if there are areas where further improvement can and should be made.

Not only does ITSM automation save the enterprise a significant amount of money in terms of operating costs, but it also frees up service desk agents to focus their efforts on more mission-critical tasks and projects, such as those pertaining to increasing customer satisfaction rates.

In seeing the functionality and benefits of ITSM automation, the question then becomes not if an organization should adopt this technology, but how soon can they do so.

Take our advanced ITSM automation platform for a test drive today and see it in action!

ITSM Automation: The Secret Key to Unlocking Business Value

October 23, 2017/in IT Process Automation, ITSM Automation /by Gabby Nizri

One of the more surprising trends in recent history has been the implementation of IT Service Management (ITSM) in areas that are outside of the IT realm, such as facilities management and human resources. Similar to IT, these functions can derive significant business value from standardizing, automating and streamlining workflows and processes. Furthermore, by cutting costs and skyrocketing efficiency, ITSM automation can help all lines of business roll out newer and better capabilities for the benefit of the entire organization.

Widespread Benefits of ITSM Automation

According to a recent survey by PMG, nearly three quarters of the 300 respondents listed self-service automation as beneficial to the entire organization. 68 percent agreed that automation can help lower the costs of IT operations. 82 percent acknowledged that automation has fundamentally changed the way cloud and virtual environments are managed while 65 percent credit automated technology as instrumental in integrating and managing Big Data.

Nearly all survey respondents, however, (98 percent) agreed that automation already provides clear and measurable business benefits, including:

Enhanced customer satisfaction
Increased productivity and subsequent gains
Better knowledge sharing
New product delivery

It’s no surprise, then, that ITSM automation is now being leveraged to streamline manual processes across entire organizations, including IT help desks, HR departments, customer contact centers and more. Extending automation outside IT departments into other business units within the company is becoming much more commonplace.

Aligning ITSM Automation with Business Goals

Of course, in order for ITSM automation to truly generate measurable benefits across the enterprise, it must be aligned as closely as possible with broader organizational goals. This isn’t a significant challenge, however, thanks to ITSM’s ability to facilitate better communication throughout the company. By eliminating miscommunication, businesses gain greater efficiencies. When IT becomes less of a silo and more a part of overall business operations, everyone benefits because they’re all on the same page.

Obstacles to ITSM Automation

While the majority of business leaders agree on the many benefits ITSM automation has to offer, there are still certain key challenges that exist and must be overcome. One of the biggest obstacles is the lack of a holistic approach to automation, which results in silos that are not integrated and therefore are not being leveraged to their fullest potential. In some instances, separate automated processes actually work against rather than with one another, slowing down progress and creating more inefficiency than they’re supposed to eliminate.

One of the contributors to these silos of automation is different departments that deploy automation individually, without the IT team’s knowledge and assistance. Other respondents to the survey cited business leaders who create their own automated solutions using incorrect tools or non-standard processes. Clearly these issues must be addressed and overcome if ITSM automation is to become truly beneficial. Ideally, the IT department should take the lead on developing and implementing an interdepartmental strategy for automation.

The first step? Choosing the right platform. Watch ITSM automation powered by machine learning and AI in action today by requesting a free product demo. Click here to get started.

Free Webinar: Automate Your Service Desk with ServiceNow in Less than an Hour

October 11, 2017/in ITSM Automation, News & Events /by Gabby Nizri

According to Gartner, ServiceNow appears on client shortlists “…at more than double the frequency of any other vendor”. It is, without question, one of the undisputed leaders of the ITSM market, and an icon of cloud computing, allowing users to consolidate their on-premise IT tools into one modern, easy-to-use service management solution.

Yet, despite its widespread use, organizations still struggle with optimizing ServiceNow and getting the most out of their instance. This leads to frustrated staff, resentful users, and a drag on earning a positive ROI.

Integrated with Ayehu’s automation and orchestration platform, however, IT departments and service desk personnel can easily automate many of their manual, laborious ServiceNow tasks. Additionally, users can leverage automation technology to push out ticket creation and even incident resolution to end users in a self-service paradigm.

Please join the Ayehu team on Tuesday October 17th at 12pm ET / 9am PT for a live, virtual demonstration of how your ServiceNow instance can be quickly and easily turbocharged in less than an hour using next generation automation.

The demonstration will be presented in real-time by Ayehu’s Sr. Director of Customer Success, Guy Nadivi, and our Director of Professional Services, Peter Lee.

If you use ServiceNow, this is a demo you don’t want to miss, but we encourage you to register as soon as possible, as attendance is limited and we are expecting a full (virtual) house.

To reserve your spot, please fill out the registration form here. And mark your calendar for a session that is sure to be a game changer for your organization!

How to Choose the Right ITSM Automation Solution

July 31, 2017/in IT Process Automation, ITSM Automation /by Gabby Nizri

When it comes to ITSM automation, there are almost as many solutions out there as there are issues to address. Sifting through the mountains of options and listening to every self-professed ITSM expert can be nothing short of overwhelming. But ITSM automation has proven to be the differentiator in achieving long-term success and ongoing competitive advantage. So, it’s a battle that must be fought. Thankfully, knowing what to look for in advance can make it a much easier process to endure.

Benefits of ITSM Automation

Before we delve into the key characteristics of a good ITSM solution, it’s helpful to get a clear understanding of how automation can become a force multiplier for your organization.

Reduced need to depend on people, as best practices are clearly defined and ITSM automation is leveraged to allow technology to do the heavy lifting
Less people dependency brings with it a greater cost savings to the company as a whole
Significant reductions in human error
Accelerated and improved incident response process
Greater IT service delivery process, which improves both internal service levels and external customer satisfaction

That being said, here are some of the main considerations to keep in mind when evaluating various ITSM automation solutions.

Ease of use and speed to deployment. The quicker you can get your ITPA platform up and running, the sooner you can begin getting a return on your investment. As such, a plug-and-play, out-of-the-box solution that offers preconfigured templates is a great place to start.

Single user interface. These days, IT support is delivered across a plethora of different devices. As such, being able to access your automation platform from anywhere through a single-user interface is recommended. Be sure to inquire on how the interface is configured.

Customizable, intuitive workflows. Not only should your ITSM automation solution be capable of tracking and recording incidents and service requests, but it should also be able to intuitively automate the appropriate assignments, tasks and actions related to them. The goal should be a closed-loop process that provides optimum visibility from start to finish. You’ll also want to look for a platform that allows complete flexibility and the ability to customize workflows as needed as well as agility to support your changing needs over time.

Enterprise-wide automation. With a solution that’s flexible and configurable, you can achieve widespread process automation across the entire enterprise. In other words, your ITSM automation solution shouldn’t be limited solely to IT service requests, rather it should be available to optimize other functions and business processes performed throughout the organization, such as employee onboarding, facilities management, HR and even marketing processes. The more robust the functionality, the better.

Ability to integrate. You don’t want to reinvent the wheel, nor should you have to invest in an entirely new infrastructure in order to adopt automation. To the contrary, look for an ITSM automation platform that is fully and seamlessly integratable with existing applications, such as active directory, desktop management, network monitoring and more.

Enhanced incident management. One of the biggest time killers in ITSM is spent fielding and managing incidents. Far too many organizations waste hours upon hours of manpower creating separate incidents for each task that needs to be performed. Still others assign entire incidents to second-tier support agents only to lose control and visibility. With ITSM automation, you can create and manage multiple tasks and assignments under one incident while maintaining complete visibility over the entire process.

Self-service options. Empowering end-users to handle many of the common IT support requests on their own not only improves productivity and satisfaction, but it’s also a great way to free up IT personnel so they can focus on more critical tasks and projects. Choosing a solution that offers self-service automation is a wise investment.

Comprehensive reporting and metrics. All the data in the world isn’t worth a thing unless you are able to extract and leverage what’s relevant to you. The ITSM automation solution you choose should have comprehensive and easy-to-use, multi-level reporting that will provide valuable insight into your service desk operations. This information can then be used to develop best practices, improve operations and make better business decisions.

Are you feeling overwhelmed in your search for the perfect ITSM automation platform? Ayehu offers all of the above features and functions along with the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning. See it in action by scheduling a live demo or download your free 30 day trial and experience it for yourself.

Rethinking ITSM for Better Results

March 10, 2017/in IT Process Automation, ITSM Automation /by Gabby Nizri

To date, ITSM has been viewed as just one component of the IT infrastructure library (ITIL) processes. However, with the ongoing shift from fragmented of IT operations services to a more end-to-end, service-driven approach, the concept of ITSM has been positioned to play an increasingly critical role in overeall business operations. In order to successfully navigate this shift toward service, IT professionals must rethink what this practice is really about and how it will serve their organizations moving forward.

The Origin of ITSM

When it was originally developed, ITSM was intended to bring a more unified approach to how technology services were integrated throughout the organization. Rather than managing individual components, ITSM focused on developing a collection of best practice processes (ITIL) and using these best practices to deliver end-to-end services. Organizations would conduct ITSM audits which measured things like ROI, budget adherence, the effectiveness of communication and the ability to effectively detect and evaluate risk. The purpose was to identify areas that needed improvement so that IT services could be better honed to benefit the organization as a whole.

The Missing Piece…

While in theory ITSM is still a solid practice, in order for it to be truly effective it must evolve along with the changes of IT on a more holistic basis. What’s missing from the initial concept of ITSM is the end-user – the customer, so to speak. Internal processes may have been significantly improved, but if these improvements don’t trickle to the customer, it’s not a real victory.

Changing the Perception of ITSM

In order to get the most out of ITSM, there must be a shift in viewpoint from strictly internal to also include external value. The easiest way to do this is to simply drop the “IT” from ITSM and replace it with automation. This essentially expands the benefit from the internal operations of the enterprise to also improve the customer experience through the delivery of higher quality service and faster outcomes at a much more attractive price. Internal processes are streamlined and made more efficient, while external service also improves. In other words, it’s a win-win.

If businesses are going to be successful in the future, they must leverage new and changing technology to truly deliver the unique and unparalleled experiences that their customers are seeking. Adjusting the concept of ITSM to incorporate automation into the mix will accomplish this goal, providing the competitive advantage needed to thrive in the coming years.

Want to learn more about how automation can position your organization for future success? Check out our free ITSM Automation eBook.

Leveraging ITSM Automation to Achieve Digital Transformation

September 14, 2016/in IT Process Automation, ITSM Automation /by Gabby Nizri

These days everyone is buzzing about digital transformation in business, incorporating mobile, web, SaaS and the cloud to create a more connected and efficient working environment. This change is being driven by customers – both internal and external – that demand access to what they want or need at the click of a button. To remain competitive, organizations must achieve operational excellence and digital transformation is facilitating this. Adding automation into the mix can bring the entire process to the next level.

With all the changes happening in today’s workplace, it’s easy to overlook or sometimes even disregard the foundations of IT service management (ITSM) altogether. But getting away from these principles can be detrimental to whether or not your company is capable of navigating the choppy waters of change and coming out better, stronger and more agile on the other side. Recognizing and embracing the need for innovation and what ultimately supports successful digital transformation is critical. This is where ITSM can really make a significant impact.

Before a company can even hope to become more digital (and therefore more agile), IT must put in place a solid, reliable and well-performing system. A specific, defined and documented service catalog must be developed, service levels must be determined and communicated, and an incident response and resolution strategy must be established. This overall ITSM strategy can then be applied to operations to improve performance and shift from being reactive to proactive, particularly in terms of innovation.

By incorporating ITSM automation into the very foundation of your overall strategy, you can define and provide better SLAs, deliver greater service fulfillment and set up automated incident response and resolution to identify and resolve problems and application issues in mere seconds. As you consistently apply an ITSM automation strategy to application and services, productivity and efficiency will naturally improve. This will provide new opportunities to deliver better value and thereby make your organization more competitive.

Along with improving operations and achieving greater innovation for enhanced product and/or service delivery, ITSM automation can also help keep the organization safer on the cyber security front. Incident response is dramatically shortened because any and all incoming threats are immediately identified, evaluated and prioritized. Those incidents that can be handled without human intervention can be resolved automatically while those deemed critical can be escalated to receive prompt attention from the appropriate party.

Where ITSM automation really differentiates itself from traditional methodology – and therefore better facilitates digital transformation – is in its ultimate focus, which is on the entire process rather than each individual incident. Improved and more detailed documentation can help IT leaders identifies areas of weakness before they have the chance to become exploited. Existing and past policies and procedures can be continually improved to define and create more solid and effective best practices.

The bottom line is this: the closer we come to achieving operational excellence, IT agility and enhanced service management, the better we are able to achieve and maintain optimum customer satisfaction levels – both internally and externally. Adopting ITSM automation can facilitate smooth and successful digital transformation that ultimately elevates the level of competitiveness and solidifies the organization’s position as an industry leader.

Is your company on the right path toward achieving digital transformation? Could ITSM automation be the missing puzzle piece that gets you to your goal? Try it free for 30 days by downloading your trial of eyeShare now.

Live Webinar: How to Keep your CMDB up-to-date with IT Automation

August 23, 2016/in IT Process Automation, ITSM Automation, News & Events /by Gabby Nizri

CMDB’s can take years to build, and only seconds to break. It’s been estimated that up to 85% of organizations attempting to build a CMDB fail, and one of the most egregious reasons is an overly manual approach. For example, what happens when assets are added/removed/updated in your network monitoring system, but those changes become too tedious to propagate manually to your ITSM platform?

Please join us on Wednesday, August 31st for a webinar showing how IT Process Automation can ensure your CMDB is up-to-date, no matter how many sources it needs to synchronize with. We’ll provide a live demonstration of how changes in the Solarwinds Network Configuration Manager are automatically synched with the CMDB in ServiceNow Helsinki.

It’s a highly practical webinar you won’t want to miss!

Speakers:

Guy Nadivi, Director, Business Development – North America

Peter Lee, Director, Professional Services