Trends in Service

Management
myAxelos Webinar

June 7, 2023

1
 Speaker

David Cannon
Senior Advisor
@ PeopleCert

2
 Agenda

• Setting the Scene - The shrinking role of ITSM

• One challenge and four questions
• Technology trends
• Trends in managing technology

3
 Setting the Scene

4
 Where we started

Application
Development

Customers
Vendors

Business Units
IT Operations

5
 Then came the cloud

Application
Development

Customers
Vendors

Business Units
IT Operations

6
 Together with innovative digital
technology

Application
Development

Customers
Vendors

Business Units
IT Operations

7
 And agile working methods

Application
Development

Customers
Vendors

Business Units
IT Operations

8
 What Changes When We Use Digital
Technology?
Traditional Digital
Financial performance Sustainability
Compliance Governance Value creation
Control Agility

Functional focus Community & Market

Organizations &
Hierarchical People
Product Focus
Employee satisfaction Employee Fulfilment

Transactional Value Streams End-to-end

Siloed & Processes Value-centric
Templates Sense-making
Basic or Cooperative Collaborative
Partners and
Transactional Suppliers Service integration
Formalized Value co-creation
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 One Challenge
And
Four Questions

10
 The Challenge

• Most emerging technology has one standard feature

• It is easy to acquire and use
• By implication, it doesn’t need specialized IT expertise
• Of course, this is wrong, but by the time we find out why the
organization has changed irreversibly
• This puts IT in a constant reactive cycle, where our main role is to fix
things that break
• Our entire service management strategy is support

The Challenge

Keep supporting, but focus on strategy

11
 The Four Questions
When looking at new technology, ask these four questions:

1. Will it introduce new business opportunities?

2. Will it allow us to offer new services?

3. Can we use it to change the way we manage services?

4. How do we manage the technology itself?

12
 The Four Questions Involve Service
Management in ALL Technology Decisions

13
 Technology Trends

Look at the
characteristics of
each trend, then ask
the 4 questions

14
 Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning

• Routine task automation

• Auto-response in defined scenarios
• Pattern recognition
• Decision-making in situations with a predefined set of variables
and knowledge
• Speeding up creative activity (e.g. article writing or coding)

15
 The Cloud

• Increasing number of software solutions are replacing functionality that

used to be built in-house
• New cloud-based product lines and systems of engagement are
making smaller organizations more competitive
• Low-code / no-code platforms give users greater control over apps
• Increased availability of AI, ML, and Virtual Reality capabilities
• Key element of sustainability strategies
• Many organizations are focusing on managing:
• Unpredictable cost
• Security and risk issues
• Vendor lock-in (especially SaaS)
• Talent acquisition
• ”Cloud sprawl”
16
 Process Automation and Virtualization

• Intelligent automation is key to future RPA initiatives

• AI / ML integrated into processes
• But they require a clear understanding of context and purpose
• Growth in implementation services is higher than software
• Virtual reality is being used increasingly to manage workflows
and manage issues
• Example, digital twins
• “Just in time” is being applied to information and tasks, not only
materials

17
 Data

• Datafication:
• Translating any aspect of an organization or their customers and
turning into data that can be analyzed
• Data Virtualization (e.g. data fabrics)
• The ability to validate and use data from any source without needing to
move it to a central datastore
• Small and wide data (in addition to big data):
• Analysis of specific data from specific sources for specific purposes
• Data Democratization
• Making data available to all levels of employee for analysis and use

18
 Internet of Things and Edge Computing

• Increased demand for the number and type of IoT-enabled

devices
• Smart homes (and offices) are becoming the norm
• Context sensitive service support and delivery is expected
• Demand for more personalization
• Focus on security and privacy
• Huge growth in network demand will rely on computing power
moved to the “edge”

19
 Organizational
Challenges

20
 Digital Transformation

• Changing what the organization does and how it works by using

digital technology
• Most organizations take a reactive approach to digital
transformation – transforming only when they must
• Axelos research showed that service managers are typically
excluded from digital transformation programs
• Digital transformation requires an understanding of:
• The organization’s strategy and objectives
• The organization’s business and operating models
• The capabilities of emerging technology
• The organization’s external environment

21
 Governance

• The ease of acquiring IT services and products externally moves

some responsibilities from IT to business leaders
• But most governance models are not adjusted:
• IT is still held responsible for items they no longer manage
• The ability to track information assets and access rights is complicated
• It is unclear who is responsible for managing them

22
 Remote / Hybrid Working

• Service management has enabled and supported new working

methods
• In the early stages of the pandemic, service managers were asked
to advise about how to apply technology to business processes:
• Service managers helped to define new working practices
• Over time, many organizations reverted to simply providing the
hybrid work solution, and providing training and support
• Many IT organizations have underestimated how hybrid working
has changed the business
• This will encourage a focus on refining and perfecting support practices
with emerging technology
• It will also exclude them from strategic discussions
23
 Conclusion

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 Conclusion

• There has never been a more exciting time to be a service

manager!
• We have never had the opportunity to make such a profound
difference
• The opportunity will challenge us to:
• Expand our role from service provider to business professional
• Broaden our focus from operational support to strategic engagement
• Be relentlessly curious

25
 Thank you!
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