Service management in focus: Identifying and leveraging untapped potential
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Service management in focus: Identifying and leveraging untapped potential
Alexander Post
22 November 2024
6 min read
Alexander Post
22 November 2024
6 min read
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Service management: a key to business success
The perfect ITSM tool
Artificial intelligence: a versatile tool in service processes
The role of external service providers
Conclusion
Whether a DAX-listed company or an SME, the German economy agrees: 83 percent of companies consider service management crucial for business success.
Fortunately, over 80% of companies have achieved their goals in ITSM (IT Service Management) and ESM (Enterprise Service Management). These findings are from the "Service Management 2024" study, conducted by CIO, CSO, and Computerwoche in collaboration with Adaptavist.
Despite these positive outcomes, challenges remain. How artificial intelligence integrates into service management and what other challenges lie ahead are detailed in our comprehensive study. Here is a summary of the most important results.
Service Management: a key to business success
While over 80 percent of companies view service management as business-critical, only 60 percent of employees, partners, and customers are satisfied with it. Clearly, there is room for improvement.
There are notable differences in the perception of service management: While 53 percent of executives and 61 percent of business units believe it enhances customer satisfaction, 76 percent of CIOs and tech executives, along with 66 percent of IT leaders, share this view. The study indicates that the IT department rates service management more positively, possibly because they are responsible for its management. Greater exchange between departments regarding the benefits of service management would be helpful.
How Service Management Impacts Companies (Study "Service Management" by COMPUTERWOCHE Research Services in collaboration with Adaptavist. Munich 2024.)
What does the perfect ITSM tool look like?
The desires of IT and non-IT professionals are similar in many functions. High integration capability tops the list. Understandably so, as with a heart transplant, the company should continue operating without restrictions. Both groups also value adaptable ITSM software. AI features like chatbots are in demand, particularly by business units seeking artificial intelligence support for customers, users, service providers, administrators, or support.
However, differences emerge depending on company size: While process modelling is important for large enterprises (51%), interest is significantly lower among mid-sized and small companies. Overall, there are many important criteria—18 functions in service management and over 20 in ITSM are relevant to at least 10 percent of respondents.
Artificial intelligence: a versatile tool in service processes
Let's take a closer look at artificial intelligence—how is AI used to automate service processes? AI's speciality is pattern recognition, which is particularly helpful in fraud detection through anomaly detection and customer profile analysis. Both applications top the current AI automation list at around 45 percent.
The study shows, however, that only 29 percent of employees in business units are aware of and use AI-driven customer profile analysis. Here, potential remains untapped, as customers and prospects are not being targeted accurately.
Third place is artificial intelligence's pre-selection of applicants. This is an exciting area given Germany's shortage of skilled workers. It will be interesting to see how AI compares to human intuition, as biases may lead people to prematurely reject candidates who would be a better long-term fit for the company.
Overall, AI ranks second among the most important future technologies, with cloud computing taking a slight lead. You can find all the details about the key future technologies in the study.
Technologies for the future of ITSM (Study "Service Management" by COMPUTERWOCHE Research Services in collaboration with Adaptavist. Munich 2024.)
The role of external service providers
The study shows that service management is often carried out by external partners. Nearly 80 percent of companies extensively (27.4%) or partially (51.9%) rely on external service providers, regardless of company size. One reason for this reliance is the sufficient budget available in both IT departments and business units. Additionally, around 76 percent of organisations express satisfaction with the work of their service providers.
Added value through service management
Service management is supposed to create added value for users and service providers—87 percent of respondents say it does. However, there is a noticeable difference: Only 69 percent of business units see this added value, compared to 90 percent in management and IT. Apparently, business units have had less positive experiences, especially in service delivery.
As mentioned earlier, better involvement of business units in planning and implementation could help here.
Conclusion: untapped potential in service management
Service management is rated as business-critical by the majority of German companies, yet there are optimisation opportunities in implementation. While over 80 percent of companies have achieved their ITSM and ESM goals, only 60 percent of employees, partners, and customers feel their expectations are met. Artificial intelligence and cloud computing are key future technologies, but awareness of AI-driven services needs to be better communicated within business units. The use of external service providers is well-established across industries.
For service management to bring added value to all parties in the future, closer collaboration between IT and business units is crucial, especially in prioritising and integrating new functions.
Keen for more? Download the full study!
Discover even more insights, challenges, and future technologies that companies focus on in the Service Management Study 2024.
Please note that the study is available for download only in German. Feel free to explore our service management services or reach out to our experts.
Written by
Alexander Post
Principal Solution Architect
ITSM