{"id":4464,"date":"2024-05-03T15:42:40","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T15:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teamdynamix.com\/uncategorized\/it-service-management-itsm-self-service-adoption\/"},"modified":"2024-07-01T13:24:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T13:24:53","slug":"it-service-management-itsm-self-service-adoption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teamdynamix.com\/blog\/it-service-management-itsm-self-service-adoption\/","title":{"rendered":"IT Service Management (ITSM): Self-Service Adoption"},"content":{"rendered":"

IT Service Management (ITSM) is evolving and with it, many IT leaders are seeking ways to improve service delivery. In a recent market study, 78% of IT organizations<\/a> revealed that they are feeling the squeeze of resource constraints and cited it as one of their ongoing top challenges. We wanted to dig a little deeper to see if we could identify some key areas of ITSM<\/a>\u00a0that IT can focus on to finally see some real improvement.<\/p>\n

Addressing IT Service Management & Resource Constraints<\/h2>\n

The first area survey respondents pointed to as a key initiative to help mitigate these resource constraints is self-service adoption\u2014and overwhelmingly so, to the tune of 73%. Making a move to self-service might be the easiest, yet most effective step an IT department can take to start alleviating some of the pressure.<\/p>\n

“We are understaffed at times and need to focus on higher-value implementations. So, anything we can do to empower our users to find the resources they need for self-service is a must for us,\u201d Abigail Ferguson, Customer Success Manager for the City of Madison<\/a>\u2019s Information Technology, said of their push for better self-service.<\/p>\n

And this issue isn’t limited to just the public sector.<\/p>\n

For many businesses and organizations – across all industries \u2013 the demand for service has gone up exponentially over the last few years as IT now has to support better digital experiences and a \u201cservice anywhere, anytime\u201d mentality, even within the public sector. With self-service in place, you can set your organization up for success and deflect tickets from overwhelmed IT staff.<\/p>\n

What is Self-Service?<\/h2>\n

In ITSM self-service is the practice of providing a knowledge base within a portal that users can go to and find answers to common questions and problems \u2013 allowing them to solve their own problems without having to put in a ticket or contact the help desk.<\/p>\n

While self-service is widely recognized as being a valuable part of IT Service Management, with 81% of organizations reporting they have a knowledge base and 56% running a self-service portal, according to the market study<\/a>, out of those with a knowledge base only 5% say it is fully maximized and updated. In addition, only 25% of organizations with a self-service portal say it is highly adopted and effective. So why is there so little adoption when the benefits are so great?<\/p>\n

Challenges of a Self-Service Portal<\/h2>\n

A self-service portal can only positively impact\u00a0your organization if it is developed correctly, and certain challenges lie in making a\u00a0self-service portal that is effective<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When you are creating a portal, you\u2019re tasked with explaining technical services to a population that is, in most cases, non-technical. One way to get around this difficult task is to use plain and clear language. Steer clear of technical jargon or strings of letters that have no meaning outside of the world of programming. This will help the customer comprehend the solution you are providing them with while also making them comfortable enough to know they do not need to contact the helpdesk.<\/p>\n

Another thing you can do is test your portal before making it available organization-wide. This will give you the opportunity to see if non-technical employees understand the language you use, to gain feedback on how easy it is to use and allow you to see where users run into dead-ends.<\/p>\n

Another challenge is that you need to\u00a0gain buy-in<\/a>\u00a0from users. This entails convincing people who have always gone straight to the helpdesk the moment they have an issue to change their course of action.<\/p>\n

In reality, people want to solve issues on their own especially if they know how quick and easy it can be. However, they might be skeptical of a self-service portal until they use it for the first time. So, creating and testing the portal is only half of the process- getting your organization and customers on board is the other half. You can do this by advertising the benefits and showing people how simple the concept really is.<\/p>\n

It is also crucial to be sure that there is trust within your organization. No one will take the time to try out something new if there is no trust that those who developed this portal did it in a way that will actually yield results and provide people with the help it is intended to.<\/p>\n

When IT Manager Jason Mohs joined the Walbec Group<\/a>, some knowledge articles were already in place but weren\u2019t easily searchable. TeamDynamix provided an easy way to store, organize, and make these assets available to employees. To build out these resources, Mohs made it a goal for every IT staff member to create or edit at least one monthly knowledge base article.<\/p>\n

The IT team has also built a comprehensive service catalog within the portal, complete with dynamic forms for quickly collecting information about the exact nature of an employee\u2019s problem or service request. Mohs and his team have promoted using this portal for opening tickets throughout the company, explaining in staff meetings how employees can resolve their problems faster by using the portal.<\/p>\n

These measures have streamlined the intake process for service requests dramatically. Often, employees can find answers to their questions or resolve their issues using the portal\u2019s knowledge articles. They can initiate a service request within the portal if they can\u2019t. The information collected during this process enables tickets to be routed automatically to the appropriate IT team member for a response \u2014 without help desk staff having to follow up and ask questions first.<\/p>\n

Mohs now estimates that nearly three-fourths of service requests come in via the portal, saving the help desk team at least one to two minutes per request. With the volume of requests they get, \u201cthat makes a big difference,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s made us a much more efficient team.\u201d<\/p>\n

IT Service Management: Self-Service Adoption<\/h2>\n

By moving to a self-service model, you can deflect calls from your helpdesk to your portal and users can look for the answers they need whenever and as often as they need to, with much less reliance on making transactional phone calls or in-person visits to the help desk. This is especially great for high-volume help desks.<\/p>\n

This shift not only improves customer satisfaction, but it also dramatically reduces the per-incident cost incurred by IT (from about $22 for a level 1 support call to about $2 for self-service) and the volume of issues and requests coming into the help desk, which allows IT to reallocate technicians to higher priority tasks and projects. But for this to work as intended, self-service must:<\/p>\n