Organisations need to discard legacy systems that, while still useful to some extent, are holding back productivity and making the workforce IT experience laborious and unsatisfactory. In their place, instead, should be transformative technologies, like automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
A more modern IT infrastructure attuned to advancing digital ecosystems is none more important than now, with approximately 75% of enterprises utilising more than six automation technologies in IT management for better productivity. Thus, it makes perfect sense for organisations to start modernising their legacy applications and give their staff the advantages of intelligent automation. This is especially the case when the following signs are observed:
- Employee satisfaction declining.
The modern workforce is just like the digital-age consumer: Demanding and always on the lookout for the best experiences possible. In short, they want their workplace IT services to be straightforward, seamless and user-friendly, not tedious and complicated. Give them the latter, and they are likely to grow dissatisfied and disenchanted, perhaps feeling that they are not getting the support they need at work. This dissatisfaction can have far-reaching implications, including a decrease in productivity (more on that below).
- Work is being interrupted routinely.
Traditional IT service management is marked by mundane, often repetitive tasks, like manual reviews and checks that cut in on time better spent in doing truly relevant and innovative tasks that can add value to the organisation. Worse, the old ways that utilise legacy tools are prone to interruptions, like checking emails and filling out forms after every process. Traditional systems also force staff to multitask, which only results in time wastage due to what’s called “attention residue”, where a person cannot focus on one task because they are still thinking about other tasks—the one they were doing previously and presumably the next one up. This sign, together with the first, will lead to the next sign.
- Productivity has plateaued or is declining.
A dispirited workforce is almost always inefficient and unproductive. Staff are more likely to give less than their best if they think they aren’t getting what they deserve in terms of equipment and technologies being utilised at work. Either that or they are being held back considerably by legacy systems that can be restricting, time-consuming and cumbersome to use because of the need for constant updates and monitoring. The result is a workforce focused on unnecessary minutiae rather than work that truly matters, and this reflects on poor or declining productivity.
- The current system is costing the business.
The old way of doing things in service management is siloed and resource-heavy, not only from a personnel standpoint but also from a platform standpoint. That’s because traditional service management generally utilises a range of applications for the different components of the workflow. There is, for example, a different suite for IT Service Management, IT Asset Management and IT Availability Management, each necessitating a staff of disparate skill sets. This means higher overhead costs that include maintenance and upgrades where necessary.
- The business is aiming for more growth.
Businesses that want to scale or grow more will need a motivated workforce for across-the-board productivity. They will also have to lower expenses where possible. All this can be done by leveraging technology and modernising existing systems, including IT service management. A perfect case study in this regard is Milliken & Company, a Spartanburg-based industrial manufacturer that partnered with Symphony SummitAI to enable digital transformation, scale remote staff support and ensure business continuity. Through SummitAI’s integrated, automated and self-service global solutions, Milliken enhanced the customer experience of its workforce, improved life cycle efficiency, enhanced IT support and lowered its total cost of ownership.
Indeed, it is high time to unleash SummitAI’s pioneering SUMMIT Integrated IT Management Suite, which consolidates into one easy-to-deploy and easy-to-use solution a range of processes in IT Service Management, IT Asset Management and IT Availability Management. Doing so improves service experience through an intuitive conversational interface and machine learning, enhances productivity by automating mundane tasks, ensures agent effectiveness through Operational Intelligence and optimises asset utilisation through better IT Asset Lifecycle management.
The SUMMIT Integrated IT Management suite also ensures complete control over an organisation’s entire IT landscape, making it the ideal digital solution for all its IT-related needs.
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