Date Published April 14, 2022 - Last Updated January 20, 2023
We’re all tired of hearing how COVID affected the workplace, but even as companies begin bringing people back to work, there’s one major difference that will stay with us, possibly for a long time: working remotely. Remote work lowers real estate and facilities’ costs for the employer, and lowers commuting time and cost for the employee.
With this in mind, here are the top 5 things IT organizations should consider in 2022 and beyond. These ideas work really well for remote or hybrid workplaces, but the side-effect is they also work well for all transformative IT organizations:
Stop Making Me Call You
We all know the least favorite thing is having to stop what we’re doing to report an issue to the service desk. With the growth of AI and automation, it’s now possible to unite error logs and monitoring solutions with AI to find and log desktop and printer issues automatically, and notify the end user when an incident ticket is opened.
How do we know this is possible? Now that cable-TV boxes are basically computers, the cable company automatically detects errors and offers a fix before callers reach a human. This pick simply takes that a little bit further.
Support Buttons
We’re not using programmable buttons like the dash button extensively enough. Any organization that still has shared equipment (copy machines, printers, coffee stations) should have a button in every location. For equipment, there can be two: a help button and a supplies button. Pressing the button automatically opens the appropriate ticket.
Do this virtually with a help button on the desktop. When an employee has a problem, they click the button and automation searches for errors, takes a screen print, and logs an incident.
How do we know this is possible? Both ideas have shown up in HDI Award nominations over the last few years.
Take the Concierge Desk Virtual
Whether the organization has a concierge desk or not, setting up virtual concierge desks is easy. The location is configured into the concierge desk application as if it were a physical location, and when it’s the customer’s turn, they get a video call. All features of the physical concierge desk are still available.
How do we know this is possible? Service management tools have concierge desk software which can be easily configured for this, and some even have virtual capabilities built in now.
Automate Access Provisioning with Role-Based Provisioning
This topic has been thoroughly covered already. Check out this blog and webinar if you’ve missed them.
How do we know this is possible? It’s already common practice and anyone who isn’t doing it should make it their top priority. Remote work makes security more critical than ever!
Supersize Your Portal
The service portal becomes a lifeline for remote workers, whether they are at home or in remote/satellite locations. The IT portal is no longer enough. By now, all portals should offer access to all corporate service providers, even if it is via a quick link to the provider's existing portal.
How do we know this is possible? Like automated provisioning, portals have grown to the enterprise level in many organizations. This is just a reminder that if you’re not already there, it’s time.
One last thing to remember: While many of these topics have been covered extensively over the last several years, consider this a checkpoint to do two things:
- Plug any gaps you have in these areas (implement those you haven’t already)
- If you’ve already implemented any of these, review your configuration and ensure it supports remote workers as well as on-site workers
The business value associated with these top picks is high: the more automated and accessible you make support, the easier it can be scaled; it also can give precious work time back to employees.
Want to learn more? Attend Phyllis’ Session at Support World!
Phyllis Drucker is an ITIL® 4 Managing Professional certified consultant and information leader at Cognizant’s Linium ServiceNow practice. Phyllis has more than 20 years of experience in the disciplines and frameworks of service management, as both a practitioner and consultant. She has served HDI since 1997, itSMF USA since 2004 in a variety of capacities including speaker, writer, local group leader, board member, operations director and recently completed her term as Chair for itSMF International. Since 1997, Phyllis has helped to advance the profession of ITSM leaders and practitioners worldwide by providing her experience and insight on a wide variety of ITSM topics through presentations, whitepapers, and articles and now her new book on the service request catalog, Online Service Management: Creating a Successful Service Request Catalogue (International Best Practice). Follow Phyllis on Twitter @msitsm.