Enterprise Service Management - Everything you need to know

Want efficient cost-conscious services with improved visibility across your whole organisation? Look no further than ESM.

If you’re up to speed on IT service management (or ITSM) – the way IT teams manage the end-to-end delivery of IT services to the organisation – you might have heard the term ESM bandied around. But what exactly is it? ESM stands for enterprise service management and it extends ITSM practices to non-IT teams and the wider business. Let’s take a closer look…

Enterprise service management (ESM) aims to improve efficiency, reduce risk, and transform the user experience. It takes a service-oriented business model and applies that same thinking to internal operations, whatever they might be. Each department, whether it’s HR, marketing, accounting, or any other team, is providing a service that the rest of the organisation depends on. Every team’s role is intrinsic to the success of the business and has an impact on the end customer. 

The more efficient internal operations are, the more productive and profitable the business can be. This results in more value for your customers. ESM helps to make offering and delivering those internal services simple and efficient. Typically through the use of a service management solution, such as Jira Service Management, – one central place where every employee can access all the available services across the organisation.

Enterprise Service Management aims to:

• Cut the costs of interdepartmental interactions
• Improve service predictability 
• Drive process efficiency without compromising on time or quality

As the name suggests, ITSM is all about the way a business delivers IT services. By transforming its activities, policies, and processes, an IT team can improve deployment and management of everything it does – from fixing your computer to implementing organisation-wide software updates. Applying the principles learnt in ITSM across the business leads to improved performance and responsiveness, and a more effective service. It also allows an organisation to measure where they’re doing well and where they can identify opportunities for continuous service improvements. 

While ESM borrows widely from ITSM, there is one distinct difference. A lot of ESM activity depends on multiple teams to work together to achieve results. Collaboration is key, which means there’s an even greater dependence on shared tools, practices, processes, and workflows.

Self-service support and an agile approach

ESM takes the best of ITSM principles and applies them to suit different needs within the business, depending on the department. Some practices will make obvious sense, no matter the team, such as knowledge management. A self-service approach to information, knowledge management is based around having a single portal where everyone can access information that enables them to support themselves.

ITSM is frequently based on ITIL 4, an evolution of the longstanding ITSM framework. This latest version is designed specifically to move organisations away from the heavy, prescriptive requirements associated with ITSM to a flexible way of working that integrates more easily with agile and DevOps processes. It’s focused around a ‘service value system’ – a holistic model that represents how the various components that make up an organisation work together to create value.

Enterprise Service Management has the potential to revolutionise service creation, service management, and service delivery across your organisation – key components in your digital transformation. Here are just some of the many benefits ESM could bring.

Efficiency through automation

One condensed system makes keeping track of tickets a breeze and helping teams stay on top of everything. Some tasks can be automated, reducing wait times and maximising resources.

Visibility of priorities 

ESM processes and reports give you the knowledge you need to take care of the highest priority items first. You can also identify bottlenecks and make sure actions are taken in the most logical order, rather than using guess-work or reacting to those who shout the loudest.

Keeping customers happy

ESM might seem like an internal transformation, but it has a significant knock-on effect on your end-customers too. Improving access to services for employees means common issues are resolved quickly, leaving more time to focus on delivering value.

Increased ROI for your tools

One big benefit of using Jira Service Management  over other ESM solutions is that you can expose it to the customers of the company for free. Allowing the customers to directly raise their requests to the right part of an organisation through a customer facing portal. As your people become more proficient at using the tool, productivity will increase across the board.

Focus on strategy

ESM’s built-in emphasis on automation means your teams will spend less time on repetitive, time-consuming tasks and have more resources for high-level work. You’ll reduce your administrative burden and create value for customers in the process.

Be in the know

Bringing all your services together in one place means incredible insights into how you’re managing day-to-day operations and strategic metrics to ensure your functions are in line with your business objectives.

Getting it done, together 

Enhanced visibility encourages a greater understanding of different departments and a unified approach to cross-functional tasks. Automation and one central portal helps move processes along more quickly, ensures effective communication, and supports collaboration between teams.

Enterprise Service Management extends the valuable experience from implementing ITSM to your whole organisation. If you start seeing each business function as a service, and your employees as vital users who depend on those services, you will be on your way to creating even more value for your actual customers as you scale. boosting efficiency, minimising risk, and revolutionising the user experience is all within your grasp.

To find out more about how to accelerate your digital transformation with enterprise service management, watch our webinar.