Simplifying Enterprise Service Management (ESM)

May 13, 2024

Enterprise Service Management (ESM) provides a single portal to access information and services across your organisation: for all departments, and all lines of business.

ESM transforms employee service experiences and increases operational efficiency. Employees simply access one portal and get the outcomes they need, without needing to navigate the whole organisation. 

What is ESM? 

ESM isn’t digital transformation in itself. However, it does help enable digital transformation, by applying the methods and benefits of IT Service Management (ITSM) to other business areas:

  • Human Resources (HR)
  • Legal
  • Facilities
  • Marketing
  • Finance

It enables all these teams to see and access enterprise services, rapidly and intuitively, by creating flows that go beyond one department. For better performance, service delivery, and a more positive user experience.

ESM example: A one-stop HR service portal for your employees

Rather than accessing multiple, clunky systems with multiple credentials to remember, employees could explore their benefits, report a workplace issue, or take personal leave within one single, user optimised ESM system.

The evolution of service management

Over the years, service management has evolved from IT-centric models to enterprise-wide solutions. As organisations adapt to remote working, efficiently delivering shared services is essential.  

However, if multiple tools or platforms are involved, this becomes increasingly complex. This impacts productivity, service delivery, efficiency, and costs. Several factors have driven this more comprehensive, integrated approach:

  • Shifting manual process work, from in-office to fully digital
  • Impacted employee well-being, creating a shift in working environments
  • Centralising operating budgets, to reduce costs and maximize productivity

ESM is the solution: Helping organisations articulate and consistently offer their services to employees and customers — through a unified portal, accessible 24/7.

Components of ESM

To create a unified service delivery framework, these ESM components have to interact smoothly:

  • IT Service Management: ITSM is how your IT team manages and delivers IT services, end-to-end and to different users (both internal and external parties). This covers the design and creation of your IT ecosystem, through to delivery and support functions.
     
  • IT Operations Management: ITOM is the management of and strategic approach to planning, building, and operating digital services, technology, components, and application requirements in organizations.
     
  • IT Business Management: ITBM workflows optimize developing, delivering, and managing business services, aligning them with technology. It guides your enterprise to gauge how its business goals, strategies, and needs relate to the wider IT landscape.

Even though IT is crucial to your ESM strategy, ESM success depends on other key capabilities, such as:

  • Self-service portal
  • Easy access to knowledge
  • Automation of ticketing and problem management

This makes IT a trusted advisor when implementing your ESM strategy.

Key ESM Benefits for IT Leaders

ESM tooling empowers IT leaders to manage and govern a unified IT ecosystem. Key outcome-based ESM benefits are:

  1. Better efficiency, reduced operational costs 
    With the services and answers they need within easy reach, your employees will be set up to work at their best. Introduce automations, optimisprocesses, and enhance collaborative workflows.
     
  2. Improved ROI on your ITSM solution 
    As more teams use your ITSM/ESM solutions, the more value you extract from your investment. As you expand centralised capabilities, you can phase out disjointed legacy solutions to cut costs overall.  
     
  3. Enhanced visibility, control, and governance 
    Understand what’s happening, what should be happening, when, and who’s responsible. For clarity and reassurance across all your business stakeholders.  
     
  4. Improved experience for employees and customers  
    Offer your employees and customers the online service quality they expect. Provide the information they need, when and where they need it. With self-service, timely responses, and tracking.  
     
  5. Better communication and accountability  
    Keep all the communication channels you want but centralize them via your self-service portal. With updates, alerts, and task assignments, information won’t get lost in handovers.


A comprehensive guide to Enterprise Service Management

ESM helps organizations articulate and consistently offer their services through a unified portal, accessible 24/7. It delivers the key attributes of a quality service platform:

  • Hyper-fast: Rapid, proactive, automated
  • Agile: Flexible, responsive, leading change
  • Resilient: Durable, consistent, secure
  • Human: Empathetic, experience-centered, real
  • Connected: Friction-free, unifying, agnostic, open, end-to-end, anytime/anywhere

Embark on a journey toward a unified IT ecosystem that aligns with business goals

ESM is your path to increasing operational efficiency, boosting employee productivity, and offering superior service experience across your enterprise.

At DXC, our consultants are knowledgeable and trusted advisors for our clients. We look at your processes, and how your applications are being used. Starting with the right assessment, we help you to implement ESM, so that your users (both customers and employees) have a positive experience when interacting with your services.  

To explore what ESM can do for your business contact us at servicenow.apac@dxc.com to start a conversation.

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