A Self-Service Customers Will Love to Use
Self-service users are a rapidly growing extension of the IT Service Management (ITSM) discipline. This can come in several different forms, but here we will briefly focus on Self-Service, an essential element in every IT organization.
The Self-Service concept improves Incident Management and allows the user to open, track and close an incident record without speaking to Customer Service. This practice is gaining more and more acceptance, but even just a few years ago the expectations were very different from now.
Today, mobile devices are increasingly used as a viable business platform. In a distributed organizational structure, employees are less likely to spend an ordinary day in a traditional office. The flexibility and comfort expected and demanded by a changing workforce changes everything.
The Self-Service concept is a transforming factor in ITSM and a model with far-reaching implications for the IT organization.
Self-Service can be considered unique as it has the ability to create a user experience that saves time and money at the same time. Few factors in information technology have the power to influence a company’s business to this extent.
In the three approaches we’ll present here, we’ll suggest how Self-Service can become indispensable for your company if done right:
1) Make it Easy
Above all, the Self-Service experience should start with an easy user experience presentation.
A complex user experience is the biggest factor that can make a service fail compared to anything else. In an ideal system, the user gets approved quickly and then answers a few simple questions. So processes can start quickly to solve the current problem.
Designing an intuitive and natural experience for targeted user groups is crucial. These user groups can sometimes consist of company employees and sometimes from a specific customer category. The user experience for each user category should be optimized enough to complete the session in a matter of minutes (and in some cases, seconds). Such an easy experience creates a high level of satisfaction for the user. Only in this way can the benefits of Self-Service be revealed. There are multiple ways to provide an easy experience. Easy, naturally agile. Easy, natively scalable.
An easy Self-Service experience for the user means a successful experience with benefits for both the IT team and the company. Everyone likes easy things.
2) Make it Fast
Part of the appeal of self-service is its ability to get things done faster, increase productivity, and add a few minutes to our lives. One of the imperative priorities for Self-Service should be to save us time, including the total time required to solve problems. There is a natural synergy between easy and fast. Putting a timer (stopwatch) in the Self-Service process will work to see how long it takes a user to log their problem.
Let’s not forget that every second counts. We see this as a more attractive option than the traditional Customer Service model, as Self-Service can enable both employees and customers to self-register an issue (incident).
A fast Self-Service experience saves every employee in the workplace valuable minutes and hours. People like things that get done quickly because getting things done quicker creates opportunities for us. Where there is speed, it is likely to find a dynamic organization.
3) Make it Consistent
Self Service can be very attractive because of its inherent advantages; but this is only true if the process works every time. Self-Service should implement the standard Case Management flow to ensure case completion. It must also be optimized and ensure it meets all IT requirements, including SOX, Governance, and ITIL.
This service should not be made available until the business/communication processes are clearly defined and the ITSM organization is confident in its ability to support the Self-Service channel. When all conditions are met, an easy, fast and consistent combination will create a very powerful model.
You can naturally think of the Service Catalog together with corporate service management and Self-Service as complementary to each other. These two channels are a powerful combination for the IT organization. In the near future, both channels will heavily use automation and artificial intelligence techniques.
Consistent resolution of Self-Service cases makes it a valuable extension to Customer Service or ITSM for IT that scales very effectively.
Self-Service as a Bridge to the Future of IT
In many ways, the core features of Self-Service serve as a micromodel for the future of IT. Self-Service is a natural service for mobile devices, supports a mobile workforce, provides agility, is available 24/7, and allows users to work comfortably.
But that’s not all. The Self-Service service takes the burden of the staff by reducing calls to Customer Service. Increasing numbers of employees and customers are recording their problems using the Self-Service system, checking the status of cases and choosing this channel to close the cases that have been resolved. Whether it’s reducing the burden on Customer Service, providing users with the flexibility to record cases, or providing benefits with possible cost savings; Self Service will work either way.
Putting aside the many improvements in IT models we’ve made as we transform our own organization, Self-Service has many other business and cultural benefits as well. If you already have a Self-Service service, every opportunity and development to improve the existing model makes a difference for you. If you don’t have a Self-Service service, now is the time to get started. The points we’ve mentioned here can provide you with a guide on where to start providing the service minus the Management.
Ready to start your Self-Service journey? Contact us now to learn more and get a custom demo.
