Use Automation to Lighten the IT Support Load in the “New Normal”

Automation was already transforming IT service delivery and support before the COVID-19 crisis made all of our lives so much harder. Done well, automation will reduce incident queues and streamline processes – saving time and costs, and improving IT support’s employee experience. Now, as we all adjust to the “new normal,” there’s an opportunity for IT service desks to further embrace automation. To help, this blog offers a number of ways your organization can use automation to take some of the pressure off of your IT service desk or IT support team.

This blog offers a number of ways your organization can use #automation to take some of the pressure off of your IT service desk or IT support team. #servicedesk Click To Tweet

1. Improve self-service and self-help immediacy with automation

If you’re not using a self-service portal and self-help mechanisms at the moment, then you’re making more work for yourself. Not only does this help end users to quickly help themselves and hence reduce the contact volumes for the IT service desk. By automating the handling of routine causes of service desk contacts such as password resets and account lockouts you can free up your service desk analysts to focus on the more challenging IT issues.

Plus, not all automation needs to be native to your IT service management (ITSM) tool. For example, within the SysAid Marketplace, there are a wealth of add-ons and third-party integrations that bring in even more automation possibilities. For instance, the ability to create new users based on the details received from the Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) server.

As well as automating minor account management tasks, the provision of certain services, and some incident resolutions, also consider using templates and models. This will let you pre-populate forms for capturing end-user information and build in triggers for implementing automated workflows within your ITSM tool.

This will allow the tool to carry out tasks without the need for manual intervention. For example, checking if a license is available for a software request or checking stock levels of minor hardware peripherals.

2. Automate service requests and approvals

Use automation to route, approve, and deliver against service requests. Perhaps, automatically with pre approval under a certain financial limit. The required product or service once selected is provided to the employee automatically, ideally in a manner that suits them such that the employee experience is seamless and cohesive.

Artificial intelligence (AI) – there’s more on this shortly – can also be used in the request-making process. Where, instead of an employee visiting a self-service portal to log their request directly, they can instead interact with a text-based chatbot.

If you’re not using a self-service portal and self-help mechanisms at the moment, then you’re making more work for yourself, says @Joe_the_IT_Guy. #selfservice #automation Click To Tweet

3. Event management and escalation automation

Use automation to notify technical teams of IT and business issues by linking services to support teams and setting a threshold for when these support teams need to be involved. The threshold will allow the automation to differentiate between an event needing human intervention (for example, in the event of network switch failure) and them merely being given an informational notification (for example, a backup has finished running successfully).

It might seem a simple thing, but make sure that the event management automation tool has the correct contact details for each team so that the right people can be notified by text or email in the event of an appropriate event.

Another use case is to automate incident escalations based on certain triggers. There are two main types of escalation: functional (for the next level of technical support) and hierarchical (for management escalations). For both types of escalation, make sure that there’s a defined process and that the right people are mapped to the correct path by using an escalation matrix.

4. Employ automated runbooks

Runbooks are a compilation of routine procedures for sysadmins and technical teams to manage the systems they’re responsible for. Runbooks can be used to start, stop, monitor, or debug an IT system.

By automating runbooks and linking them to your service catalog, you can configure the system in question to initiate a series of conditional steps to maintain or restore service. Another benefit of linking your runbooks to your service catalog is that you begin to build an index of all routine processes – which makes it easier to add more automation over time. Practical examples include data enrichment, issuing service notifications, or containing threats automatically as part of an IT security response process.

5. Provide automation in enterprise service management scenarios

The IT organization isn’t the only part of the organization under pressure to better serve remote workers and those returning to the office. And now is the time to reach out to other departments within the business to see if they need extra support given the various impacts of the “new normal.”

Enterprise service management is about the sharing of ITSM best practices and enabling technology with other business functions to improve their operations and outcomes. Automation is included here. So, look at the automated workflows that could be used, re-used, to help other teams with their workloads.

It's time for #ITSM team to truely look at enterprise service management. This includes looking at the automated workflows that could be used, re-used, to help other teams with their workloads, as explained here. #automation Click To Tweet

Importantly, the extension of service management and automation capabilities to other business functions doesn’t need to be complicated. The new SysAid Service Center helps individual departments to better serve employees and their needs. For example, there’s automatic routing to another team member, or a shared queue, if one support person is away. It optimizes the flow of work throughout the HR department, say, and other business functions. Replacing antiquated manual processes – and the reliance on email and spreadsheets for ticket and work management – with automated workflows and other automation and service orchestration.

Examples of Service Center’s use cases include:

• HR – onboarding new employees, managing vacation requests, and answering questions related to salaries, benefits, workplace policies, and other employee needs.
• Accounting and finance – automating workflows to provide yearly accounts, submitting and approving expenses, and sending invoices.
• Facilities – automating common facilities tasks such as work orders, maintenance requests, and furniture replacement.
• Purchasing – processing purchase orders, authorizing discounts, and managing vendor correspondence.

6. Leverage new AI-enabled capabilities including bots

AI and bots are increasingly being used to save time and costs and to improve the employee experience within IT support. There are different approaches to their provision and adoption – ranging from capabilities that are part of the ITSM tool to the use of capabilities from third parties that seamlessly integrate with your ITSM tool.

One element of AI, in particular, will help with IT support – machine learning. Where the AI learns from data patterns and is then able to make decisions or recommendations. For instance, in logging and routing incidents and requests. Or with virtual agents and digital assistants that provide solutions drawn from data models and previous interaction history.

Plus, it’s important to appreciate that solutions will commonly be made up of “AI and automation.” With the AI deciding on an action and the automation delivering what’s needed.

Are you using automation to reduce pressure on your IT service desk? If not, check out this advice from @Joe_the_IT_Guy. #automation #servicedesk Click To Tweet

Are you using automation to reduce pressure on your IT service desk? In particular, during this time of change. If so, do you have any tips for others? If so, please let me know in the comments.