INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Mobile Technology
There’s an interesting
time ahead for IT service
management (ITSM) as
it moves into the cloud
and evolves to support a
mobile workforce. Aparna
TA, Marketing Analyst,
ManageEngine, says help
desks will have to adapt
as end users’ expectations
of ITSM solutions start to
mirror those of consumer
applications.
Aparna TA, Marketing Analyst, ManageEngine
5 ITSM takeaways from Mary
Meeker’s 2017 Internet Trends report
E
very year Mary Meeker, a partner
at venture capitalist firm Kleiner
Perkins Caufield and Byers, comes
up with a report on global internet trends.
This highly anticipated report sets the
stage for the next big thing and sheds
light on consumer technology adoption.
This year, the report covers a wide
range of topics from the increasing
measurability of online advertising and
the growing internet base in China, to
technological advancements in health
care services.
While the report doesn’t explicitly talk
about the impact of global trends on
ITSM, it leaves a lot of breadcrumbs
that set expectations for the future of
the ITSM industry. These are:
1. Mobile is driving the
consumerisation of enterprise IT:
According to Meeker’s report, people
spent more than twice as much
time on mobile, desktop, and other
connected devices in 2016 than they
did in 2008. As the wall between
personal life and work wears down,
customer expectations on an
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enterprise level are mirroring those
of consumer apps.
2. The cloud is accelerating change
across enterprises: Cloud adoption
has increased to new heights and
is creating opportunities for new
methods of software delivery
such as APIs, microservices, elastic
databases, etc. The shift from
costlier perpetual licenses to
cheaper subscription models has
contributed to the rapid increase
in cloud adoption, as the time
and cost of setting up a cloud
infrastructure are minimised.
3. Rising security concerns
dictating the need for more
compliance: As enterprises adopt
cloud infrastructure, they are more
wary about their applications’
security and compliance. The
increased adoption of public
and private clouds has led to an
exponential increase in the severity
of malicious threats.
4. Gaming can help optimise
learning and engagement: There
are about 2.6 billion gamers now
compared to just 100 million in 1997,
and gaming is still evolving. Gaming
provides an intuitive interface to learn
and many organisations now use
gamification to provide an engaging
learning platform.
5. Social media can provide an
opportunity to improve customer
service: In a survey by Ovum, over
60% of organisations expressed
the need to provide easier access
to online support channels. The
growth of new tools like APIs and
browser extensions has paved the
way for innovative service delivery
models which integrate enterprise
applications (such as help desks)
with consumer applications including
social media. Many companies
are actively using social media as
a channel to address customer
concerns and resolve issues.
These are just some of the key internet
trends that coincide or overlap with
the trajectory of ITSM and related
technologies. While Meeker’s report just
focuses on major internet trends, there
are several technologies like AI, machine
learning, analytics, and IoT which are
expected to be big game changers in
the future of ITSM. n
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