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And, more recently, ‘back-office Digital
Transformation’ can also be added to this list.
3. ESM is not just about ITSM
tool reuse
No matter which of the above names are
used, an important point to understand here
is that ESM is very much about improving
business operations and outcomes, not
merely the use of ITSM technology and best
practices in other business functions.
4. There are five key drivers for the
growing interest in, and adoption
of, ESM:
1. Consumerisation – put simply,
employees are now so conditioned to
expect convenience, speedy service and
the ability to find whatever they need,
whenever they need it, in their personal
lives that they now expect this at work.
2. Business function/corporate-level
demand (including back-office Digital
Transformation) – the earliest adoption
of ITSM tools in other business functions
was very much a ‘push’ from IT to the
needy business function. Now, however,
and thanks to very-visible IT support
successes – such as self-service portals
– there’s now also a ‘pull’ from other
business functions for ‘what IT has.’
3. Better ITSM solutions – not only
do modern ITSM tools have richer
capabilities, they’re now also far more
flexible, recognising the need for
customers to ‘do things their way’
and the need for multi-departmental
use in particular.
4. The shift in tool selling/selection
focus – half a decade ago, ITSM
tools were sold on ITIL best practice
alignment with customers getting
granular insight into functional
capabilities. More recently, however,
ITSM tool vendors have helped to evolve
the tool selection process by taking a
different approach that focuses on value
rather than functions and features.
5. Customer success stories –
demonstrable successes by tool-vendor
customers have been key in encouraging
prospect organisations to follow suit in
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