In the IT world, service automation is one the most important requirements today. Yet it cannot merely be taken to translate into fewer analysts to perform more tasks with improved speed and efficiency. Automation also needs to address the balance between performing routine tasks and enhancing the productivity of key knowledge workers.
Even the smallest of features could turn out to mean a whole lot of things. Especially when it means ease of use and enhanced efficiency.
Eliminating Human Errors
Repetitive operations that tend to be monotonous can increase possibilities of human error. Even where human involvement is needed for high intelligence touch points, fatigue tends to set in in repetitive activities. While checklists could keep individuals focused on the tasks, errors cannot be completely eliminated.
Using service automation to eliminate such monotony (and human errors) will significantly enhance the IT operations process and experience.
Process Efficiencies
Auto-remediation is a great example of process efficiency. For the numerous workflow operations that are evaluated for conditional checks and balances, a well-written and verified script can process the workflow in multiple levels without waiting for a stage-wise human intervention. This will raise productivity to higher levels.
Resource fulfillment is another area of workflow process efficiency where services are fulfilled automatically and smoothly executed without any intermediate pitfalls. With users being created automatically by Active Directory scripts enterprises can expect faster execution, reduced SLAs and better efficiencies.
For preventive maintenance activities, common standard tasks can be scripted for automation – for example, moving and archiving of log files, check-pointing of databases, daily backup of databases, etc.
Users equal customers
If users are to be treated like customers, service automation needs to go beyond problem and incident management. A good and modern service automation platform and systems can increase efficiency and user experience without the wasteful time and effort of opening additional dashboards or dialogs.
An understanding of the end user’s IT experience to plot the path to service desk automation helps.
Benefits Unlimited
Intelligent service automation achieves total user experience excellence. It helps users focus on value-adding tasks. Transparency becomes an acknowledged reality and this adds further to the quality of user experience. For the organization, the business benefits translate to reduced costs, higher productivity and efficiency, and efficient control over IT spend.
The road to success is however challenging. An expert partner who has proven experience and success in improving efficiency, productivity, predictability and control through an end-to-end suite of products and solutions may just be the cost optimal answer. The result will be future-proofed and intelligent operations that reduce cost and complexity while enhancing user satisfaction.
