Enterprise service management (ESM) is a relatively new discipline that applies IT service management (ITSM) principles, practices, and tools to non-IT parts of the business. These can include human resources, finance, travel, and facilities.
ITSM technologies and practices were originally developed to automate the provisioning of IT services and to handle large volumes of IT requests quickly and efficiently. The IT service desk has been a longtime customer of this technology.
ESM takes ITSM a few steps further and is proving to be transformational for organizations of every size. Its implementations are producing extraordinary gains in business efficiency, productivity, and customer satisfaction and are supporting the drive for back-office digital transformation.
There are important differences between ESM and ITSM.
Most ITSM tools automate important IT service workflows, processes, and tasks—from putting new servers into operation and managing network users to patching, upgrading, and retiring hardware and software. Employees may experience traditional ITSM when they go to their company intranet portal to request password resets, access to secure applications, or a new laptop.
Before service automation with ITSM was available, IT teams used shared email boxes and spreadsheets to receive and track such requests. The ESM approach is the same—but for different outcomes.
The ESM approach
ESM applies this same approach to non-IT services. An ESM tool goes beyond the IT help desk, allowing any department to provide its own services with similar efficiency. Employees may experience ESM when they use portals and apps to do the following:
- Book business travel
- Report faulty window shades
- Apply for open jobs
- Find their pay stubs
- Request time off
In organizations without ESM, employees rely on email or the phone to request such things from different departments.
ESM adoption: Here and growing fast
Some degree of ESM is already showing up in most enterprises. According to a 2019 Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) study, "Automation, AI, and Analytics: Reinventing ITSM," 87% of enterprises had some level of ESM deployed to enhance customer and employee satisfaction.
Another recent EMA study, "Enterprise Service Management, It's Closer Than You Think," found that "ESM is the natural next step for organizations looking to cut costs while improving end-user service and operational efficiencies." The C-suite is leading the charge to adopt ESM, in pursuit of the enormous business benefits it can deliver.
Which problems does ESM solve?
By automating different aspects of service delivery and support, your organization can support the needs of customers and employees more consistently, more quickly, and more adaptively. According to the 2019 HDI Trends report, "How AI Is Enabling Enterprise Service Management," the primary driver for ESM adoption is to improve the customer experience.
"Employee satisfaction increased in 52% of organizations that both measure employee satisfaction and have expanded service management beyond IT," the report said.
ESM addresses many of the problems that come with organizational growth and expansion:
- It allows employees to handle increasing volumes of work comfortably.
- It keeps customer and employee requests from falling through the cracks.
- It provides high-quality support at lower costs by using new AI-enabled capabilities like chatbots.
- It consolidates multiple manual tools into a single service management platform.
- It overcomes the limitations of manual operations, enhancing quality, speed, and scalability.
- It breaks down the barriers between siloed services, giving all employees access to the tools and information they need to be productive—particularly important after an acquisition or merger.
- It gives customers and employees self-service access to the support, tools, and resources they need, without requiring any human interaction.
Key takeaways
- ESM is related to ITSM, but ESM automates tasks for departments outside of IT, including HR, finance, travel, and utilities.
- ESM helps cut costs while improving end-user service and operational efficiencies, which is why the C-suite is so interested in adopting it.
- After implementation, employee satisfaction and productivity usually improve by allowing employees to handle more work and by giving them self-service access to the information and tools they need to do their jobs.
Read next: Enterprise Service Management: Types of tools and capabilities.
