This piece is the first in a series of IT service management (ITSM) articles that seeks to share a lot of helpful ITSM information quickly, i.e. it’s designed for the time-strapped ITSM professional to skim read for a rapid overview of a particular topic. So, what are some of the potential ITSM quick wins?
What are some of the potential #ITSM quick wins? See what @SophieDanby thinks here. #servicedesk Click To TweetQuick wins explained
“Quick wins” is a business concept that refers to actions or changes that can produce noticeable improvement or progress in a relatively short period, typically with minimal resources. These are considered “quick” because they don’t need long-term planning, and “wins” because they result in a positive outcome or a step toward achieving a bigger goal.
For example, when implementing new software, a quick win could be training a small team on the software and having them start using it successfully. This quick win can demonstrate the benefits of the software to the rest of the organization and build momentum for the later larger rollout. The same is true with ITSM quick wins.
Common types of ITSM quick wins
Many potential ITSM quick wins are available to your organization – for example, related to resource optimization, labor-saving changes, and ongoing business dialogues.
Many potential #ITSM quick wins are available to your organization. Here @SophieDanby shares 13. #servicedesk Click To TweetExamples of each of these ITSM quick win types are shared in the following sections.
Example resource optimization quick wins
- Standardize processes to reduce variability, makes training easier, and produce more predictable outcomes – whether for handling incidents and service request, conducting demand planning, or any other aspect of ITSM. This is a fundamental ITSM quick win
- Use formal capacity management best practices to adopt activities that help your IT organization to only buy what it needs
- Establish IT asset management (ITSM) processes to reuse underused hardware or software rather than buying more, particularly for software licenses. This is one of the most commonly adopted ITSM quick wins these days.
- Adopt change management (or change enablement) best practices to reduce failed changes and the unwanted effort and costs they bring – for example, through change-related incidents
- Identify duplicate, underused, or unused IT services and applications using service portfolio management and ITAM best practices – this ITSM quick win will likely be very beneficial if your organization has been involved in significant merger and acquisition activity
Example labor-saving changes quick wins
- Automate routine tasks such as password resets, ticket routing, or regular system updates to free up IT personnel to focus on more complex and higher-value activities. It’s another of teh most commonly adopted ITSM quick wins.
- Implement self-service capabilities (backed with automation) to reduce the workload on IT teams, with end-users empowered to resolve common issues, track their service requests, and invoke automated capabilities themselves
- Improve knowledge management using a knowledge base that offers answers to frequently asked questions and solutions for common issues – this not only speeds up IT teams but also empowers end-users to resolve issues themselves
- Leverage remote resolution tools to reduce traveling time and costs while delivering a quicker resolution and a better customer experience
- Implement problem management capabilities, even if only basic, to prevent your IT service desk from wasting time on repeat incidents by addressing the root cause.
Example ongoing business dialogue ITSM quick wins
- Better IT demand planning (to understand future business requirements better), with this positively impacting IT strategies and purchasing decisions – this ITSM quick win can employ demand management, capacity management, business relationship management, and service level management capabilities
- The communication of ITSM and wider IT success stories – this helps to improve the appreciation of IT’s efforts, the justification of what IT costs, and gain buy-in for future ITSM-related changes (including more ITSM quick wins)
- Open discussions on how service level targets relate to the costs of delivering different service levels – for example, lowering service level targets slightly (with no perceivable impact on service quality) might result in a more significant ITSM and business cost saving with a minimal impact on perceived service.
Hopefully, this ITSM quick wins article, while only sharing a few ITSM quick wins examples, has been helpful. More on ITSM can be read in this “What is ITSM?” article.
Further Reading
If you enjoyed this article, then here are some other articles you may find useful:
Sophie Danby
Sophie is a freelance ITSM marketing consultant, helping ITSM solution vendors to develop and implement effective marketing strategies.
She covers both traditional areas of marketing (such as advertising, trade shows, and events) and digital marketing (such as video, social media, and email marketing). She is also a trained editor.
