67% of recruiters believe automation in HR will save or is saving time.
In sales, automation is credited with boosting productivity by 14.5% while bringing down marketing costs by 12.2%.
Meanwhile, AI-augmented automation will be adopted by 40% of large enterprise IT teams for B2B ticketing processes by 2023, which will push productivity within the departments and improve scalability.
Clearly, ITSM automation has grown in popularity throughout the last few years. ITSM automation is no longer relegated as simply a tool for techs; this advanced technology has widespread benefits and implications for entire businesses.
Read on for a recap on ITSM automation and a list of the top 7 benefits of this game-changing technology.
Brief Recap: What is ITSM Automation?
IT service management (ITSM) is all about creating and managing your IT processes and operations. ITSM automation, as its name suggests, automates those processes to promote consistent, scalable service delivery to both internal and external end users.
ITSM automation is useful to companies of all sizes and enables IT teams, Human Resources, Customer Support, and many other departments to streamline processes, save time by cutting manual work, manage the entire ticket lifecycle, and much more!
For more on ITSM automation, visit our Essential Guide to Choosing and Using the Right ITSM Software.
7 Must-Know ITSM Automation Benefits
While there are countless benefits of utilizing ITSM automation, we’ll highlight 7 of the most valuable results of implementing such a solution.
1. Streamline Ticket Resolution
One significant component of ITSM automation is its handling of ticketing processes.
The average ticket volume has risen by 16% in the last few years, so the ability to automate the entire ticket lifecycle, from ticket prioritization to tech assignment to progress updates, is critical for organizations experiencing that influx.
2. Formalize Processes with SOPs
A set of standard operating procedures (SOP) can help businesses centralize operations, keep teams organized, and ensure everyone is on the same page and empowered to deliver consistent results to end users.
Automating SOP management allows for standardizing procedure workflows, easy SOP documentation, and instant broadcasting of SOP updates so everyone is immediately aware of formalized process changes.
3. Enhance User Experience
Your customer satisfaction score (CSAT) increases when the time to ticket resolution decreases. Naturally, users are happier when their issues are resolved quickly and with minimal interaction.
ITSM automation functionalities, such as an advanced service portal, often feature live chat for easy communication, dynamic inline forms for simpler information collection, and automated approval chains, so users don’t have to wait for the manual escalation of their ticket.
4. Improve Incident Management
Incident management is all about dealing with technical or security issues when they arise. With ITSM automation, the processes surrounding incident management, including the detection, containment, and elimination of cyberattacks or other security breaches, can be standardized, accelerated, and strengthened.
This ensures that techs aren’t left on their own to develop and implement a solution but rather have a robust precedent to follow.
Automation can help identify incidents, structure relevant workflows, accelerate the approval chain, and triage incidents to establish priority, leading to the speedy resolution of IT problems.
Plus, IT teams can use automated process management tools (such as SOP management) to prevent further incidents.
5. Promote Data Transparency
ITSM automation can create automatic reporting dashboards. With the right metrics collected and displayed, techs and executives have a window into the data most relevant to them.
This fosters transparency across departments, makes it easier to identify what's working and what isn't, and enables data-backed decisions about processes and operations. Dashboards also help measure productivity.
For example, a dashboard can display which ticket types are submitted most often, the average time it takes to resolve them, where tickets get stuck, and more. With easy access to this information, managers can identify where processes need improvement.
Leaders can note the most common tickets and understand how business procedures can be adjusted for maximum efficiency. Boost Overall Efficiency
Most departments have their fair share of tedious, repetitive, time-consuming tasks. ITSM automation can handle those tasks and even manage lower-level tickets (by directing users to a knowledge base, for example), freeing up tech capacity so they can focus on high-priority issues that require intervention.
Additionally, automation can escalate high-ticket items independently so crucial tickets receive attention first.
6. Assist Non-IT Departments
ITSM automation isn’t just for IT. Automation can assist various departments, including HR. HR teams can automate employee onboarding, offboarding, recruiting, and training processes, which saves HR teams 10-plus hours per week.
Customer support teams can also use ITSM automation to provide self-help resources and issue resolution for non-tech tickets.
ITSM Automation Benefits: The Conclusion
For businesses of all sizes looking to drive efficiencies across the entire organization, implementing ITSM automation is the best way to standardize workflows, improve client relationships, enhance process management, and hit your KPIs.
Looking for an ITSM solution that automates business-essential processes across various departments? Sign up to try DeskDirector!
