One of the more-positive outcomes of the COVID-19 crisis is that the need for organizations to better support a distributed, remote workforce has caused many of them to accelerate their digital transformation strategies. Using technology and data to improve both business operations and outcomes.

However, digital transformation isn’t simply about the greater exploitation of technology – with it also reliant on improvements to both the people and process elements of business capabilities. Which, if you stop to think about it, is in line with the age-old ITIL and IT service management (ITSM) mantra of “people, process, and technology.”

This blog looks at the linkages and dependencies between digital transformation and ITIL 4, offering advice on how the latter can support the former.

This blog by @Joe_the_IT_Guy looks at the linkages and dependencies between digital transformation and ITIL 4, offering advice on how the latter can support the former. #ITIL4 #digitaltransformation Click To Tweet

Thinking about digital transformation, ITSM, and ITIL 4 together

ITSM has been around for over three decades in terms of the original ITIL best practice. Digital transformation has been with us a while, over a decade (at least in terms of early adopters). And ITIL 4 is hopefully about to get serious, in adoption terms, thanks to the release of the ITIL 4 Managing Professional content.

They might have all been born in different decades, based on differing perspectives of improvement, but in some ways, though, it’s wrong to think of them as separate things. With digital transformation impacting ITSM and ITIL 4 adoption, and ITSM and ITIL 4 a key enabler for digital transformation.

The impact of digital transformation on ITSM and ITIL 4 adoption

When you look at what digital transformation is, hopefully you’ve seen enough presentations and read enough blogs or articles to appreciate that it’s about three different areas of improvement, which all contribute to better business operations and outcomes:

1. New products and services, and the associated revenue streams, that are enabled by technology and data exploitation
2. Improved customer engagement mechanisms, that are again exploiting the available technology and data
3. The transformation of back-office operations such that business function capabilities (the people, processes, and technology) are not only optimized, but also provide the necessary platform to deliver and support both the new products and services, and the improved customer engagement mechanisms.

But have you considered the third of these areas in the context of ITSM and ITIL 4? And not that an enterprise service management strategy can be applied to extend ITSM capabilities to other business functions such as human resources (HR) and facilities. Instead, have you considered whether your ITSM capabilities – whether ITIL-aligned or approach agnostic – might need to be transformed to meet the rising needs of your business?

One postitive of the COVID-19 pandemic is how it's fast-tracked many digital transformation initiatives. Here @Joe_the_It_Guy looks at how you can tie in ITIL 4 to your strategy. #COVID19 #ITIL4 Click To Tweet

That while we, in ITSM roles, might be looking to “sell” what we have to other business functions to transform their back-office operations. We might first need to improve our ITSM capabilities and outcomes – through digital transformation – in order to effectively deliver and support the new products and services, and improve customer engagement mechanisms the business requires.

As to what needs to be done to achieve this, I’ll come back to the required actions shortly.

How ITSM and ITIL 4 paves the way for digital transformation

There’s no doubt that ITSM, and perhaps the adoption of the latest ITSM best practices in the form of ITIL 4, is a key enabler in your organization’s digital transformation initiative. Because, as already touched on, the fact that the new products and services, and improved customer engagement mechanisms, are technology dependent, means that your IT service delivery and support capabilities need to be fit-for-purpose. These two newly transformed front-office capabilities will likely be subpar without the right level of ITSM enablement ensuring that IT service delivery is as it should be.

Then, through enterprise service management strategies – or back-office digital transformation – your optimized ITSM capabilities can help other business functions to replace their potentially antiquated, manually-intensive activities/processes with technology-enabled workflows and other productivity-enhancing capabilities found in modern ITSM tools.

What this means for CIOs and their ITSM teams

A key to understanding the necessary ITSM capabilities, and the required changes to the status quo, is the fact that while all three elements of digital transformation leverage technology and data, it’s important to again recognize that digital transformation isn’t simply about more and better technology. Instead, it’s about better business.

It’s important to recognize that digital transformation isn’t simply about more and better technology. Instead, it’s about better business – @Joe_the_IT_Guy #digitaltransformation #ITIL4 Click To Tweet

Plus, that it’s not just technology change, it’s also a change to the traditional ways of working and hence a people change. This applies to ITSM change, too. Where the improvements to the existing ITSM capabilities might need to be across all three of people, process, and technology – which I cover in the next three sections.

Consider the people-related change

This includes having the right people, with the right mindset and skills for a digitally transformed world. And, them being able to work with the new technology that’s increasingly the norm in IT service delivery and support.

Plus, given that there’s now a need to be employee-centric and value-focused. There’s, therefore, more than the technology aspects for the employee mindset to consider.

However, before all of this, there’s the need for organizational change management tools and techniques – because it’s a massive people change too. With organizational change management one of the new management practices in the ITIL 4 best practice guidance.

Consider the process-related change

Here, there’s a need to focus on the value, rather than the mechanics, of the ITSM/ITIL processes and activities your organization employs. So, it’s not what’s done, it’s what’s achieved through what’s done, that important.

There’s also the need for IT to deliver and support consumer-like capabilities in the workplace, which impacts your ITSM processes as well as the technology and the people that support them both. ITIL 4 adoption will help here, with this body of ITSM best practice offering guidance on the impact of change drivers such as value, new technologies, and employee experience on service management capabilities.

Consider the technology-related change

With digital transformation, there’s a need for ITSM technology that effortlessly works with the organizational processes and people – especially in enterprise service management or back-office digital transformation scenarios. It’s technology that needs to help, rather than hinder, work and outcome delivery.

With #digitaltransformation, there’s a need for #ITSM technology that effortlessly works with the organizational processes and people, says @Joe_the_IT_Guy. Click To Tweet

Some of this technology and capabilities have been available in ITSM tools for years. For example, basic workflow management capabilities. However, there are also newer capabilities needed to, with these very much in line with ITIL 4’s seventh guiding principle of “optimize and automate.”

These additional capabilities include:

• Consumer-like self-service capabilities that don’t limit your employees’ access to self-service and self-help to portals.
• No-code workflow and automation design capabilities that allow non-developers to quickly create new capabilities to help with their work and the positive outcomes they can deliver.
• The adoption of AI-enabled capabilities. For example, intelligent ticket processing, virtual agents, and predictive analytics.

So, ITSM – and ITIL 4 – will help to pave the way for your organization’s digital transformation, and in multiple ways. But it will likely require the review of, and potentially improvements in, your existing ITSM capabilities across people, processes, and technology. If you’ve needed to up your ITSM game for digital transformation, please let me know how in the comments.