Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Services

Transcription

1 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Services

2 A Key Service Delivery Capability Knowledge management should be a key service delivery capability of every IT department. In particular, it should empower IT support people, allowing them to better perform their work. Knowledge management should also play a big role in IT s self-help services. The expected growth in the use of artificial intelligence 1 for internal IT support following the success of external customer support use cases will become a third service desk use case. Artificial intelligence is the fuel that drives new machine-learning 2 based IT support capabilities. 1 The simulation of intelligent behavior in computers. 2 Algorithms that can learn from and make predictions on data. 2 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

3 The Benefits of Knowledge Management Increased staff efficiency and productivity Easier IT staff recruitment and knowledge retention Cost savings (as more can be done by the same number of or fewer IT technicians) Niche knowledge can be made more widely available within Level 1 and Level 0 support Delivering a better customer experience Greater availability of support (24x7x365) and the ability to quickly scale-up support capabilities as needed (through self-help and artificial-intelligence-based capabilities) Ticket deflection through self-service capabilities and machine-learning-powered auto-responders 3 and chatbots 4 3 A machine-learning-based ability to send automated responses to requests that include the most relevant knowledge. If the returned knowledge successfully fulfills the requester s need, then the ticket can be automatically closed with zero human involvement and cost. 4 A computer program that simulates conversation, or chat, with humans (or potentially other chatbots). Additional benefits can be found in the supplementary ServiceNow ebook: Knowledge Management Making Everyone an IT Support Guru. Knowledge management is not so much about managing knowledge as it is exploiting knowledge. The following outlines what other organizations have done to be successful with their knowledge management initiatives. 3 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

4 Knowledge Management Versus Knowledge Exploitation Knowledge management is often defined as a process that includes the capture, storage, refinement, administration, sharing/distribution, and reuse of knowledge. However, this definition forces people and organizations to focus on only certain aspects of the knowledge management process. For example, the capture of knowledge through the creation of knowledge articles at the expense of ensuring that the captured knowledge is sufficiently and effectively used and reused. Your approach to knowledge management should focus on knowledge exploitation for better business outcomes rather than the art of knowledge article creation and the technology aspects, such as knowledge storage. While these articles are needed and highly beneficial to the third knowledge management use case as an information source for artificial intelligence it s important to remember that quality over quantity is best for the service desk agent and end-user self-help use cases. 4 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

5 Knowledge Articles It is critical that knowledge articles be easy to: Find, either by browsing categories or via search Read and understand once found (and remember that IT and end users will have different language needs to factor in to ensure understanding) Use, as this is the point where the knowledge rubber hits the road Plus, quality also extends to: Relevance Don t waste time on knowledge articles that will be rarely used Conciseness Give answers not technical essays that only show how smart the author may or may not be (in knowledge management terms) Timeliness and accuracy A regular article review schedule Suitability User feedback on articles is an important IT service management (ITSM) capability All the above helps knowledge articles be exploited by people who need it and not just managed for the sake of having a knowledge management system. 5 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

6 Taking Knowledge Management Beyond Manually-Written Knowledge Articles There s much conversation about the importance of knowledge articles and the best ways to encourage people to create them. For instance, the latest HDI research 5 shows that 50% of its members use Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS) 6 for article creation. It s a well-known and proven knowledge management methodology that helps IT support personnel to systematically create knowledge articles as a by-product of issue resolution. But don t limit knowledge management to manually-written knowledge articles. 5 HDI, The State of Today s IT: Process Maturity, Business Alignment, and Digital Transformation (June 2017) Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

7 Other Ways to Effectively Share Knowledge 1 Expert location Sometimes the quickest way to the right answer is to speak with someone who is an expert. You cut through the reading of potentially multiple knowledge articles to get a focused and quicker explanation of what needs to be done. Such experts can be identified in various ways. For instance, they can be self-nominated, or identified through the automated analysis of knowledge article submissions, and/or the quantity of similar issues they ve successfully handled. 7 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

8 Other Ways to Effectively Share Knowledge 2 Audio-Visual knowledge bites There s no rule that says knowledge can only be captured in and shared via text-based articles. Some answers or solutions lend themselves better to other forms of media such as video. Whether it s simply a person talking, a voice-assisted step-by-step screen capture video, or even humorous cartoons, try to create compelling ways to share knowledge. Plus, as machine learning and natural language processing make greater inroads into the workplace, why can t a virtual personal assistant, such as Amazon s Alexa, instruct on how to do something? It s just another way of sharing captured knowledge. 8 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

9 Other Ways to Effectively Share Knowledge 3 Peer-to-peer support Community-based help might usually be considered more of a social support channel, but it s also knowledge management in action. Why? Because people with the right knowledge can respond to the queries of others, and thus help with the solution. It works but it s just not as immediate or real-time as a knowledge article or expert advice. 9 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

10 Other Ways to Effectively Share Knowledge 4 Using machine learning for article creation Knowledge article creation doesn t need to be a tedious, manual task for IT support staff, especially when support staff might be struggling to manage their ticket-based workloads. Machine learning can help on two levels. First, the technology can be used to identify gaps or flawed articles in the knowledge base comparing the tickets that hit the service desk to the available knowledge articles, and suggesting article additions. Second, it can create new (or improve upon existing) articles using the content already contained within incident records. In many ways, the intelligent technology removes the need for the service desk agent or other technical personnel to be involved in the initial article-creation part of the KCS process. Artificial intelligence, and machine learning in particular, offers a number of opportunities to improve IT operations and outcomes. And it s a change anticipated by many ITSM professionals, with 77% of respondents in a 2017 AXELOS survey stating that they believe these technologies would have a profound impact on the IT workforce, liberating ITSM professionals from routine tasks 7 7 AXELOS, The Future IT Service Management Professional Report (January 2017) 10 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

11 6 Tips for Creating Knowledge- Centered IT Operations There s more to knowledge management than knowledge article creation. There are six key things that you and your organization needs to do to get knowledge management right. Successful organizations maximize their knowledge exploitation opportunities when: 1 They start with the right goal(s). Avoid the perceived need to create as many knowledge articles as possible and instead build a multifaceted knowledge-management capability that truly allows both IT and end users to access the knowledge they need, when they need it. Also, recognize that knowledge is only valuable when it s used, not when it s captured and stored. Make your key goal knowledge exploitation for better business outcomes, rather than just the implementation of a knowledge management best-practice process. 11 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

12 6 Tips for Creating Knowledge- Centered IT Operations 2 They make knowledge management a peoplechange initiative. The best knowledge management processes and technology in the world can t guarantee your organization knowledge management success. It s a people thing. An investment in organizational change management (OCM) is required to help people appreciate what the change is, why it s needed, and how it will affect them. The change also needs to be sold from both a business view and the personal What s in it for me? perspective. It should include the standard OCM fare of effective communications, involvement, education, training, even more communications, and additional education/training as needed. 12 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

13 6 Tips for Creating Knowledge- Centered IT Operations 3 They embed knowledge management within existing processes. Knowledge management is not an add-on or an afterthought to the status quo. It s part of the business-as-usual processes (or ways of working). It s still a people change though, and OCM is still required to help remove or quell the common fears and resistance that prevent successful business transformations. The change also must be backed up by business-level intent, with operational and people management elements such as performance metrics, and personal/team reward and recognition frameworks altered to reflect the importance of knowledge exploitation within the new way of working. 13 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

14 6 Tips for Creating Knowledge- Centered IT Operations 4 They create knowledge articles (or bites) based on what users want/need. Knowledge management isn t about people documenting absolutely everything they know about a particular topic or need. Instead, it s about knowledge sharing and helping others. It s not about personal elevation or the need to hit knowledge management targets that drive the wrong personal behaviors. Ask people IT users, end users, and potentially customers what they need and how they prefer to access relevant knowledge, and then deliver it in their preferred way. 14 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

15 6 Tips for Creating Knowledge- Centered IT Operations 5 They invest in fit-forpurpose knowledge management technology. This is technology that supports all parts of the knowledge management ecosystem from knowledge capture, through refinement and management, to the ease of finding, accessing, and using it. And the technology needs to provide a great user experience because if knowledge isn t easy to find, access, and use, then why would people even try to use a knowledge management system? Failing to factor in these and other customerfocused elements, ultimately creates another technology-enabled, IT supplier-consumer disconnect that hinders as much as it helps. 15 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

16 6 Tips for Creating Knowledge- Centered IT Operations 6 They do their knowledge management research. This research might relate to best practices, knowledge management technologies, and the critical people issues (and how OCM can help to relieve the key tensions that are often the root causes of human resistance to change). The research might also relate to conversations, or benchmarking, with peers or other ITSM solution customers. Learn the good, the bad, and the ugly from those that have succeeded or even failed with knowledge management. Additionally, the groundwork might relate to the people-based knowledge management research that explains the complexities of turning what people have trapped in their heads (tacit knowledge) into something more tangible (explicit knowledge). 16 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

17 Next Steps Enterprise IT teams and employees are always looking to improve productivity by using the fastest ways to find information and solve problems. ServiceNow Knowledge Management is a key enabler in helping organizations solve problems faster and at a lower cost. With Knowledge Management as an integral part of the ServiceNow ITSM suite, enterprises empower their employees through self service to deflect the incident volume and reduce the number of Service Desk escalations. To learn more about ServiceNow Knowledge Management, please visit: 17 Exploiting Knowledge to Deliver Better IT Service

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