{"id":3995,"date":"2017-05-29T08:55:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-29T08:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/dodge-digital-disaster-get-back-office-ducks-row_052917\/"},"modified":"2021-12-03T11:18:40","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T11:18:40","slug":"dodge-digital-disaster-get-back-office-ducks-row_052917","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/dodge-digital-disaster-get-back-office-ducks-row_052917\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodge Digital Disaster: Get Your Back Office Ducks in a Row"},"content":{"rendered":"
Over the last few years, it\u2019s been almost impossible to attend an IT Operations conference without Enterprise Service Management (ESM) taking up more than its fair share of the agenda. Before joining HfS, I\u2019d spent about four years covering the trend in its various forms as both a practitioner and an analyst. So it came as a bit of a surprise to see such a huge gap between the businesses I\u2019m covering now to those I had in my previous role.<\/p>\n
For the clients and companies I follow now, trends like ESM and Shared Services are old hat \u2013 they\u2019ve moved on to other more advanced forms of aligning business services. Whereas for those I worked with in my former role, the trend is only really starting to take shape now.<\/p>\n
To best exemplify this difference between organisations, I\u2019ll tell a quick story about the last presentation I gave before joining HfS.<\/p>\n
At an ITSM conference at the start of the year, I took to the stage to deliver a presentation using the huge amount of data I\u2019d collected over the years to paint a picture of trends in the industry, one of which happened to be ESM. I argued that by the end of the year up to 85% of organisations will be exhibiting some form of it \u2013 from simply sharing best practice right through to the formation of single shared service centres. The audience responded to the prediction with a few reassuring nods. Crucially, no-one chased me off the stage, although a few did come up after the presentation to utter \u201cthat was brave\u201d before patting me on the back and walking off.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, though, I stand by the prediction, and I continue to do so in the safe harbors of HfS, the home of the Digital OneOffice\u2122 concept. According to HfS experts, ESM is just one fundamental of the framework. A stop on a much larger journey to truly embrace digital transformation. In support of this, they have plenty of data and analysis which, by happy coincidence supports my \u201cbrave\u201d prediction. We can pool the dynamics into two camps –\u00a0 which for anyone with a passing interest in economics will recognise: Supply and Demand.<\/p>\n
Demand: Business leaders see greater back-office alignment as critical to their success<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n First of all, we have demand, and this demand is coming right from business leaders at the top. HfS research shows that there is a considerable appetite amongst leaders for improved alignment of business services so much so that it\u2019s considered to be mission critical by 31% of executives, while 48% believe it to be of increasing importance. While the evidence suggests lower ends of the senior leadership team are embracing it with the same vigor, it\u2019s more than reasonable to suggest the demand at the C-Level will have a considerable impact on the shaping of the modern business environment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n