Telecom & Technology Consulting
In 1947, America’s first self-service gas station opened in Los Angeles. The concept of customers doing it themselves has come a long way since then, as we have all experienced with grocery stores, banking, and other types of business-to-consumer interactions.
But self-service is no longer strictly reserved for the general public. Take self-service IT.
Self-service IT solutions are precisely what the label implies: employees can resolve IT issues on their own rather than involving IT staff. But as it often occurs with technology, self-service has evolved far beyond what its originators intended. Self-service IT is no longer a mere help desk replacement.
The do-it-yourself approach can now include not only end-user support, but also cloud, data, and analytics projects. Combine these with artificial intelligence (AI) and you get more than support and tactical advice, but also the ability to gain strategic insights.
IT leaders are embracing self-service in a number of ways. For one, it can deliver quick answers to basic questions, which eliminates the need for human help desk support. And with the rise of AI, those answers can be customized for specific employees, based on their needs and user history. This is a critical function of self-service IT, because as enterprises transform digitally, lightening fast self-learning will be essential for meeting both customer and operational demands.
As a natural consequence – and benefit – self-service IT greatly reduces the need for manual support and repetitive tasks. Accordingly, companies can convert some IT workers to more strategic initiatives – ones that require human involvement.
The DIY approach to IT also enhances cloud management. This is especially powerful in a private cloud scenario, where the technology can be extended to new servers and containers. By scaling resources in an automated way, self-service IT can shorten IT workloads and create more efficiencies within operations.
Tech leaders have cited the challenges of implementing a self-service IT system within a private cloud. Indeed, there is massive complexity, cost, and risk involved, along with the skills and resources required. Yet increasingly, IT executives believe the potential benefits far outweigh the potential danger. For them, stronger data security, improved performance, and greater flexibility makes the challenges appear trivial.
Another advantage of self-service IT is how it can foster quick access to expert knowledge. As most of us know, most IT departments include experts with specific knowledge on networks, applications, servers, security, and other fundamental areas. With self-service, employees no longer have to wait to get real interaction with the expert. Instead, they can easily gather the specific knowledge and insights they need, keeping the project moving forward and avoiding costly delays.
While discussing the importance of data is preaching to the choir, it’s important to reinforce how access is what it’s all about. Self-service not only provides that access, it provides immediate access, allowing IT workers to overcome traditional inefficient processes and security concerns.
This benefit extends to anyone in the organization who needs the right data, right now. From business analysts to marketing managers to HR personnel, self-service IT eliminates the frustration of being unable to get metrics for reports and presentations. Even more, with self-service, they don’t have to precisely articulate their specific data needs that may end up being misinterpreted. In this way, self-service IT democratizes data, making it accessible to any job title.
The idea of democratizing data seems like a no-brainer. After all, it’s just another way to increase efficiency and productivity, the main goals of any leader. However, actually implementing the system requires heavy and complex lifting. In order to truly democratize data, an organization requires official governance policies to determine the precise location of data and to assess its quality. If not, self-service may backfire into disaster by compromising data security and opening doors for cyberthieves.
But those safety concerns shouldn’t deter IT leaders from adopting self-service. There are simply too many benefits of allowing workers to seek information, and carry out tasks, without the aid of colleagues. Self-service is here to stay, and will only evolve over time.
