Why Shadow IT is Good for Service Providers.
Hidden somewhere in the line of business (LOB), Shadow IT is
playing an important role in delivering measurable and positive outcomes for
the business. Historically, Shadow IT
was that person embedded in the line of business providing service and support
that usually circumvented traditional IT support channels. What they demonstrated was a deep intimacy in
the functions around the LOB and an aptitude for solving IT problems. Usually a walk up and shoulder tap away, they
provided immediate, personalized service and attempted to solve the problem in
the first time. With a deep wealth of
tribal knowledge, they also provided preventative and proactive support as they
could identify emerging trends localized to their community of interest. Many times they were able to direct users to
remediate problems on their own, usually by publishing a list of common fixes
or communicating a set of common steps. As the LOB would attest they had higher
degrees of satisfaction and customer intimacy with this service model. Either driven by the perception of improving
cost or having better controls, many IT groups reigned in Shadow IT, either by
eliminating any kind of elevated privileges they might have or by assimilating
the person into the functional IT group.
While some would have argued that this move was done to improve
operational efficiencies, what they failed to understand was the fact that it
was still a service business and still needed a way to delight the end-user.
Could this intimate service model be sustained? One look at Apple and its Genius Bar shows
you how high touch, customer intimate service settings can be highly
successful. Not only were people willing
to wait for this experience, they were willing to wait for extended periods of
time to have the problem resolved the first time. But for service providers, sustaining the
model meant not only offering this customer intimate setting, but also being
able to provide this in a cost effective manner. At Atos we began modeling this concept some
time ago at a number of customers as the Atos Performance Bar. Ideal for the
campus setting or HQ building, once again was the enterprise user able to do a
walk up and do a shoulder tap and get immediate service. The positive impact to customer satisfaction
was instantaneous, as expected customer intimacy and context made for a better experience. However, the
question arose could the service be cost effective in light of customer’s
desires to lower costs through outsourcing?
What Atos had to do was rethink the traditional roles in the outsourcing
relationship, especially those servicing the Workplace Bar. We know from modeling the service there would
be peaks in the service hours and that staffing would have to match the demand
to meet expectations, we also knew that during the off-hours that work would
have to redirected to this highly skilled work force. To solve the efficiency problem, Atos
employed a new kind of worker, one that was comfortable working face-to-face,
being dispatched to service a user on campus, and taking a call redirected from
the service desk. We also needed problem
solvers that could take the tribal knowledge from the Workplace Bar and turn
it into actionable information.
Experience during the days of Shadow IT and from the Workplace Bar demonstrated
that intimacy and context would build enough trust that the same users that
were comfortable in the walk up experience were just as comfortable with
self-service. Self-service, long a desire
of both internal IT and service providers, was always difficult to achieve, not
because there weren't available technologies, but more so because users were
reluctant to adopt this change. This
continued evolution in the service model represented a larger change in
thinking, greater customer intimacy would lead to greater customer
satisfaction, but also this intimacy and trust could build a culture were the
end-users was willing to self-help and problem solve. Also a new wealth of data was entering the
service desk and changing the way the interactions were managed. So much so that this change had Atos
rethinking the Service Desk itself. With
these new channels, changing behaviors of the end-users it became evident that
the service desk was evolving, and for Atos it has evolved into the Interaction
Center. The Interaction Center is the
service and analytic hub for the IT organization that supports the service
experience for all users. What Shadow IT had taught Atos was while the service was important, it was how the interaction was managed that mattered, and properly engaged interactions lead to delighted users.