Now more than ever, state and local government agencies need ways to streamline processes and improve operations. Fortunately, many jurisdictions already use provenIT Service Management (ITSM) principles and platforms that provide a foundation for broader transformation.
Enterprise Service Management (ESM) is an extension of ITSM that agencies can use to modernize common functions across government. Where ITSM automates IT service requests and supports IT project management, ESM applies similar principles to managing nontechnical functions such as facilities, human resources, and ultimately, public services.
“IT has become the center of everything,” said Mark Hayes, who was information technology leader for Pima County, Ariz., until his retirement in January 2024. “The more governments invest in us, the more they can reap benefits and savings in other places.”
GAINING ESM BUY-IN
The principles behind ESM are familiar to many agencies. IT shops throughout state and local government have already adopted ITSM methodologies and implemented systems to automate service requests. Now many want to bring this approach to other teams such as HR and facilities. In nearly all cases, gaining buy-in is the first step.
To demonstrate value to a broader group of stakeholders, highlight how ITSM improved internal IT metrics, including greater employee satisfaction and faster resolution of service tickets. These results help leaders in other departments visualize how automation can improve their own workflows.
“You need to create buy-in at the highest levels,” said Andrew Graf, TeamDynamix chief product officer. “Get the key stakeholders involved and show them how easy it is.” Many IT leaders will start with a single group to prove out the concept — with HR often being a good first place to go.
ONE PLATFORM FOR ENTERPRISE SERVICES
ESM requires a single platform that integrates with systems across multiple departments.
“The great enabler is to leverage a true ESM platform — not just a help desk solution — that can be easily configured for the specific needs of teams such as HR or facilities,” Graf said. “Without an enterprise approach, great service doesn’t happen. When you need to start collaborating across department lines, it becomes a problem.”
A single platform provides these benefits:
Efficiency and automation. According to a Center for Digital Government* (CDG) service management survey conducted in late 2023, government IT professionals spend much of their time performing manual tasks like IT ticket triage, system administration, and employee onboarding and offboarding. Only 20 percent of survey respondents said their organization had fully automated common ITSM functions.
Automating these tasks reduces IT staff workloads and improves service delivery. ESM platforms expand these benefits beyond IT by using digitization and automation to reduce mundane manual tasks in HR, finance, facilities and other areas.
“Not everything can be automated or should be automated,” said Graf. “But using automation the right way can relieve the burden on internal staff and improve service for users.”
Analytics and insight. An ESM platform centralizes service requests and status tracking across multiple departments or workflows. ESM also leverages centralized data for real-time analytics to inform decision-making. For example, city department leaders in Avondale, Ariz.,, track the time spent on various tasks, trends in service requests and other data that help them allocate staff and make other decisions.
Enhanced resident and employee experience. Automating and streamlining processes reduces response times for internal and external service requests, which increases employee and constituent satisfaction. ESM platforms also enable agencies to create self-service functions that improve the convenience and availability of services.
Cost savings and scalability. ESM platforms can eliminate redundant tools used by siloed departments. ESM platforms that incorporate modern integration capabilities allow jurisdictions to scale automation efforts across departments as needs evolve.
NO-CODE ESM
No-code platforms are a key enabler of a modern ESM strategy. These easy-to-use, visual tools let teams design their own automations and services.
“You don’t want something that requires programming, because then HR is going to want a new field or a new workflow, and you’ll have to say, ‘We’ll put this in the project queue, and it will take six to eight months because I need to send this to the developer,’” said Graf.
No-code tools let business users develop workflows without relying on IT to create, test and refine new automations and procedures.
For example, HR teams could automate the employee onboarding process using no-code tools that provide a visual representation of how a workflow moves through different steps and services. “They can be easily trained to have complete control of their area,” Graf said.
No-code tools let teams prototype and test solutions or modify processes to reflect changes in regulations or policies. As a result, departments can implement and update solutions faster, which ultimately improves performance and service delivery.
INTEGRATION WITH YOUR IT ECOSYSTEM
Seamless integration with existing systems is a critical part of ESM. Governments can face steep integration challenges because they typically use a variety of hardware and software, including legacy systems.
According to the CDG survey, nearly half (48 percent) of state and local government IT departments manage more than 50 applications. Nearly one quarter (23 percent) manage more than 100 applications. “The diversity of systems in a state or local government IT shop is just staggering,” Graf said. “They are probably more burdened than any other industry or sector.”
ESM platforms must integrate with existing systems to automate workflows and access data for insights and analysis.
EXPANDING SELF-SERVICE
By combining automation and self-service capabilities, an ESM platform can function as a unified service portal. Unified portals provide a consistent user experience for employees across different departments, which reduces confusion and makes self-service functions easier to use.
Self-service portals can also connect to a knowledge base to provide additional support. For example, Oklahoma City’s internal service portal includes a knowledge base with answers to common problems and frequently asked questions, which saves time for city employees.
Self-service portals enhanced with artificial intelligence provide even more assistance to users. Conversational AI chatbots can guide employees through the steps of submitting an IT service ticket or checking the status of a request. They can also automate password resets and other common tasks. And chatbots are available 24/7, improving customer service and response times.
In addition, a common platform improves collaboration across departments and eliminates silos. For example, HR and IT can jointly manage employee onboarding, with common automations drawing from staff roles in both departments.
Jurisdictions can use ESM to improve public-facing services, too, by offering self-service functions that let residents do things like update mailing addresses and report broken streetlights. Self-service portals and conversational AI chatbots can also direct constituents to the correct department or service.
“The same philosophies and tools we use to track internal services can be used for anything public facing. A constituent may need to figure out what form they need to fill out. That’s not a technical problem, but the same self-service flow can help them navigate,” said CDG Senior Fellow William Rials, a former public-sector CIO, chief technology officer and CISO who is now associate director of the IT and cybersecurity program at Tulane University’s School of Professional Advancement.
ALWAYS IMPROVING
ESM enables government leaders to deliver on the promise of transformation. ESM platforms automate common tasks — even multistep processes that span multiple departments — to dramatically improve efficiency and service delivery.
With easy-to-use no-code tools, ESM empowers business users to create high-value services and truly impact program outcomes. ESM platforms encourage collaboration across government enterprises — and they give all departments technology tools to transform the constituent experience.
The rewards can be significant.
“ESM brings a culture of continuous improvement, innovation and agile strategies,” Rials said. “It changes the mindset across the organization — from senior management to the people with their hands on the keyboards.”
Learn more about actionable strategies and best practices for implementing ESM in your organization.
*Note: The Center for Digital Government is part of e.Republic, the parent company of Government Technology.
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