Today, expectations of IT service skills and capabilities have undergone a huge transformation. Even at the levels of support executives, service skills go far beyond efficiently manning helpdesks, proactively executing maintenance and support tasks. They are no longer the invisible back-end support. They have a prime role in improving customer relations, upping the ante in operational efficiency and delivering tangible benefits for their organization’s reputation and bottom line.
Skills for Higher Productivity
Surveys and reports indicate that IT service management skills will be the most pressing learning need over the next decade. Today’s IT service capabilities needs to think less on the lines of how to procure and maintain assets, and more in the direction of how they can improve operational efficiencies and excellence.
Without a doubt, this is significant change. It demands communication skills, strategic thinking and people management capabilities. It also demands a rethink by organizations and leaders on how they will develop people to effectively slip into their redefined roles. Skill programs will need to help IT professionals develop broader management and business skills to deliver business and commercial value.
Track, Update and Assign for Winning Business Outcomes
Learning and skill enhancement is a continuous activity in every organization. As IT analysts retool themselves with new skills, they need to update, track and monitor their progress in efficient skill management systems.
For any organization, a well-designed and productivity-enabling technical platform should help them track skills for analysis and to draw upon them when required. Normal operations can be speedily planned for and executed with the best-fit skills for operational excellence.
It can also go a step further during emergent needs where skills availability can be a challenge. If well designed, it can track availability of analysts with the right skills, and route incidents automatically to the best skilled analysts. This ensures that tasks (including unforeseen and emergency incidents) are sufficiently staffed with right-skilled analysts for the best possible fulfillment.
Most important, such a platform helps learning and development functions and infrastructure to grow future professionals in a smarter way. It elevates knowledge as a critical asset in delivering efficient business outcomes. It captures and shares knowledge to enhance productivity. And it enables peer sharing of knowledge.
When the right engine updates an enterprise’s education infrastructure to address such value additions, the perceptions of IT are transformed. IT will no longer be seen merely as the infrastructure that supports operations – but as smart tools and solutions to drive profitability and growth while slashing risks.
And that is a bonus of immense value.
