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Ever since the COVID-19 outbreak, Fortune 500 companies and start-ups have been facing countless challenges and are coping with unprecedented workplace changes. Overnight, business owners have had to adapt new collaboration tools and train their employees to work in a remote environment, but nobody knew that that was just the beginning. Working virtually for three consecutive years is something employees thought would happen to them. Many organizations are undergoing a fundamental transformation that enables them to create more business value quickly and find new ways to deliver more efficient services and improve customer satisfaction.

In some ways, it could be argued that the rest of the industry has caught up to what IT has known for a long time. In terms of improving operational efficiency, digital transformation and enterprise service management (ESM) are two related methodologies that leverage technology and data to enable organizations to improve their overall business performances, services, experiences, and outcomes.

In this article, we will discuss enterprise service management, how ESM can help accelerate your digital transformation to enable your remote workforce and move your business forward in this post-pandemic world.

What is enterprise service management (ESM)?  

Enterprise Service Management is one of the most advanced and successful management approaches in the corporate world. With the growing popularity of Enterprise Service Management (ESM) over the past few years, it has gained traction across various operational levels and various industries. Enterprise service management (ESM) can also be described as technological advances in automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics, delivered from established ITSM competencies to non-IT functions in organizations across all sectors.

In short, ESM is an evolving process that takes ITSM ideas and capabilities and apply them to other business areas to improve them. It describes the process of implementing IT service management in businesses and organizations to improve their productivity and high-level support. Incorporating ESM into a business model helps to implement new services and make critical process enhancements by leveraging automation, collaboration, and transparency as it transitions from analogue to digital.

The concept of Enterprise Service Management  

There is no doubt that ESM plays a crucial role in ensuring enterprises' successful digital transformation trajectory. It is commonly identified that most enterprises convince their IT departments to take the lead on the transformation journey. Enterprise Service Management aims to make the company's management and internal services more effective by identifying problems and improving efficiency throughout the company.  

As a company, ESM is perceived as an excellent service, both internally and externally, where everything is oriented to keep customers satisfied by providing them with fast, suitable, high-quality responses.

Defining Digital Transformation  

Dion Hinchcliffe, an international IT expert, explains that digital transformation is the process of rethinking or reimagining an organization more digitally. Digital transformation is more about how organizations leverage advanced technology and information to transform how they deliver value to their customers and employees. Specifically, it involves:  

• Implementing technology across all of your business functions to create value for your company.
  
  
• It requires an organizational cultural shift toward adopting new and more efficient ways of operating a business based on a digital perspective. 
  
  

The Role of Digital Transformation in Enterprise Service Management  

Even though "digital transformation" may sound like a trendy buzzword, it is vital to any company's success. The corporate world has been undergoing historic digital transformations for the past two years, making ESM even more valuable to organizations. DevOps.com reports that the ongoing pandemic is forcing employees to conduct their work 100% digitally, as most of us are working remotely. Thanks to the ESM-led digital revolution that unites firms all over the world, businesses will be able to survive and thrive in the fast-paced and changing global market. Undoubtedly, an effective ESM strategy has enabled organizations to transform their overall workflows, processes and drive greater employee value while enabling organizations to scale service delivery and offer unmatched customer experiences.

It is also true that IT operations will achieve a higher level of agility, flexibility, and innovation after undergoing this digital transformation journey through ESM. As per the report of Yahoo Finance, ESM is becoming a crucial aspect of companies' digital transformation strategies. Digital transformation has forced businesses to rethink how they leverage and utilize technology based on an outside-in, "digital-first" strategy.

The concept of digital transformation involves making use of new technologies alongside existing business processes to transform all aspects of an organization.

To be successful in the digital world today, companies must be able to:  

• Fast-paced innovation
  
  
• Outstanding employee and customer experiences
  
  

The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2020 indicates that 93.5% of organizations want to accelerate digitalization following covid-19. Thus, businesses are rethinking how they deliver and manage services to meet these innovations' quality, velocity, and efficiency. Despite their inherent limitations, manual processes and human effort will never scale to meet modern business requirements. It's time to harness AI.

According to the OBERLO’s statistics, the international artificial intelligence market is set to reach $267 billion by 2027. An estimated 50% of companies in any sector have reported an increase in productivity following the implementation of AI within their organizations.

Having said that, let's discuss the role of artificial intelligence in enterprise service management.

AI and ESM: How does it work?  

The AI-based tools go beyond business automation by allowing users to accomplish their work quicker, easier, and more effectively.  

AIESM (Artificial Intelligence Enterprise Service Management) uses AI-based solutions to automate ESM processes. It is now easier for employees across an organization to resolve issues while being more productive. Automating workflows, implementing a personalized approach, and incorporating AI have radically changed how enterprises use ESM tools. Rather than replacing humans with automated tools, artificial intelligence has been able to reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks and redirect employees to solving core business issues.

Since the pandemic continues to create chaos for many businesses, employee support is prioritized by every company. ESM tools that are powered by AI improve productivity by providing streamlined employee support and making employees more independent. With the help of smart chatbots and virtual assistants (VA), employees can auto-resolve their issues more quickly and more effectively.

Major Benefits Of AIESM  

There is no doubt that digital transformation in the enterprise has given organizations a mandate to be faster, more responsive, and more adaptive to shifting technological trends. The introduction of artificial intelligence in enterprise service management has enabled employees to work more faster, and managers to analyze performance better.  

Here are the some of the major benefits of implementing AI-powered enterprise service management.  

1. Providing better employee support
   
   In almost every organization, remote employees are likely to hit technical and non-technical issues and need help to continue their work. Businesses can ask for help from AIESM whenever their employees need it. With an AI-enabled ESM, they don't have to go the traditional route of raising tickets, making calls, sending emails, and looking for solutions on different platforms. They can crunch all resources on a single unified platform, giving them better support.
   
   Using this feature, your employees can log onto their collaborative platforms like MS Teams or Slack and type in the specific issue they are experiencing. The system will search for the best resources and provide appropriate answers within 15 seconds.
   
   
2. An Employee Service Desk tailored to your needs
   
   Organizing a service desk for employees required them to spend considerable time looking for information, so they would spend a reasonable amount of time searching. Combining AI and enterprise service management can enable employees to get individually tailored support. AI-driven service desks provide employees with a custom-tailored solution to the specific problem they have raised.
   
   
3. Detailed tracking history
   
   Artificial intelligence allows ESM to become more innovative and more adaptable. With AI-based ESM platforms, the system can track all interactions between the employee and the system. Whenever employees encounter a roadblock, they can talk to the conversational chatbots embedded within collaboration tools like MS Teams and Slack.
   
   This chatbot will assist them from the moment your employees sign onto the platform until they resolve their issue. The chatbots will also track all past queries made by employees and provide seamless and appropriate solutions. When employees are unhappy with the help delivered by the chatbot, it will automatically pass the case on to a dedicated agent. Consequently, AIESM software offers more accurate and effective solutions for your employees.
   
   
4. Better productivity and lower operating costs
   
   As per the statistics of Wisdom Plexus, AI-powered enterprise services management (ESM) can significantly boost productivity by 30% if appropriately implemented. Also, it streamlines efficiency while reducing overall operational costs since issues can be resolved faster, with less downtime. AIESM also manages assets and equipment for remote environments that are constantly changing. Further, when asset management software is integrated with an ESM solution, it is easier to track assets that may have been assigned to employees.
   
   
5. Reduce the burden of overload
   
   Employees must make themselves available to find solutions quickly. With AIESM, employees can submit issues and requests using the self-service capability, so customers are less likely to be in touch with the service desk. Reduced staffing costs and a reduction in agents' workloads are other benefits of automated delivery of solutions.
   
   
6. Delivering better customer service
   
   Ultimately, when a business improves both its productivity and the processes it employs, it automatically provides better services for customers. Additionally, enhanced communication and collaboration enable employees to make internal requests and have them promptly resolved. This leads to a faster response for the customer, enhancing their experience.
   
   
7. Better performance visibility
   
   ITSM provides employees and managers with insight into what has been achieved and what has not been. Enterprise Services Management (ESM) provides a similar application and completion process, which improves communication and collaboration. Ultimately, it offers insight into the value, which is shared easily with employees and the rest of the organization.
   
   
   
   

Conclusion: AIESM delivers smarter, faster support for employees and customers  

Enterprise organizations are currently overwhelmed by the speed and scale of digital transformation-and they will only grow rapidly in the months and years to come. The use of AIESM technologies to automate service and operations management can help organizations realize the full benefits of their digital strategy by ensuring that the services they provide will provide the best possible experiences for both their employees and customers. So, integrating AI with ESM will be necessary for organizations to remain relevant in this pandemic era.

Rezolve.ai, an AI-powered service desk integrated within MS Teams, offers instant support to employees working in collaborative environments and virtual workplaces. It understands the requirements of your employees and provides tailor-made solutions via conversational chatbots, microlearning, automating any routine tasks or processes, twitter-age knowledge management, invisible ticketing system etc.