Digital Service Management Is Exploding

Here at Spark Ventures (in New Zealand) we have taken the “less is more” approach to Digital Service Management (DSM), where we are utilising only the essential parts of a process to deliver maximum customer agility, and ultimately exceeding their expectations.

Our customers, or “partners” as we like to call them in Spark Ventures, are like well funded start-ups that were created from concept through to market analysis, Customer Experience (CX), MVP (minimal viable product) through to launch. These start-up Ventures include Bigpipe (ISP), Lightbox (Video on Demand), Qrious (Big data Platform and Analytics) & Morepork (Home Automation and Security).

So, what is Digital Service Management?

Digital Service Management (DSM) is a modern approach that leverages digital technologies—such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing, and automation—to streamline and enhance IT service management processes. Unlike traditional ITSM, DSM integrates advanced tools and user-centric design to align IT services with business objectives, improve efficiency, and deliver a superior customer experience. By automating routine tasks, enabling proactive support, and utilising real-time data analytics, DSM helps organisations reduce downtime, boost agility, and exceed customer expectations in today’s fast-paced digital world. Embracing digital service management is essential for businesses aiming to stay competitive, optimize resources, and achieve operational excellence.

Just Enough Process: The Secret to Agile, Scalable IT

Digital Service Management has been critical in bringing some process to the way operations manage these Ventures once their product(s) have been launched, but not so much process as to slow down the pace in which they need to adapt or grow to meet the market.

Before there was a focus on digital service management, operations experienced frequent outages, and there was no way of tracking and reporting on incidents or changes. Therefore, there was also little evidence of any value being gained by the Ventures from the services provided to them by the operational teams.

To facilitate our journey to full adoption of digital service management processes, we deployed a service management solution. This allowed us to report on all incidents and problems and to capture all changes. We implemented the solution we chose pretty much out of the box, with most of our effort spent on change management.

Agility was critical in the market

Depending on the Venture or type of change required, a particular level of approval is needed (be it technical, business and/or change manager approvals), all of this had to be automated through a system generated email or via an app. We also run virtual CABs, with all changes automatically added to a forward schedule of change once approved. Due to the high levels of automation, we can turn around a change from creation to approval within 30 minutes. This is essential for these Ventures to remain agile and adaptable to market forces.

Our approach to change management has resulted in only two failed changes in more than a year since we started on this journey. This is a great example of using enough process to aid success, without slowing down the rate of change which the Ventures require.

ITSM supporting Digital Transformation: How IT Service Management Fuels Faster Digital Transformation

Digital Service Management: Easier to Adopt Than You Think

We have found that to adopt digital service management within a digital world requires being able to support a fast rate of change, and there must be processes that enable agility within your chosen ITSM systems and these must be easily adopted by your teams.

Not only are we utilising digital service management across the Ventures, but we have adopted it within Spark Ventures itself to deal with internal user service requests, incidents and changes.  This has given our users the ability to easily request access to systems or log incidents with the support teams, either via email or through a self-service portal.

Data That Delivers: How Critical Reporting Drives Better Decisions

We have also managed to further demonstrate the value of the operational teams by creating extensive reporting that reflects the value these teams bring to the Ventures (for example, percentage of SLAs met, number of changes/incidents created, as well as tracking outage times). If you cannot easily demonstrate the value you are providing to the organisation, are you still relevant?

Our future priorities with regards to developing digital service management within Spark Ventures will be centred around further adoption of the change management process to fit in with the rapid rate of releases within the software development space.

What Happens When You Inject DevOps into ITSM? Magic.

Our latest adoption of change has been through the DevOps teams, where production releases are carried out by those teams (instead of by the software teams) once approved by the Venture heads and product teams.  Incident management has also recently been adopted by the software development team, who are now tracking incidents through the IT service management solution.

Digital Service Management: Unlock These Business-Boosting Benefits

Digital Service Management (DSM) offers a wide range of benefits that help organizations optimize IT operations, improve service quality, and align technology with business goals. Here are the key advantages:

• Enhanced Operational Efficiency: DSM automates routine tasks and streamlines workflows, allowing IT teams to focus on more strategic initiatives and reducing manual errors.
• Reduced Downtime: Proactive monitoring and standardised processes minimise service interruptions, ensuring critical systems remain available and reliable.
• Improved Service Quality: By standardizing service delivery and prioritizing requests, DSM ensures consistent and high-quality support across the organization.
• Better Alignment with Business Goals: DSM helps IT Teams directly support business objectives, driving overall performance and growth.
• Cost Optimisation: Increased efficiency and automation lead to reduced operational costs and better resource management.
• Greater Accountability and Visibility: Standardized procedures and tracking tools provide transparency into IT activities, making it easier to monitor performance and maintain compliance.
• Faster Issue Resolution: Automation and AI-driven insights enable quicker response to incidents, reducing resolution times and improving user satisfaction.
• Scalability and Flexibility: DSM supports business growth by allowing organisations to scale operations and adapt to changing demands with ease.
• Improved Risk Management: Enhanced monitoring and standardised processes help identify and mitigate risks, ensuring business continuity and data security.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Real-time analytics and reporting offer actionable insights for continuous improvement and strategic planning.
• Increased Customer Satisfaction: Faster, more reliable service delivery and personalized support lead to higher customer loyalty and retention.

This post was adapted from a blog I originally wrote for: IT Chronicles.

Views expressed in this post are my own