How ESM Can Pave the Path to Enhanced Collaboration Experience

Jeroen Boks, CIO, and Esther de Winter, product manager, TOPdesk borrow service delivery principles from the traditional Enterprise Service Management (ESM) model and explain how organizations should apply the same techniques to boost internal collaboration, support strategic business needs and drive customer success.  

The traditional definition of collaboration is the act of working with someone towards a common goal. Collaboration is often thought of as within a team, a division, or a company. 

This is an example of internal collaboration; when two departments work together, each bringing their expertise to a project. It might be sales and HR crafting a job description for an open position or IT, facilities management, and accounting working on solving a common problem.

Specific expertise still has its place; there is no question an HR person is expected to know labor law and that an IT person stays current on relevant software, for instance. However, this type of collaboration lacks the dynamism of an evolving organizational structure, silos people into specified roles, and perhaps does not take advantage of new ways of thinking. 

It also lacks a focus on the most important person in the process: the customer.

In response to developments in technology, software, and communications, a new definition of collaboration is emerging. This definition expands the focus beyond traditional parameters to include external partners, such as customers, clients, suppliers, technology partners, and many more. 

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The Impact of ESM on Internal Collaboration

This new definition of collaboration focuses on delivering an excellent service experience to the external partner. This requires individual departments to be willing to think differently about collaboration, process, and success. 

This new, dynamic form of collaboration requires the ability to look at opportunities from your customer’s point of view. This also means sometimes taking a step back and putting your established methods aside to consider alternatives. 

While the definition of the word “customer” changes depending on the situation, the reality is that everyone wants a good service experience. Whoever your customer is at the moment, they don’t care which internal team is delivering the service — they want excellent service, to build a relationship, and to understand that you value them. 

Ideally, working with parties outside of your organization should be as easy as working within it. The advantages of this collaboration are many, including better processes, more satisfied clients, and a more viable business going forward. One underappreciated benefit, however, is that when you work easily together with external parties, you’ll create more time to focus on your core activities. This can turn into a virtuous cycle.

Talking about this kind of collaboration and internal change is the easy part, admittedly. Practically this means your organization has to change its focus from how to improve individual departments or processes to putting the customer’s needs first each time. This means examining your process as a whole and being willing to be flexible, depending on the situation. 

This can be a sea change within an organization. Traditionally, supporting departments within organizations have focused on managing and improving their services. However, as customers increasingly realize they can easily find another organization to partner with, it is more critical for internal IT, HR, facilities management, and other departments to realize they must combine their strengths to meet their customer’s high expectations. 

This means that everyone on your team, everyone in your organization, plays a role in delivering for your customer. This form of collaboration leads to a shift from groups centered around specific departments to multidisciplinary teams that focus on the end-to-end value they deliver. An enterprise service managementOpens a new window (ESM) model may be the most productive way to encourage this necessary internal collaboration. 

Learn More: 5 Keys to Improving Collaboration in Remote Sales Team

What is ESM? It’s a way of putting a name on new forms of collaboration. Enterprise service management is about applying a service-oriented business model to the way your organization works. It is more of an evolution from a silo-based service method. 

There are four stages to ESM. Stage 0 is when companies are using the silo approach with every department focused on their strengths.

Stage 1 is the initial move to shared resources. It may take some additional communication and patience for all involved to understand the terminologies and the tools now being used. 

Stage 2 is the institution of a shared service desk, essentially a shared front office for your customers. This might be a shared portal or phone number. Some companies even went so far as having a space for employees from different departments to sit together (in the pre-COVID-19 days).  

Stage 3 is when different departments create a common process for service delivery. At this stage, collaboration may come much more naturally between departments and individual team members.

Learn More: How to Stop Ballooning Enterprise Software Bundles From Biting Your Bottom Line

Drive Collective Success, the ESM Way 

The benefits of ESM include improved efficiencies and reduced delivery costs. The ESM system clearly defines the customer-service process, meaning your product/service can be delivered more efficiently. Likewise, ESM allows for the quick identification of problems that arise and facilitates their correction.

The phrase reduced delivery costs incorporates both time and resources, which means your customer receives a better product, better service, and perhaps a better price. 

The transition to a customer-centric focus requires support and communication from above and below in the organization. There will be some bumps along the way, but the focus should be on the solution, not the difficulties.

Ultimately, everyone in an organization must be willing to work together and to seek collective success rather than individual laurels. The new definition of collaboration is not only changing how business is done, but it is also changing the definition of success.