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CIO Survey Shows Billions Wasted By Businesses

CIO Survey Shows Billions Wasted as Organisations Reinvent the Service Management Wheel Rather than Learn from Corporate IT

UKPLC wastes £1.52bn ($2.33bn) by duplicating systems for self-service support in functions such as HR and Facilities

Duplication of technology for internal service delivery, and over-reliance on manual processes, is costing UK businesses up to £1.52bn ($2.33bn) according to an independent survey of CIOs commissioned by Fruition Partners, with 76% of CIOs stating that other business areas are failing to apply service management best practices and tools that are already in use by IT.

The survey found that despite investments already made in IT Service Management, businesses are spending an additional average of £750,000 ($1.15bn) on technology to automate the delivery of services for other standard corporate functions, such as HR and Facilities. Taking into account the estimated £150,000 ($230,000) expenditure that would be required to implement their existing technology into non-IT functions, the combined waste amongst large UK enterprises totals £1.52bn ($2.33bn). To combat this waste, an overwhelming majority of CIOs (98%) believe that other departments can take a lead from corporate IT, and benefit from extending technology used for IT Service Management approach to other areas of service delivery.

“Clearly, CIOs feel that they have a lot to offer the business, but are finding it hard to get through to other departments who do not apparently value IT’s experience. Indeed, over a third (37%) of CIOs think the majority of other business areas do not believe they can learn from IT,” commented Paul Cash, MD, Fruition Partners UK. “However, IT departments and CIOs have been delivering technology-driven service for many years and have a service-oriented mind-set as a result. The consumerisation of IT means that users want a consistent, user-friendly experience at work like they get in their personal lives. There is an opportunity to achieve this by adopting best practice from IT, and creating a shift to holistic Enterprise Service Management or ‘Everything as a Service’, creating a better use of resources and happier users, rather than individual departments struggling alone.”

Because of the current fragmented nature of service delivery and the lack of best practice adoption, only 5% of CIOs could say the way that users interact with different internal service providers is consistent. However, a large majority of CIOs (92%) believe users would like to see a more consistent service and a central place to gain access to internal services.

The research revealed that a majority (78%) of organisations are not fully utilising self-service technologies that IT has invested in across other business areas that could benefit, such as HR and Facilities departments. While 91% of CIOs have implemented self-service and knowledge portals for some IT Service Management functions, many other areas of the business still use a manual approach for day-to-day processes. Indeed, 84% of CIOs think that other business areas are too manual in their provision of day-to-day services. For example, the survey found that on average, five separate systems were needed to complete a simple process such as provisioning a new employee (e.g. setting up a phone, car parking space, desk and HR records). Furthermore, only 10% of businesses surveyed are able to provision a new employee using a single system.

By learning from IT and automating manual processes under a single system, such tasks could become far less onerous and time-consuming, offering organisations considerable gains in productivity, given that separate recent research by ServiceNow * has shown that managers in corporate environments spend over 40% of the week on unnecessary day-to-day administrative tasks that are not core to their jobs.

“Employees today want to consume services in the same manner whether they are inside or outside work. For example, when they go to their electricity provider to change their payment method, update their contact details or give a meter reading, they can do it all in one place, through one portal,” continued Paul Cash. “Whether they are changing personal details, requesting a new printer or reporting a broken chair, users should have the same experience at work. The benefits of IT’s approach to service delivery should be extended throughout the business, resulting in cost savings, increased productivity and improved user satisfaction. While IT is often thought of as a department that is difficult to work with, it is far more service-oriented than has traditionally been portrayed and is already demonstrating the value of Enterprise Service Management.”

Measuring and monitoring the satisfaction of users is another area in which corporate IT shows its maturity; almost three quarters (72%) of CIOs said that they currently carry out IT user satisfaction surveys. However, that figure was less than half for HR departments (46%), only a third for Facilities (33%) and even less for Marketing (27%). Taken together, these figures further underline that IT is far in advance of other departments when it comes to service delivery and improving user experience.

The research was undertaken by independent market researchers, Vanson Bourne; the total sample size was 100 UK CIOs from large enterprises with over 1000 employees.

About Fruition Partners

Fruition Partners is a global technology-enabled services firm focused on elevating service management to the cloud. The company combines practical experience with technology-enabled tools and services to help organizations attain success throughout the entire Service Management process. With more than 1700 ServiceNow projects to its credit, Fruition Partners is a Master tier Solutions Partner of the leading enterprise cloud company, ServiceNow. Fruition Partners team of over 300 cloud-integration experts accelerate service management and ensure clients experience the cost and performance benefits quickly and easily. The company is a trusted partner to some of the world’s most respected organizations including Ally Financial, Cardinal Health, Delphi Automotive, Virteva, Travis Perkins, Waitrose, and various trusts within the UK National Health Service.

* http://www.servicenow.com/company/media/blog/what-is-killing-corporate-productivity.html#sthash.SJkWUIlx.W6yiT4v1.dpbs

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by D. Aldrich .