AI Service Automation: ITSM and ITOps Convergence

AI service automation:
ITSM and ITOps
convergence
Valerie O’Connell
Research Director
Digital Service Executions
voconnell@enterprisemanagement.com
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Valerie came to EMA with decades of senior-level
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technology. From strategic positioning with practical
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Valerie O’Connell
Research Director, EMA

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What did we set out to learn?
How are IT management
disciplines changing in
response to … change?
• Digital transformation
• Work from anywhere
• Expansive technology: from
cloud, edge, IoT, OT/enterprise to
cells
• Collective technology: AI/ML
and automation
• Organizational needs: DevOps,
SRE, DevSecOps …
• Volatile business environment
How are IT management
organizations adapting?
• Leveraging technology
• Positioning for change
• IT ServiceOps?
Approach:
• Triangulate multiple topics
around AI/ML, automation,
and IT service
• 400+ IT managers and
executives in North America,
EMEA, and APAC January 2022
Distributionof company size

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High level findings
IT management technology and organization are heading toward a ServiceOps model
IT service and IT
operations unify on
the basis of data/AI,
automation, and
workflows toward
common business goals –
ServiceOps basic
concept by any name
Each group retains its
specialized orientation to
drive IT operational and
service excellence
Increase innovation at
speed and scale with no
compromise to
governance
A hybrid of technology
and organizational
advances
Platform-enabled, single
data model for end-end
visibility and actions
Early and aspirational but
practical and happening
now
The name doesn’t matter

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Adaptability as expressed in innovation in the past 2 years
Adaptability –
willingness and ability
to innovate in the
face of change is:
• A factor in technology
choices and decisions
• Reflected in financial
health of enterprise as
well as IT budget
• An indicator of
technology
advancement AIOps,
Digital transformation,
automation …
• Predictive of movement
toward ServiceOps
Other than working from anywhere, how did your IT organizationadapt
to the global circumstancesof the past two years?

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IT is still second place to the business – but that role is changing:
strong movement in the direction of strategic equality
Note: At 35%, the
combination of evolving IT
role and elevation from
digital transformation
makes “Changing/
evolving IT role” the top
choice – tilting the
balance in the direction of
strategic/ equal partner
with the business.
What statement best describesthe state of IT in your organization?

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Digital transformation – an on-going process – is mainstream
Not surprisingly, advanced
digital transformation
correlates strongly with
high levels of automation
and AI/analytics – as well
as success.
If digital transformationis the use of digital technologiesto create or modify business
processes, applications,and user experiences to meet changing business and market
requirements, where does digital transformationcurrently stand across your
organization/enterprise?

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End-user experience is a high-growth priority – usually a C-level interest
Although customer
experience and the
revenue it carries take the
top priority, employee
experience is a high growth
area that is only distantly
second place in this Great
Resignation time of talent
shortage.
Choose the statement that best describesyour IT organization’s
end-user experiencemanagement.

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No surprise -- the hybrid workplace is here to stay ….
…. Which increases the
importance and
complexity of delivering
high quality IT service.
In the next 18 months or so, where will most of your employeeswork?

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How is an IT service defined?
“IT technology”and “all infrastructure and software required to deliver a
business application” are almost a dead heat.
Generally speaking,how does your organizationdefinean IT service?

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IT tends to organize around its definition of an IT service
Although oversimplified,how would you describeyour IT's organizational principle?

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Top challenges to IT service quality:
Cloud, talent shortage, gaps in visibility, and dependency mapping/ITAM
What are the biggest challengesto delivering high-quality IT service? (choose 3)

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When there's a service problem, ITOps and DevOps are first stops for find and fix
When there is a degradationin service quality,what group is most responsible for identifying and fixing the cause?

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ITSM and ITOps collaboration
ranges from a need-to-interact-basis through unified platform execution
ITSM and ITOps interact on
a need-to-interact basis
for 26%
Bidirectional information
flow and workflows 21%
The service desk is an
interactive hub for 24%
Platform capabilities unify
the functions 24%
Complete separation is
the outlier/exception at
5%
What statement best describesyour enterprise's approachto IT service management (ITSM)
and IT operations(ITOps) execution?

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Security leads as the basis for ITSM/ITOps collaboration followed closely by ITAM,
bi-directional alerting, and IT governance/risk
How do IT operations and ITSM collaborateusing AI/ML and automation?

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Reporting structures:
There is an exact split between approaches to ITSM/ITOps reporting
Organizationally,what statement best describesITSM and ITOps?
When one group is seen as
having more budget and
organizational pull, ITSM
has a slight lead. More
often they are equal.

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At a combined 65%, platform use exceeds best-of-breed at 35%
However, roughly half of that 35% are not pleased with the results.
Which statement best characterizesyour IT organization'sapproachto
cross-domainworkflows, processes, and initiatives?

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Why is a platform important? So many types of applications and platforms
Types of platforms
• IT analytics/AI/ML
• IT automation
• Security
• ITSM/service desk
• DataOps
• AIOps General cross-
functional workflow
• NetOps
• APM-centric
What types of applicationsare supported by your IT organization?

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AIOps is one platform that offers a basis for ITOps-ITSM collaboration
36% Automation is more
important than AI
24% AI is more important
than automation
40% They are equally
important
16% say AIOps has a
transformative impact
on the relationship of IT
with the rest of the
business.
For the purposes of this survey, if AIOps is the combination of AI/ML with automation,
how would you characterize the priority of AIOps in your organization? "AIOps is "
Which adjacent functions feed or benefit most from your AIOps deployment?
Strategic 40% Adaptive 43% Separate 11%

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Platform use is strategic and the norm at 92% -- the difference is in maturity
For the purposes of this survey, "platform" means a group of technologies(usually software, frequently vendor supplied)that
together form a base on which other applications,processes, and technologies can act or interact.” Using this definition, how
would you characterizeyour IT organization'suse of IT platforms(not tools)?

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Platform initiatives are generally successful – the difference is in degrees of success
In terms of results, how successful have your platform initiativesbeen?

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For 92%, platform investments return more – often much more – than the cost
32% stated that their
platform initiative savings
and benefits were more
than double the cost;
Almost 60% saw that the
platform value more than
paid for itself returning an
additional 20%+
In terms of cost, what valuehas your platform investment returned?

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Cloud capabilities leads in importance of platforms – cost is a second tier
consideration
Which factors are the most important in an automationor management platform?

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ITSM now and near term
How do you view the
future of ITSM in your
organization over
the next three years?
"I see ITSM as ”
42% Substantially growing
in importance
44% Somewhat growing in
importance
12% Staying about the
same
2% Evolving to a primarily
automated function
How many ITSM platforms/solutionsare used to run your help desk(s) and service center(s)?
What percentageof help desk requests and problem resolution do you envision being auto-
resolved or transitioned to end-user self-service remediationwithintwo years?

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ITOps now and near term
Do you have real-timevisibility into the following? How long does it take to identify and fix a
service outage?
What are the top ITOps improvement/goalsin the next 6 to 18 months?

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Must-have capabilities for IT operations management solutions
What capabilitiesare must-haves in your ideal IT operationsmanagement solution?

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High level of buying planned in automation, AI, platform this year.
Only 8% have no plans to buy or extend.
Automation and AI/ML is
driven by C-level decision
maker and budget for
roughly 50%
Followed by IT operations
20% and a mix of
executive and technical
decision makers 15%
Is your organizationactively planning to
acquirenew automation,AI solutions, or
platformsin the coming year+?
To what degree does your organization
prefer SaaS (software as a service) versus
on-premises for AI, automation,and IT
management investments?

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AI service automation: the convergence of ITSM and ITOps = ServiceOps
ServiceOps, by whatevername, will be the prevailing IT operational model because it
makes business sense and is both possible and practical.
It’s early enough to get ahead of the curve and position for ServiceOps.
Requirements for end-
end visibility, business
context, and actions
demand AI and
automation
Driven by multi-
functional interests
such as DevOps,SRE,
and DevSecOps
IT leaders can smooth
the path by taking a
ServiceOpsview of
commonalities and
distinctivesof IT service
and ITOps. Take a
strategic approach to
new IT initiatives;
assume functionality
will benefit multiple
groups.
Start where you are. Expect to make
organizational
changesto
leverage/maximize
benefits. Not required –
just likely.

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