IT transformation insights and wins with automation strategies

IT transformation is the foundation of successful digital transformation. Only with a solid — yet agile — IT core can enterprise business units bring about the digital service innovations they want to see.

Strategies for IT automation help organizations acquire the necessary insights to steer this change process. By having a comprehensive understanding of IT service performance, identifying organizational needs and gaps, and finding the right balance between cost and usability, enterprises can make informed IT transformation investments. In this context, we’ll examine how automation through the IT4IT™ framework[1] can be beneficial.

Gain unique insights into your IT service performance

The IT4IT framework considers digital transformation in two parallel service streams. Firstly, traditional IT4IT, the technical services that maintain and evolve your company’s IT organization. In other words, its IT backbone. Secondly, there’s IT for business. This covers the applications IT implements so that business units can deliver and enhance digital, customer-facing services.

When investing in these parallel streams, organizations need data to drive good choices. Decision-makers can’t afford to have their heads turned by a slick sales pitch or the latest technology. As a result, a solid, data-backed transformation investment strategy shouldn’t shift as the people in your company’s decision-making roles change. This is true for both IT transformation (the remit of CIOs responsible for the technical side of IT) and digital transformation (the remit of CEOs heading up business-related IT needs).

Instead, transformation investments need to be based on insights into your company’s demand and gaps. Both as-is and as you look to the future. Automating the Detect to Correct pillar within the IT4IT framework enables you to access this level of insight. Tracking incidents, change requests, outages, and so on, you’ll have a comprehensive overview of your IT service performance. Spotlighting both actual demand and gaps, to shape your cost-effective and responsive IT investment.

Automate data flows to monitor costs

In the same manner, process automation strategy enables an organization to track the cost, usage, and related licenses of the applications and capabilities it's (no longer) using. Automating the data flow from business demand through to IT creation and delivery allows this. Such traceability reveals precisely which demand generated which development process and which development process led to which product. Eventually, populating a comprehensive product catalog under the IT4IT Request to Fulfill pillar.

Here, the value of data insights in optimizing cost-effectiveness and efficiency is clear. With reliable numbers on cost and usability, organizations can decide which applications to retire or rebuild, cut expenses, and enhance their service and user experience. In short, optimized lifecycle management — a key element in digital transformation — stems from these automation-based insights.

Automations generate confidence in critical investments

Ever encountered a tendency to focus on non-critical IT projects, at the cost of letting critical services stagnate? It can be tough to gain traction for change on IT projects that are seen as high-stakes. The reason is clear: Nobody wants to risk being responsible for disastrous outages. Through the automation insights that the IT4IT framework provides, however, this need no longer be a concern.

Particularly when implemented in combination with ServiceNow, IT4IT offers a secure framework for keeping your IT backbone operational while you innovate around it. This way, decision-makers gain the confidence they need to tackle the most critical transformation requirements first. Shaping a successful transformation pathway and enabling both quick wins and longer-term developments that truly deliver.

This resolves the issue that, at DXC, we see most often in enterprise transformation. A client’s business side asks their IT side to deliver on a digital transformation initiative. Yet their IT side doesn’t have the capability to do so, as they need to undergo technical IT transformation first. This delays business objectives, generating obvious friction. With ServiceNow’s IT automation capabilities, however, the first-layer IT transformation that’s needed can occur as rapidly as possible.

This readies the client’s IT team to meet the demands coming in from the business side. Easing pressure on the IT department and fulfilling the business units’ requirements to deliver. Overall, powering the enterprise’s digital transformation forward and creating strong foundations for business innovation.

Leverage IT automation strategies to fuel enterprise transformation

At DXC, we don’t just utilize the proven IT4IT framework to support organizations to transform and innovate as external partners. We also prioritize onboarding our clients’ internal teams so they can oversee their ongoing transformation. We provide thorough training, capability-building, and change management strategy, alongside fulfilling interim roles as required.

Is your IT business ready for IT transformation?

Find out if your IT strategy is aligned to your current IT transformation program with our IT transformation readiness check.

To discuss IT automation solutions in detail with our team, you can contact us below.