A working definition: ServiceOps is a technology-enabled approach to unifying IT service and IT operations management for excellence in delivery of digital business services.
Although the two teams have different charters and skillsets, IT service and IT operations are inextricable. There is no service without effective IT operations.
Reducing friction caused by overlap, gaps, conflicting organizational goals, and disjointed processes, ServiceOps is all about IT service to the business. It is people-centric, technology-enabled, and C-level endorsed. It's also on the rise.
Recent EMA field research found that ServiceOps is either an active effort or a formal initiative in 78% of the organizations represented by a global panel of 400+ IT leaders. It is relatively early but gaining momentum across industries and organizations of all sizes globally.
Benefiting IT service and operations equally, ServiceOps tends to be grassroots in origin, but is well supported and funded at the C-level. Both grassroots adoption and C-level support stem from the fact that ServiceOps directly addresses many of the highest-priority IT objectives and challenges, especially IT employee productivity, reduction in outage frequency/duration/impact, improved service, user experience, and cost-cutting.
ServiceOps runs on automation and AI/ML technology tracks already laid down in cross-functional workflows. Most of all, ServiceOps makes sense to the people doing the work because it is practical and slashes wasted time on both sides.
When EMA asked representatives from its global panel of ServiceOps leaders to rate its organizational impact, the results were almost universally positive.
What Impact Has ServiceOps Had on Your Organization?
In case anyone is wondering, participants were offered numerous less-than-positive responses. They don't show up on this chart because negative responses were simply not chosen.
ServiceOps has no downside. It uses technology that is already in place and well understood so additional investment is no impediment to adoption. Results are not only immediate, but important. Practitioners answered the question, "What are the results when service and operations are effectively unified (ServiceOps)?" with a virtual tie for first place:
■ Faster time to find and fix problems
■ Higher productivity and less wasted time
What organization doesn't want these results?
They are logical outcomes of ServiceOps, which turns out to be a codeword for effective collaboration and effortless cooperation.
A word about the name … there is no magic to the phrase "ServiceOps." It's not a product or a technology. It's not even a methodology. It's a common-sense use of existing resources toward a common goal, so the name doesn't matter. However, EMA anticipates that the name will become commonplace and well recognized because it is simple, and it accurately conveys its meaning in the same way that DevOps does for its sphere of function.
So, why does ServiceOps matter now?
■ It's happening now — either formally or informally
■ Its benefits can be amplified with organizational support and funding
■ Recognizing the trends and opportunities makes it possible to harness the momentum and maximize results
■ A chance to make a difference without disruption or tons of additional investment
■ The competition is moving forward
Details of this research and its findings are covered in a vendor-free webinar on April 4:Automation, AI, and the Rise of ServiceOps
The Latest
Developers need a tool that can be portable and vendor agnostic, given the advent of microservices. It may be clear an issue is occurring; what may not be clear is if it's part of a distributed system or the app itself. Enter OpenTelemetry, commonly referred to as OTel, an open-source framework that provides a standardized way of collecting and exporting telemetry data (logs, metrics, and traces) from cloud-native software ...
As SLOs grow in popularity their usage is becoming more mature. For example, 82% of respondents intend to increase their use of SLOs, and 96% have mapped SLOs directly to their business operations or already have a plan to, according to The State of Service Level Objectives 2023 from Nobl9 ...
Observability has matured beyond its early adopter position and is now foundational for modern enterprises to achieve full visibility into today's complex technology environments, according to The State of Observability 2023, a report released by Splunk in collaboration with Enterprise Strategy Group ...
Before network engineers even begin the automation process, they tend to start with preconceived notions that oftentimes, if acted upon, can hinder the process. To prevent that from happening, it's important to identify and dispel a few common misconceptions currently out there and how networking teams can overcome them. So, let's address the three most common network automation myths ...
Many IT organizations apply AI/ML and AIOps technology across domains, correlating insights from the various layers of IT infrastructure and operations. However, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) has observed significant interest in applying these AI technologies narrowly to network management, according to a new research report, titled AI-Driven Networks: Leveling Up Network Management with AI/ML and AIOps ...
When it comes to system outages, AIOps solutions with the right foundation can help reduce the blame game so the right teams can spend valuable time restoring the impacted services rather than improving their MTTI score (mean time to innocence). In fact, much of today's innovation around ChatGPT-style algorithms can be used to significantly improve the triage process and user experience ...
Gartner identified the top 10 data and analytics (D&A) trends for 2023 that can guide D&A leaders to create new sources of value by anticipating change and transforming extreme uncertainty into new business opportunities ...
The only way for companies to stay competitive is to modernize applications, yet there's no denying that bringing apps into the modern era can be challenging ... Let's look at a few ways to modernize applications and consider what new obstacles and opportunities 2023 presents ...
As online penetration grows, retailers' profits are shrinking — with the cost of serving customers anytime, anywhere, at any speed not bringing in enough topline growth to best monetize even existing investments in technology, systems, infrastructure, and people, let alone new investments, according to Digital-First Retail: Turning Profit Destruction into Customer and Shareholder Value, a new report from AlixPartners and World Retail Congress ...