IT Services Should Save You Time … Not Take Up More of It

What would you do with one more hour in your workday?

The possibilities seem endless. You could finally take that online course to hone a new skill. Or dig into that not-so-urgent project that has lingered too long on your to-do list. Maybe you would take the time to ponder new approaches to problem-solving or creative planning that you never have time to consider.

I’d choose … all of the above. Wouldn’t you?

But why even bother thinking about what you’d do with extra time when you NEVER have extra time. There are fires to be extinguished, projects that face sudden roadblocks, clunky time-consuming processes, and I-need-that-now demands from leaders that disrupt your well-ordered (or so you thought) days.

Let’s face it. We waste a lot of time at work because the barriers we encounter are so vexing. I liken it to driving on an interstate when traffic slows down. Sometimes you bet that the right lane looks quicker, so you dart over there – only to discover a few minutes later that the left lane, suddenly flowing nicely, would have been the much better choice.

That’s frustrating when you’re driving a car. But similar stalls can be devastating to your work success if work traffic jams occur too frequently. Regardless of your role or industry, but particularly if you are in the IT field, stops, starts and slowdowns can have a huge impact on your organization (and your own sanity).

At HPE, we feel your pain. And – as I alluded to in my most recent post – we’re making some dramatic changes to how we deliver service. We believe it’s a real transformation in providing a pristine customer experience, one that’s unprecedented in the IT services industry. 

Essentially, we are zeroing in on two things customers tell us they desperately want: time saved, and time well spent.

Here’s what I mean about “time saved” (I’ll tackle “time well spent” next time):

If we give you the tools to help you get things done faster and more efficiently, that’s time saved. And what a precious benefit that can be, since we all so desperately want – and expect – to get the help we need immediately. At HPE, our customers deserve that consideration … and more. Here’s how we intend to deliver the tools and resources IT managers crave:

• Personalized experiences. Our new digital customer experience will be tailored to your unique needs, with your preferences and persona taken into consideration.

• Knowledge at your fingertips. With a customized dashboard, all the information you need will be in one place, and instantly accessible, via a single user interface that updates automatically in real time. Plus, you’ll have access to a searchable catalog of technical, how-to videos and active user forums that are mediated by HPE experts. That means you can jump directly into helpful, trusted content that will solve your problem, fast, and not have to spend time searching through countless emails for the one piece of information you need.

• Streamlined access to experts. Let’s bid farewell to the customer service queue; we’ve got a better idea. Instead of picking up the phone and hoping to find someone who knows what you need, we’ll give you direct access to the right experts, via chat. That’s the kind of time-saving call center service we’ve all been clamoring for. Indeed, a recent consumer survey¹ found that 96% of respondents expect an online chat with customer service to be resolved with five minutes, and 80% within two minutes.

• Proper prioritization. Our approach is to use artificial intelligence to help assess the complexity of support cases so that customers quickly get to the right expert, one who can efficiently and accurately diagnose and solve their problem. We have started using this for selected technologies and the results are impressive. It’s a good example of machine learning helping to speed up the handling of cases, ensuring consistency, and leading to continuous learning and improvement. There are more fascinating opportunities ahead for us in this space which our teams are actively exploring.

• Enhanced self-solve solutions. What if you didn’t have to call customer service at all – because we identified the problem and solved it before you were even aware it existed? This kind of proactive and preventive support is exactly what customers are looking for and the difference it can make is astounding. An IDC² study revealed that 35% of respondents said these technologies helped them save more than 250 hours of their own time per year, helping prevent up to 634 hours of downtime and up to $545,000 annually. We’ve implemented that predictive analytics-driven capability at HPE, and that is saving mountains of minutes – and potential headaches – for thousands of customers.

Here at HPE Pointnext Services, we’re making these and other dramatic changes to how we deliver on customer expectations. Nobody wants to spend time managing and fixing IT; you just want it to work. And when it works, you have more time to spend on moving the business forward. That’s why we are changing the definition of IT operational support.

I hope you’ll take the time to learn more.  We’re changing the definition of IT operational support.

¹ Aircall, “2019 eCommerce Customer Service Experience Study.” ² IDC, “IDC’s Cost of Downtime and the Value of Support Contracts Survey, 2020.”

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About Pradeep Kumar

Pradeep Kumar, Senior Vice President and General Manager, leads HPE Pointnext Technology Services group. In this role, he is responsible for the worldwide services organization of 20,000 IT experts who advise, build and operate IT platforms for our loyal customers. During his 25 years at Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), he has combined his passion for customer experience and service excellence. He inspires continual innovation and operational excellence across his global delivery, portfolio, and supply chain teams.