Social media essential to IT service management: Analyst
- 31 March, 2011 14:40
- Comments
CIOs must start to think about integrating social media into their service desks as the technology becomes ubiquitous in everyday life, according to analyst firm, Ovum.
In the report, The applicability of social media for IT service management, analyst and author, Mark Blowers, said employee demand for social media has driven an increase in its use at the service management level.
“IT users are coming to expect similar levels of interaction in their corporate lives as they do when conducting online life as private consumers,” Blowers said. “Social media tools can work well in IT service management, especially in bringing about improvements in the service provided to users.”
Bowers warned IT teams not to delay their adoption of social media, saying that more employees are seeing it as a “must-have”.
“Delaying an organisation’s participation in incorporating social media IT service management related functions could be a big mistake,” he said.
“As IT service desks increasingly move up the agenda in terms of importance for organisations, integration of social media will be seen by employees as a must-have, and a lack of availability could generate inefficiencies, such as workarounds, creating compliance issues.”
Bower took the argument for social media a step further, saying that IT managers should implement Twitter for customer support.
“Organisations should be taking steps such as integrating IT service management with Twitter feeds,” he said. “This allows business users to turn a tweet into a customer support ticket known as a ‘twicket’. When responding, the service desk agent can respond quickly to the Twitter account or privately using the Twitter Message facility.”
In a report also released today by Ovum, Mobile social networking: services and monetisation, the analyst group said that while location based check-in services like Foursquare and Facebook Places are attractive to marketers, they have the potential to become all hype.
To date, the combination of advertising and technology has worked well, but expect to see consolidation said principal analyst at Ovum, Eden Zoller.
“We are witnessing a mobile social commerce gold rush but many of the companies coming to the market are doing so with ‘me too’ propositions,” he said in a statement.
“The wide availability of such undifferentiated services and growing competition could create fall-out.”
The news comes as NBN Co yesterday announced its entry into social media, when it launched its own Twitter page.
Follow Lisa Banks on Twitter: @CapricaStar
Follow CIO Australia on Twitter: @CIO_Australia
Recommended
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.
- Bookmark this page
- Share this article
- Got more on this story? Email CIO
- Follow CIO on twitter
-
Why change management doesn’t work
-
Larry Page wants to see your medical records
-
Dual-Persona Smartphones Not a BYOD Panacea
-
After two-year hiatus, EFF accepts bitcoin donations again
-
CIOs struggle to deliver timely mobile business apps: survey
-
Tips Choosing a Cloud Service Provider
Because cloud is still a new and evolving business model, it can be argued that the decision to select a cloud service provider should be approached with even greater diligence than other IT decisions. Many providers use the same term to define very different services, “hybrid cloud” is one example, making it difficult to compare offers. This whitepaper will help enterprises evaluate their options in two critical areas: the cloud service portfolio and the service provider itself. Read now. -
Endpoint Security and Virtualisation
Besides form factor, virtual systems are not really that different than physical systems. They both use the same operating systems and applications. They both present users with computing resources such as RAM and hard drives. Consequently, the ability to exploit vulnerabilities in a physical environment will present a significant threat to virtualised environments as well. This paper examines the different endpoint security methods for virtualised environments and presents how Endpoint Protection security provides optimal performance, protection and manageability. -
Android Malware Exposed
Take an in-depth look at the evolution of android malware. The world of malware targeting the Android OS is similar yet very different from malware affecting Windows. Explore the rapidly evolving world of android malware and shed light on the various techniques used to exploit devices using this OS.
Get exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis. 
