Four key trends in the issue tracking industry
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[email protected] +1 (866) 477-8387 (toll-free US & Canada only) +1 (757) 213-1336 (fax) 6160 Kempsville Circle, Suite 101B Norfolk, VA 23502-3933 The State of the Issue Tracking Industry: Four Key 2015 Trends By Dan Luhring, CEO, Issuetrak Recently, I had the opportunity to talk to a number of different industry analysts in quick succession. Our topic was customer trends in incident management technology. As industry experts in our different ways, we explored some of the hard truths and evolving trends in the IT service management space. The results were extremely illuminating. Although the conversations surprisingly wide- ranging, I found I could group my key takeaways under four main categories. Co-creation A common theme with every analyst was the paramount importance of making it easy for the customer to shape their operations management tools to fit their specific business needs. There was general consensus that, for a solution to succeed, the software vendor cannot try to force- fit a solution that doesn’t match the way the company operates and hope for a long-term success. Since flexibility and customizability are fundamental to Issuetrak’s platform, and have shaped the way our software has evolved from the beginning of our existence, I was in passionate agreement with this part of the conversation. Actionable analytics There is a lot of hype associated with big data but the bigger question is what you do with the data. I am convinced that information without insight is a wasted resource. The analysts were all on board with this, and in fact one went so far as to say that legacy vendors were not doing enough to develop actionable analytics. Data has to feed into continual improvement and innovation if the investment of capturing it in the first place is to be justified. As another analyst said, “This is a trend that is long overdue in the industry.” This is borne out by a recent discussion with one of our customers who is leveraging issue ticket statistics to improve the bottom line. The IT director uses our application to analyze multiple processes and departments, and has started to provide corporate management with data about what is delivering results and what appears to be falling short, so that bugs can be fixed and better practices replicated. For this IT director, as for all the analysts I spoke with, there is a direct correlation between the data gleaned from ticketing software and financial success.
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Transcript of Four key trends in the issue tracking industry
[email protected] +1 (866) 477-8387 (toll-free US & Canada only)
+1 (757) 213-1336 (fax) 6160 Kempsville Circle, Suite 101B
Norfolk, VA 23502-3933
TheStateoftheIssueTrackingIndustry:FourKey2015TrendsByDanLuhring,CEO,Issuetrak
Recently,Ihadtheopportunitytotalktoanumberofdifferentindustryanalystsinquicksuccession.Ourtopicwascustomertrendsinincidentmanagementtechnology.Asindustryexpertsinourdifferentways,weexploredsomeofthehardtruthsandevolvingtrendsintheITservicemanagementspace.
Theresultswereextremelyilluminating.Althoughtheconversationssurprisinglywide-ranging,IfoundIcouldgroupmykeytakeawaysunderfourmaincategories.Co-creationAcommonthemewitheveryanalystwastheparamountimportanceofmakingiteasyforthecustomertoshapetheiroperationsmanagementtoolstofittheirspecificbusinessneeds.Therewasgeneralconsensusthat,forasolutiontosucceed,thesoftwarevendorcannottrytoforce-fitasolutionthatdoesn’tmatchthewaythecompanyoperatesandhopeforalong-termsuccess.SinceflexibilityandcustomizabilityarefundamentaltoIssuetrak’splatform,andhaveshapedthewayoursoftwarehasevolvedfromthebeginningofourexistence,Iwasinpassionateagreementwiththispartoftheconversation.ActionableanalyticsThereisalotofhypeassociatedwithbigdatabutthebiggerquestioniswhatyoudowiththedata.Iamconvincedthatinformationwithoutinsightisawastedresource.Theanalystswereallonboardwiththis,andinfactonewentsofarastosaythatlegacyvendorswerenotdoingenoughtodevelopactionableanalytics.Datahastofeedintocontinualimprovementandinnovationiftheinvestmentofcapturingitinthefirstplaceistobejustified.Asanotheranalystsaid,“Thisisatrendthatislongoverdueintheindustry.”
Thisisborneoutbyarecentdiscussionwithoneofourcustomerswhoisleveragingissueticketstatisticstoimprovethebottomline.TheITdirectorusesourapplicationtoanalyzemultipleprocessesanddepartments,andhasstartedtoprovidecorporatemanagementwithdataaboutwhatisdeliveringresultsandwhatappearstobefallingshort,sothatbugscanbefixedandbetterpracticesreplicated.ForthisITdirector,asforalltheanalystsIspokewith,thereisadirectcorrelationbetweenthedatagleanedfromticketingsoftwareandfinancialsuccess.
[email protected] +1 (866) 477-8387 (toll-free US & Canada only)
+1 (757) 213-1336 (fax) 6160 Kempsville Circle, Suite 101B
Norfolk, VA 23502-3933
Platform-as-a-ServiceThiswasthefirsttimethatI’dheardourownapplicationdescribedlikethis.It’saninterestingwayofcapturingoneofthemostexcitingaspectsofourtechnology.Amongotherthings,oursoftwareisatoolthatletsourcustomersbuildothertools.Forexample,someorganizationsareusingIssuetrakaspartoftheirmachine-to-machineinteractions.Withinaworldwhere,increasingly,entitiesaretrackingentities,theplatform-as-a-servicefeatureofIssuetrakwillbeaspringboardforfuturedevelopmentsandwecanapplythisparadigmacrossmanyotheraspectsasbusinessesevolve.ITILThediscussionaroundInformationTechnologyInfrastructureLibraries(ITIL)canbepolarizing.Formypart,whileIseethattheITILhasitsmerits,Idon'tseeitworkingasaprescriptiveframeworkforallcompanies.Inoneanalystconversation,wediscussedthefactthatthewaysomevendorshaveimplementedITILhascreatedmoreproblemsthanitsolved,tosuchanextentthattheanalystwashearingrequestsforanITILcomplianceframeworktocrystallizestandards.HerviewpointwasthatfollowingITILisstilloneofthebaselinesoftheITservicemanagementbutisonlyameanstoanend.Andinfact,herfocusappearedtobemorefixedonseeingmoreofwhatshecalleda‘developmentDNA’onthepartofthetechnologyvendor.LegacysolutionsOursisacompetitivebusinessand,asyou’dexpect,thelargervendorsholdthelion’sshareofthemarket.Butduringouranalystconversationsweheardsomerumblingsthattheworldofissuetracking,servicemanagementandonlineticketinghaschangedfasterthansomeofthebehemothshavebeenabletokeeppace.
Theissueofflexibilityandconfigurabilitycameuptimeandtimeagain.Oneanalystindicatedthatcustomerswhohadundergonealengthyandcostlyprocessofcustomconfigurationwereeffectivelylockedintotheirsolution,whichtodayisperhapsnotsuchasustainablevendorbusinessmodel.Indeed,itappearsthatchangeisafootinmanyofthebigorganizationstoaddressthisissueandtobegintoinnovateinthecentralITservicemanagementspace,whereIssuetrakalreadyhasasubstantialandgrowingfootprint.Forourpart,weareacceleratingourrateoftechnologyupdatestoremainaheadofthemarket.
Noonecandoubtthatthesemajorsolutionsarehighlyeffectiveandaboundwithfeatures.However,whenwewinbusinessagainstthelargerplayersitisusuallybecauseIssuetrakworks,itisultimatelyconfigurable,anditisfar,fareasiertoimplement.BasedinNorfolk,VA,Issuetrakprovidesbusinessoperationssoftwareforissuetrackingstrategicbusinessprocesses.Foundedin1992,Issuetrakservessome1,000customersin40countries.Itscustomersincludemajorbrandnames
suchasADP,DeltaAirlines,DeutscheBank,Johnson&Johnson,LockheedMartin,Microsoft,Pepsi,RalphLauren,RiteAid,theU.S.DepartmentofDefense,UPS,andVerizon.Itssignatureapplicationisarobustplatformforinternaland
externalcustomerserviceandsupport,IThelpdesk,workflowandprocessmanagement,andissuetracking.
