Tag Archives: customer journey mapping

ITSM is failing your customers – here’s why

July 7, 2025 Doug Tedder Leave a comment

When it comes to who is the “customer”, many ITSM implementations are simply confused. And this confusion is why ITSM is failing your customers.

Some IT organizations think the “customer” is someone that contacts a service desk. Others think the “customer” is someone who defines the requirements for a service. But that definition quickly fades once the implementation project is completed and the project sponsor resumes their normal duties. Still other ITSM implementations ignore identifying the “customer”, as these implementations feel that it isn’t necessary to define services in terms of business value and business results.

I recently completed a Humanising IT™ [i] masterclass led by Katrina MacDermid and Wesley Eugene. During that class, we discussed how so many ITSM implementations, despite the best of intentions, fall into the “who is the customer?” trap. The Humanising IT approach cuts through this confusion with a simple, but powerful, distinction between the roles of the customer and the user[ii]. The customer is the person deriving value from business services. The user is the person using technology to deliver value to the customer.

Taking this concept of user and customer one step further renders an interesting proposition. IT delivers products and services to a user, who then delivers business value and results to a customer. Is this the reason ITSM is failing your customers?

Why ITSM implementations often fail customers

I must admit that this is a different interpretation of the customer and user roles than I’ve typically followed. However, it could explain how many ITSM implementations have missed the mark when it comes to delivering business value and business results. As I’ve said before, many ITSM implementations are about managing IT, not about delivering or enabling business outcomes. What could be possible if ITSM implementations shifted focus externally to the humans that use the services provided by the business?

But many ITSM implementations – many IT organizations – haven’t focused on the humans that use the products and services provided by the business. In fact, the products and services that IT delivers are often not built or delivered with humans in mind. Procedures used by IT are often IT-focused, not business-focused. The performance targets and measures for these products and services are defined by IT, not by the people that use the products and services. IT designs products focused on technology “wow factors” (as defined by IT) and less on the people that will be using them.

And because the focus is on IT, and not on the customer, the associated ITSM implementation is basically used to set expectations for the user. Even in that situation, those expectations are defined by IT, usually with little to no input or agreement from users.

How human-centered design can help

The correlation between employee (or user) experience and customer experience has been long established: when organizations enable better experiences for employees (“users”), employees in turn provide better experiences for customers.

When employees feel valued, engaged, empowered, and supported, they are more likely to go the “extra mile” for customers. When employees have the right technologies and solutions, they can resolve customer issues quickly and creatively. Positive employee experiences foster empathy and collaboration, which employees pass on to customers.

What are some things that IT organizations can do to enable a better user experience?

For IT, this means providing users with intuitive and streamlined processes, systems, and products, built with the user in mind. This means listening – and acting on – user feedback. This means providing empathetic support of users.

In other words, make the experience with IT a humanized experience. And the best way for IT to deliver a humanized experience for the user is to include the user as part of the development of solution designs – a core principle of human-centered design.

But getting users involved in solution design is often not so easy. First, it requires a mindset shift within IT to focus first on solving problems, not implementing solutions and technology. Convincing non-IT managers to participate in solution design and decision making can be a challenge. Many non-IT managers are reluctant to allocate resources without a clear return on investment or to take ownership of solution designs. IT often struggles to communicate in non-technical terms, and users often lack the technical understanding needed to contribute to solution design discussions. This results in communication gaps, making it difficult to translate user needs into technology requirements. There are often differences in priorities between IT and users; what’s important to IT may not have the same weight with users. Finally, an organization’s culture may get in the way. If an organization values traditional, hierarchical structures and predictable outcomes, the organization may be hesitant to have users participate in solution designs as it can introduce expected feedback or challenging of existing assumptions.

Three things IT (and ITSM) can do to stop failing the customer

Here are three actions that IT – and ITSM – organizations can take to stop failing the customer.

Cultivate an “experience” culture – Promote a culture that values and celebrates collaboration, empathy, and continual learning[iii]. Culture change happens a step at a time, so persistence pays off. When users participate in a solution design, publicize it. Share what was learned. Talk about how the new solution enabled positive employee experiences.
Map the internal user journey – An internal user journey map is a visual representation of how employees interact within an organization, including the user’s actions, thoughts, and emotions. From an ITSM perspective, identify when users interact with IT systems, processes, and tools to achieve a specific result. Doing this will identify pain points and improvement opportunities with those systems, processes, and tools.
Map the customer journey – Like an internal user journey map, a customer journey map depicts how customers interact with an organization, from initial awareness to post-purchased. Like an internal user journey map, the customer journey map will help identify improvement opportunities for the organization. But the benefit doesn’t stop there for IT and ITSM. Not only does this help IT (and related ITSM practices) understand the customer journey, but also helps IT develop empathy regarding user and customer interactions.

As organizations continue to journey further into the digital economy, a humanized customer experience will become a competitive differentiator. IT organizations, and their associated ITSM implementations, must embrace the benefits of adopting human-centered design in developing solutions. Involving users in solution development results in more humanized outcomes that improve both the employee and customer experiences.

[i] Humanising IT is a trademark of HIT Global.

[ii] Katrina Macdermid, “Human-centred design for IT service management”, Norwich, TSO, 2022, p. 30.

[iii] “Engaged employees Transform Customer Experience. Here’s Why”, https://www.reworked.co/employee-experience/engaged-employees-transform-customer-experience-heres-why/ Retrieved June, 2025.

AI, ESM, ITSM

Will AI break ITSM out of its IT operations cage?

June 6, 2025 Doug Tedder Leave a comment

AI is about to break ITSM from its IT operations cage.

Many ITSM implementations are less about service management, and more about IT operations, or IT process management, or IT measures and reports. Here are some examples:

To many organizations, ITSM is about a weekly meeting to discuss changes to the computing infrastructure, attended by people that have little qualification or authority to discuss, much less approve such changes.
To many organizations, ITSM is about pulling together a group of individuals, sitting them down in front of computer screens and telephones, calling that group of people a “service desk”, then provide little training and less enablement for responding to all IT-related issues or questions.
To many organizations, ITSM is about establishing a portal through which consumers of technology can register requests for the IT organization to fulfill.
To many organizations, ITSM is about implementing a tool, several out-of-the-box workflows (that may or may not be suitable for the organization) and publishing a few reports that have no meaning to anyone outside of IT.

In other words, for these organizations, ITSM is not about the organization at all. ITSM is not about how people, process, and technology deliver business outcomes and enable business value realization. In these organizations, ITSM is about IT.

AI is about to change all of that.

AI will push ITSM front and center

Frankly, AI can nail (has nailed) down the operational aspects of ITSM. Current AI capabilities are well-suited to take on many of the operational aspects of ITSM, like routing work, resolving simple incidents, gathering, analyzing, and logging information, tracking assets, suggesting knowledge articles to resolve an end-user issue, and more.

And that’s the challenge that introducing AI will have for organizations that adopted ITSM only to manage IT operations. With the use of AI, IT will become increasingly visible to the rest of the organization. As a result, ITSM can no longer be a “back office” activity, but rather “front-and-center” as organizations navigate within a digital world. But are IT and organizations ready?

When IT cannot articulate how its products and services deliver business results and enable value realization (beyond cost savings/avoidance), the answer is “no”.

Why is this a problem?

The fact is that many ITSM implementations have ignored the very practices that would enable the “business value and outcomes” conversation with executives. Practices like portfolio management and service catalog, (real) problem management, and continual improvement, for example.

Because these practices have been ignored, IT organizations cannot discuss topics like service cost models. They can tell you what infrastructure costs, or how much is being paid out on support contracts and licensing costs…but not what makes up the specific costs of designing, delivering, maintaining, and supporting services. They can’t predict how investing in improvements will benefit the larger organization and ultimately the business customer. They can’t correlate business value streams to specific IT products and services that enable business results.

Some implementations have isolated service management activities that should be approached from a holistic perspective. In many organizations, service design activities are typically performed by application development teams that are focused on writing code, but with little or no involvement from those that will be supporting or using the solution post-implementation. Another example is organizations that perform software deployments to production environments outside of the purview of an ITSM change management practice.

It gets worse. According to this Forrester post, organizations that have invested in ITSM are finding that more and more of those investments are going toward paying additional costs from maintaining the tools rather than improving ITSM capabilities and driving business benefit.

AI will force Service Management to be an organizational capability

Service management has typically been considered an IT function, but in an ever-increasing digital world, that just won’t work. Service management must be an organizational capability.

For service management to be truly effective, it must reflect and support entire organizational value streams, not just the IT portions. Technology is no longer department specific. Technology connects entire value streams within all organizations. But it doesn’t stop there; in the digital ecosystem, it’s technology that connects organizations to partner organizations to deliver products and services. If enterprise-wide workflows that support value delivery all the way to the customer are missing or undefined, the result is a bunch of disjointed, siloed activities that result in a poor customer experience, missed business opportunities, and loss of competitive capability.

AI will manage the operational aspects of service management, and push ITSM out of the back office. Businesses must start now to elevate their organizational service management capabilities.

Breaking ITSM from its IT operations cage

What first steps should organizations take to begin to make service management an organizational capability? Here are some suggestions:

Invest in training – One of the challenges with current ITSM implementations is that the people involved in the delivery and support of products and service have not been properly trained in service management concepts. Rather, they blindly follow whatever the ITSM tool does, and do not understand the broader concepts and contexts of “service management.”
Map organizational (not just IT) workflows – Develop value stream maps or customer journey maps to illustrate how work moves through the organization or where customers interact with the organization. Include the touchpoints where people, processes, and technology enable the business results and value desired by the organization. These maps capture information that is foundational for developing a service catalog.
Identify business measures – Using these completed maps, identify the performance measures that reflect business outcomes and value.

The era of AI is not just an upgrade for ITSM – it’s a complete transformation for organizations. As AI takes over the operational heavy lifting, ITSM’s true purpose can no longer be confined to just IT. Instead, service management must evolve into a core organizational capability, seamlessly connecting people, process, and technology across entire value streams to deliver real business outcomes. This shift is not optional; it’s essential for organizations that want to thrive in a digital world where technology is the backbone of value delivery and customer experience.

Now is the time for organizations to break free from legacy mindsets, invest in holistic training, map out end-to-end workflows, and measure what truly matters to the business. By doing so, they can ensure that service management becomes a strategic enabler – one that drives innovation, agility, and competitive advantage in the age of AI.

AI, EX

The more AI we become, the more human we need to be

April 3, 2024 Doug Tedder Leave a comment

Why are AI assistants given human-like names?

Apple provides Siri[i]. Amazon has Alexa[ii]. Samsung features Bixby[iii]. And there are literally dozens of other examples, in use both publicly and privately.

The attribution of human characteristics to non-human entities is known as anthropomorphism. Attributing human intent to non-human entities, such as pets, robots, or other entities, is one way that people make sense of the behaviors and events that they encounter. We as humans are a social species with a brain that evolved to quickly process social information.[iv]

There are numerous examples of anthropomorphism with which we are familiar, and honestly, don’t even think twice about. In Toy Story[v], the toys can talk. In Animal Farm[vi], the animals overthrow their masters and govern themselves. In Winnie-the-Pooh[vii], Christopher Robbin interacts with Winnie, a talking bear.

Is this why AI-enabled chatbots and digital assistants are given human-like names? To make us want to talk to them? To make it easy to interact with them? To influence our thinking and behaviors?

Without over psycho-analyzing the situation (and I am far from qualified to do so), the answer to the above questions is “yes”.

The good – and not so good – of today’s AI capabilities

AI capabilities have been around for quite some time. While philosophers and mathematicians began laying the groundwork for understanding human thought long ago[viii] , the advent of computers in the 1940s provided the technology needed to power AI. The Turing Test, introduced in 1950, provided a method for measuring a machine’s ability to exhibit behavior that is human-like. The term and field of “artificial intelligence”, coined by John McCarthy in 1956, soon followed.

The past few years have seen a dramatic expansion of AI capabilities, from machine learning to natural language processing to generative AI. That expansion has resulted in impactful and valuable capabilities for humans. AI is well-suited for managing tedious and repetitive tasks. AI can be used to initiate automated actions based on the detection of pre-defined conditions. AI can facilitate continual learning across an organization based on the data captured from interactions with and use of technology. And most recently, AI is developing a growing capability to respond to more complex queries and generating responses and prompts to aid humans in decision-making.

But despite all the progress with AI, there are some things that are not so good. Miscommunication can occur due to limitations of a chatbot or an AI assistant in understanding user intent or context. A simple example is the number of ways we as humans describe a “computer”, including “PC”, “laptop”, “monitor”, or “desktop” must be explicitly defined for an AI model to recognize the equivalence. AI is not able to exhibit empathy or the human touch, resulting in frustration, because humans feel that they are not being heard or understood.[ix] AI is not able to handle complex situations or queries that require nuanced understanding; as a result, AI may provide a generic or irrelevant response.[x] The quality of responses from AI is directly dependent upon the quality of the input data being used – and many organizations lack both the quality and quantity of data required by AI to provide the level of functionality expected by humans. Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, the expanding use and adoption of AI within organizations has resulted in fear and anxiety among employees regarding job loss.

Techniques that will help humanize AI

Several techniques can help organizations better design human interactions with AI. Here are a few to consider that can help humanize AI.

Employing design thinking techniques – Design thinking is an approach for designing solutions with the user in mind. A design thinking technique for understanding human experience is the use of prototypes, or early models of solutions, to evaluate a concept or process. Involving the people that will be interacting with AI through prototypes can identify any likes or encountered friction in the use of AI technology.
Mapping the customer journeys that (will) interact with AI – A customer journey map is a visual representation of a customer’s processes, needs, and perceptions throughout their interactions and relationship with an organization. It helps an organization understand the steps that customers take – both seen and unseen – when they interact with a business.[xi] Using customer journey maps helps with developing the needed empathy with the customer’s experience by identify points of frustration and delight.
Thinking in terms of the experience – What is the experience that end-users need to have when interacting with AI? Starting AI adoption from this perspective provides the overarching direction for making the experience of interacting with AI more “human”.

Start here to make AI use more human

AI adoption presents exciting opportunities for increasing productivity and improving decision-making. But with any technology adoptions, there is the risk of providing humans with suboptimal experiences with AI. Here are three suggestions for enabling good human experiences with the use of AI.

Define AI strategy – Success with AI begins with a well-defined strategy that identifies how AI will enable achievement of business goals and objectives. But AI success is not just business success or technical success with AI models, but also whether users are happy with AI and perceive it to be a valid solution. [xii]
Map current customer journeys – Mapping current customer journeys may expose where user interactions are problematic and may benefit from the introduction of AI.
Start and continually monitor the experience – Happy Signals, an experience management platform for IT, states that “humans are the best sensors”. Humans are working in technological environments that are in a constant state of change and evolution. Actively seeking out and acting upon feedback from humans regarding their experiences with technology raises awareness of the user experience and fosters a more human-centric approach to technology use and adoption.

The best way to ensure that AI-enabled technologies are more human is to design them with empathy. Design thinking, customer journey mapping, and experience management will help ensure that AI stays in touch with the “human” side.

Need help with customer journey mapping? Perhaps using design thinking techniques to develop solution-rich, human centered solutions for addressing challenges with customer and employee experience? We can help – contact Tedder Consulting for more information.

[i] “Siri” is a trademark of Apple, Inc.

[ii] “Alexa” is a trademark of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

[iii] “Bixby” is a trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

[iv] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/anthropomorphism , retrieved March 2024.

[v] Lasseter, John. Toy Story. Buena Vista Pictures, 1995.

[vi] Orwell, George. Animal Farm. Collins Classics, 2021.

[vii] Milne, A.A., 1882-1956. Winnie-the-Pooh. E.P. Dutton & Co., 1926.

[viii] Wikipedia. “History of artificial intelligence”. Retrieved March 2024.

[ix] https://www.contactfusion.co.uk/the-challenges-of-using-ai-chatbots-problems-and-solutions-explored , retrieved March 2024.

[x] Ibid.

[xi] https://www.qualtrics.com/experience-management/customer/customer-journey-mapping , retrieved March 2024.

[xii] Ganesan, Kavita. “The Business Case for AI: A Leader’s Guide to AI Strategies, Best Practices, & Real-World Applications”. Opinosis Analytics Publishing, 2022.

ESM, Leadership

Where Is IT On Your Customer Journey Map?

January 12, 2020 Doug Tedder 1 Comment

In today’s digital world, it’s imperative that organizations create and deliver world-class customer experiences. The Amazons and Zappos of the world have changed how customers want and expect to interact with organizations, especially online. Customers expect continual updates, easy to use self-service options, and streamlined processes, from start to finish.

This means organizations must research, understand and optimize every part of their customer’s journey. This process of documenting a customer’s journey was once thought to be a job for externally-facing departments, such as marketing or customer service.

But this siloed style of operations won’t work today. Today the modern C-suite must work together to create customer journey maps and, most importantly, IT must include themselves on those maps. The good news is that the door is wide open for CIOs to grab this opportunity.

What are Customer Journey Maps?

Before IT can make sure they’re properly included on customer journey maps, let’s address what we are referring to when we discuss these maps.

Customer journey maps are documents that help organizations visualize and understand how they attract and retain customers, and how customers interact with the organization. These documents depict each touchpoint a prospective customer may have with an organization. Touchpoints include interactions like a customer visiting their website, placing an order, contacting customer support, and leaving a review. Customer journey mapping provides a 360-degree view of a customer’s wants and needs.

Why are Customer Journey Maps important?

As I pointed out earlier, customers expect world-class experiences from every organization they interact with, no matter how large or small. According to Oracle’s Customer Experience Impact Report, 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a better experience with a brand. They expect a seamless purchase experience and if they don’t find it with your organization, they will quickly go find it somewhere else. The internet has limitless options for today’s consumers, so the best way to win is to provide a flawless experience.

Additionally, we live in an interconnected world, and a bad customer experience often doesn’t stop as soon as the person hits “cancel order.” Many customers will take to social media and review sites to broadcast about the experience, which could negatively impact future sales with other potential customers. According to Temkin, 30% of consumers tell the company after a bad experience. But 50% of those consumers tell their friends, and 15% of those consumers provide feedback online . It’s easy to see how a single bad customer experience doesn’t just impact one customer.

A customer journey map can also reduce the number of assumptions that your organization is likely making about your customers. It’s natural for certain biases to exist when it comes to how your audience interacts with your organization. It’s important to look at the data instead of trusting the beliefs or views of internal teams.

Why does IT need to play a role?

Perhaps a decade ago, it was unlikely that IT would have been a part of these customer journey mapping experiences. But today, IT has to be a part of the exercise because technology is a key component in delivering a seamless customer experience.

For example, one of the leading trends in customer experience is personalization. 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that offer a personalized experience. To create a personalized experience, like offering relevant product suggestions or targeted ads, requires the use of technology to track and store data about a consumer’s behavior. Even though this may sound like a marketing task, it will be IT that will be implementing the technology and managing the data. Therefore, IT must understand why this technology is necessary and have a role in how it should be implemented and leveraged.

What Should IT Do to Be Involved?

Creating a customer journey map is a collaborative project. The best first step any CIO can take to be a part of this project is to break down any silos or any competing goals that may exist with other departments. No single department can “own” the customer journey map. Either everyone is on board and in consensus or you have a flawed map.

The actual creation of the map requires both quantitative and qualitative data. Since CIOs and IT rarely directly interacts with consumers, they won’t have much qualitative data. However, they will have quantitative data found within the systems of engagement and systems of record. The CIO should deliver whatever data they may have about the customer experience, whether that is customer analytics or website data.

Finally, it’s important to remember the overall goal of this experience: it’s to delight the customer in every phase of their journey with you. IT can often hold preconceived notions of what’s the best technology or tool or they can have doubts over whether technology is necessary. These beliefs will only put up roadblocks in the process. Let the needs of the customer drive this process. As Steve Jobs once said back in 1995, “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back to the technology — not the other way around.” For CIOs to succeed they must open their eyes to the journey the customer is on and then work to support it.

Customer journey mapping is an important exercise that every organization should do and IT shouldn’t miss out on the opportunity to help shape the experience for the customer. By bringing the right data, clarifying the needs and understanding the wants, IT can deliver the technology that will enable fantastic customer experiences and support the company in their business goals.