Incident management plays a critical part in ITSM, yet so much of incident management is subjective in nature. It requires users and the service desk to compare notes on what they think they are seeing and what might be causing it. An existing knowledge article may prescribe a solution, but if the article does not precisely reflect the issue at hand, then that solution may just cause more problems. In a post for All Things ITSM, Doug Tedder discusses how this traditional incident management may be reaching its end, and what will replace it.
Self-Healing IT
Tedder actually asks if there is even a point in opening incident tickets anymore, in that so many monitoring systems already exist to capture such information. Event logging often tells the story by itself, for instance. Automation is paving the way to take the manual aspects out of incident management. Tedder lists off some of the technologies that will enable this:
Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence that provides computers with the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. Machine learning focuses on the development of computer programs that can teach themselves to grow and change when exposed to new data. Cognitive computing involves self-learning systems that use data mining, pattern recognition and natural language processing to mimic the way the human brain works. Robotic Process Automation (RPA)… can be configured to capture and interpret existing applications for processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses and communicating with other digital systems.
However, to make the best of such technologies, a stronger grasp of ITSM than ever will be required. Toward that end, some recommendations to get ready are suggested. First, invest in problem management, and consider both the reactive and proactive aspects of it. Second, consider how knowledge management and knowledge articles might evolve into the foundation for RPA in the future. Furthermore, commit to building a formal event management process for the whole business. Emphasizing this sort of action is how to get the ball rolling on a future-ready incident management capability.
You can view the original post here: http://allthingsitsm.com/the-end-of-incident-management-as-we-know-it/
