Is there a future for humans in IT service delivery?

[#1]

By Kate Whalen

A few of years back, IBM introduced a computer named “Watson”. By combining advanced natural language processing and sophisticated decision-making capabilities, it was one brainy behemoth - and it was joked that the computer was almost smart enough to be a doctor. Then, in a brilliant marketing move, IBM entered Watson in a human v. computer face-off on the popular US game show “Jeopardy”. Not surprisingly, Watson whopped his homo-sapiens competitors.

Increasingly, computers are playing a dramatic and important role in diagnosing and recommending treatment of medical problems in humans, and the miracle promise that Watson-like devices bring to medicine is no longer a fantasy. -- But will computers make doctors obsolete? Doubtful! Liken their uses in medicine to the potentially less life-and-death IT support situations that are diagnosed and treated via the advent of “smart” servers such as HP’s new line of ProLiant GEN8 servers. Does this product advancement signal the death-knell for services and support professionals?

Again, I think the answer is a resounding “no”.

Why then, is the human component in service and support delivery so important – not only to the actual health of the IT environment, but to your relationship with your IT product & support provider?

The challenges of managing your modernized IT environment, while controlling costs, are changing dramatically. Sprawl, cloud, convergence and your need to invest - disproportionately more - in IT operations versus innovation are all “headache factors” in your daily work-life. Understanding this paradox, HP evolved Care Support Services to address the modernized IT environment. There are new technology products and solutions that can help you manage services complexity and IT support operations, as well – and the “humanity” is evident in each pillar of the personalized, proactive and simplified Always On portfolio from HP.

Take, for example, HP support automation solutions such as Insight Remote Support. System configuration and monitoring is managed 24 x 7 so that problems can be resolved faster. Additionally, you can access tools, via the cloud, to simplify service administration and management via the new Insight Online customer and partner support portal. And you can do that anywhere, anytime.

BTW – Recent stats show that, with HP’s Care Support Services, you can:

• Resolve unplanned downtime 66 percent faster.
• Resolve support issues on the first attempt 95 percent of the time.
• Deploy system updates three times faster, with up to 93 percent less downtime.

But -- Where’s the humanity there, you might ask?

Well, you can still take advantage of dedicated support teams - a single human point of contact - for problem diagnosis and resolution. There are a number of proactive Care Support Service options that can detect and resolve IT problems before they impact your business. But, if your mission critical environment requires different levels of support to meet your needs, on-site rapid response and direct access to HP’s technical experts and resources is also available.

How about business acumen as well as industry knowledge and experience? Where does that aspect play a role, in terms of the overall support environment?

HP consulting expertise brings years of industry acumen and technical skills to assess your IT challenges and help you build an IT plan and program that can help you minimize risk and enable the growth of your business. You can meet some of those experts @ http://h30406.www3.hp.com/campaigns/2010/humanity/index.php A good example of HP’s forward-thinking human-led solutions: HP Cloud Consulting Services. HP’s business and industry experts can help you plan, design and implement services that can help your team understand both the technology aspects of your strategy, as well as key people and process elements.

So -- Is there a machine today that can do this? What does your crystal ball say about the future?

There is this recurring dream that I have, where I am one of the astronauts on that spaceship in “2001: A Space Odyssey”… HAL: Good morning, Kate. I must say, I woke up this morning feeling a bit under the weather myself, so I ran some quick self-diagnostic routines. How are you feeling today, Kate?...

Uh-oh. Time for a Summer vacation, Kate?

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For more information on HP’s Care Services, please visit this site.

For HP’s Cloud Consulting Services, checkout this site and Meet the HP Technology Experts.



Kate Stanton Whalen has worked in IT Services communications and marketing for over 25 years.

She is currently a writer and editor for the HP Technology Services Social Media Program.

[#2]

Great post, Kate.  Innovative wearable devices will make our lives easier by closely monitoring various parameters that define our state of health.  However, such data generated will still need to be informationalized for subjective judgement calls to be made which only humans can do.  Therefore, I agree with your assertion that the human component will remain an essential differentiator in the delivery of services for outcomes that matter.

Connect with Nadhan on: Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin

[#3]

Thanks, Nadhan. "Outcomes that matter" - That is key, I believe, and one of the reasons that I am so upbeat about HP’s new direction and tone that speaks to important daily interactions with our customers. Services have always been key to the long-term partnerships we build with our clients - and that is because of the ongoing touch-points our service professionals have with our client teams.

Let’s go back to the patient/doctor analogy.

Think about the last interaction you had with the voicemail system in your physician’s office. I would venture to guess that your blood pressure returned to somewhere in the normal range when you finally spoke with the nurse. You, as a person, mattered then; someone on the other end of the telephone line expressed concern when you described your symptoms. S/he may have even been able to dispense a prescriptive cure over the telephone. There was a human intervention, and part of your healing had to do with your belief in the caring human voice at the end of the telephone line.

But sometimes one needs to actually consult with the physician -- and s/he needs to see you. That bump or cough needs assessment that only comes from a hands-on experience, from listening to your heart beat and looking into your eyes, or running and reading the results from some diagnostic tests in the lab. That bump is a fatty deposit; the cough is an allergy. Remedies can be determined and delivered to alleviate the symptoms as well as address the cause.

It is in our human nature to express empathy when there is a problem to solve. To look for a cure or seek a solution. To make it better. And that is what we intuitively do in IT Services at HP. It's just in our DNA. And customer relationships are stronger and better, I think, for our humanity.