IT Service Management Automation Deluxe – integrating service providers at ALBA Group.
The collaboration between ALBA and Labtagon
The business relationship between ALBA and Labtagon GmbH in Mönchengladbach is an extremely strong one, having been working together successfully in a close partnership for over 14 years. ALBA has been using Matrix42’s workspace management in this context for years and senior managers are convinced about the value of the solution, as Peter Rick, Head of Governance & IT Service Management (at the group’s waste disposal company), explains:
The Challenge
“With Matrix42, we can keep track of everything, says Peter Rick. This is critical since the 50-strong IT department from Berlin is responsible for a total of 120 locations, both inside and outside of Germany. More than 2,000 of the 5,400 employees are “IT-relevant” and access the company’s systems every day, making hundreds of service requests – a number that is increasing. IT services problems, when they occur, are caused by slow support due to insufficient automation, non-transparent and manual IT processes, numerous data silos from external service providers and exploding IT costs, as well as high fluctuation.
Focused on three important IT services, Peter Rick’s specific challenges are:
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How can we further standardize and automate the provision of services from Deutsche Telekom, from ordering to usage?
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How can we make the billing data from Deutsche Telekom usable within our internal service billing processes?
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How can we connect third-party systems such as Dracoon to Matrix42 via interfaces and provide access to them automatically?
The Solution
“Solutions must be created that enable comprehensive control with a high degree of outsourcing. To do this, complexity must be reduced and anything that isn’t useful must be eliminated,” says Peter Rick. This is all the more important in the context of high fluctuation, in order to avoid errors and ensure traceability. But it only works if the processes are right. You can’t automate anything that hasn’t been standardized beforehand. The goal is to move away from ticket-based requests towards self-service. For example, if onboarding already starts automatically via SAP, the ordering of telephony services is handled by a standardized Matrix42 self-service portal, without the direct involvement of the ALBA IT department.
The implementation of the self-service concept has been received enthusiastically by employees and accelerates processes across the organization.
“For example, IT tickets that are initiated by users can now be processed more efficiently thanks to simplified approval processes and automatically generated tasks that are guided via pre-filled forms.”
The second use case is also related to Deutsche Telekom: It’s about billing from a third-party system and the efficient billing of services to employees and cost centers. The weak points in this process included a lack of transparency and traceability, limited controlling options and the amount of time spent on resolving incorrect bookings based on variable, usage-dependent costs. The magic formula is, once again, standardization before automation. In concrete terms: Fewer choices and bookable tariff options, as well as a consistent process that ensures that the master data match one another when the order is placed via the interfaces to Deutsche Telekom.
The third use case deals with another challenge that the group companies presented to IT: the booking and provision of secure data rooms via a ticket system, that can also be continuously administered and managed. To avoid the need for manual processes, Labtagon has created a communication interface between Dracoon and Matrix42 using a connector. The result is completely automated: Standard workflows are carried out via so-called activities, e.g., the creation of new data rooms and new user authorizations. The activities are like small Lego bricks, that can also be combined to manage more complex processes, and for interactions with other service providers.
The Benefits
Through the introduction of a standardized Matrix42 self-service platform for IT services, the ALBA Group, with the help of Labtagon, has significantly simplified its use of telecoms services from ordering to provision. But it has also made the subsequent processing of data from Deutsche Telekom’s systems and the sharing of sensitive data with Dracoon easier. As part of the collaboration, both partners have identified and reduced specific IT and process cost drivers. ALBA can sustainably increase the efficient processing of IT tickets through simplified IT processes and automated workflows. It can also manage its IT assets and components efficiently and quickly with greater transparency. Neither users nor the IT service providers need to change systems in order to complete their tasks. And because there is no need to switch to a different interface, work generally becomes a lot easier.
In addition: All solutions are implemented in such a way that complex bespoke development work can be avoided – this sidesteps problems with system updates and leads to a high degree of reusability, not only at ALBA, but also for other customers.
Conclusion
With the deployment of Matrix42 Digital Workspace Management and the support of Labtagon during the implementation, the ALBA Group now has a comprehensive overview of its IT, from the ticket system, to onboarding and offboarding processes, and the management of SIM cards. Significant added value is provided by the cost transparency enabled by the Matrix42 solution – right down to the last workstation.
Image Source: ALBA Group
