Against a backdrop of an unprecedented global crisis, C-level executives are adding one more worry to the list: guiding their organization to the next normal. No amount of “what if” scenarios and stress tests could have prepared us for the shutdown of the global economy, and there is no map to guide us as we restart the engines. In this series, we’ll take a look at what digital leaders should consider as they navigate the scale, pace and actions required to steer their org back on the path of operational success.

Even before the pandemic, CIOs only knew a life of rapid demands and changes. The velocity of the modern digital economy demands a constant re-shifting of technology and process initiatives to ensure the enterprise uses technology to compete and in innovative ways to grow. During the world’s greatest stress test, many organizations recognized the most essential of workers who helped them pivot seemingly overnight: IT staff.

As we get back to the business of returning to the offce, CIOs will be tackling significant questions:

• What did we do well and is it enough for the next crisis?
• What weaknesses were exposed in our business continuity and operational plans?
• What lessons did we learn the hard way with galvanizing our infrastructure?
• Who demonstrated better practices that we could learn from?

Other questions for key processes as CIOs re-calibrate planning and strategies:

Remote Working

• Capabilities: what portions of the infrastructure do we need to shed?
• Resiliency: what additional scenarios could drastically impact our people?
• Governance: were we prepared to secure and privative new environments?

Adaptive Capacity for Cloud and Digital Channels

• Planning: were we able to scale services and demands to meet the needs of everyone?
• Automation: how do we get better at predicting and managing disruption earlier?
• Experience Management: did we react blindly or rationally adapt and how that did that impact the employee and customer experience?
• Allocation: were we able to meet demand and monitor usage effectively?
• Supply Chain: were we able to onboard other vendors quickly and securely?

Resource Optimization

• Cost Management: when costs fluctuated, did we react smartly?
• Productivity: where do we invest in our now changed business operations model, especially for the workforce to remain productive?

Lastly and maybe most importantly, key traits need to be rooted in the culture for people, process and technology to remain nimble: be experimental, be thoughtful, be agile and be swift. After all, our new normal is constant change.

To read more in this series: 

• How CPOs should navigate employee experience in the months ahead
• How CFOs should navigate cost optimization in the months ahead
• How CISOs should navigate security in the months ahead

This is the second post in our series of what digital leaders should consider as they navigate the scale, pace and actions required to steer their org back in the new normal. A paramount concern for every organization during the pandemic was their workforce: were they doing enough for their people and providing the right support for them, and their families, to work effectively during chaos? It seemed like the workplace changed overnight, from cubicle farms and open offices to virtual meetings with furry friends and tiny humans popping in to demand treats. Amidst all of the change and even with remaining uncertainty, it’s clear that many executives realize the imperative to demonstrate supportive actions to show how they care for their people.

As we think about what returning to the office looks like, CPOs will be tackling significant questions:

• What did we do well to make our people feel cared for and supported?
• What weaknesses were exposed in our employee experience journey map?
• What lessons did we learn the hard way about how our leaders communicated changes?
• Who demonstrated better practices about collaborating that we could learn from?

Other questions for key processes as CPOs re-calibrate planning and strategies:

Culture

• Connectivity: did we empower leaders to build in moments to connect to each other?
• Progress: Was company culture disrupted, how do we re-cultivate any sense of disconnect?

Agility

• Pulse-Checks: how do we use technology to understand where we need to take action most urgently?
• Collaboration: how do we re-configure communications processes for teams to have check-ins to keep ongoing work in progress and spark new ideas?

New Working Paradigms

• For Managers: did we provide enough knowledge, guidance and tools for managers to be understanding of new work environments and to check in on their people?
• For Employees: did we provide tools and ways for employees to be understanding of shifts in work environments and to check in on each other?
• For the Business: how do we use technology to empower productivity when our workforce has competing priorities in remote environments?

Someday we’ll return to the physical office, or maybe not. One thing cannot be overstated no matter the size of your organization: the human element. During a crisis, people will look to each other for support and steadfastly support the growth of those who stood by them. Leaders who get this also genuinely care about purpose and as we emerge from uncertainty into a new normal, their people will not only shine, they will thrive.

To read more in this series: 

• How CIOs should navigate IT buying and spending in the months ahead
• How CFOs should navigate cost optimization in the months ahead
• How CISOs should navigate security in the months ahead

In our fourth post of our series of what digital leaders should consider as they navigate the scale, pace and actions required to steer their org back in the new normal, we’re going to talk all things cybersecurity. No one is more up to the task than the executive whose BAU mode is intricate, volatile and unpredictable environments: the Chief Information Security Officer. The mandate to enable a completely remote and distributed workforce left even CISOs drowning in a tech tsunami. Emergency purchasing needs³ included endpoint security controls, network and mobile device security and ways to enable/restrict access like multi-factor authorization. The degree of cooperation and collaboration between IT and line of business users remains unprecedented and trusted partners really stepped up to the plate to deliver.

With substantial disruptions to working environments potentially the new BAU, CISOs face significant questions:

• What did we do well to secure remote workers and our data?
• What weaknesses were exposed in how we monitor users and security?
• What lessons did we learn the hard way about our infrastructure and network security?
• Who demonstrated better practices about accelerating security controls that we could learn from?

Other questions for key processes as CISOs reevaluate cybersecurity controls:

Collaborating Beyond Business Lines

• What infrastructure investments do we need to make and who needs to be at the table when we make these decisions?
• How does the change to a remote, distributed workforce alter the risk profile of cyber intrusions within the organization⁴ ?

Securing User Experiences

• What services are most valuable to our users and our adversaries?
• What, if any, services do we need to alter if systems are overloaded and how do we minimize impact⁵ to the overall end user experience?

Trusted Partners

• What potential key suppliers, contractors and vendors, will need to access our infrastructure to implement additional scale?
• Do we have key points of contacts with IT and cloud suppliers for security incidents?

There is no doubt CISOs will be asked to accelerate digital transformation even faster and they should not miss the opportunities in front of them to help their organizations embrace intelligent, tech-enabled systems across every facet of the business.

To read more in this series:

• How CIOs should navigate IT buying and spending in the months ahead
• How CPOs should navigate employee experience in the months ahead
• How CFOs should navigate cost optimization in the months ahead

³ https://www.csoonline.com/article/3534521/3-ways-covid-19-is-changing-ciso-priorities.html↩
⁴ https://blog.protiviti.com/2020/04/09/a-ciso-agenda-for-addressing-covid-19-challenges/↩
⁵ https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2020/03/covid-19.html↩

This is the third post in our series of what digital leaders should consider as they navigate the scale, pace and actions required to steer their org back in the new normal. Finance leaders everywhere know that all eyes will be on them to restore stability to economies and budgets.

In a survey of 300 chief financial officers, PwC¹ learned that about half expect remote work to become the norm for certain roles, and a quarter expect to decrease their real estate footprint through partial openings of offices or retail locations. The survey also showed that cost pressures are rising: 80% expect a decrease in profits and/or revenue this year as a result of Covid-19, and 70% are considering deferring or canceling planned investments.

As CFOs think through what’s required to shift from crisis mode to stability, they are on the hook to answer significant questions:

• What did we do well to optimize existing and unplanned resources?
• What weaknesses were exposed in our revenue projections?
• What lessons did we learn the hard way about how we invest in keeping people safe?
• Who demonstrated better practices about cost optimization that we could learn from?

Other questions as CPOs re-calibrate planning and strategies:

Existing Standards

• Costs: how to factor in which costs are truly fixed versus variable as we reconsider what was really necessary in a crisis?
• Re-Imagining Opportunities: now that we have a stronger sense of what makes our business more resilient to shocks², what tools do we need to invest more in to remain more productive?
• Supply-Chain: how do we rebuild supply chain resiliency with alternate suppliers and closer to the end user?

Projecting Future Costs for

• Testing and tracing for employees, contractors, partners and suppliers?
• Reconfiguring workspaces to provide recommended guidelines for social distancing?
• Technology to support emergency notifications and ongoing updates?
• Increased demand in short term leave requests?

Re-architecting the way a business looks at the absolute tools and processes needed for complete disruption is no easy task. As the pursuit of on-demand gratification gives way to the requirement of what’s needed to stabilize working environments, no one is more equipped to lend a calm, objective eye like that of financial leaders. It’s their moment to shine!

To read more in this series: 

• How CIOs should navigate IT buying and spending in the months ahead
• How CPOs should navigate employee experience in the months ahead
• How CISOs should navigate security in the months ahead

¹ https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/what-cfos-are-expecting-as-the-economy-begins-to-reopen/ ↩
² https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/beyond-coronavirus-the-path-to-the-next-normal ↩

We built BMC Helix, our cloud-based Cognitive Service Management solution, to address today’s most non-negotiable business requirement: enabling digital transformation by re-engineering tools and processes. 70% of all digital transformation initiatives do not reach their goals. That is a serious issue that impacts the unified experiences customers and employees demand. We believe that BMC Helix can play a significant role in solving it.

BMC Helix now includes both ITSM and ITOM capabilities enabling organizations to proactively and predictively discover, monitor, optimize, remediate, and deliver an omni-channel service experience for IT and line-of-business.

The power of BMC Helix lies in its core components: the 3 Cs – Cognitive, Cloud, and Containers. In this blog, we’ll explore each one in detail and why it matters to your business.

#1: Cognitive: Delivering on the Promise of AI and Machine Learning
Service Management (CSM) embeds emerging technologies like AI and machine learning into every step of the service delivery lifecycle to increase productivity, accuracy, and speed while reducing costs.

With tech being a driver of change and also the thing being changed, business leaders know that growth and innovation requires a hard look at how service is delivered across the enterprise. CSM replaces outdated, manual processes with intelligence and automation to deliver smart, omni-channel experiences to both agents and end users.

BMC Helix prepares enterprises to transform their service management from being reactive to proactive and predictive with:

• Pervasive intelligence to see around corners
• A single view from the basement to the boardroom
• Consumer grade experiences for the enterprise

As these outcomes demonstrate, cognitive capabilities should be approached like any other aspect of IT: with a laser focus on business results versus technical features. While solutions from other vendors may claim cognitive functionality, it’s often a simple widget that’s more “shiny object” than “business game changer”. BMC Helix delivers on the opportunity of AI and more to truly impact your bottom line.

What does that look like in practice? The cognitive capabilities in BMC Helix essentially automate levels 0, 1, and 2 of your service delivery processes. Via intelligent chatbots, it speaks to users in natural, native language to determine how to best solve the issue. It runs through the same troubleshooting script as an agent to determine the source of the problem, intelligently searches and accesses its knowledge base to provide an answer, or routes the ticket to the correct level 3 resource. By automating the more mundane tasks, CSM frees up agents’ time to work on higher value initiatives while helping end users find answers and get back to work more quickly. As a result, users are more satisfied, and IT can more efficiently use its existing resources.

#2: Cloud: Everything-as-a-Service and Operating in the Multi-Cloud
At its core, this “C” represents the ability of BMC Helix to deliver everything as a service: Remedy-as-a-Service, Discovery-as-a-Service, Digital Workplace-as-a-Service, and Business Workflows-as-a-Service. The benefits of SaaS deployments are well-covered ground, but it’s worth emphasizing the importance of the everything-as-a-service (EaaS) model to modern Cognitive Service Management.

By running all these core products as a service, the enterprise gains the agility and speed to keep up with the pace of business. The EaaS model accelerates innovation, reduces infrastructure and operations costs, and makes it easier for end users and IT alike to consume services. It eliminates the overhead of upgrading, migrating, and managing legacy applications and requires no “ripping and replacing.” You’ve invested heavily in your IT infrastructure; with BMC Helix, you can continue to operate hybrid deployments, integrating where necessary into your multi-cloud environment.

Multi-cloud, in fact, is the other aspect of the “Cloud” pillar of BMC Helix. BMC Helix helps you achieve seamless operation across multi-cloud use cases. It runs on any type of public cloud, including AWS, Azure, and the BMC Cloud, making it an ideal fit for multi-cloud environments.

Each component supports your multi-cloud strategy in a unique way:

• BMC Helix Discovery: Deliver fast, accurate, and secure cloud and on-premises asset visibility.
• BMC Helix ITSM: SaaS-Based predictive IT service management for your modern enterprise.
• BMC Helix Business Workflows: Engaging omni-channel experiences that simplify the way business service gets delivered.
• BMC Helix Digital Workplace: Intelligent omni-channel experiences for the future of work.
• Helix Platform: Fast track app innovation – empower coders and non-coders to co-create apps in the cloud.

Working in concert, these products enables the benefits of BMC Helix to extend far beyond the service desk.

#3: Containers: More Flexibility, More Choice
Containers enable greater freedom and flexibility in today’s complex multi-cloud environments. Many people outside of IT, however, aren’t exactly sure what containers are, how they work, and why they should care, so let’s start there. Docker, a prominent container platform provider, defines containers as “a standard unit of software that packages up code and all its dependencies so the application runs quickly and reliably from one computing environment to another.”

The container model offers a variety of benefits. Containers are significantly smaller than virtual machines, so take up less server space and can run much faster. They’re also modular. Developers can split an application into modules, such as the database, the application front-end, etc., and build and modify just the individual modules instead of the entire application (this is referred to as the microservices approach, which you’ll often hear in conjunction with conversations about containerization.) These modules and the containers themselves are very lightweight, so can be made available as soon as they’re required.

What does all of this mean for the business? In short, more easily customized and updated applications, served up more quickly and easily, with greater flexibility and freedom of choice. Using containers as a deployment model allows IT to leverage the cloud of their choice, make changes when necessary, and never lose the power and personalization of their applications. It’s no surprise that organizations are moving in this direction: a recent Gartner report predicted that “By 2023, more than 70% of global organizations will be running more than two containerized applications in production, up from less than 20% in 2019.”

Which brings us back to BMC Helix. Containers are the means by which BMC Helix delivers everything as a service. BMC Helix takes the latest and greatest innovations of our best products, like Remedy and Discovery, and packages them in a container that can be deployed in your cloud of choice. It eliminates deployment issues while adding critical multi-cloud management, so you gain agility and speed as well as efficiency and cost-savings. End users benefit as well, with automatic updates (just like consumer apps) that keep applications running at their peak.

These capabilities enable the most powerful outcome of BMC Helix: choice. With BMC Helix, you gain the ability to choose the cloud that you want, to dial up a service at a moment’s notice, to customize your services, to deliver and scale them as required at any given time – and to change any or all of those things whenever cost, compliance, or other factors demand it.

The Power of the 3Cs: Cognitive, Cloud, and Containers
Taken together, the 3 Cs reflect what BMC Helix is all about: meaningful business outcomes. As the first and only end-to-end service and operations SaaS platform that’s integrated with 360-degree intelligence, BMC Helix delivers on the promise of transformative technologies in a very real way. It enables you to consume services easily and manage your multi-cloud environment efficiently and effectively. By using containers as the deployment mechanism, it helps IT deliver the speed and scale of services that business today demands. Those are real business results. That’s BMC Helix.