The definition of operational excellence is undergoing profound change. Instead of an enterprise consisting of multiple islands of expertise and efficiency, operational excellence now means breaking down the operational barriers to improve collaboration across departmental lines. This more holistic approach unites the complementary expertise of different teams to create a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

In today’s digital world, organizations are constantly undergoing change. They’re moving to the cloud and rolling out DevOps at scale—all in the name of driving innovation. But moving from a monolith to microservices can lead to applications becoming increasingly distributed. When problems arise, customers don’t care how many teams and services you have, or how complex your architecture is. They only care that your services work when they need them to.

Field service management is a vital part of business operations. It equips employees with the resources needed to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Streamlining communication, making decisions, and predicting issues before they arise are just a few of the challenges facing field service management. At ServiceNow, we understand how crucial it is for businesses to keep work flowing across various business assets and stakeholders. Here are three ways to help do that.

One of the great promises of digital transformation is its ability to vastly enhance the customer experience. By empowering your workers with the tools and information to deliver extraordinary customer service, you create increased value for your customers and your business. However, driving customer digital transformation requires a shift in mindset and approach.

Now, more than ever, the employee experience (CX) and customer experience (EX) are intertwined. Improving CX has a positive impact on EX, and vice versa. “Companies that excel at experience delivery don’t think of the two as separate,” notes Dave Wright, chief innovation officer at ServiceNow, in the Summer 2022 issue of Workflow Quarterly. “Instead, they align EX and CX to multiply the effects of each.

The past few years have led to a significant increase in customer demands, and customer service agents are feeling the pressure. According to a recent Zendesk CX Trends report, 68% of agents report feeling overwhelmed. Here at PagerDuty, we believe that happier customer service agents lead to more positive customer interactions and stronger relationships with your brand.

The best customer tools for business consultants can elevate your consulting business and make it more efficient. If you are constantly looking for new ways to drive operational efficiency and streamline your workflows, you need to take some of the tools on our list for a test drive. With an abundance of tools on the market, there is no shortage of options to choose from.

Nick Borgwardt, director of IT workflow at ServiceNow, co-authored this blog. In our personal lives, it’s easy to get the information and products we need with just a few clicks. Thanks to modern consumer websites and apps, making service requests and ordering products is simple, convenient and, often, automatic. Why shouldn’t our professional lives be just as effortless?