“When Services Start to Think: The Rise of Enterprise Work Orchestration”

Analysts are talking about a fundamental shift in service management. Why is Enterprise Service Management coming to the fore right now? 

We are seeing a clear trend. Service management began with IT service management, which focused on stabilising IT operations and maintaining system operations. It then evolved into Enterprise Service Management, extending structured services to the areas of human resources, finance and core business processes.  

We are now entering the next phase: Enterprise Work Orchestration. This is no longer about managing services in isolation, but about orchestrating end-to-end workflows across the entire organisation – supported by AI that not only automates, but also predicts and increasingly acts autonomously. 

Many organisations have invested heavily in digitalisation – cloud platforms, enterprise tools and initial AI capabilities. Yet the operational reality remains fragmented and reactive. The gap between technological potential and organisational implementation is the driving force behind this transformation. 

Is the traditional view of Enterprise Service Management as a purely IT function holding organisations back?

Yes, and significantly so. Services are no longer confined to IT alone. HR processes, financial workflows and corporate services have a direct impact on productivity and competitiveness.  

Enterprise Service Management – and even more so Enterprise Work Orchestration – is not about technology, but about business outcomes. The real question is how effectively an organisation can deliver services consistently across functions. 

In this context, you speak of a transition from Enterprise Service Management to Enterprise Work Orchestration. What exactly is changing? 

Initially, the focus was on structuring processes, data and workflows. This still forms the basis. What is changing now is the way these are executed. AI is transforming service management into orchestration. We are moving away from workflows that are mainly carried out by people, towards hybrid and increasingly autonomous processes. 

AI can now analyse patterns, identify correlations, predict disruptions and trigger cross-system actions. In this sense, we are shifting from Enterprise Service Management towards Enterprise Work Orchestration – where workflows are no longer merely managed, but actively controlled across the entire organisation. 

What does this mean for organisations that are currently investing heavily in AI? 

It means they need to critically re-evaluate their fundamentals. You cannot simply ‘buy AI’ and expect automatic efficiency gains. One of the biggest risks we are currently seeing is what might be described as ‘uncontrolled AI proliferation’. Many companies are introducing AI in individual areas – such as IT, HR or customer service – and optimising processes locally rather than across the entire organisation. However, rather than improving the overall system, this often creates a second layer of complexity and reinforces silos. 

AI must not be treated as a separate layer on top of fragmented processes. Applying AI to flawed or disjointed workflows merely automates inefficiency on a large scale. True value is only realised when AI is embedded within an integrated service architecture featuring consistent data and genuine end-to-end processes. 

A key theme in analyst discussions is the move away from reactive service models. Why is this so crucial? 

Reactive working is costly and slows down business. In many organisations, action is only taken once something has gone wrong. This leads to disruptions and stagnation.  

With integrated services and high-quality data, AI can detect early warning signs and trigger corrective actions before disruptions occur. The real value lies in predictability – in ensuring that processes run reliably and without disruption. That is what ultimately boosts productivity.

You have repeatedly emphasised that the greatest economic leverage often lies outside the IT department. Could you explain that in more detail? 

Certainly. In a client project, we identified potential savings of more than five million euros over several years. The key insight was that 60 to 70 per cent of the value did not come from reducing IT costs, but from increased productivity within the organisation. 

When services operate reliably and processes aren’t disrupted, staff can focus on creating value rather than constantly having to put out fires. This is precisely where Enterprise Work Orchestration comes into play – it ensures that workflows across the entire organisation are stable, predictable and continuously optimised. 

Many companies already have powerful platforms. Why isn’t this potential being fully utilised? 

The challenge lies not in the technology, but in how companies use it. Many companies have leading enterprise-level platforms, yet these are often deployed across organisational boundaries and used in silos. When AI is deployed in such isolated environments, it does not result in company-wide optimisation – only optimisation at the functional level. And this often comes at the expense of overall efficiency. 

This is a crucial point: optimising individual departments does not automatically lead to optimisation of the entire organisation. Without end-to-end orchestration, improvements in one area can lead to bottlenecks elsewhere. That is why an integrated service model is essential. 

What advice would you give to companies wishing to address this issue now? 

The first step is to take a step back. Many companies focus on keeping existing systems running, with a large proportion of their budgets spent on maintenance.  

Instead, they need to ask themselves: where do we want to be in three years’ time? What services are required to get there? And how should these be organised across the organisation? Simplifying the landscape and reducing complexity are often a necessary starting point – before introducing advanced features such as AI-driven orchestration. 

Finally: What do you think is the most important message for senior management? 

Enterprise Service Management is not just an optimisation initiative – it is a strategic decision about how predictable, resilient and competitive a company will be.  

Enterprise Service Management has laid the foundations. Enterprise Work Orchestration will shape the future. Organisations that can orchestrate processes end-to-end – across IT and the business, supported by AI – will operate more quickly, with greater predictability and significantly higher productivity.