EIP's Journey with ALVAO for IT Service Management and Asset Management

EIP's activities encompasses intellectual property (IP) law services including patent drafting and filing, as well as prosecuting patent, trademark and design applications – hence the need for robust IT Service Management (ITSM) and IT Asset Management (ITAM) solutions.

As a Microsoft-centric organization operating globally, EIP harnesses the Microsoft ecosystem to achieve top-tier productivity. Nonetheless, their existing legacy systems for IT service and asset management were inadequate for the firm's evolving requirements.

Challenges Facing EIP’s ITSM Processes

Mark Challis, IT Operations and Security Manager at EIP, noted that their previous ITSM vendor underperformed due to inadequate automation causing value leakage, along with limited visibility into IT operations and the value they provided to the business.

Additionally, EIP encountered several other vendor-related challenges:

• Limited Microsoft integration – The former system lacked comprehensive integration with Microsoft 365 and MS Teams, which are central to EIP's digital strategy
• Automation shortfalls – Manual processes were widespread, leading to inefficiencies and resource strain.
• Time tracking difficulties – The previous system utilized an outdated time-recording approach, complicating the logging and recording of support time.
• Implementation Gaps – The legacy tool was unstructured, resulting in ad hoc configurations and missed opportunities for strategic optimization.

These issues highlighted the necessity for a solution that could serve as a unified point of contact for both IT and non-IT support while integrating seamlessly within the Microsoft environment.

Solution: Why EIP Chose ALVAO

EIP decided to adopt ALVAO’s ITSM and ITAM solutions due to various factors that made ALVAO the optimal choice for EIP – notably high-quality native Microsoft integration, user-friendliness, AI capabilities, and future-readiness.

Challis remarks, "Because the look and feel of ALVAO is very Microsoft-themed, there was a lot of familiarity for our users, making it easier for them to get on board with minimal training."

ALVAO’s ITSM and ITAM solutions are adaptable to support cross-departmental functionalities - HR, Finance, Office Services, and other departments are now using ALVAO without incurring additional costs, while offering a high degree of customization to meet EIP's unique workflows, requirements, and compliance guidelines.

Another aspect that made ALVAO a great fit for EIP was the ability to automate IT tasks and manage tickets directly within MS Teams, significantly enhancing operational efficiencies.

"We wanted to make the process of logging support tickets as easy as possible, eliminating the need for users sending emails or physical walk-ups to the IT department. Now that users are able to log tickets directly from within Teams, we’ve seen a large increase in support tickets being logged directly within the helpdesk."

Moreover, to future-proof their IT operations, EIP required a visionary vendor capable of scaling alongside them. ALVAO's participation as a Microsoft Copilot launch partner reinforced its commitment to future-proofing the solution, contributing to the partnership as a long-term commitment.

The decision was further bolstered by strong support from ALVAO’s team, who provided guidance throughout the onboarding process and beyond.

Implementation and Early Days of Collaboration

The transition to ALVAO was carried out with assistance from ALVAO’s experienced implementation specialists. The initial phase of implementation and collaboration between EIP and ALVAO began demonstrating value immediately. Following the implementation, EIP observed an increase in the number of tickets submitted. The seamless integration with Teams facilitated staff in easily logging requests directly, thereby eliminating emails and walk-ups.

Additionally, EIP staff found ALVAO easy to navigate. They benefited from reduced administrative overhead and less burden in ticket creation processes. The system's Teams integration also minimized email overload by consolidating notifications.

The initial deployment commenced with IT and Office Services, the latter being a department that previously lacked a ticketing system. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, prompting the roll out to other departments like Marketing & Business Development. There are already plans to further expand to other support services including Finance and HR

ALVAO’s ITSM and ITAM saved time for the IT team, improved response times, and increased transparency in service operations. Users appreciated managing tickets directly within Teams, streamlining the process considerably.

Business Impact and Looking Ahead: Expanding ALVAO’s Capabilities 

The EIP team is confident that the collaboration with ALVAO has already brought great work efficiency gains, cost savings, scalability, and compliance benefits. Regarding the key business impacts, Challis mentions three main aspects:

• "The integration into Teams has been fantastic. 95% of our internal communication happens in Teams, so having a help desk solution fully embedded there means we’re getting a much higher rate of ticket submissions." 
• "The fact that ALVAO is now used not just by IT but by four other departments, including including Office Services and Marketing & Business Development, resulting in improved efficiencies in support functions across the firm.
• "The integration with Intune has been transformative. All our assets are now automatically synced without manual input or transfer."
  
  

Looking ahead, EIP plans to incorporate Microsoft Power Automate to streamline complex workflows, such as creating access restrictions for business trips, managing passwords and account operations, or provisioning accounts for new hires.

The next phase aims to involve six departments, broadening service coverage across the organization. Focus will also shift towards leveraging ALVAO’s ITAM capabilities for hardware and software lifecycle management, ensuring assets are tracked and optimized for better cost efficiency.

Mark Challis, IT Operations and Security Manager at EIP, summarizes the impact of ALVAO on the organization:

Picture this: We extensively use the Microsoft ecosystem to enhance work efficiency. The IT Team has always been central to integrating solutions around productivity and collaboration at EIP using the Microsoft Power Platform.

However, this wasn't the case with our legacy Service Management (ITSM) and Asset Management (ITAM) systems. We needed a solution that integrated natively with Microsoft 365 (especially Microsoft Teams), configurable to our specific needs, and user-friendly, yet versatile enough to be utilized beyond IT purposes, e.g., for HR, Finance, Office Services, etc.

I came across ALVAO a couple of years ago at an IT exhibition and stayed in touch until we were ready to start the integration project. They have and continue to excel in many areas:

1. Integration into the Microsoft ecosystem – we streamlined our IT workflows and automated IT tasks like creating tickets, assigning agents, sending notifications, and generating reports.
2. Intuitive customization and configurability – we’ve tailored our IT processes and practices to the firm's specific needs and preferences. 
3. Cross-departmental functional support without additional costs – we can now utilize service catalogues, reuse templates and workflows, and eliminate distribution groups and shared mailboxes, among other benefits.
4. A fantastic team of client relationship-focused professionals who addressed all our questions and made choosing ALVAO straightforward.

We launched recently, and I received positive feedback from users who now manage the complete ticket creation process from start to finish without leaving Teams.

Lastly, AI is crucial to our vision at EIP. We are utilizing Microsoft Copilot internally, knowing that ALVAO is part of the Microsoft Copilot ecosystem, so much so that they were a launch partner at the last Microsoft Ignite.

Conclusion

EIP’s partnership with ALVAO has helped modernise its service and asset management processes. Adopting a solution aligned with its existing Microsoft ecosystem, EIP not only enhanced IT operations but also enabled future innovations, including AI-powered enhancements with Microsoft Copilot.

As the collaboration advances, EIP will continue leveraging ITAM and ITSM technology for strategic advantage.

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