Taking Service Management Beyond IT with Harrison.ai and Xero

Modern Service Management is no longer an IT conversation.

In our recent webinar, Brett sat down with Raj Bhuva, Global Head of IT at Harrison.ai, and Emily Ward, Senior Product Manager at Xero, to explore what it actually takes to extend Jira Service Management beyond IT and into operational teams like Legal.

This was not theory. It was grounded in real implementation, real resistance, and measurable business impact.

Here are the 5 key lessons from both journeys…

1. Do Not Replace Tools. Fix Intake.

Neither organisation set out to replace specialist systems. Legal already had tools in place. Other operational teams had established processes.

The issue was not execution. It was intake.

Without a structured front door:

• Requests land everywhere
• Priorities blur
• Work becomes opaque
• Leadership lacks visibility

JSM became the orchestration layer. A centralised entry point that improved transparency without disrupting how teams actually deliver.

Emily’s perspective: Simplify the intake experience first. Guide users clearly through the portal. Remove confusion before introducing workflow complexity.

Raj’s perspective: A unified service experience creates visibility into volume, bottlenecks, and demand patterns. That insight drives smarter resourcing and faster outcomes, especially in areas like contract review and vendor onboarding.

The win was not technical. It was structural.

2. Adoption Is Won Through Language

Capability was never the blocker. Buy-in was.

Each department works differently. Legal teams are protective of their process, and rightly so. Success came from positioning JSM as a business tool, not an IT system being imposed.

Emily’s approach: Understand the real pain points before configuring anything. Translate requirements into plain language. Show stakeholders what the experience will feel like.

Raj’s approach: Bring teams into sandbox environments early. Provide autonomy within guardrails. Maintain platform standards while allowing flexibility.

Expanding beyond IT is a change exercise first, a configuration exercise second.

3. Knowledge Quality Drives Service Maturity

Both organisations are investing heavily in cleaning up Confluence.

Poor knowledge increases demand. Strong knowledge reduces it.

It also underpins AI.

Emily highlighted the importance of improving collaboration between Legal and other teams. Cleaner knowledge leads to clearer workflows and better feedback loops.

Raj focused on measurable improvement. Benchmark throughput before and after optimisation. Reduce noise. Improve flow. Use AI to handle lower-level queries so specialists can focus on high-value work.

AI is only effective if the knowledge base is trusted.

4. Visibility Is Where the Strategic Value Sits

The real shift was executive.

Before structured service management, teams were busy but leadership had limited clarity. Bottlenecks were assumed, not measured.

With JSM as the front door:

• Workflows became transparent
• Throughput was measurable
• Resource demand was visible
• Constraints could be addressed with data

Raj shared how improving visibility reduced contract turnaround times and vendor onboarding delays. When legal throughput impacts revenue, service maturity becomes commercially relevant.

Emily emphasised smoother cross-team collaboration and clearer matter tracking. Less internal friction leads to better business outcomes.

This is where Modern Service Management moves from operational improvement to strategic enablement.

5. Start Small. Optimise Relentlessly.

Neither organisation aimed for perfection upfront.

They focused on foundations. Clear intake. Defined ownership. Continuous refinement.

Emily’s advice: Start with the basics. Understand users deeply. Iterate. Regularly review what is and is not working.

Raj’s advice: Reduce 20 to 30 percent of inflow through stronger knowledge and AI support. Free teams to focus on higher-value work. Treat optimisation as ongoing, not a one-time rollout.

Modern Service Management is a maturity journey.

Considering Expanding JSM Beyond IT?

If you are exploring Jira Service Management for Legal, HR, Finance, or other operational teams, the message is clear:

• Lead with clarity, not features
• Fix intake before workflows
• Invest in knowledge hygiene
• Secure buy-in through language
• Measure what matters to leadership
• Design for iteration

JSM beyond IT is not about more tickets. It is about reducing friction, increasing visibility, and aligning service delivery with business outcomes.

If you are considering expanding beyond IT and want to explore what that could look like in your organisation, get in touch with our team. We’d be happy to have a no-obligation conversation.

You can also watch the full session below: