IT Service Management
can be defined as:
“The principles and
practices of designing, delivering, and maintaining IT services, to
an agreed level of quality, in support of the customer
activity.”
What causes the most
unplanned downtime?
Effective IT Service
Management is built on integrating people, processes, and technology
into a well-designed system based on best industry practices. If
poorly defined IT processes, roles, metrics, and service norms are
undermining your effectiveness, you're not alone. It's estimated
that 80 percent of unplanned downtime results from people and
process issues.
You here it over and
over, that it has been proven, that the ability to deliver high
quality, low cost IT services, like other technical and business
implementations, is enhanced if those services are based on
consistently applied, methodologies and best practices.
ITSM Supported by
ITIL
If I was asked four
years ago the question as to if I believed ITIL was best practice I
would have said “no”.
Why is that? The
original incarnation of what was ITIL in 1990 to about 1997 didn’t
change and although it was best practice in the early years could
not be regarded as best practice in 2000 if it had remained
unchanged, because the world changed the way it delivered services
and ITIL didn’t. This changed in the late 1990’s when the
UK government realized
that ITIL was no longer best practice and the OGC was formed.
IT Service Management
Philosophy
IT Service Management
is the more philosophical view of what you want to achieve. I liken
this relationship to an organizations Vision and
Mission. I see the Vision as
something embodying the long term strategy of an organization, where
the Mission is usually one or
more things that need to be done to help achieve the Vision.
The
Difference!
Why am I using this as
an example of the relationship between IT Service Management and
ITIL? Because ITIL is the framework that is current best practice to
help us understand and achieve quality IT Service Management for the
customer.
At my last count there
were something like 24 separate frameworks and methodologies that
support IT Service Management. Yet most of these are either
proprietary knowledge based on ITIL and/or they have a specific
focus such as auditing.
I leave the reader
with a question to ponder. Where can business and technical managers
receive the education and training necessary to exploit standardized
processes and best practices to deliver better IT services?
For my money it’s IT Service Management with
ITIL – that’s where!
Want to find out more
about ITIL:
