ITSM has a primary
objective, which is to ensure that the IT Services are aligned to
the business needs! It is imperative that the IT Services underpin
the business processes but it is also increasingly important that IT
should act as an agent for Change to facilitate business
transformation. What the
reader must be aware of is that ITSM is more than just
ITIL!
Matching IT capability
to the Business need
Most organizations
that use IT will be dependent on it. If IT processes are not
implemented, managed and supported in the appropriate way, the
business will probably suffer unacceptable degradation in terms of
loss of productive hours, higher costs, loss of revenue or perhaps
even business failure, depending upon the criticality of the IT
service to the business.
IT service provision,
in all organizations, needs to be matched to current and rapidly
changing business demands. The objective is to continually improve
the quality of service, aligned to the business requirements,
cost-effectively. To meet this objective, three areas need to be
considered:
- People with the
right skills, appropriate training and the right service
culture,
- Effective and
efficient ITSM processes,
- Good IT
Infrastructure in terms of tools and
technology.
These three areas will
only facilitate the implementation or realization of the objectives
if they are considered in relation to a conscious, structured
mechanism of alignment or 'steering' towards concrete business
focused goals.
Unless People,
Processes and Technology are considered and implemented
appropriately within a steering framework, the objectives of ITSM
will not be realized.
Justification
It is important to
make a clear business justification for implementation.
What benefits will the
business itself get from improved IT Service Management
processes? This question must be
asked prior to any implementation of any
framework.
ITSM must make a
difference to the whole organization. It must make the business
processes more efficient and more effective. How the business sees
IT achieving this also needs to be understood, e.g. business
efficiency, cost reduction in IT Service Delivery, increased
Customer satisfaction with Service Delivery or more reliable IT
Services to support business critical services. In all probability
it will be all or most of these things.
ITIL can best be
utilized, not only for improving the quality of existing IT Service
Management practices, but also for aligning them with changing
business demands.
Benefits
The benefits of ITSM
must be identified in order to justify implementing the processes.
In fact, all the improvements must deliver a benefit to the
business, if not directly then indirectly, otherwise there will be
no business case. Benefits should also be considered for each of the
stakeholders. The importance and level of the benefits will vary
between organizations. The specific benefits will have to be defined
in a way that they can be measured to confirm that they have been
realized.
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