iCore Ltd

IT Service Metrics – Measure what matters and manage what counts

beckyholt — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:20:23 +0000

Why do we need to measure anything? We measure so that our decision making is based upon fact, or upon some analysis of fact to provide us with trends and forecasts. We now seem to measure everything and produce masses of data and reams of reports, but is this information actually helping us to manage anything effectively?

Steve Ingall, Head of Consultancy, explains how to measure what matters and manage what counts.

Download pdf here.

Working Miracles – Implementing IT Service Management in Difficult Times

beckyholt — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:58:23 +0000

iCore hosted our first Breakfast Briefing of 2012 entitled “IT Service Management in Difficult Times”. The session discussed how adopting a pragmatic and practical approach and “operationalising” Service Management can deliver real business benefits.

Attendees from the Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Legal and Energy sectors came to listen to a series of presentations from experienced iCore clients who have successfully implemented IT Service Management in their organisations and about the benefits of developing a Service Management capability and maturity.

The briefing format was open and interactive, which provided plenty of opportunity for Q&A and for attendees to bounce ideas off one another, share their own experiences and discuss challenges and successes with their peers.

Steve Ingall, iCore’s Head of Consulting, opened the session with a show of hands around Service Management priorities for 2012. The bias towards service catalogue management, service asset and configuration management very much mirrored iCore’s recent Voice of the Customer exercise, which we use to help shape our own Service Offerings.

Our first guest speakers, Jerry Bradley and Chris Jones, from GDF Suez UK, accompanied by iCore consultant Neil Moore described their journey to implement robust service management support and underpin GDF Suez’s fantastic business growth. Jerry and Chris discussed how, through the implementation of common and consistent process and ways of working, “IT turned the corner” and is now on the “Green Board rather than the Red Board” and became a recognised value add for the business.

Our second guest speaker was Jim Hennigan, Practice Director at Xceed, a partner company with whom iCore are working closely on a number of large customer transformations. Jim’s presentation drew on his experiences working with Unilever, Apple and National Rail Enquiries and majored on the key critical success factors of putting the user at the centre of everything, on the importance of process, on having unwavering focus and to “act when you get it wrong”.

Both Jerry and Jim’s presentations were well received generating plenty of questions and roundtable discussion. Attendee feedback was positive; “… a very good broad scope presentation and a good use of time” commented one delegate.

Steve Ingall summarised the key takeaways from the briefing, which included:

“World-Class” organisations just do the Right things Right
Senior leaders demonstrate by example the organisation’s commitment to exceptional courtesy
Service ethic is practiced by everyone throughout the entire organisation
Establish systems to measure the value of services to customers
Services are provided seamlessly from the customer’s perspective
There is zero tolerance for poor service
Delivering on the service promise improves customer loyalty.

The next iCore Breakfast Briefing is scheduled for mid Q2 2012 and will focus on another service management hot topic. Please contact us to reserve a place, or to discuss any aspect of your IT Service Management agenda contact info@icore-ltd.com or ring us on 020 7464 8881.

Click the links below to view the slides:-

Breakfast Briefing Slides

Jerry Bradley and Chris Jones – GDF Suez

Leading Investment Managers commission iCore to provide independent service management guidance

jimchapman — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:39:51 +0000

iCore has been commissioned by one of the UK’s largest independent private client investment managers and one of the founding firms of the London Stock Exchange to provide independent service management expertise. iCore will assess and make impartial recommendations to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, workload management and business alignment of the Client’s support operation.

The iCore Consultants with utilise iCore’s Accelerators Library (FAST ITSM), which covers all the common frameworks, methods, templates and utilities, combined with our in-house knowledge and experience to ensure that the review outcomes are delivered right, first time and quicker than they would be otherwise.

Another successful Breakfast Briefing on Implementing ITSM in difficult times.

jimchapman — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:24:54 +0000

For more information and to download to the slides click here.

Marco Smith

jimchapman — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:00:03 +0000

Marco is one of iCore’s Principal Consultants with extensive experience of Service Level Management and Service Transition, including Change and Release Management. He has been the owner of the Quality Management System in iCore for the last 5 years and is also the Practice Architect responsible for all collateral and internal communication mechanisms. In addition he is responsible for managing a team of iCore consultants working with them to achieve iCore’s high standards of service and customer support.
He has worked at Senior Management level in client facing roles in a number of assignments and is experienced in team leadership, stakeholder management, budget control, third party supplier contracts/negotiations, business change and process documentation management.
Marco has been responsible for the management of one of the largest customer databases in the world which at the time covered multi-company and multi-brand business units. His skills and qualifications include ITIL® Expert, COBIT Foundation and the analysis of complex technical problems and implementation of innovative and workable solutions.
Marco has also worked at large blue chip organisations such as GlaxoSmithKline and Centrica plc in Service Delivery and Management roles.

Helen Nunn

jimchapman — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:02:23 +0000

Helen is one of iCore’s Principal Consultants and is responsible for managing a number of consultants within the iCore Service Management Team. Working closely with Steve Ingall, our Head of Consultancy, Helen’s role is to enhance the consultancy business and develop the Service Management team’s capabilities. She is also the Product Manager for iCore’s Service Organisation and Structure capability and is working with our resourcing arm to develop the Service Management Recruitment and Resourcing Assessment service.
In the course of her 22 years within the IT industry she has developed knowledge from both a supplier and customer perspective and has gained a wide variety of experience in the private and public sector, including on-shore and off-shore delivery.
Prior to joining iCore Helen was a Principal IT Service Management Consultant for Capgemini and undertook consultancy assignments throughout the world. Helen was also a Senior Customer Service Manager for BT Syntegra, and the Head of Service Management Consultancy for Computacenter Limited where she was responsible for a team of 22 consultants.
She is an ITIL Expert and has an extensive knowledge of service management products including Peregrine Servicecenter, Vantive, viaTIL and Remedy.

Congratulations to new itSMF Chairman

jimchapman — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:14:14 +0000

iCore would like to congratulate Colin Rudd on his appointment as Chairman of itSMF UK succeeding Barry Corless who stepped down after more than 3 excellent years at the helm. Steve Ingall, Head of Consulting at iCore said “Having worked with Colin in the past I know that his commitment and innovative approach will raise the profile of itSMF in the UK even further, and I wish Colin all the best on his appointment. iCore is very pleased to be part of itSMF and looks forward to working with them to further reinforce the service management best practice message”.

iCore at the 2011 itSMF Conference

jimchapman — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:28:20 +0000

iCore attended the London itSMF Conference both as an exhibitor and as a sponsored entrant for the Service Innovation Award. Our new offering – FAST ITSM – was runner-up and speaking after the award Steve Ingall Head of Consulting said: “iCore was delighted to be sponsored for this award and has demonstrated through this product that it is possible to provide a clear strategy, a robust service model, a business facing service catalogue, policies and processes, and a business SLA within 90 days”.
Read more about FAST ITSM here>>

The iCore stand at the 2011 itSMF Conference

There was significant interest in FAST ITSM and in addition many of the visitors were also interested in discussing our Transition as a Service offering as well as being keen to let us know exactly what it was that was keeping them awake at night. Hot topics this year included how to deliver services in the cloud, getting value from their investment in tools and the difficulties faced when trying to align IT services to business services. Our team on the stand did their best to outline our views for each of these issues and are now busy following up on the many enquiries received.

iCore chosen for high profile strategic programme in the City

jimchapman — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:44:13 +0000

iCore has been commissioned by one of the UK’s leading Financial Institutions to provide practical service management expertise in support of an extremely important and high profile strategic programme. A team of iCore Consultants are to be embedded within the client’s teams, working shoulder-to-shoulder with the Client to drive changes, and to ensure all the service objectives are delivered.
The scope of iCore’s involvement will include many of the ITIL processes, organisational re-structure of the service management department and the independent selection of the fit-for-purpose service management tooling.

iCore chosen by leading Saudi Arabian Bank to provide strategic service management guidance

jimchapman — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:42:53 +0000

iCore has been commissioned by a leading Saudi Arabian Bank to provide strategic service management guidance and to deliver an independent service management Assessment and Improvement Roadmap. The report will detail the current state of process maturity, associated targeted recommendations, opportunities for Quick-Wins and an Improvement Roadmap aligned to the business and commercial objectives of the Bank.

The report will guide the Bank’s 2012 service management transformation aimed at “lifting the game” and improving the service that the Bank delivers to its clients.