IT Service Management good practice means different things to different organisations and is a focus area for CIOs currently as they seek to align IT Service Delivery with constantly changing business needs. With the modern CIO taking on growing responsibility for business direction and strategic goals, IT Service Management needs to shift from tactically focused to a strategic enabler of change to be a catalyst for on-going business innovation, ensuring that customer, user, and corporate expectations are met.
Why has this changed?
The traditional IT department, and role of IT Service Management, was to respond to business issues and requests when necessary. IT departments were seen as the experts and the people you contacted when you needed something technology related. Now that technology is engrained in our everyday life and simpler to use, this traditional role is now needed to a much lesser extent which is leaving CIOs with the headache of re-thinking not only their strategy, but everyday operations.
Processes, that may be methodical and bullet proof, now need to be simpler, quicker, and an enabler of change.
IT teams, that used to be responsible for responding to business issues and requests, as mentioned above, now need to be less operationally focused and more focused on service improvement, customer experience, and measuring performance.
Tools, that used to be there to automate basic workflows, are now needed to remove manual tasks, increase speed to market, and give organisations a competitive advantage.
Suppliers, that traditionally were there to support the IT department in break-fix activities, are now central to successful delivery, especially as cloud services are now the norm.
Unless CIOs elevate IT Service Management to a key enabler of innovation and change, an organisation will miss out on the chance to work quickly, streamline activities, eliminate costs, deliver customer-centric products and services, and will fall behind its competitors.
Modern Service Management strategies
When IT Service Management was in place to support tactical responses to business issues, measures of success included Mean Time to Repair, Uptime, Availability, and successful delivery of Projects.
Now that third party suppliers are taking on greater responsibility for operational delivery, the CIO and Head of IT Service Management need to move away from focusing on tactics and operations and help to close any gaps between business strategy and the delivery of IT products and services. This means asking business executives about what is important to them, ensuring that their requirements are captured, delivered against, and becoming a trusted advisor by suggesting ideas and improvements that could improve business performance.
The simpler your IT Service Management strategy is, and the connections you develop with key figures in your business, will help to determine how successfully business goals can be achieved through new or enhanced technology products and services.
The question is, how will you make this step?
If you have read this and would like to discuss and explore the first, critical steps needed to make this shift, then please get in touch.
iCore
We have been in business for 25 years and are helping companies and organisations across several market sectors to modernise their Service Management strategy and focus to be effective in a Digital, DevOps world.
If you would like to discuss how iCore can help you then contact us on +44 (0) 203 821 1252 or email us at info@icore-ltd.com
