Why Social Media is important for ITIL and ITSM practitioners November 9, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in cloud computing, itil, itsm.Tags: change management, customer, economy, IT Service Management, itil, technology, the art of service
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Life will never be the same again! I remember the day in the last century when I purchased my first mobile phone so I could continue the conversations with my clients while I was stuck in one of many traffic jams in The Netherlands. I also remember that most of my consultancy clients didn’t have email addresses, although there was inter-company electronic mail and those big yellow internal mail envelopes for paper memos etc. To connect with clients you used the phone or fax.
fast forward to 2009:
Our current clients have email addresses, a skypeID, google chat, twitter accounts, a facebook or myspace page, a google Wave account and everybody always talks on their mobile computer (isn’t it amazing that the Apple iPhone has this cool apps that you can download so you can even make phone calls with it?)
So what did I do? Over the past few months I have been more and more active with social media for The Art of Service. For one reason: we want to continue to create long-lasting relationship with our clients and course participants.
For me this is natural and logical: Our clients discuss important and urgent issues on twitter and facebook (as well as the not so important but still urgent), so where are there to answer their questions and to engage in the conversation.
So how has the interaction changed?
- I have my own twitter account http://www.twitter.com/ivankamenken . I use this account to share my research findings, ideas, comments and general communication around IT Service Management, ITIL, Cloud Computing, Business Management and personal ’stuff’
- Because not everybody is interested in my thoughts and rants, I also create a corporate twitter account to discuss our events, programs, products and generic information. http://www.twitter.com/taos_events
- I started promoting my mobile phone number on my business card and email signature again to encourage clients to speak with me directly, rather than going through my PA.
- I have a personal SkypeID, and the company has a corporate SkypeID so nobody has to feel they can’t connect with a client at the other end of the world
- The Art of Service has a corporate blog, posts ideas and links on posterous
- We encourage people to send in their questions and requests for help via the forms on our websites
- and of course there are the multiple of RSS feeds, Digg and delicious bookmarks, the hyves and Linkedin profiles
So when I look back at my first years as an ITIL and ITSM practitioner and compare it with the current situation – I would say that social media is a must for every ITIL and ITSM consultant or practitioner who wants to stay connected with the industry, their clients, peers and colleagues.
The way we did business 20 or 30 years ago doesn’t work (as well) anymore, we can’t stop growing… if you don’t use social media yet… change, and embrace it!
Which ITIL lifecycle phase interacts with the clients? October 11, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in itil, itsm.Tags: change management, customer, customer service, IT Service Management, itil, ITIL V3, itsm
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The ITIL Framework is based around IT Service Management (so basically the activities that need to be done to create, deliver and manage IT Services).
As the focus is on the management of services it is of vital importance to stay in constant contact with your clients, every phase in the Service Lifecycle focuses on customer interaction.
For Example:
Service Strategy – Demand Management needs to listen to the clients to figure out what the Patterns of Business Activity are. What is it that the client needs from IT in terms of service types and support?
Service Design – This phase has processes like Service Level Management and Service Catalog Management. The Service Catalog has a business component to help clients make appropriate decisions in relation to the type of services they wish to purchase. This phase also starts the creation of a Service Design Package which features User Acceptance criteria.
Service Transition – This phase interacts with the customers about changes to the Services and Service Experience. Change Management will interact with the clients for high impact changes as their input is important in the assessment and authorization of changes.
Service Operation – This phase interacts mainly with the End-users of the service as this is the phase where all day-to-day activities take place. The Service Desk is the first point of contact between the business community and the IT Group.
Continual Service Improvement – This phase needs clear direction from the business and as such interacts with the customers in relation to vision, mission and strategy. Customer Satisfaction surveys are usually initiated from this phase in the lifecycle.
See? Every phase interacts with the clients and end-users at various levels. The IT group can’t work in isolation (anymore…) and needs to know exactly what it needs to deliver to the customers to what level of expectations.
How ITIL Service Management saves Europe from the recession October 1, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in itil, itsm.Tags: customer service, IT Service Management, customer, itsm, service management, money, SLA, recession
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After spending many years in the ITSM / ITIL space I notice that everything in time becomes a best practice, good practice or bad practice example of IT Service Management.
This week’s example has to do with Demand Management, Service Level Management and Financial Management.
The scenario is like this: I traveled from Australia (where I live) to The Netherlands (where my family lives) for a short family holiday.
As part of being in The Netherlands I wanted to do some shopping (no need to analyse my PBA’s to figure that one out!). And I did go to the shops:
1) Shop nr. one – doesn’t accept credit cards at all (what the?! All I have is a credit card, what do I do now?)
2) Shop nr. two – DOES accept credit cards, but only when you have a pincode to go with it (??? yes, I am sure the bank sent me a pin number but I never use it in Australia so I completely forgot it…)
So far the holiday has been very cheap for me.. I WANT to spent money… I HAVE the money to spend and I know exactly what I want to spend it on… but I can’t spend it!
As a client I know what I want – the demand is there. And the demand management process has analysed my PBA … the appropriate shops are available for me to purchase the products and services that I want. What is missing is the combination between Financial Management and Service Level Management. I was not aware of the agreed service levels prior to me going to The Netherlands. And as a result I am an unhappy customer who feels ill-prepared, not able to receive the service levels that I want.
As IT organizations we can learn from this:
- Communicate our Services and Service Levels
- Understand what your customer wants and how they want the whole customer experience to happen.
- Make it as easy as possible for our customers to pay for our products and services (now that I can only pay cash, I definitely spend less)
- If you can’t offer the complete experience – communicate this very clearly to your clients.
To top it all off…
Yesterday I came prepared to the train station… I had a 50 euro bill to pay for my train ticket! Very proud moment, I felt extremely empowered. Went to the ticket machine and made it all the way through to the payment point where the machine asked me to enter 24 euro worth of COINS in the slot as the only available means of payment!
sigh…
Mind your language! August 28, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in itil, itsm.Tags: customer, IT Service Management, itil, ITIL V3, itsm, service management
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This week I’m sitting in on an ITIL V3 Foundation course and it’s funny how you see things differently when you’re not the one standing in front of a group.
One thing that really hit me this week is how pedantic we must be as ITIL trainers in the use of our language. The students need to know the exact process names for their exam. So it is ‘IT Service Continuity Management’ rather than ‘Continuity Management’, and it is ‘Service Asset and Configuration Management’ rather than ‘Configuration Management’.
Yes, it will come across as pedantic – but that’s what we need to be. Attending an ITIL Foundation program is like learning a new language. The trainer has to know and speak that language fluently.
But what happens when you come back into your workplace after you’ve attended the Foundation program? Will you continue to speak the new language? Does the Service Desk deal with ‘incidents’ and not Problems or issues? And does this language make sense in your job?
Part of creating a culture in an organization is making sure we all live and breathe our core values, that we speak the same language and are consistent in our delivery of the message. By doing this we create a consistent experience for our clients and internal employees. People know what to expect and as a result see you as a trusted partner for IT Services.
How ITIL Service Management can help the government February 26, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in itil, itsm.Tags: customer, customer service, expectation, IT, IT Service Management, itil, itsm, management, service management, SLA, the art of service
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As a self-confessed IT Service Management advocate – I see the usability of IT Service Management and the ITIL framework in every single thing… in every day experiences I see how ITIL Service Management would be able to help. Pretty sad, don’t you think? There is just so much to improve, and so many areas in our life that can be improved on.. and most of the principles of ITIL Service Management are generic and universal enough to be applicable to many industries and processes.
For example:
Last Sunday I arrived in Indonesia to do meet with a client. The trip went as you would expect (and I consider myself a fairly experienced traveler by now…). Until the moment I got off the plane in Indonesia… Let me tell you what I expected, in comparison to what actually happened.
My expectations:
I usually have an electronic ticket and on this document it says whether you need a visa for the country or not. When I get off the plane in a country, I have my passport, entry document and baggage tag with me in my hand. I walk to the immigration desk, show my passport, they put a stamp in it and I continue my journey to pick up my bags. Most of the time I am pretty tired of the long plane trip (the joys of living in Australia!) and I am just glad to get to a taxi to take me to the hotel…
My reality:
In this case I didn’t have any indication that I needed a Visa and when I walked out of the plane I ignored the big yellow sign that says “visa on arrival” .. after all: nobody told me that I needed to have one, right?!
Wrong… when I got to the immigration booth, a very cranky immigration officer pointed out that I didn’t have a visa and that I needed to go upstairs to get one (why did I get the idea that this wasn’t the first time somebody had to be sent back?!).
So I went back… stood in line at the visa desk, only to be told by the person that I need to go to the BANK first to pay for the visa. Oh – OK… so I stood in line at the BANK to pay for the visa. When it was finally my turn, I gave them my credit card to pay for the visa… WRONG! The boy pointed at the sign that said “CASH ONLY”.. I mean, who has cash when you just arrive in a country? Lucky for me they accept Australian Dollars (and it was only twice as expensive) and I paid for my visa.
Back in the other line to get the sticker and back to the immigration person who now let me into the country.
By the time I had all this done, all the baggage was taken OFF the caroussel and placed in a separate area somewhere, which nearly gave me a heart attack as I thought that my bags had gone missing!
OK – how could ITIL Service Management help in this situation? Easy – by management of expectations! We all know that Service Level Management in particular aims at setting realistic expectations. Would the activities have changed by me knowing in advance what needed to be done? NO – but I would have known what to expect and it would probably have saved me some time and definitely aggravation! Same is true for our clients and end users. We have a Service Catalogue that is accurate and up to date, Customers can choose from the Business Service Catalogue and we negotiate an SLA that is realistic and only contains service levels that we can guarantee and measure. Mistakes are still made, IT systems still fail every now and then… but the customer’s expectations are at a realistic level. In addition to this we communicate with our clients about our expectations and actual achievements. We keep the finger on the pulse and our clients are never in the dark. They know what to expect, and receive what they anticipated… People are creatures of habit, and in general people want to know in advance what will happen, what they can expect and what impact it will have on them!
People behave the same whether they operation within the IT industry or outside of it… ITIL Service Management helps us to manage people’s expectations and create a positive service experience! If only the government of Indonesia had attended some of The Art of Service’s educational programs…. 
The secret of ITIL Service Level Management is… manipulation! February 25, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in itil, itsm.Tags: business, capacity management, customer, Demand, IT, IT Service Management, itil, management, service management, SLA
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No, it’s not a bad thing to compare ITIL Service Level Management to manipulation! Basically, what I mean to say is that we as IT professionals know what we want to do and NEED to do to support the business goals and through Service Level Management we make sure we offer our clients and customers options in such a way that they choose what is best for the company and therefore exactly what we wanted!
In my books that is manipulation! Let me explain how I think it works:
- The Service Level Manager needs to figure out what the business needs in relation to IT Support and IT services. The information is collected through discussions with the customers, Business Relationship managers and Demand Manager. Based on this information an analysis is done on the future trends for the business and how IT can best support these needs and desires.
- Based on this analysis we develop a service offering, ideally with a number of options for the client. Through technical and financial restrictions we can make some choices more interesting than others. Because we as IT professionals know exactly how this service interacts with the other services and what the corporate consequences are of certain choices. We therefore design a service package that presents the options in such a way that the customer chooses the option which is best for the organization (and easiest and most cost effective for us to manage and support)
without an accurate and up-to-date Service Catalogue, supported by a Configuration Management Database and the strong interaction between Demand Management, Capacity Management and Service Level Management we wouldn’t be able to do this… But now we can!
And trust me… manipulation can be used for good causes as well! It is the secret weapon of ITIL Service Level Management, and it helps to have all our customers working together towards the overall corporate goal.
ITIL V3 Service Strategy Process Demand Management works with other processes January 24, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in itil, itsm.Tags: management, itil, value, IT Service Management, customer, business, service, capacity management, ITIL V3, change management, Demand, SLM
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The ITIL V3 lifecycle phase of Service Strategy puts a strong focus on Demand Management and the role it plays in the strategy towards, and design of, IT services that meet the expected demands. However, this process can not work in isolation…
Demand management needs to work closely together with the processes in the other lifecycles to manage and control all aspects of demand for IT Services. Some examples follow…
Service Strategy:
- Financial Management is involved in costing and pricing issues, but also in preparing a value proposition and ROI calculations. It helps with preparing financial constraints measures.
- Portfolio Management is involved with the strategic planning decisions for this new service. How does it fit into the service pipeline and the current live service offerings? It keeps a high level overview of interactions and possible contra effects of this new service.
Service Design:
- Capacity Management is involved with the design of the service offering AND the supporting environment to deliver the appropriate level of capacity to deliver the service as agreed.
- Information Security Management plays an important role in the analysis of the PBA’s differentiation criteria. Different PBA’s have different security requirements, and the IT organization needs to respond with the correct level of security measures and associated policies.
Service Transition:
- Service Validation & Testing receives test criteria from demand management and the service design processes. These criteria will be based on the Service Package description and especially the Service Level Package descriptions. Based on these criteria, appropriate type and levels of testing are designed to ensure that we can predict the performance of the service and if it is in line with the demand requirements stated by the customers.
- Change Management plays an important role in the overall control of the IT organization. It has to ensure that changes in the infrastructure, processes or services do not negatively influence the service delivery performance. Change Management actively controls and coordinates changes made to Configuration Items, including critical documentation like service catalogues and descriptions of PBA’s.
Service Operation:
- Event Management enables the operations to perform a lot of the support monitoring tasks automatically. This is important in the context of demand management as the event management systems may pick up variations in the use of the IT Service that haven’t been noticed by the Business Relationship Manager or Customers. The reports coming from Event Management will help to identify variations and differentiations within the PBA’s.
- Problem Management, especially proactive problem management will be asked to provide input into Demand Management. Problem Management will analyze demand requirements and compare this to current known issues and hotspots in the IT environment, it also does trend analysis on incidents and feeds this information to Business Relationship Manager for discussion with the customers.
Continual Service Improvement:
- Service Level Management not only works within the Service Design phase where it is involved in negotiating and agreeing on Service Levels, it also plays an important role in the continual improvement lifecycle phase. As a result of ongoing performance monitoring we know where unexpected flaws are and can plan for improvements toward better ‘business outcome based delivery’.
- Measurement & Reporting works with all other processes but demand management specifically needs standards and guidance on measurement, metrics and reporting to ensure that the demand expectations based on the analysis of the Business processes is measured consistently and doesn’t differ from month to month due to inconsistent reporting processes.
ITIL Release and deployment management for Windows 7 January 17, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in itil, itsm.Tags: business, capacity management, change management, customer, customer service, IT Service Management, itil, ITIL V3, itsm, microsoft, service management, testing, value
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With all the hype around Windows 7 I have been thinking about the release and deployment processes that would be associated with a large and very visible project as this one. Obviously, there has been quite some customer feedback from the previous releases and versions (Vista). This would have been the basis for the RFC (request for change). So how would the ITIL processes be applicable to this project?
- It will all be under control of Change Management, as this process is meant to manage all risk associated with changing the IT infrastructure and IT Services. As there will be a major potential business impact for faults and mistakes, I would expect a rigid process and procedures around this project and a strong CAB with firm decision making powers.
- Change Management will rely on the process of Evaluation to gain a better understanding of the expected performance and quality criteria for this changed service and product. This is most likely the reason for the current public beta testing that is being performed, as this is a fantastic way to gather performance information from the production environments.
- Service Validation and Testing definitely plays an important role! Especially as we are talking about software development as well as the development of associated support services. Not only will the project team need input from the support engineers early in the project (as is appropriate when one follows the V-model for testing), but the formal transfer of knowledge – including, but not limited to Known Errors – is very important for future client support. Knowledge Management is considered to be a separate process that is very closely related to both Service Validation & Testing and Evaluation.
- The project will also be heavily involved with the Release and Deployment process of the organization. How are we going to make sure that we manage the transfer from one environment to another with out disrupting the status quo? (things should only get better.. not worse). Who do we include in the training and education, as well as the communication plans around this release? As this project is delivering a product that will be for sale to the general public, you will receive direction and input from the Sales and Marketing departments as well as the technical support areas.
It all sounds so easy, and on paper it will be. However, I haven’t even talked about the connection with Service Asset & Configuration Management, Capacity Management, the Service desk and all the operational processes. It is much more involved than you can type up in 400 words but… in order to manage a project this large and this visible, maybe you have to start very simplistic and state the obvious processes, procedures and work instructions that are needed for a smooth transition. Maybe, just maybe, this will help in identifying all the people involved and the gaps in the initial thought patterns.
Who knows… it might even help Microsoft in delivering a product to the market that actually does what it is supposed to do and is accepted and revered by clients across the world?!
Or would that be too good to be true?!
Cloud computing or rather… computing in the cloud January 3, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in business, cloud computing.Tags: business, cloud computing, customer, IT Service Management, success, the art of service
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On my flight back from Los Angeles to Sydney a few weeks ago I sat next to a lovely person named Martin. As he is also working in the IT industry (surprise, surprise…) we started talking about mobile applications and cloud computing in general. Martin mentioned that he had a fantastic experience on his flight from New York to Los Angeles early December… he flew with Virgin and they offered wireless Internet connection for $9.99.
Sounds almost too good to be true, but it got me thinking…:
- Are we being ‘played’ by the airline industry?
What happened to the old “please switch off all mobile phones and electronic devices with wireless connectivity.. at no point during the flights are they allowed to be turned on again”.
We are led to believe that the wireless capability in your mobile phone (or furby) will interfere with the plane’s navigation system. So, what does that mean for the Virgin flights? Is it more of an adventure when you fly Virgin? “Yes, I know you booked a New York – Los Angeles flight but we ended up in Seattle… isn’t it cool?!”…
- Über Cloud Computing?
Having wireless connectivity in a plane is Cloud Computing to the max! It really takes Cloud Computing to a new level; you can now send your emails and upload your photos at 30,000 feet. Is this what will give us the ultimate technological edge?! And will the charges be part of your global roaming plan?? This will probably only be on domestic flights as I can’t imagine the legal battles you will have to fight in relation to sales taxes when you start offering this to international flights… or would this be part of the on board duty free shopping?!
- Is switching off a bad thing?
What will happen to our emotional state? I must admit that I enjoy the fact that in a plane I can’t log onto the Internet, I can’t check my emails and I can read a girly novel without feeling guilty.. I don’t have to do any business related activities and I can switch off my brain because I have an excuse! It is my ultimate relaxation… but when there is the option of wireless Internet I know I will take it and I continue to answer emails, write blogs, articles etc…
So even though with my company we educate our clients on the benefits of hyperconnectivity, cloud computing and IT Service Management in general, I must admit that sometimes I feel that it is better that there are times where you can not work on your laptop, you can not get connected to the Internet, and not be in touch with other people. (and usually I don’t talk to the people who sit next to me on the plane… hence the girly novel!)
As business people we all need time to reflect, time to completely distance ourself from our business, our clients and partners… we need time to recharge our business battery and to take a helicopter view on everything that is happening.
And reading a trashy girly novel can give you some amazing business ideas… trust me! It is a great strategy to build your business. (but that is a different blog entry altogether!!)
The 5 things Wal Mart taught me on how to do business with large companies November 6, 2008
Posted by ivankamenken in business.Tags: business, customer, Sales
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This morning I attended a presentation by Mr. Peter Sharp, Snr. Vice President of Wal Mart in Asia and one of the things I picked up from him is this list on how to do business with a large company:
- Don’t become over dependent
Never rely on 1 customer for more than 40% of your total revenue. (I also heard in other presentations a number of 10% – so basically each company should have at least 10 customers).
The risk of becoming over dependent is that anything could happen to that one customer and you lose a significant source of income! Not a risk that savvy business people would like to run. - Profile your customers
Now that you are going to do business with this large customer – where might this path lead? What could happen in the future, what are the growth plans – both for you and your customer- and how do you fit in there as the supplier. - Keep an open book mindset.
You don’t just get trust handed to you on a silver platter – you have to earn it. And earning trust takes time. But this goes for both sides; win-win situations go both ways. You will need to become a trusted partner for the other organization so you can share future plans etc.
- Integrity
Not just for you as the owner of the company or the entrepreneur. But also for all your staff in the company. Integrity has to be top down and bottom up. This is pretty must an extension of point number 3 because without integrity it is really difficult to start trusting you as a person and as a company. - Share best practices to deepen the partnership
Nobody is an island and you can’t do business on your own. It is always about building partnership with your clients, building bridges and learning from each other. Sharing the things you’ve learned and experienced deepens the partnership and this can only be to the advantage of both parties.
I think there is something in here for all of us – entrepreneurs, managers, sales executives and business owners. We never stop learning and we never stop improving the relationships we have with our clients; large or small.
And to be honest – these 5 guidelines are just as valuable for doing business with large companies as they are for dealing with small companies.
