Keeping our focus on the end goal – how ITSM makes impact on business outcomes November 8, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in itil, itsm.Tags: business, IT Service Management, itil, itsm, process, service management
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Last week somebody accused me on being too much process focused and not enough focused on the end result.
After my initial emotive response (and the associated defence mechanism), I started to analyse why this person would say such a thing.
- In my discussions with people, and in my articles I talk a lot about the need for processes, disciplines and frameworks. (so yes, I can see how I come across as being purely process focused)
- Reason for this is that most of these discussions start around my professional expertise. This expertise is built around a niche in the IT industry: IT Service Management and how this can be combined with Cloud Computing Offerings. (so yes, I can see how my opinions, messages and comments may come across as one-sides erring on the side of the process)
- Where is see that a lot of people miss their goals, it is often because they stop following the processes and start ‘free wheeling’ without structure and discipline
Am I focused on the processes? Yes, I think I am. And the reason is because the lack of processes seems to be the driving force behind why most IT organisations don’t connect with the rest of the business. In the pat 2 months I have spoken with almost 100 CEO’s and Managing Directors and not ONE of them said that they really enjoyed and appreciated their IT organisation.
Not one of them commented on the fantastic level of communication and service focus of their IT groups.
This is why I am so passionate about IT Service Management and ITIL with its processes, procedures, work-instructions and activities. IT Service Management has the ability to make a major difference to many companies, small to large in revenue or size.
Do I lose sight of the end goal? I don’t think I am… in all my discussions with CIOs, CEOs and IT directors we always focus on the reason why there is a need for IT Service Management. After all – you don’t want to spend time and money on something that doesn’t make sense for your business, now do you???
The secret of success: structure and discipline! (ITIL/ITSM people – are you listening?!) October 19, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in business, itil, itsm.Tags: capacity management, change management, IT Service Management, itil, service management, time management, value
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Today I chaired a meeting with 6 other entrepreneurs. (in my role as Forum chair for the Brisbane chapter of EO) The funny thing is that these entrepreneurs are very like-minded and they are all used to making the decisions.
But I didn’t prepare the meeting very well (these things happen) and the funny thing is: due to the lack of structure and strict timelines on the agenda we went 15 minutes over time.
Would the meeting be more valuable with the additional layer of structure and discipline? ABSOLUTELY! It seems contra-indicative, but the more structure and discipline you bring into an organisation the more you get done and the more satisfaction people get from doing it.
Same thing is true for the IT industry – from where I am standing I see a lot of time (and money) being wasted because of people going around and around in circles, going off on tangents due to a lack of structure in the organisation.
Think about it – when did you feel most valuable in your job? When you get a lot done! Most of the times this would be the day before you go on a holiday. You get so much done because your have your priorities straight, have a clear plan on what you want to achieve, have a vision of going home and leaving behind a clean desk and an empty inbox; and you structure your days around these disciplines…
So tomorrow – when you get back to work, just think about the benefits of structure and discipline when you do a walk-through of an ITIL process, embrace the benefits of discipline when you sit in on a CAB meeting.
Ultimately you will feel more valuable as a result of it.
Today’s question: What would you recommend- ITIL or PMP certification? October 17, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in itil, itsm.Tags: itil, management, PMP, project, service management
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This question arrived in my inbox this morning and this is what I answered:
There is quite a big difference between ITIL and PMP and I suppose it really depends on your other skills and preferred job type to be able to answer your question.
PMP is a Project Management Methodology, which is mostly used in an IT environment, but is specifically created for the management of projects. PMP is a product of the Project Management Institute in the USA.
ITIL is a framework specifically created for the management of IT Services across the entire lifecyle. Most activities in the framework are combined in processes and because of this the framework has a focus on continual improvement of process, product, people and partner relations.
There are touchpoints between the project organisation (which may use PMP) and the strategic & operational side of an IT department (which may use ITIL ) and the two methodologies complement each other to enable the IT organisation to produce its IT Services to the best of its capabilities.
I hope this helps you to make the decision on what would be the better study path for you. Follow this link to read more about our eLearning pathway for the ITIL framework certification.
Don’t like your job? How about this one?… must be better than implementing ITIL Processes! October 14, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in itil, itsm.Tags: improvement, IT Service Management, itil, ITIL V3, itsm, massage, model, quality, service, service management
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On facebook there is a video going around about a massage therapist complaining about the fact that he has to massage beautiful models all day – every day.
Sort of reminded me of my experience with IT people (sometimes). In my opinion ITIL consultants and IT Professionals have the best job in the world! We get to improve the way businesses work – and we get to play with some serious toys. We get access to the latest and greatest and still…. still most IT professionals complain!
WHY?
I think that no matter what type of job you have after a while it gets normal.. same with this guy: he sees beautiful models all day, every day… it is normal. That becomes his reference frame and he complains.
We can learn from this in relation to our IT Service Management Framework as well: not matter how sophisticated our service is.. eventually our clients will start complaining about it. When our clients get used to the level of service they start to poke holes in other areas of our service delivery.
This is the exact reason why the ITIL framework has a lifecycle phase called “Continual Service Improvement” as this phase keeps ahead of what clients want and need. the activities in this lifecycle phase help to keep the service fresh and up to scratch so that the clients ar continually reminded of the fact that we achieve our service levels and deliver a fantastic service!
What I learnt from Morten Lund, and why ITIL professionals should pay attention. October 12, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in business, itil, itsm.Tags: business, IT Service Management, itil, itsm, service management, skype
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When I listened to Morten’s talk last week initially I wasn’t sure if I liked it or hated it.. didn’t quite know if there were lessons to be learnt and I only made a few notes.
Now, reading back those notes, I see that there are a number of things that IT Professionals – and especially ITIL consultants – can learn from his story.
First of all, this guy has a highly visited Wikipedia page! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morten_Lund . I mean – I don’t see Robert Stroud or Rob England mentioned (yet), and they are pretty big names in the ITIL/ITSM world. It reinforces to me that the ITIL / ITSM industry is quite small – we really work in a niche of a niche of a niche. Morten invested in a startup called “Skype”, that reaches a much larger audience…
One of the one-liners I jotted down during his talk stands out for me:
It’s simple, not easy
How many times have we heard this from our ITIL students? “it’s common sense, it’s so simple” As if the ITIL framework and our knowledge and expertise should be disregarded because of its simplicity.
Personally I find it a good thing that ITIL at its core is simple. But that doesn’t make it easy to implement and follow… This is probably why consultants find it difficult to justify that the implementation of the ITIL framework can take years. Something so simple should be easy to implement, it should only take a few weeks… WRONG! ITIL implementation is a head fake, it is not about ITIL – the framework is merely the structure, or the vehicle – the implementation is about cultural change and organisational maturity.
And to finish with another one-liner from Morten: “there is a fine line between vision and hallucination”, maybe that’s why so many ITIL implementations go off the rails…
How ITIL Service Management saves Europe from the recession October 1, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in itil, itsm.Tags: customer, customer service, IT Service Management, itsm, money, recession, service management, SLA
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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…
Another ITIL or ITSM based Linkedin Group… why should I join? September 24, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in itil, itsm.Tags: experience, IT Service Management, itil, ITIL expert, itsm, Linkedin, service management, sharing, success
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Today we created a new group on Linkedin, called:
SERVICE TALK – the true ITIL & ITSM experience
I say ‘we’ as this is not an Art of Service initiative – this is an idea that Chris Dancy (@serviceSphere on twitter) and I came up with last week. The trigger was the fact that we started discussing our experiences around centuries of ITIL and ITSM implementations, consultancy and education via twitter and email. (yes – both of our experiences started with ITIL and ITSM started in the last century.)
Then it dawned on us… we never even considered sharing these experiences on any of the current Linkedin groups because they are filled with commercial messages. Most Linkedin groups that I am a member of seemed to have turned into those “networking” functions we all hate: the ones where sweaty sales reps approach you with the business card sticking out way in front of them. They are not interested in connecting with YOU.. they have a target: “must get rid of 100 business cards today”.
This Linkedin Group is different – this one is policed. When a member adds unsolicited commercial notifications in the group, the message will be deleted and the second time it happens, the member will be blocked from participating in the group. It’s as simple as that!
Be part of the Service Talk Group on Linkedin
Hope you enjoy being part of this group and sharing true experiences from the daily struggles and victories in implementing ITIL and ITSM.
ITIL pop quiz: Remember what Sharon Taylor said in October 2008? September 22, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in itil, itsm.Tags: change management, IT Service Management, ITIL V3, service management
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The answer: There will be no ITIL V4
Ok – it is now nearly 12 months later and so far there is no talk about ITIL V4, or is there?….
The IT Skeptic was one of the first globally to find the announcement from OGC about the review of the current version of ITIL. Mind you – OGC has not given a timeframe in which all this is supposed to happen
Reason given for this review is:
The core guidance will be updated in response to issues raised
via the Change Control Log and from criticism of inconsistencies
in both the content and structure of the five titles. The update
will include corrections to the manuals based on responses to
issues raised in the Change Control Log, such as clarification of
diagrams and concepts, and other general incremental
improvements.
Additionally, user feedback and feedback from the training
community indicate that the Service Strategy publication
is difficult to understand. The text needs to be made more
accessible by using simpler language, so that all the concepts
remain the same but are explained in a clearer manner. The
readability is to be improved by a technical edit that will involve
rewording but not necessarily rewriting the whole text.
Is this the end of an era? Will Cloud Computing separate the “boys from the men”? September 19, 2009
Posted by ivankamenken in business, cloud computing, itsm.Tags: business, cloud computing, service management, technology, the art of service, value
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Had an interesting discussion today at lunch with the owner of an IT support company in Brisbane and the owner of a niche specialist IT provider for the retail industry about the effect Cloud Computing has and will have on this part of the IT industry.
The discussion really started when somebody asked about our experience with migrating from Exchange based email services to Google apps based services. And Scott made a valid point: the small IT support shop around the corner that services the Small Business segment will really feel the change in the market.
Ask yourself the question… seriously… if you had to start all over again, and set up IT systems for your business, would you purchase proprietary software or would you start off with Google Apps for your email, word processing, basic spreadsheets, intranet pages, etc?
I know what I would do.. we did it a few months ago: we no longer use Microsoft Exchange Server. We no longer need the IT support that goes with managing email ID’s etc. That could amount up to a massive cost saving for the small business owner, but what will it mean for the small IT shop?!?!
The only way to succeed in this industry (imho) is to be amazing with your services. Your clients will want to stay with you – not for the money, but for the unparalleled service which they can NOT get anywhere else!
Technology is replaceable for something with the exact same features and benefits – service is not.
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.
