ITSM - What good looks like

1. White Paper
IT Service Management - What does ‘good’ look like?
This white paper is relevant for senior executives, managers and decision makers in any size or type organisation
– whether small, medium or large; local or multinational; public sector, private sector or not-for-profit.
It explains why it so important to get it right and how to recognise when IT Service Management is being
practised well, and when it is in need of development.
Why is it so important to get it right?
The quality of an organisation’s IT is reflected in its reputation and brand, and has a direct impact upon sales
and revenue. The cost of IT is never insignificant – it is essential to get good value from IT investments, but
often this value is not realised. For an IT Investment to provide value the resulting IT service must be well
planned, well designed, well managed and well delivered.
This is where the practice of IT Service Management comes in………
IT Service Management is:
The professional practice of planning, designing, developing, delivering and optimising IT Services
that are both fit-for-purpose and fit-for-use, thereby providing service value and return on investment
for the organisation that uses them.
A discipline which includes the processes, methods, activities, functions and roles required to deliver
business value for its customers.
A set of professional people, skilled and dedicated to delivering high performance IT services and
quantifiable, tangible business benefits.
Good IT Service Management is the key that unlocks the value from your IT Investment
So how does your organisation shape up? Does your IT really provide what your business needs? Do
your projects always deliver what you expected, on time and within budget? Is your IT capable of keeping
pace with rapid business change?
If you answered no to any of these it could be the result of ‘poor’ IT Service Management’. The table
below will help you to recognise ‘Good’ IT Service Management and when it is in need of improvement.
Tel: +44 (0)845 2300 189 E-Mail: enquiries@aap3.com www.aap3.com

2. Indicators of poor IT Service Management Indicators of good IT Service Management
Failure to align IT with the business: Alignment between IT and the business:
It is unclear what IT services exist and what business A close relationship between the IT service provider
purpose they serve. and business customers at all levels.
There is no service catalogue. A clearly defined service catalogue, outlining the
services and associated business purposes.
IT priorities are not aligned with the business needs
and priorities. IT services reflect the needs and priorities of the business.
Urgent business needs are not responded to in a IT staff understand the importance of IT services in a
timely manner. business context and their response reflects the impact
and urgency to the business.
IT services seem focused on technology rather than
business priorities.
This indicates poor service strategy practice
IT is generally considered poor value for money IT is generally considered good value for money
IT is generally considered expensive and poor value Both cost and value are understood by stakeholders.
for money.
Each IT service’s cost of ownership has been
Costs appear to be uncontrolled. designed and agreed in advance with the business
entity that pays for it.
This indicates insufficient focus on the ongoing Changes to the cost of ownership are jointly planned
operational cost during service design and development and agreed between the service provider and the busi-
ness customer.
Poor Change Management Good Change Management
Changes happen without users and support services Clearly communicated release schedules that identify
being informed. the introduction of new and changed IT services.
New or changed IT services are experience lots of The risks and potential impacts of change are
problems, and often lead to unexpected issues with discussed with business users before the change
other services. takes place.
Operational resources are distracted from day-to-day Changes are agreed, well planned and implemented in
work by the problems caused by change. a timely fashion with minimal disruption to the business.
This indicates poor service transition practice
Over-focus on functionality at the expense of usability. Focus on both functionality and usability
Unexpected IT service outages are frequent.
When problems occur it takes longer than expected to IT services are designed to work in operation,
recover the situation. available when required, performing as expected.
The IT services perform badly and sometimes run Security threats are dealt with quickly and effectively.
out of data or processing capacity, leading to ‘panic’ Unexpected incidents are resolved effectively, ensur-
purchases of hardware and software, often inflated’ ing business users are involved in decisions and
unexpected cost. always kept informed.
Capacity is monitored and any purchases to increase
This indicates poor design of the IT service. capacity are planned well in advance and budgeted.
Tel: +44 (0)845 2300 189 E-Mail: enquiries@aap3.com www.aap3.com

3. Lack of IT service skills involvement during IT service skills during development and transition,
development and transition. resulting in a well-designed IT service
Projects focus on application development with little People with IT Service Management skills are involved
consideration for the end product – the IT service. in the design and development of new IT services.
IT Service Management practices and people are not When the service goes into operation it is ready to
used during design and development. operate as a complete IT service.
The developers ‘handover’ the ‘service’ to operational Any shortfalls in service design and development are
staff in the expectation that it is ready, but the service picked up during service transition, and the service is
initially fails to provide benefits. not accepted into operation until it is ready.
Additional work or rework is required before the IT Developers provide early life support when the service first
service performs correctly. goes live to ensure that any issues are resolved quickly.
This indicates insufficient focus on the ongoing
operational cost during service design and development
Too many incidents and problems Incidents and problems under control
There are many failures and IT service disruptions. Failures sometimes occur, but they are resolved
effectively and users are kept informed.
IT support staff appear to be always ‘fire fighting’ and
do not have time for proactive service improvement A proactive approach is taken to problem solving,
related activities. anticipating and preventing problems where ever possible.
The failures have a disruptive impact on business functions. Lessons are learned, problems are rarely repeated.
This indicates poor service operation practice. Users are confident that issues will be resolved before
they adversely impact the business.
Problems using external suppliers Good supplier management
IT issues are often blamed on third party suppliers. The internal IT service provider owns problems with IT
services even when a third party supplier is involved.
There are additional unexpected charges from external
suppliers and occasional contractual disputes. Contracts to deliver underpinning services and components
are managed effectively and seamlessly by the service
Internal service providers have little control over their third
provider without needing to be brought to the attention of
party suppliers.
business customers.
Third party costs are known and controlled.
This indicates poor supplier management practices.
Poor communication between the business and IT Good communication between the business and IT
Communication is difficult between the service A catalogue of available IT services is written in terms
provider and business customers. the users understand.
IT services do not meet customer expectations. Judgements on value can be made about IT services and
service levels.
The business has a poor perception of IT services.
Service providers are concerned with customer perceptions
Service providers use technical jargon to describe and expectations.
services and explain what is happening.
Service providers use language reflecting business
processes and the value IT provides to the customer.
This indicates poor customer relationship practices.
Tel: +44 (0)845 2300 189 E-Mail: enquiries@aap3.com www.aap3.com

4. Achieving ‘quick wins’
Adopting ITIL practices cannot be achieved merely by sending a few staff on Foundation level training or
purchasing some software tools which claim to be ‘ITIL compliant’. It’s all about changing the way the business
does IT, so that IT services are developed and delivered in a way that is business focused and value driven.
ITIL may require investment in people and tools, but more importantly it requires a service culture that should
be introduced carefully and thoughtfully with support from senior management.
It is however not always necessary to embark on a major project in order to improve your IT service
management. Sometimes a simple change of mindset is all that is required, and some ‘quick wins’ can help
achieve this - for example:
Send key IT development staff on ITIL training, focusing on service design and transition practices.
They will better understand how to design IT services which are both fit-for-purpose and fit-for-
use – meaning fewer failures when the services go-live and a better understanding and control of
operational costs.
Rotate IT development staff into front-line operational roles, so that they get firsthand experience of
the consequences of poor service. They will then be in a position to feedback ideas for improvement
to the service design practices.
Send front-line operational staff into business areas so that they better understand the business
impact of poor service operation.
Conduct a high level assessment of your IT Service Management practices in order to identify those
areas which cause the most pain, and which will provide the greatest benefit if they are improved.
The 80:20 rule will often apply – improving 20% of the processes most in need of attention will bring
80% of the required improvement in terms of business benefit.
“This White Paper has been written by Paul Whitlock on behalf of aap3. Paul has over 25 years experience
in all aspects of IT service support and delivery, and is internationally recognised having worked in Europe
and the US. He has presented at some of the industry’s most prestigious events including the annual
itSMF Conference, Legal IT Conference and various sector specific seminars.
He has a successful track record of designing and deploying “world-class” global service solutions
encompassing people, process and ITSM technologies predominantly in the Oil, Gas, Construction, Legal,
Telecoms and Financial sectors”.
Written by: Paul Whitlock
Published May 2011 © aap3 Ltd
All rights reserved. This publication, or any part of it, may not be reproduced or adapted by any method whatsoever, without written aap3 consent.
Registered Address: 3 Benham Road, Benham Campus
www.aap3.com Tel: +44 (0)845 2300 189 Southampton Science Park, Chilworth, Hampshire, UK, SO16 7QJ
Company Registration 3444435 | VAT Registration 704637247