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KEEP ING THE I T SUPPORT COMMUNITY CONNECTEDSuppor tWor ld

Many people wonder about the best place to start with ITIL and, although the answer is different for every organization, the good news is that ITIL best practices are suitable for all shapes and sizes. While smaller organizations may not ever need to introduce all the ITIL processes, their service management operations could benefit from introducing a simplified set or a subset because the principles of the best practices involved are exactly the same regardless of organizational size.

However, it is commonly agreed that it is not sensible to go from nothing to full-blown ITIL-based service management in one single step. Organizations need to take an incremental approach based on where they are starting from, their business priorities, and where they want to get to. For example, this could be to concentrate on improving a subset of the processes that are causing the most pain or aiming to make an improvement in overall service management, but accepting that implementation in some areas will be better than others.

Before starting any service improvement plan, organizations need to agree on the business goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) that they are striving to meet and agree how they will measure their effectiveness both within the organization as a whole and also within the IT department. These will be defined by the organization’s vision on how service management contributes to their goals. Measurement could be based on customer satisfaction, reduced cost, improvement in quantity, or increased productivity, for example.

As part of this process, they also need to look at how effective their existing processes are and what changes need to be made to ensure that the new goals can be achieved.

Any service improvement plan also needs to have a champion outside IT to help drive the program forward. The plan needs to have buy-in at a high level in the organization and be based on a very strong service management vision. Successful plans should avoid using the argument of cost savings and focus on ways to

improve service delivery even though the results are more difficult to quantify. Fundamentally, a service improvement plan will require more than technology. It will demand change to the culture and processes of an organization, which is why it is vital to have backing from senior management.

As I said earlier, where to start implementing a best practice framework depends on individual organizational circumstances and goals, but the consensus seems to be that beginning with service desk management can often yield a number of quick wins since this environment is one where people are likely to be pursuing best practices already and where it is easy to measure the impact on the rest of the organization.

Effective service management also gives end users a different perception of the service desk. While end users sometimes feel that they are being supported by the “helpless desk” or the “no help desk,” many find that calls are handled more quickly and efficiently and that issues are really resolved after the introduction of ITIL practices. This doesn’t always mean that call volumes are reduced or that staff numbers can be cut. The introduction of ITIL-based service management can lead to an increased volume of calls to the service desk as users start to raise calls about issues that they feel would not have been resolved before. The end result could be that better service requires more staff, not less.

Although in this case the costs in IT could go up, users are likely to be more satisfied and, therefore, more productive. Ultimately, it’s the value improvements and the achievement of goals that need to be demonstrably measured, rather than numbers of service desk staff. Justification for the introduction of ITIL based on a plan that shows how changing the way that IT service is delivered and managed, and how the business will benefit, is a good starting position.

ITIL can easily help organizations contain their costs, manage complexity, stay flexible in times of change, and meet the demands of compliance, as well as deliver fast and effective service. The ultimate benefit of ITIL, however, is that it has the potential to deliver ongoing

Many publications exist that detail the objectives and principles of ITIL. The aim of this article is to outline some of the areas to consider when thinking about whether, when, and how to

rollout an ITIL framework-based program. ITIL, a set of best practice IT guidelines and processes, provides a framework for identifying, managing, and enhancing all aspects of an IT infrastructure. ITIL is based on a set of non-prescriptive recommendations and, while an organization’s service delivery cannot be “certified” in it or “comply” with it, following all or part of the framework can enable delivery of measurable benefit in terms of IT Service Management (ITSM) capabilities.

While this non-prescriptive approach has advantages in that organizations can choose to implement it in a way that suits their individual needs, it can also be daunting to those that are not familiar with, or experienced in, its recommendations.

ITIL

How to determine

which aspects of

the best practices

methodology are

most suitable for

your organization.

ITIL Best Practices

by Graham Ridgway

26 www.Th inkHDI .com I May/June 2008

value to an organization on an indefinite scale. Through Continual Service Improvement (CSI), organizations maintain value through the continual evaluation and improvement of the ITSM service life-cycle and therefore consistently deliver benefits to business operations, staff, and customers.

Regardless of priorities, following the recommended stages of the service life-cycle from service strategy through to service design, transition, and operation—overseen by CSI during each stage—will help ensure that the right questions are asked, the correct decisions are made, and areas for improvement are identified. A way of thinking about this approach is to compare it to building a house. No one simply starts digging, but follows a set plan of different stages involving a variety of people and skills. First comes the strategic phase, deciding what sort of house is required, what needs it has to fulfill, how much budget is required, and the gain of overall approval to build and submit outline plans. Next is the design stage, creating and submitting detailed plans to gain approval of how the house will look. During the transition phase, the house is built and the relevant services to do this are delivered, working with all the identified stakeholders to come to the agreed solution. Following the house building itself, a test phase is necessary to check that everything meets regulations and functions as it should. Only after that will the house be ready to live in—the operational phase. This needs maintenance support (plumbers, electricians) and operational services, such as utility services and trash collection to function effectively. Any ongoing improvements, such as an extension or renovation, will follow the same process in miniature.

Think of the number of different groups involved in this process—the aim of the new version of ITIL is to appeal to a similarly broad group of people involved in organizational and IT decision-making at all levels, from the board down.

Clearly, ITIL adoption is in itself quite a serious undertaking for any organization, albeit one that is very worthwhile in terms of producing standardized and documented best practice processes that can measurably meet business aims. But it is not the end of the story. The more holistic approach spelled out in ITIL v3 points to an evolution of service management into a continual journey full of new ideas and areas of refinement, each with identified organizational goals for the provision of service management.

Increasingly, the factors driving IT strategy will be the same as those driving the business strategy overall. In many areas, service level management is now effectively converging with business level management, which can have a bearing on the viability of the business case. An organization tasked with any type of industry or regulatory compliance, for example, will have a strong case for adopting ITIL. A consequence of this is that the IT function, naturally, needs to have a much greater knowledge of the wider organization than may previously have been the case.

Graham Ridgway has been Chief Executive Officer of Touchpaper since 2001. He has developed from a technical background as a software developer, through management consultancy, to a number of managing director and CEO- level positions. Graham has an honors degree in mathematics from the University of Exeter and is a member of the Institute of Directors (IoD).

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