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IT Service Management Leadership White Paper
The Stories, Evolution and Future of ITSM
September 2016
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
Key Contributors:
Innovation in personal and organizational development
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
Why we did this paper? 1
What’s it all about? 2
Who we surveyed 2
Who’s involved? 3
Contributor stories 3
Quick wins for success 14
How to? 15
Must do’s 16
Key skills 17
Top 3 traits 18
Leadership essentials 19
Industry influencers 19
90 day ITSM journey 20
Moving forward 21
Where’s it going? 22
The evolution of Service Management 23
Challenges 26
What the experts say? 27
David Bentley, Cranford Executive – A decade recruiting in ITSM 28
Barclay Rae, ITSMF UK - PSMF 29
Rob Akershoek, on behalf of The Open Group - IT4IT 31
Paul Wilkinson, Gaming Works, - DevOps 32
Nigel Martin, Axios Systems – Changes in ITSM 33
Vawns Murphy, ITSM Review – The development of ITSM 34
Claire Agutter, ITSM Zone – Education and Training 35
Neil Keating, Bright Horse – Service Management Beyond IT 36
Conclusion 37
Who are we? 37
What’s next for Cranford Executive? 37
1
IT Service Management describes a strategic approach to designing, delivering and managing the way we use Information Technology within an organisation. Excellent IT Service Management improves the way we do this.
The goal of every ITSM framework is to ensure that the right Processes, People and Technology are in place. This helps the organisation to meet its business goals.
This White Paper takes an in depth look into IT Service Management. We will explore the challenges and changes within the industry and provide tips from leading experts on achieving ITSM success.
This White Paper is our third and most comprehensive publication to date. It provides an incredible opportunity to hear first hand from industry experts their thoughts and experiences on the changing face of IT Service Management.
This paper is the first to offer industry professionals an opportunity to tell their story and share with us their journey in ITSM.
The paper also offers the chance to gain personal and professional recognition with some of the UK’s largest companies and most prestigious brands.
David Bentley Managing Director Cranford Group
INTRODUCTION
WHY WE DID THIS PAPER?
"The paper provides Service Management professionals with the opportunity to network and learn from like minded people.”
2
This paper gives Service Management professionals the opportunity to share their most effective tips on how they transformed their IT Service Management with other industry professionals.
All our contributors have faced challenges and in this paper they share their experiences with other industry professionals.
Largest research paper of it’s kind
In this paper we look at:
Industry experts ITSM Stories
Top tips to help new Senior Service Management professionals
Leadership
The first 3 months in a Senior Service Management position
The evolution of ITSM
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
Stories
Evolution
Top Tips
We focussed our Paper on ITSM and asked many leading professionals with a wealth of Service Management experience.
The respondents included Heads of Service Management, Service Delivery Directors, Heads of IT, CTO’s and Business Owners.
Please note, there were a number of contributors who feature throughout the paper
that had to remain anonymous.
WHO WE SURVEYED
3
Below are a number of mini bios of some ITSM leaders and known industry experts.
Like many others Barclay came to ITSM by accident. Unlike many others, Barclay’s journey began in the music industry. Part of this was that he became involved in media phone ins and call centres. He quickly realised that this offered him Customer Service, Communications and Project Management experience.
Barclay then moved through various IT Management roles and gained exposure to the wider Service Management ideas from IBM. He knew the frontline desk was the tip of the iceberg and teams and people needed to work together to support that. This led to his involvement with the SDI who commissioned him to write an industry review of ITSM tools. He started to do consultancy work and has now been a Management Consultant since 1994 working with hundreds of organisations where he relishes the opportunity to review how companies can do things better.
Barclay still plays music for fun!
WHO’S INVOLVED?
BARCLAY RAE - ITSMF UK
ChallengesKnowledge Ideas ExperienceAchievements
4
Tony has been in the industry for 36 years and counting. He worked with David Wheeldon (one of the early ITIL pioneers) who introduced him to the framework, and since then Tony has held a number of positions as an ITSM specialist running teams and transformation programmes.
Most recently Tony has been involved in creating the new IT4IT framework and in 2015 won the Paul Rappaport Award for outstanding contribution to ITSM by the UK ITSMF.
Throughout his career Tony has seen massive changes in IT but ITSM has been a constant, with the fundamental principles remaining the same. This is what Tony loves most about ITSM, it is a constant and has stood the test of time delivering value time and time again.
Georgina began working in ITSM helping with a major transformation in the creation of a Service Management function within a large organisation. This led to working as Head of Service Management taking three organisations and creating a shared service. This was a huge challenge given that Georgina was working with 3 ITSM tool platforms, 3 Service Desks and multiple disparate functions.
Georgina believes her biggest achievements include taking on a ‘failing’ Service Desk based abroad with a customer satisfaction survey of 37%. The customer satisfaction surveys were run regularly helping her to identify which of her actions were having a positive impact. By focussing on specific areas these scores were increased by 30 points over the first 6 months!
TONY PRICE - HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE (HPE)
GEORGINA OWENS - VODAFONE
5
Having worked in the IT industry since 1990, Damian has held a variety of roles. In 2004, he was tasked with creating a services organisation in the UK. Damian believed this was based on his strong communication skills and his desire to make a difference for customers and businesses alike. He believes IT Service Management is the key to integrating IT within the wider organisation.
Damian is widely recognised within the industry for his achievements and likes to feel he has helped the business, colleagues and staff equally. He strongly believes in the career path that ITSM can offer individuals across a wide range of specialisms and enjoys mentoring and seeing others benefit from his experiences in the industry.
Damian saw his biggest challenge as getting other parts of the organisation to understand the value of ITSM and how it benefits both people and businesses. Having like-minded people around you to share ideas is essential and he would advocate building a network of like-minded individuals to gain advice, guidance, support and mentoring.
DAMIAN BOWEN - NTT DATA
Simon is the Director of Rolls-Royce’s IT Shared Services. He’s responsible for operational teams consisting of multiple suppliers and employees. He began his career in a local authority, in the 1990s, when the ITIL methodology was first adopted.
Simon’s role in Rolls-Royce involves various IT Services requirements, supporting the needs of the organisation ranging from their employees on the factory floor to those based at their multiple customers’ sites around the world.
Critical to Simon’s success in delivering global IT Services is his previous industry experience which has given him a broad
insight into how IT and IT outsourcing has evolved. He has focussed on improving the operational practice and leadership of the Rolls-Royce’s global team rather than the implementation of theoretical models.
To achieve Service Excellence he looks beyond industry frameworks such as ITIL, at the best ways to get a multi-sourced organisation to work together as one.
SIMON ODELL - ROLLS-ROYCE
Russell has worked in technology for over 25 years and has been leading ITSM transformations over the past 9 years across Financial Services and more recently the Media sector. He is currently the Global Head of Service Management for BBC Worldwide and is accountable for the leadership of all the Service Management and Support functions, processes, toolsets and solutions.
His biggest achievement to date is transforming and maturing his current department from being operationally focussed into a world class Service Delivery Department.
Russell enjoys the leadership, transformation and continuously improving elements of his role, along with building strong and robust relationships with key stakeholders, vendors and wider technology leaders.
Andy has been working in ITSM for 20 years and is currently Group IT Service Delivery Director for SIG Plc.
In his role, the challenges are in balancing the many transformation activities that are underway across the Group, the conflict of central governance versus local flexibility and addressing the required culture changes, all whilst continuing to support the businesses existing systems and services.
Andy recognises that a key factor in achieving this is a flexible but consistent ITSM framework, underpinned by a pragmatic approach, a motivated team with the right levels of autonomy and great partnerships.
RUSSELL TOOBY - BBC WORLDWIDE
ANDY LITTLEWOOD - SIG PLC
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Having worked in technology for a long time, an opportunity arose to run the Service Management team. This move led to her current role as Head of Business and Service Management at BBC.
Julia isn’t afraid of a challenge; in fact, you could say she looks for new challenges! Overall, her biggest achievement was showing how proper Service Management can add real value to the business rather than just being seen as an overhead. She feels that a focus on the people is vital. You can’t do anything without getting both your own team and the managers of the support teams on board. Measurement is also key. You need to be focussing on the right metrics that will drive the outcomes the business actually want. And if you can’t tell where you are now, then you won’t know, and can’t demonstrate, when you’ve improved.
JULIA WEST - BBC
Beginning his career as an IT apprentice for London Buses, Steve worked in IT Service Management before ITIL was defined. He progressed into the European Change Management team for JP Morgan as the second step in his career.
He now works for one of the largest privately owned IT services organisations in Australia heading up SIAM & ITSM Consulting.
As an IT apprentice Steve experienced working within IT Operations, Networking, Applications Maintenance/Support and ITSM. Steve was drawn to progress his career in ITSM primarily due to the organisational relationship and people engagement opportunities available – plus he happily admits that he would never
make it as a ‘techie’. Creating bespoke and contemporary ITSM solutions to meet the specific needs of customers using an adaptable theory keeps him motivated.
A real ‘people’s person’ Steve most enjoys the ability to improve and develop organisations and people through the use of ITSM. His current role challenges him to use ITSM principles and values to come up with never done before concepts and deliver them as tangible solutions.
STEVE ROBINSON - KINETIC IT
8
Starting her ITSM career with BT Syntegra as Service Delivery Manager, Sonia has now worked in the ITSM space for 15 years. Her initial knowledge was built from this role and says she learnt the basics of Service Management and ITIL, which has since provided a good base of knowledge from which to build upon.
Sonia did not make a conscious decision to work within ITSM. After finishing University, she got a job on a Service Desk and quickly progressed onto process improvements which led her into a role as a Service Manager. She enjoyed this as it was ultimately more client facing. This is a key attraction for Sonia; the people and customer element. Sonia is now able to put all this experience and knowledge into practice in her role as Head of Service Delivery at Science Warehouse, a provider of B2B Spend Management solutions.
Gary views IT Service Management as having structure, fairness and above all, recognising the internal and external customer and putting them first.
His team won ITSMF Team of the Year in 2015 and have an ethos bigger than individuals, teams or even the company. Working for a national building society their aim is to achieve objectives on this scale, with the emphasis on ‘building society’. Connecting IT with business colleagues and external customers is crucial and having a shared vision that reflects this has been key to the team’s success.
Jason is attracted to ITSM by the process and procedure involved. Having a clear structure in order to deliver services is key to driving customer satisfaction.
Jason has built a Service Desk and support service from scratch and knows first hand the challenges of getting people on board with change. All the process and procedure in the world can’t enforce change if people are not brought into an idea, so involving people throughout the whole process will help to get buy in and encourage a smooth transition.
SONIA LEIGHTON - SCIENCE WAREHOUSE
GARY HORTON - YBS GROUP
JASON LLOYD - ISAMS
After working in Project Management and System Development, Alan was asked to take on a failing Service Desk and Desktop Support team and introduce a more customer focussed service support function. Alan relished the opportunity to develop his management and operational experience and enjoyed being an integral part of the business.
Since then he believes his greatest achievement within ITSM has been the design and implementation of a major re-vamp of a Service Management function, including introducing new standard processes and tools across 12 countries with a centralised 1st line support function, all achieved within 9 months.
Alan is constantly learning as each organisation has different challenges and he likes to see how things can be adapted to suit different organisations.
Gareth’s involvement in ITSM has covered the last 4-5 years and has involved taking a small company with minimal IT to a full infrastructure including Security, Marketing and Networking. He has also grown his team hugely within this timescale.
He loves the challenge of this, taking problems and finding solutions and enjoys the positive feedback from clients and colleagues when they roll out new software. It has undeniably been a challenge to build processes into a growing organisation that staff could easily take on and produce results from. Gareth’s advice would be not to ‘fixate’ on a single solution or viewpoint but research and test, getting advice from people who have been there and be prepared to accept their advice.
ALAN MUNDAY - ADMIT CONSULTANCY LTD
GARETH HOPKINS - HS DIRECT LTD
10
Claire has worked in IT Service Management for most of her career and is a self-confessed process geek.
Having fallen into Service Management rather than choosing it, her career path has included many roles from IT Helpdesk Analyst through to Change Management, ITSM Consultancy to running an organisation that specialises in ITSM training.
Claire believes strongly that ITSM helps IT do their job better. She believes Service Management is about avoiding repeating mistakes and speeding up the learning curve. Better IT supports a better business and drives value.
Ian has been in the IT industry for 30 years including stints as UK Managing Director of a SAM provider and SVP of EMEA for Systems tools at CA through to his leadership role today as Sales Director at Axios Systems, a pedigreed ITSM and ITAM vendor.
Ian’s accolades include being a board member of Eurocloud, Governance Board Member of the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) and Non Exec board advisor to FAST. Onalytica named Ian #1 social influencer on cloud in 2015 & 2016 and #18 IOT influencer 2016. He was listed as 48th most connected on LinkedIn Worldwide in 2015 and awarded by LinkedIn a Top 10 in UK Tech Power Profile.
CLAIRE AGUTTER - ITSM ZONE
IAN MOYSE - AXIOS SYSTEMS
Jon is a respected member of the ITSM community and has presented at ITSMF and Service Desk conferences and events.
He is a big believer in open dialogue and communication and sees people as one of the biggest parts of any project. Keeping people involved in all stages is key to success and getting them to adopt any changes that will affect them.
JON EFFORD - INDEPENDENT IT TRANSFORMATION CONSULTANT
11
Moira ‘jumped the fence’ (from Consulting to ITSM) when offered the role as Head of Service Management for T-Systems South Africa some 10 years ago. She believed then and still does that this is the only field where you can apply all aspects of Management, Law and IT in one function providing diversity and challenges. No two days are ever the same within Service Management.
Moira’s personal satisfaction comes from seeing a well defined governance model underpinned by good people and effective processes and procedures. She is rightly proud of taking on a failing account where all key metrics were well below par and over an 18-month period transforming it into one of
the best within this global organisation and achieving the highest customer satisfaction score and highest profit.
The key piece of advice Moira would pass on is ‘ITIL is a framework not a Diktat’.
David felt IT was a disorganised function and the company he was working for were going through significant changes. He studied ITIL and saw clearly that his passion was to bring order into chaos.
He likes the diversity of ITSM, bringing Process and People together to produce results. Over his career highlights have included building a Service Desk and Service Operations Hub for an Investment Bank starting with an empty room and a challenging deadline. He likes to develop
relationships and believes this is key to gaining positive results from ITSM projects.
His appreciation of people and the role they play in getting the job done has helped David and he likes to surround himself with people who can take direction and cascade this onto relevant parties where possible.
DAVID FLACKS - NASSTAR
MOIRA CONTELL
Matt got into ITSM fairly accidentally as it was paying well at the time, since then he has become a key figure in ITSM.
Matt led Fujitsu to winning a billion-dollar contract by conceptualising, designing and integrating a Global Service Operating Model. The model allowed 35 countries at differing levels of maturity to fuse Infrastructure, Architecture and Applications into a single roadmap.
Matt is motivated by solving problems and providing simple and easy to use solutions for complex problems. He firmly believes in putting the consumer first when judging value and feels that ITSM bridges the gap between the technical requirements and localised decision making.
Phil comes from an IT Operations background and realised that the relationship between IT and the business was difficult. He used ITIL as a way to engage with the business and their customers and start to refocus where IT fit into the picture.
Phil has been lucky enough to go back into customers 1-2 years later and see them utilising the structure he put in place (and recognise the change in culture and relationships.) He appreciates that lip service is often paid to ITSM and you really need to engage with your Clients, Customers and Colleagues and speak in their language to make them appreciate the benefits.
Proudest moment? Being part of the winning Sungard AS team for the ITSMF Project of the year 2015.
MATT SERVICE - BLUE LIGHTS DIGITAL
PHIL DUNCAN - OBM IT CONSULTANCY
13
Paul was introduced to ITSM in 1997 when he was tasked with creating a CMDB and has since forged a career enabling IT to support business objectives and goals. He thrives on helping ITSM sceptics to actively be involved in the well oiled Service Delivery systems.
Paul’s stand out ITSM achievement is working alongside Microsoft to add an accountability framework to ITIL for virtual teams. This work has helped many organisations to better structure their IT department and become more effective and a better place to work.
By focussing on the why and not the how Paul has helped organisations to understand the benefits of ITSM and not see it as red tape to be manoeuvred around.
With over 25 years in ITSM in the public sector Yvonne has covered most roles, starting on a Helpdesk that introduced IT into Birmingham Schools and working her way up to be Head of Service Delivery & Service Management for IT provision to the biggest City Council in Europe.
Yvonne is an advocate of People, Process and Technology – she loves working with people, has a passion for process when it brings effective practices back to the customer and enjoys using technology to drive efficiencies and improve service quality.
Yvonne has had a number of significant successes over the years, one of which is achieving ISO/IEC20000 standard certification within such a large organisation in 2008 and continuing to maintain it for over 8 years. Personally she likes the fact that the whole organisation feels proud about what has been achieved through ITSM. ‘Getting champions on board to help rally people and processes brings about more effective Service Delivery and improved customer satisfaction.’
YVONNE BATCHELOR - SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
PAUL LEENARDS - IDWELL
The Future of ITSM
Creating business orientated performance dashboards as a starting point for discussion was a quick win for Gary Horton from Yorkshire Building Society.
To add to this, implementing reporting dashboards gave other people a real insight as to what was happening and reduced any assumptions at iSAMS.
Damian Bowen, NTT DATA
has had a number of quick
wins throughout his career:
• Created a short term
30/60/90-day plan as well as
a medium and long term plan
• Had regular meetings with
the relevant business units
to understand their key
challenges
SIG, Plc had a number of quick
wins when Andy Littlewood joined:
• The entire IT team were put
through ITIL V3
• The transformation plan/vision
was developed
• The number of routes of
engagement were consolidated
• Proactive communications to
the business increased
• David Flacks from Nasstar brought all IT functions to one place
• A simple but very effective Ticket System was a quick win for Gareth Hopkins from HS Direct.
• Alan Munday implemented a customer satisfaction survey that gave them direct feedback from their users meaning they could track improvement.
• Jon Efford said that conducting a ‘readiness’ assessment of your organisation will allow you to identify any challenges upfront.
• Proactive service planning for future state was a real quick win for Matt Service.
• Paul Leenards asked Senior IT staff to make a poster of what they felt IT had to offer to their internal customers.
• Phil Duncan said aligning roles and responsibilities as soon as you can was a quick win for him.
QUICK WINS FOR SUCCESS
Implementing the ITSM Toolset within 4 months has enabled Service Birmingham to achieve a number of quick wins:
• Reduced the time to undertake future upgrade from 9 months to 9 weeks
• Enabled them to reduce toolset costs
Identify areas for improvement and prioritise. You can't fix everything on day one says Julia West from BBC
How to be successful in ITSM
Hear from experienced Service Management experts as they share their top tips on how they have utilised Service Management. The aim is to provide Service Management professionals with some guidance and advice from experts and individuals that have been through the ITSM journey.
HOW TO?
12
3
Regular clear communication with the team and the business is essential
COMMUNICATION
PEOPLE
MEASUREMENTSet clear goals that progress can be measured against and have a Plan B
Take people on the journey with you and gain their buy in at all stages
16
From the Service Management professionals we spoke with, there were clear themes of the “Must Do’s” within ITSM.
It’s no surprise that the overriding themes were People, Process and Tools.
“ITSM is about Process, People and Technology and the way people are utilising and accessing technology,” says Ian Moyse, Axios Systems.
People
Having the ability to listen not only to your customers but also to your colleagues was a recurring theme in the answers that came back.
Building relationships where you understand the end user and see what they perceive as a “first class” service is essential in allowing you to benchmark your service and shape your service around your users.
“Ensuring you provide knowledge to customers will allow them to self-help and reduce the number of “how do I” telephone calls,” says Yvonne Batchelor from Service Birmingham.
Listening, engaging and communicating to all parties is critical in creating an effective service and gaining support.
Process
“Follow ITIL as a guide not a bible” – Matt Service, Blue Lights Digital
Tracking progress on a regular basis and measuring what you are doing along with the progress made was a definite must do. Continuously improving a set of practices to support your organisation and help them reach their goals can only be achieved by monitoring
the development. It is felt that as an industry, frameworks such as ITIL have not been embraced.
Georgina Owens, Vodafone said: “It’s impossible to attach any kind of benefit to process improvement if you don’t measure it”.
Tools
The general consensus here is keeping up to date with technology.
Practitioners need to become well versed with Cloud, IOT, big data, Mobile and DevOps approaches and understand how these change expectations of the user and demands of the business, as well as adjusting the weighting on processes such as supplier management.
MUST DO’SPeople
Tools
Process
To add to these three factors, our research showed that value is a key element that needs to be added into this. The service provided needs to add value for the customer.
Having a vision, clear instruction on how you are going to achieve this and understanding the value it will add to the customer is extremely important in ITSM. A further point is establishing how IT contributes to the business objectives.
17
We asked our respondents what key skills have proved effective in business relationship management to get ITSM transformation projects agreed by the business. Clear overriding elements came back including Communication, Understanding the Business and Having a Vision.
Communication Jason Lloyd from iSAMS says: “Knowing how to communicate with people and the business is key”.
When considering communication, every respondent said this was a key skill within ITSM. Being able to articulate the benefits for both the business and the ITSM team is extremely effective. Ensuring you actively listen and speak the same language were factors expressed.
Taking decision makers on the journey with you, providing regular communication and engagement helps to secure buy ins.
Understanding the Business
Seeking to understand how the business works, recognising what happens day to day and having a good understanding of the business itself and the strategy is crucial. Throughout the process, thinking strategically inline with the business objectives will help you continue to stay focussed. Knowledge on the subject matter in hand and an understanding of how to explain this to all audiences is key.
David Flacks, Nasstar, “Translate the theory into practical gains and business benefits”.
Having a Vision
The key point here is being able to translate the business benefit and value back to actual IT deliverables and activities. This can be achieved through having clear and concise conversations, plans, documentations etc. to accurately show the value and the benefit.
Continually linking everything back to the business benefits and setting clear outcomes through detailed research (but simplified results) will set you onto a winner.
Other key skills listed that have proved effective are:
• Empathy
• Thick skin and resilience
• Commitment
KEY SKILLS
“Set the vision, communicate the vision, and let people know what
you are trying to achieve and why” Alan Munday,
The Future of ITSM
TOP 3 TRAITS
CLEAR VISION
Some of this comes back to communication, having a clear vision, making sure it is adopted
by everybody and having set milestones along the way.
COMMUNICATION
It is no surprise that this was high on everybody’s list, the
ability to listen and hear as well as communicate both verbally
and in writing.
EMPOWERMENT
Recognise people as people rather than resources
and delegating effectively ensuring that they buy in to the vision and develop their
own skills.
TOP 3 TRIED AND TESTED SKILLS THAT MAKE A GREAT LEADER
There were definite themes from the respondees, although many people had variations. ‘Leading by example’ was a strong contender with ‘understanding of your team’ another!
“An effective leader in my opinion needs other leaders in their team”, Damian Bowen, NTT DATA
To be approachable and communicative, look after the business and the stakeholders but never lose sight of the team that are behind you is essential in being a great leader.
“Recognise colleagues for the work they have done, spend time with them and have fun!” Suggests Yvonne Batchelor from Service Birmingham
A bit of Drive and Enthusiasm for Service Management also seems to go a long way, being prepared to take responsibility but keeping that ‘passion’ alive.
“You have to be approachable, visible, engaging, supportive and motivating,” says Andy Littlewood from SIG Plc
19
This was a hugely varied response but around 40% of respondents recognised that personal credibility, integrity and honesty was key to their success.
Again, passion came up a number of times alongside consistency and time management.
Communication was a strong theme particularly within your team. It was recognised that the team are your strength and they need to be supported and taken on the journey with you, helping you but also developing their own skills and growing personally.
A touch of humour never goes amiss especially during tougher times. Recognition of individual contribution is also rated highly.
“The ability to read a crowd, pick up on the atmosphere and generally understand how people are feeling. ‘Emotional Intelligence’ should be a real strength” - Steve Robinson, Kinetic IT
2 people came out on top here.
Meg Whitman, President and CEO of HPE seems to be universally highly regarded.
As far as business leaders go Richard Branson gets a lot of praise. It seems to be that, love him or hate him, he has opinions that make people think and is a regular contributor to forums.
Phil Duncan, OBM IT Consulting said “I feel Mr Branson is someone who, although not always right, is an ideal example of a leader. A people man, who will always have his team behind him. His drive spurs on his organisation to overcome hurdles perhaps they would not have before.”
ITSMF’s Barclay Rae and Tony Price of HPE also received honourable mentions!
LEADERSHIP ESSENTIALS
INDUSTRY INFLUENCERS
21
Agree Common Objectives
Having clear objectives in the area you are looking to mature, with measurable benefits and KPI’s will be highly beneficial.
“Make milestones that aren’t too simple, but not impossible. Keep your eye on the prize”, says Gareth Hopkins from HS Direct Limited
Measure Progress
Ensuring you establish a baseline and having clearly defined goals will set you off on the right course. If you don’t know your starting point, it’s impossible to measure improvement and progress. Adding to this, it was noted that you need to make sure the progress is measured in business terms.
“Talk to the business. Agree common objectives. Measure progress in business terms”, Gary Horton, YBS Group
Problem Management
Be proactive when it comes to Problem Management. Establishing the underlying root cause for recurring incidents and implementing a permanent solution will provide more stable IT and greater
availability leading to improved productivity. In addition, this will also improve customer satisfaction because the IT is more available to them, enabling them to be more productive too!
Communicating the Value to the Business
The ability to talk to the business from Executive level down and communicate the intention and benefit is crucial to get buy in and understanding across people, process, tools and partners. When communicating, another factor for success is ensuring you are adding value to the business. By this, we mean, set the vision, be creative and translate the theory into practical gains and business benefits. Don’t focus on the mechanics of ITSM, focus on the value.
This section aimed to gather top tips from leading experts on taking the Service Management function to the next level of maturity and offer suggestions on significantly increasing the business benefits.
MOVING FORWARD
Another success factor here is to collaborate with others and consult experts who have made the journey before. Ask them for their tips and advice and perhaps complications they have faced.
The Changes, Challenges and Future of IT Service Management
Read about the changes within ITSM, hear first hand from our contributors on the challenges they have faced and see what our experts say on the future of ITSM.
WHERE’S IT GOING?
ITSM - Communication is key
People ITILValue
ProcessLeadershipTools
23
Service Management began its life with good intentions. It was designed to standardise IT services to the business thereby improving efficiency and becoming aligned with the business as it grows and changes.
However, over recent years it is widely thought that it’s become over prescribed and is thought of more as a hindrance and a slave to process than providing any real value to organisations.
Several of our contributors commented that ITIL has become too process centric. Tony Price from HPE commented that processes were created to break down technology silos and in doing so created process silos…. inevitably this counteracted any streamlining and efficiency benefits that were intended.
Damian Bowen, NTT DATA, similarly noted that ITSM has lost its way in terms of understanding the value and benefits of
what it looks to achieve creating silos which are misunderstood by the business and IT departments. This has resulted in lost value and being regarded as governance taken too far, with ITIL being difficult to adopt easily as it was envisioned.
A number of contributors also commented on ITSM becoming more certification based than reality based and that the current system fails to prove genuine experience, innovation or people skills. Again, this lends to the fact that ITSM seems to have become far removed from its intentions and spends too much time focussing on papers, processes and qualifications than actual change and business/IT impact.
But how do we achieve this and still evolve?
One of the first changes that has been noticed is the integration of ITSM with the emerging and existing frameworks from other areas of business and IT. Certain frameworks including PRINCE2 now dovetail well with ITSM avoiding the need for duplicated effort and resulting in reduced cost to the business.
By collaborating with other frameworks including Agile, COBIT and DevOps
the original benefits of ITIL can again be realised with people once again understanding the benefits of the common approach, and ITSM adopting the more pragmatic and practical aspects of other frameworks.
A new framework, IT4IT, has emerged on the back of this need for collaboration which aims to bring everything back to being Service centric but easy to adopt and understand across the business and IT.
THE EVOLUTION OF SERVICE MANAGEMENT
THE SOLUTION… GET BACK TO BASICS.
24
Moira Contell has even suggested a “Lite” version of ITIL could be created to take into account those organisations who are put off by the complexity of ITIL but could benefit from aspects of the framework.
Tools
ITSM tooling has progressed significantly from the early days.
Steve Robinson, Kinetic IT, observed that today’s ITSM solutions enable flexibility and ongoing improvement, whereas tools of the past were more challenging to upgrade and manage.
ITSM tools were based on a ‘build it once, change it little’ mentality, the lack of flexibility did not encourage agile development techniques. In fact, a primary development driver was to ensure you didn’t change the code in a way that would make the next upgrade even more challenging, or indeed impossible.
Agility within today’s tools enables continual improvement and rapid change, this allows us to take a critical, unrestricted look at processes and procedures seeking out opportunities where ‘physical’ activities can be effectively replaced with ‘digital’ solutions.
Emerging Technologies
Such as the cloud have forced changes in ITSM too. The cloud has presented new challenges including security concerns, availability & accessibility improvements, data integrity and support needs which all need to be incorporated into ITSM to manage. ITSM has had to work closely with departments such as IT Security to ensure that end user experience remains positive and that IT Security are on board with their processes and reasoning around this. Finding the balance of accessible but secure data is something that has had to be done in partnership. This collaborative
environment is bringing about a natural change in that other business and IT functions are seeing that ITSM is there to help not hinder. Users are increasingly demanding and ITSM is the function that will put the user at the forefront, and by working with ITSM departments they can ensure their solution will be well received by the user.
Education
Certification was picked up on in a fairly negative light with many feeling it has lost its value.
Claire Agutter, ITSM Zone, has noticed an emerging diversity in the way people and organisations now talk about ITSM education. Whereas ITSM was once wholly focussed on ITIL, organisations now talk about other frameworks, standards and tools available to them such as COBIT, DevOps, Agile, ISO20000 and business relationship management. She says that individuals often start with an ITIL certification and then choose to expose themselves to a wider view of ITSM. She sees this as a positive change as although ITIL has many values this new approach allows for a more agile approach that will enable people to take the best from a wide spectrum and apply it in the most appropriate way for them.
Paul Leenards, suggests consolidating IT knowledge, methods, practices and qualifications into a single MBA type degree to really give it weight, value
and status.
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SIAM
As businesses grow and include more functionality and demand from customers there is an increase in the need to be flexible in how they work with suppliers. The SIAM Model of working allows them to have multiple streams/towers that each offer the most suitable solutions for them by playing to each suppliers strength.
Andy Littlewood, SIG Plc,has previously developed a SIAM capability and sees the
approach as bringing together all of the aspects required to manage and integrate IT services with a clear end-to-end ownership and accountability structure.
This integrated model brings ITSM to the forefront of the business as a crucial aspect in ensuring smooth transition, the ultimate purpose being to create the best possible IT and business functions for users by taking the best from multiple suppliers.
Continuing on the path to “joining up” IT and business functions is something that was mentioned by many contributors so despite some of the positive steps that have been taken there is still room for improvement here and it is thought that if this can be achieved the perceived value of ITSM will increase. Engaging with other professional bodies to support this and mature the framework will aid this.
ITSM has taken a bit of a beating over recent years and has been described as old fashioned and loosing appeal. It needs to be made slicker, easier and more approachable for the business to really get on board and see it as important and desirable rather than the necessary evil it has become in some organisations.
Yvonne Batchelor, Service Birmingham, suggests moving towards lean principals to achieve this so that it is not overly complicated and can focus on the customer journey and value with the ability to track benefits.
Tony Price, HPE, would make ITSM more open to new ideas and developments. He says that ITSM has been a constant for so long now that people are closed to change, IT is moving faster and faster and if ITSM wants to stay relevant it needs to keep up.
The overall theme of what the experts would do can be summed up in one word, SIMPLIFY.
WHAT WOULD OUR ITSM GURU’S CHANGE?
The challenges ITSM leaders are facing right now
CHALLENGES
The cloud and cyber awareness - ITSM solutions need to adapt to ensure they are fit for purpose
Staying relevant - keeping ITSM up to date with the latest technological innovations
People - finding the right people to lead and innovate in ITSM
Challenges with organisational culture. Teams that don’t see the value in what you are trying to do and don’t allow things to change within their company –
Jon Efford, JME IT Transformation IT Consulting
Ensuring ITSM provides business benefits that impact profitability
SIAM - it is not fully understood even by organisations embarking on the journey already
Setting aside the time to mentor and coach others with strong business drivers to contend with
Integration - bringing together global business units and creating a constant amongst departments and countries that have previously been disjointed with their own process
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Hear from our partners on what they say about ITSM
This chapter includes sections on PSMF from Barclay Rae, ITSMF UK, DevOps from Paul Wilkinson of Gaming Works, IT4IT from Rob Akershoek on behalf of The Open Group, Tool Vending from Nigel Martin from Axios Systems and an insight into Education and Training from Claire Agutter at ITSM Zone.
We have also included a piece from our Managing Director, David Bentley, on his experience in ITSM.
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
DevOps
IT4IT
Tools
Education
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DAVID BENTLEY, CRANFORD GROUP, MANAGING DIRECTOR
I have recruited a lot of senior ITSM people over the years. In my experience the top traits desired for a Head of Service Management and Service Delivery Director are:
1. Are they a true People's Person? To be successful in Service Management and Delivery they have to believe in Service. Their number one priority must be to deliver first class service to the customer.
2. Are they a Problem Solver? Working in Service Management is not always straight forward and one size does not fit all. They need to be adaptable and have the courage to work outside of the norm to find the best solution.
3. Are they Commercially Aware? Despite being an IT function, Service Management is the bridge between the Business and IT. Combining the needs of both can be a complex and challenging place to be.
1. If you specialise in an area you will stand out in the ITSM world. There is lots of competition, by differentiating yourself you will be both contractually and financially appealing.
2. Make sure you build a relationship with the very best recruiters. It’s who you know as well as what you know, especially in the age of social media.
3. It should be about what the role is, not just the day rate. Choose a project or a workplace that you really want to be involved in, and one that can offer career gains for the medium to long term. Professional fulfilment and the bigger picture is more valuable than short term gain. Long term contractors who work this way generally see their day rates increase year on year.
Throughout my decade in ITSM I have seen changes both positive and negative but the main thing to take from this is to make yourself valuable and marketable. I hope my overview of the changes, tips and advice will help you continue to strive for ITSM success.
Top 3 traits looked for? My top tips for a successful career in ITSM:
A decade recruiting in ITSM
I wanted to share an overview of the ITSM industry from a recruitment perspective, identifying some of the changes that have taken place in recent years and what clients are looking for in Senior Leadership roles within ITSM.
At Cranford Group we have placed candidates with companies such as Fujitsu, IBM, HPE, Barclays, Callcredit and NTT DATA; in positions ranging from Service Desk Analysts through to Heads of Service Management and Service Delivery Directors at Blue Chips, End Clients & SMEs, the entire spectrum of ITSM roles.
Changes in ITSM - Permanent vs Contract hires
In the last decade I have noted considerable changes in the way people run their businesses and build their teams. In 2005 the majority of roles in ITSM were Permanent positions supported by IT Service Management Consultancy organisations. The growing demand for ITIL and its importance in how IT Services are built within organisations, has led to an increase in models and methodologies being used to recruit a diverse skill set in teams. This changing landscape and the increase in independent Service Management experts has created a greater demand for Contract Resource.
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For many years the prime focus of IT Service Management has been on Tools and Processes.
ITIL and the ITSM software market have dominated much of the approach to Projects, Operations and Training.
More recently there has been a tangible re-emphasis on people, the value they bring and the need to focus on the human aspect of our work. This is an important step, particularly in the ever changing worlds of Automation, Augmented Reality, Robotics, AI, Consumerisation, Mobility Management, IOT, Cloud, everything-as-a-service and Big Data.
Reading the daily social media blurb around these areas, it would be easy to imagine a world in which no human takes any part.
However, in the world of Service Management, nothing could be further from the truth. People make service and Service Management needs a focus on people – e.g. for Communication Skills, Organisational Change Skills, Relationship Management, Commercial, Financial and Negotiation Skills. The human factor makes the difference, and this requires considerably more than knowledge of technology or method.
At ITSMF UK we recognise the need for a renewed focus on people. Our value to our members and the industry is in bringing people together to share experience, knowledge and stories. Human interaction
and networking is our business and we are delighted to support this paper from Cranford Executive which focusses on real stories and experience.
The approach fits well with our own strategy to raise the industry profile and drive professionalism – with the launch of our Professional Service Management Framework (PSMF). There is a clear need to bring into relief the key competencies beyond Process and Technology that are needed to be successful in Service Management.
From my own experience and knowledge of many players in the industry, there is a deep treasure chest of information and anecdote around the career paths and life stories of our people. ITSM is not a fixed route or standard career to follow – few, if any of us, dreamed of an ITSM career when children, but once involved most of us are committed and captivated by the type of work and the value we and our customers get from it.
Most of the stories in this paper are fascinating and revealing in their diversity and passion. All of them give clear and unequivocal notice that the profession is a rewarding and valuable career.
I hope this helps to support you with the increased confidence and drive to succeed further in your ITSM career.
ITSMF UK is the country’s leading association for those involved in IT Service Management. Our members include over 600 organisations, ranging from large multinational companies to independent consultants, employing between them more than 6,000 Service Management professionals. With a wide range of member groups & online resources, events & webinars, and professional support services, it’s the premier forum for learning, networking, sharing expertise and keeping up-to-date with all things ITSM.
More information: www.itsmf.co.uk
BARCLAY RAE, ITSMF UK, CHIEF EXECUTIVE
About ITSMF UK
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PSMF is a competency model which defines a professional identity for the Service Management industry. It consists of a Competence Framework which focusses on six core competence areas:
• Your organisation and Marketplace
• IT/Technical Knowledge
• Core ITSM Practice Areas
• Interpersonal/Relationships
• Self-Management and Leadership
• General Business and Management
Basic Structure
Next Steps
As well as devising the framework and supporting content for PSMF, ITSMF UK are developing a scheme to support organisations in developing and achieving a consistent approach to holistic Service Management competency. This will be a ‘light touch’ approach that recognises a number of different skills and CPD frameworks. As part of this commitment, ITSMF UK's role will be:
• To provide ‘hands-on’ support for the organisation and individuals to improve their competency, capability and professionalism
• To provide a scheme for assessment and recognition of staff professionalism
• To provide bespoke PSMF measurement criteria to satisfy the needs of the member organisation as required
Our first PSMF-accredited member organisation was announced in June 2016, having completed the first steps in this process, with several other organisations following the same path.
The Professional Service Management Framework (PSMF)
While other career paths are widely understood, the Service Management profession is not clearly defined or appreciated. Our roles require a number of skills and competencies beyond our technical capability, such as Business Knowledge, Leadership and Communication.
PSMF has been developed by ITSMF UK to help develop and advance Service Management as a professional discipline. It offers a new way for member organisations to recognise and communicate the achievements and experiences of their staff as they demonstrate their ongoing commitment to professionalism in Service Management.
Key BenefitsWith the help of PSMF, the Service Management industry finally has the opportunity to define itself as a profession. Specifically, the framework can help to:
• Improve staff engagement, retention and productivity
• Encourage personal development and career progression
• Provide industry recognition for professionalism in Service Management
• Improve ITSM value recognition and professional identity within the business
• Develop high-performing Service Management teams and improve service quality.
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Transform your IT function to enable digital enterprise using The Open Group IT4IT™ standard
The Open Group IT4IT standard provides the capabilities for managing the business of IT to enable IT execution across the entire IT value chain in a better, faster and cheaper way with less risk.
The IT4IT standard is a vendor-neutral open standard for managing the business of IT. It is developed and maintained by The Open Group IT4IT Forum, in which consumer organisations, IT Vendors, Solution Integrators and Academic Institutions participate.
The standard is designed to be used with process-based frameworks and other best practices such as ITIL, COBIT, TOGAF, PRINCE2 and PMBOK. While these frameworks and standards place emphasis on process, The Open Group IT4IT standard focusses on the functionality and information needed to manage IT services throughout the entire lifecycle. It defines how
the IT function can be automated and supported by information systems as well as providing the necessary insights to improve IT decision-making and support continuous improvement.
The IT4IT Reference Architecture and value chain-based IT operating model are designed to provide a holistic and integrated foundation for IT management that focuses on delivering value to the business.
Using the IT4IT standard enables the IT organisation to transform itself to become a service provider to the business, brokering services from an increasing number of vendors in the IT-ecosystem and implementing modern practices such as DevOps, Lean, Agile and continuous improvement.
With the IT4IT capabilities in place success for the digital transformation of the business is guaranteed.
ROB AKERSHOEK, SOLUTION ARCHITECT (IT4IT), LOGICALIS SMC AND CHAIR, THE OPEN GROUP IT4IT™ FORUM
The Open Group is an international vendor--and technology--neutral consortium upon which organisations rely to lead the development of IT standards and certifications, and to provide them with access to key industry peers, suppliers and best practices.
The Open Group provides guidance and an open environment in order to ensure interoperability and vendor neutrality.
About The Open Group
Most DevOps initiatives will fail… unless!
How a business simulation game can help speed up your DevOps adoption and increase the chance of success.
DevOps seems to be the latest trending topic and silver bullet solution to help organisations get faster time-to-market and value from their IT software investments. Promises such as ‘Code is shipped 30 times faster’, ‘Deployments are completed 8,000 times faster’, ‘50% fewer failures’ are fuelling the rapid adoption rate of DevOps.
However, many organisations see DevOps as a technology solution, simply throw the latest set of automated tools at it and all the world’s problems will be solved… instantly. Yet as Gartner states ‘Cultural resistance will create significant failure rates’, and as a CIO article entitled ‘CIOs need to avoid a mistaken path to DevOps’ went on to add ‘Organisation change issues are more challenging’ than the investment in technology.
How can we avoid these costly failures?!
DevOps is all about ‘collaboration’ and ‘communication’, but how can we get teams that traditionally don’t collaborate or communicate well to change their ‘attitude, behaviour and culture’?
More and more training organisations are now adopting business simulation games, such as the Phoenix project game to add
to their traditional theoretical DevOps training offerings. The simulation brings Development, Ops AND Business people together to learn what DevOps really means and HOW to apply DevOps practices. Learning to experiment and explore how to translate theory into practice and capture agreed improvement actions to take away. As one organisation stated ‘… Having this simulation 7 years ago we probably would have made bigger steps in our journey’. Jonathan Leckey, Head of Operations at AutoTrader.
Many organisations think that a simulation game is simply a ‘nice-to-have’ addition to training to make it more fun.
Our global survey results into the benefits and value of experiential learning revealed the following benefits:
• Improved quality of service resulting from the change in behaviour as agreed in the simulation game
• People started applying the behaviour they had experienced in the simulation game
• Reduces time, cost and effort to implement (best practices) as people have a better understanding idea how to apply after following a simulation
• People got together more after the simulation game to analyse and improve their work together
PAUL WILKINSON, DIRECTOR AND OWNER, GAMING WORKS
Innovation in personal and organizational development
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Changes in the ITSM market
The average maturity for a large enterprise has remained fairly static on Gartner’s five-point scale at around 2.5 over recent years. In part this is due to too many vendors making their technology either too difficult to adopt, or riddled with a painful and complex upgrade process. These are the barriers which stifle innovation.
Is the ITSM market finally in a period of change?
It’s an exciting time. We have just completed the latest round of international research looking at the latest trends, challenges and service innovations in the market.
Our research identified that there has been a significant focus on improving ITSM processes in the last 12 months. The top four improvement areas highlighted have been Change, Knowledge, Incident and, interestingly, Asset
Management. Whilst these categories may have been an industry focus for the last three years, the fundamental difference is that now, for the first time, the wider market has sufficient maturity to focus on delivering a true service experience.
To achieve this, large enterprises must adopt a unified toolset which fully incorporates both IT Service Management and IT Asset Management processes.
So what are we doing about it?
At Axios it is our duty to innovate; we are immensely proud of our latest industry first.
We are the first and currently the only vendor in the world to be accredited for all 16 PinkVERIFY™ ITIL® processes.
Many vendors focus purely on the technology and forget the transformation skills. According to our research findings, one of the main barriers to implementing improvement has been IT culture and its resistance to change.
With IT increasingly delivering service to non-IT functions and acting as more of a service broker, the necessity for IT to be aligned to business requirements has never been greater.
Our professional services team is fully focussed on supporting clients on their journey via our Customer Success Program, enabling them to progressively adopt the more mature ITSM features, such as collaboration, at the right time.
Looking further beyond 2016, organisations will continue to focus on process improvement and increased automation, optimising the full service experience rather than making more isolated efficiencies. To achieve this, processes and service delivery must span the entire enterprise. IT must engage with the rest of the business and be prepared to work with them to determine the service they want delivered.
It is fundamental that organisations select vendors based on not only functionality, but those who have the professional services required to deliver every aspect of their program.
What are the barriers to ITSM innovation?
NIGEL MARTIN, VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL MARKETING, AXIOS SYSTEMS
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, being “just good enough” isn’t good enough any more. We live in the age of sparkly new technology at every turn - the era of Facebook, Amazon and Google - and our customers' expectations have been raised accordingly. The message to our poor beleaguered IT departments?
Essentially it’s this “Go big or go home”
There is no one size fits all any more; in order to truly deliver value, we need to flex to the needs of the business. ITIL and the service lifecycle approach is a ready made business model for Service Management and is a great platform to build excellent services that enable your stakeholders. ITAM works to manage, control and protect the supporting infrastructure. ISO 20000 gives you a standard to be compliant against and COBIT gives you levels of maturity. Lean, Agile and Six Sigma look at efficiencies, speed and removing defects. DevOps looks at overall accountability, collaboration and automation and IT4IT looks at the overall value stream.
VAWNS MURPHY, ITSM PROFESSIONAL, ITSM REVIEW
The key message?
Our customers deserve the best and in order to truly enable and drive transformation we need to blend our approach to meet the needs of our organisations.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, being “just good enough” isn’t good enough any more.
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Keeping skills up to date is essential in a changing IT Service Management world
At ITSM Zone, we provide training to service management professionals around the world. This is a time of rapid change, and we’re observing some significant market trends.
The first change is that ITSM professionals and organisations need to have experience of more than one framework, tool or standard. Previously, it was common for people and businesses to identify themselves by a single area of specialism, for example ITIL or PRINCE2.
In recent years, the market has become more diverse and people and organisations now talk about ITSM based on a number of frameworks, tools and standards including ITIL, COBIT, DevOps, Agile, ISO20000 and Business Relationship Management. Using multiple approaches helps to deliver value.
From a training perspective, market highlights include:
• Global ITIL Training sales have flattened, with no significant growth
• PRINCE2 sales have also remained steady
• Project Management related certifications like Agile Project Management are growing
• Newer certifications like the DevOps Foundation and BRM Professional are growing strongly
The second change is a change in how people are choosing to learn. ITSM Zone specialises in e-learning, and initially our main market was the USA. Over the years we’ve seen this change, and e-learning now has a much larger market around the world.
We’ve also seen an uptake in ‘blended learning’. We work with partners who use our e-learning but add value to it by hosting a single classroom day or a number of webinars, perhaps to discuss topics in the learner’s native language.
Organisations choose e-learning for a number of reasons. They might want to:
• Train more people for less cost
• Reduce the impact on fee-earning employees
• Train global teams at the same time
For individuals, our customers tell us they choose e-learning because they value the ability to study as and when they wish.
CLAIRE AGUTTER, ITSM PROFESSIONAL AND OWNER, ITSM ZONE
ITSM Zone supports ITSM professionals by providing high quality e-learning to help them keep their skills up to date. Our training is supported by our unique virtual mentor program, giving every learner access to an industry expert to help them apply their skills. Visit www.ITSM.zone to access our training catalogue, free resources and blogs. Courses include ITIL, PRINCE2, DevOps, COBIT, ISO20000, BRM, OBASHI and RESILIA cyber-security.
About ITSM zone
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Service Management Beyond IT
The Service Management market is changing and established IT departments and ITSM teams now have an exciting opportunity to add significant value to their businesses. The work that IT departments have done over many years in maturing and automating their Service Management process can provide real answers for traditional business issues that departments outside of IT are now facing.
At Bright Horse, every day we see effective, automated Service Management going beyond the IT department and into the enterprise. As other internal business departments (such as HR, Facilities, Finance, Legal etc.) are being driven to open up their services to their customers (both internal and external), they need the same automation technology and Service Management processes used by IT for the past twenty years.
Any process at the simplest level consists of three things: an Input, an Output and Approvals. With ITSM,
IT departments have been maturing complicated processes like this for over 20 years so the Service Management processes in IT are very valid to the service management processes needed in HR. These skills and expertise can also be applied to any other service department in any business.
However, there is a still a problem – IT still talks an IT language. With communication IT needs to be able to talk the departmental language – they need to speak “HR cases” rather than “IT incidents”.
From a historical position of operating in discreet technical silos, the market for Service Management means IT has worked hard to understand and advance its own operational processes. This until now has been a key point of difference. HR and Finance, for example, already understand their own processes very well, due to legal and compliance obligations. Once processes are known and understood, it is easy to define the requirements and then successfully automate them to improve service.
NEIL KEATING, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BRIGHT HORSE
About Bright Horse
Bright Horse was established to aid our customers with automating their service expertise. Whatever legacy systems or issues you have managing service – whether process or technology based, we can assist with improving the overall service experience for your clients. To discuss further, please give us a call - 0118 402 8419. [email protected]
IT have been great in their own domain but many of our clients are now putting business roles into IT to facilitate better understanding of the business requirements. A business analyst is a better liaison role than an IT analyst. They can also go out into the business and assimilate themselves in other departments to help bridge the language gap between IT and the business.
If IT fails to talk the language of the business and is not prepared to get involved, then departments will go elsewhere – they can now easily access product and services in the cloud and have a wealth of material available via their search engine. People can now acquire and deploy technology and integrate it without the input of IT (and are doing so). Business users want to use technology at work the way they use it socially.
So how can we bridge this gap?
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Senior Executive Search, Permanent Recruitment, Interim and Contract Hires.
Cranford Executive is an independent, Senior Level Retained Search and Recruitment Agency operating throughout the UK.
We have extensive experience and an established history in delivering Executive Appointments, Permanent Placements and Contract Hires.
We place professionals in all areas of IT including C Level IT, IT Leadership, ITSM, SIAM, Infrastructure, DevOps, Software Development and Testing.
Cranford Executive truly understands and appreciates the value and application of IT Service Management. With over a decade of experience, we are proud to be the ITSM recruitment partner of choice for an extensive range of clients and candidates throughout the UK.
Our clients range from global blue chips to SME’s across all sectors including Outsourcing, Financial Services, Retail, Telecommunications and Public Sector. We are very pleased to say that once we’ve developed a relationship with a new organisation, they choose us every time.
To SME clients across the UK – and we’re very pleased to say that once we’ve developed a relationship with a new organisation, they stick with us.
@CranfordGroup
www.cranfordexecutive.com
Our White Paper does not end here!
We have planned a series of Regional
and National events to promote our
paper and continue offering ITSM professionals the opportunity to tell
their story and gain insights from industry leaders.
The first event, in November, is part
of the ITSMF UK’s ITSM16 Conference
taking place in Heathrow (T5). We will be giving valuable opportunities
for contributors and like minded people to network and share their ITSM success. We also want to help
celebrate the 25th anniversary of the
ITSMF UK conference.
We would like to extend huge thanks to everybody involved in this project, from the contributors, partners, designers and our clients to the individuals that helped us shape the paper.
Conclusion
Who are we?
All our contributors have found different routes into ITSM but they all share a common belief in Service Excellence and putting people first. You need people on board and you need them to buy in to what you are doing in order to succeed. By creating simple yet robust processes they are more readily adopted and quickly add value to the business.
We hope that our contributors shared experiences will provide our readers with some top tips and quick wins of how to be successful in Service Management. Who knows what the future holds for ITSM, our experts certainly have their opinions. If you would like to explore any subject further within Service Management, please get in touch with us with a view to contributing to our next paper.
Thank you
What’s next for Cranford Executive?
www.cranfordexecutive.comLondon Office: 4 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0PG
Leeds Office: Park House, Bradford Road, Birstall WF17 9PH
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 01924 664 540
