IT Service Management (ITSM) overview
This article aims to put ITSM in the context of a small business but to start off, here are a few building blocks
IT Service Management (ITSM) is a set of disciplines that manage's the delivery of IT Services to the end users in a manner that puts the user at the center of the service and recognises the balance of the cost of delivering the service with the needs of availability. It also incorporates the management of the suppliers or teams used to deliver the services and is not seen as a predominantly technical set of disciplines. ITSM is a general term for this business practice.
IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) - Owned by the OGC, ITIL loosely claims to be the documented industry best practice for ITSM and is used as a good practice framework for practicing ITSM Professionals. The most recent set of ITIL best practice is split into 5 key areas and more information can be found by clicking on the links below:
Service Strategy - Service Strategy is about defining the approach towards service. This may be difficult to comprehend when an organisation just has "users" and does not really have an IT department, but all the same their is still a "supplier" and a "customer" and by understanding the principles behind service strategy, an SME may be able to delivery a higher level of service at a lower cost
Service Design - The key Service Design aspects are good practice when considering introducing new services to your business or embarking on upgrades to existing services. By following these processes, costs should be reduced and the final solution should be as close a match to you customers requirements as is reasonably achievable, The additional set of processes such as Supplier Management, Information Security Management and Capacity Management allow you to design past the technical aspects and make the future management of your services easier.
Service Transition - The final stage of any IT project that the users remember is the "go live". The move from concept to usage is always highly anticipated and for an SME, this step probably poses the highest risk in terms of downtime and loss of productivity to your business. The basic processes outlined in Service Transition provides a solid test, build, pilot and transition framework which if embraced should provide a high success rate for both new services and modifications to any existing services.
Service Operation - The key principles of Service Operation underpin the delivery of any IT service, regardless of the size of the organisation. Designating a single point of contact for the reporting of your IT issues allows you to quickly gain a holistic view of any problems. Other pre-defined processes such as Access Management and Request Fulfillment provide a simplification of your day to day administration as well as immediately increasing your approach towards IT security.
Continual Service Improvement - One key outcome that can be driven through the implementation of CSI is a natural reduction in the cost of IT services. By reviewing the requirements of your business and re-aligning the actual delivery to these, opportunities to reduce your costs can be identified. CSI works on the premise of measuring three key areas; Service, Technology and Processes and by focusing on these three areas both cost savings or service availability improvements can be identified.
When I first set this business venture up, the term "Go-ITIL" seemed logical but really ITSM is more than ITIL and our advice is not constrained by ITIL alone....
No matter how small a business, if it is dependent on IT to deliver its services and generate sales/profit, then considering aspects of ITSM may be beneficial. We have tried to tailor our services to suit the areas that we feel would benefit an SME and as an introduction we also offer 2 hrs of free consultancy to all new clients.
