Balance in Operation II

Last year I delivered an article on the challenges that IT organizations face in trying to balance opposing goal and objectives especially in light of the fact that in every organization the one constant is change. The focus of that piece was the tension between the perspective that IT is a set of technology components (Internal IT view) and that IT is a set of services (External business view). All process and functions in Design, Transition and Operation have been design to meet the changing needs delivered by Strategy and CSI. Insuring that the resulting services continue to deliver defined and agreed levels of utility and warranty and doing so while delivering an overall value to the business. This forms a conflict between maintaining the status quo and adapting to changes in the business and technological environments. One of the key roles of service operation together with design and transition is to deal with this tension between these ever changing priorities.

So to reiterate, this struggle can be broken down into four general imbalances so that an IT organization can identify that they are experiencing an imbalance by leaning more towards one extreme or the other. At a high level it can provide the service provider with the opportunity to develop some guidelines on how to resolve these conflicts and move towards a best practice approach in resolving these discrepancies.

· Internal IT view vs. External business view

· Stability vs. Responsiveness

· Service quality vs. cost

· Reactive vs. proactive

The one we will focus on here is the tension between stability versus responsiveness. No matter how well the functionality of an IT service meets stake holder’s needs, it will be of little value if the IT infrastructure is unstable causing instances of unavailability and inconsistency in performance levels. Many time changes in the environment can introduce these risks. However at the same time the IT service provider cannot ignore these changing requirements without facing the risk of not being able to deliver value. There are some actions that organizations can undertake to help insure that an optimal balance is maintained.

· Ensure investment in technologies and processes that are adaptive rather than rigid. (Adopt & Adapt)

· Build a strong service level management (SLM) process which is active in all stages of the service lifecycle. This will prevent IT managers and the business from negotiating informal agreements.

· Encourage integration between Business Relationship Management and SLM. Foster cooperation and communication between SLM and other service design process. Ensure proper mapping of business requirements to IT operational activities. This can be accomplished with a strong CMDB and service asset and configuration management process.

· Incorporate the change process at the earliest appropriate stage in the service lifecycle. This guarantees both function and manageability requirements can be evaluated and built.

· Make certain of IT involvement in business changes to guarantee IT services can support these changes.

It is crucial that we achieve a balance between these two views. Services must be design and delivered around customer’s needs and requirements. They must have the ability to create the desired business outcomes for the users and deliver necessary value to the customer. At the same time however it can be possible to compromise those needs and requirements by not planning and properly executing on how those services will be delivered.

Four Service Characteristics

Recently I came across several articles by researchers and experts that laid out definitions and characteristics of services. ITIL provides us with a definition that can help drive the creation of value-laden services: A means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks. An area that ITIL is not so clear is in terms of service characteristics. Several researchers and experts put forth that services have four basic characteristics (IHIP): Intangibility—Services are the results of actions not things. They have no physical presence and represent a logical set of elements. One way to think of service is “work done for others.” Heterogeneity—Also known as “variability”; services are unique items because of the mechanisms used to deliver services, which is people. Because the people element adds variability, the service is variable. This holds true, especially for the value proposition—not eve...

What is the difference between Process Owner, Process Manager and Process Practitioner?

This article was originally published in 2015. With the Introduction of ITIL 4, some of the concepts have changed in ways that are described below. ITIL 4 has also introduced new roles, as explained in our blog ITIL 4 and the Evolving Role of Roles . Before we dive into the difference between these roles, let’s first look at a key update in ITIL 4 – the shift from processes to practices. ITIL 4 has evolved to focus on holistic practices vs. isolated processes. By definition, a practice is a set of organizational resources designed for performing work or accomplishing an objective. For example, the purpose of the incident management practice is to minimize the negative impact of incidents by restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible. All organizations recognize the need to allocate resources to the management of incidents and mature their capabilities in that area. In ITIL 4, each practice includes resources based on the four ...

What Is A Service Offering?

The ITIL 4 Best Practice Guidance defines a “Service Offering” as a description of one or more services designed to address the needs of a target customer or group. As a service provider, we can’t stop there! We must know what the contracts of our service offering are and be able to put them into context as required by the customer. Let’s explore the three elements that comprise a Service Offering. A “Service Offering” may include: Goods, Access to Resources, and Service Actions 1. Goods – When we think of “Goods” within a service offering these are the items where ownership is transferred to the consumer and the consumer takes responsibility for the future use of these goods. Example of goods that are being provided in the offering – If this is a hotel service then toiletries or chocolates are yours to take with you. You the consumer own these and they are yours to take with you. ...

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