IT Benefit to Business

In a previous blog I wrote about the need for a high performance Service Desk. So what do we get in terms of business benefit? The value statement in IT terms is reduced re-work, less down time, better utilization of higher cost resources (knowledge management), increased stability, reliability, availability and predictable levels of IT services. So the question is how do we effectively communicate the business benefit of our support efforts? The goal of course is to align our IT metrics to the business benefit and define that benefit with language the business can relate to and understand.

IT Metric

Average speed of answer.

First Call Resolution.

Average Escalation Duration.

Total # of incidents recorded by: Service, CI, Assignment team.

IT Goal

Less down time, lower abandon rate, quicker speed of answer.

Less down time, lower abandon rate, greater use of knowledge bases.

Less down time, predefined escalation paths, greater cooperation between technical resources. Greater knowledge transfer.

Precise picture of which services and CIs are having the greatest impact on the organization. Capture of repeatable information and knowledge. Established the ability to direct limited resources to permanently resolve underlying problems. SLAs can be met more effectively with more efficient use of resources.

Business Benefit

If the phone is being answered quickly the caller is more likely to stay on the line for help. Caller’s issues can then be resolved and they can return to creating business outcomes that much sooner. Frustration is also reduced. Increased customer satisfaction. Satisfied customer return to reuse additional services.

Caller is back to work sooner creating business outcomes. Greater satisfaction with services rendered. More likely to utilize this single point of contact for future issues. Satisfied customer recommend services to others. Market share grows organically.

When issue is not resolved by level 1 analyst, faster response time by level 2 speeds path to resolution and reduces downtime experienced by caller. More efficient use of higher level resources. Focus on proactive activities, planned work as opposed to unplanned work.

Properly analyzed information will result in corrective actions to be taken resulting in greater availability of services and greater reliability.

Organizational Benefit

More confidence in Service Desk capabilities, greater likelihood caller will use Service Desk again, less hallway muggings, greater effectiveness in use of resources, increased employee morale.

More confidence in Service desk capabilities, increased lines of communication between business and IT, more effective use of limited resources. Reduced cost per resolution.

More confidence in Service Desk capabilities, greater sharing of knowledge between technical groups. Less need for rediscovery of previously known knowledge. Callers will tell coworkers of positive experience, more efficient use of resources, less rework.

More confidence in IT capabilities. Encourage greater use of delivered services and expansion of Service Catalogue. Earlier inclusion of IT in Project Management.

Above is an example of how we can begin to transform our IT centric reports into a more business focused direction. This will allow greater understanding cooperation and alignment of Business and IT strategies.

For more information on IT Service Management: http://www.itsmacademy.com/resourcecenter

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. ...

Search