Align IT with the Changing Business Requirements

Align IT with the Changing Business Requirements – IT “IS” the Business

Service Management Best Practice is as relevant today as it was a decade ago. Some would argue that it is even more relevant. Increase in demand, dynamic requirements and varied silo’s and cultures within an organization demand some semblance of management control. Failure to do so results in just that …..“Failure”.

Following ITIL Best Practice allows service providers to align IT with the changing business requirements. Sounds Great! What does that mean exactly?

Business requirements are consistently evolving and changing. This creates a DEMAND that generates a workload for capacity. The service provider must anticipate this demand and gear their service assets accordingly or consumers will not receive the value that they have paid for and expect. We can anticipate demand by monitoring and measuring specified patterns of business activity and then adjust accordingly.

Think of a NEST thermostat. A NEST thermostat learns what temperature you like by learning your patterns. These patterns bend and weave throughout your life. Patterns evolve as your family evolves. If you like the temperature a bit cooler at night then turn it up in the AM so that the house is warm when the kids come down for breakfast. The NEST thermostat will learn that pattern and then automagically turn up the temperature before breakfast time. It learns your patterns and builds a schedule around yours. Service providers must be able to ‘adopt and adapt’ to dynamic evolving business requirements in the same way.

In addition to changes in demand, the way consumers get access to IT services and the way that they use technology will sometimes require a radical rethinking of what is required to deliver the service. Delivery is not where it stops but rather where provisioning and sustaining that service over its life begins. Continuous delivery and continuous deployment might get a product out the door faster but then what? We must be prepared to sustain that service while adapting to changing requirements.

Following ITIL Best Practice allows service providers to “Align IT with the Changing Business Requirements – IT “IS” the Business”.

Learn more about Agile, DevOps, and ITIL Educate & Inspire!

Comments

The Four Ps of Service Design - It’s not all about Technology

People ask me why I think that many designs and projects often fail. The most common answer is from a lack of preparation and management. Many IT organizations just think about the technology (product) implementation and fail to understand the risks of not planning for the effective and efficient use of the four Ps: People, Process, Products (services, technology and tools) and Partners (suppliers, manufacturers and vendors). A holistic approach should be adopted for all Service Design aspects and areas to ensure consistency and integration within all activities and processes across the entire IT environment, providing end to end business-related functionality and quality. (SD 2.4.2) People: Have to have proper skills and possess the necessary competencies in order to get involved in the provision of IT services. The right skills, the right knowledge, the right level of experience must be kept current and aligned to the business needs. Products: These are the technology managem

What Is A Service Offering?

The ITIL4 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 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. Note: Goods may not always be provided for every Service Offe

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

I was recently asked to clarify the roles of the Process Owner, Process Manager and Process Practitioner and wanted to share this with you. Roles and Responsibilities: Process Owner – this individual is “Accountable” for the process. They are the goto person and represent this process across the entire organization. They will ensure that the process is clearly defined, designed and documented. They will ensure that the process has a set of Policies for governance. Example: The process owner for Incident management will ensure that all of the activities to Identify, Record, Categorize, Investigate, … all the way to closing the incident are defined and documented with clearly defined roles, responsibilities, handoffs, and deliverables. An example of a policy in could be… “All Incidents must be logged”. Policies are rules that govern the process. Process Owner ensures that all Process activities, (what to do), Procedures (details on how to perform the activity) and the

Search