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Integrating ITSM and DevOps

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As the pace of technological innovation increases and digital disruption becomes the norm, the need to adapt and accelerate IT service management (ITSM) processes is more critical than ever. It’s no longer a debate about whether ITSM and DevOps should interface; ITSM professionals must now understand how the practices they use to co-create value can either support or undermine the flow of work and pervasive automation in a DevOps environment.

It’s easy to understand why ITSM professionals are skeptical about DevOps. ITSM performance metrics and service level agreements (SLAs) often revolve around the IT organization’s ability to mitigate risks, minimize impact, and “guarantee” availability. While these measures have value, sacrificing speed, agility, and innovation can negatively impact the business.

ITSM Image Even with the evolution to ITIL 4, the what and why of ITSM haven’t changed. A customer-focused culture in which everyone understands how they contribute to the co-creation of value will always serve an organization well. It’s the how that must adapt in support of DevOps. ITSM professionals need a breadth of knowledge about DevOps practices like The Three Ways, Continuous Integration and Delivery, and DevSecOps. Understanding these DevOps concepts will help ITSM professionals see that many controls historically addressed manually can now be achieved more effectively through automation.

ITSM Image What about the “No tools before the rules” mantra? That hasn’t changed either. What has changed is the acceptance of Agile and Lean values within IT. DevOps builds on Agile and Lean principles, taking an iterative, incremental approach with minimal waste. By streamlining processes and embracing concepts like “policy as code” and process automation, ITSM professionals can align with DevOps, achieving greater control through automation rather than manual processes.

The adoption of DevOps practices, especially in an enterprise setting, doesn’t eliminate the need for ITSM. ITSM provides a common language and proven practices that help ensure IT services:

  • Support business strategies
  • Result in a positive customer experience
  • Deliver value
  • Ensure quality, stability, and reliability

Applying Agile, Lean, and DevOps principles to ITSM modernizes the approach and improves the ability of both ITSM and DevOps to deliver business benefits.

To learn more about adapting ITSM practices to support DevOps, consider the following ITSM Academy certification courses and workshops:

ITIL® is a registered trademark of the PeopleCert group.

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