End users swing back towards 'Service Operations'

Compuware Corporation’s second Australian IT Service Management Survey revealed that IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) v3 continues to win converts at an almost alarming rate.

According to the IT service provider, 49 percent of 107 IT professionals surveyed at this year’s itSMF Conference in Canberra said they have adopted ITIL v3’s Service Operation component and 44 percent have adopted Continual Service Improvement, with Service Strategy (36 percent), Service Transition (34 percent) and Service Design (31 percent) not far behind.

Rafi Katanasho, IT and business service management evangelist for Compuware told CRN that within three years, 85 percent of organisations expect to have adopted Service Operation, followed by Continual Service Improvement (79 percent), Service Strategy (73 percent), Service Design (70 percent) and Service Transition (69 percent).

“In 2007 more organisations expected to adopt Service Strategy than any other ITIL v3 component, the focus this year has swung back towards Service Operation, which is the component that has most in common with the previous ITIL v2,” he said.

“As organisations adopt new ITIL v3 components a range of new metrics will be required. Many of these relate far more to the business than to IT operations and will typically include financial management metrics, such as business impact and return on investment, and demand metrics.

“As the number of these metrics multiplies organisations will have to become more efficient in collecting them. This is driving the need for automation – preferably with automated dashboards and reports.”

According to Katanasho, as organisations expect to become more efficient in collecting an increasing number of business-related metrics to ensure that they get value from ITIL v3, organisations also expect to implement a number of new solutions to automate many of the processes involved.

“This represents a significant investment in new tools, particularly in tools like IT portfolio management to support new ITIL v3 components such as Service Strategy and Service Design,” he said.

“With a slowing economy, new IT spending will be restricted. So, to adopt more ITIL processes, organisations will need to find ways to be more efficient.”

He believes that in seeking to cut labour out of processes, there is a danger that organisations will rely too much on their current toolsets.

“There are three key things IT service providers should do to help their customers during these times. These include: reducing internal costs where possible; increase efficiencies and utilisation by adopting best practices for service delivery and investing in tools and technologies; use this as an opportunity to establish themselves as trusted advisers to their customers.

“Help your customers understand the costs associated with their IT systems and the efficiencies they could get, how automation can help reduce costs, for example, said Katanasho.

He believes that service providers can advise their customers on what areas of IT need attention and they should work more closely with customers and understand where they should be spending money, where the areas are they can build efficiencies and where they can make cuts while keeping their business going without too many negative implications.

“Perhaps they are spending too much on a particular SLA for example,” he said.

“One of the key things organisations will try to do is cut costs in certain areas”