Using Service Catalogs to Run IT As A Business (Not 'Like' A Business)

Service Catalog Trends
Using service catalogs to run IT as a business (not "like" a business)
By John Sundberg
In many large organizations, the role of the IT function is poorly communicated and hence misunderstood. IT groups often view business users as overly demanding and under appreciative, while users perceive IT as reactive and defensive. In recent years, frameworks such as the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) have emerged, promising to show IT how to run "like a business." The proper implementation of service catalogs can go further, helping IT run as a business-through improved communication, easier access to IT services, and measurement-driven continuous process improvement. This white paper provides guidelines for successful service catalog implementation and illustrates the benefits of service catalogs across functional areas.
www.kineticdata.com/5steps WHITE PAPER | Service Catalog Trends
Using service catalogs to run IT as a business (not "like" a business)
In most large organizations, the employees who rely on IT to provide and support the myriad devices and software applications that help them do their jobs have only a minimal appreciation Service Catalog Benefitsfor how these devices and applications really work. Service catalogs deliver these tangible and intangible benefits:Consequently, the IT department's importance to . Reduced call volumes improve client keeping the organization running is seldom fully service and satisfaction. appreciated. . Lower demand on departmental staff reduces routine workload and allows staff to This state of affairs makes many IT departments focus on high-value strategic initiatives. reactive and defensive. Frequently, they avoid new . Automated tracking and documentation fulfills compliance requirements and projects instead of embracing the opportunity to ensures process consistency.leverage these projects for the organization's overall . O nline forms, knowledge bases and FAQs provide employees with up-to-date advantage. The burdens placed on IT just to meet information and reduce paper, printing and minimal business and employee productivity needs distribution costs.has often led to defining IT services less by what the . Centralized electronic access to forms, procedures, and information contributes to IT department does than by what it doesn't do. business alignment objectives.. C omplete, accessible information enables In recent years, frameworks such the IT employees to make informed decisions and Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and Capability enhances job satisfaction.Maturity Model (CMM) have promised to show . S ervice catalog metrics can pinpoint gaps in processes or documentation, highlighting IT organizations how to operate like a business, additional opportunities for operational instead of as overhead-heavy service units within improvement.. S ervice catalogs integrated with an existing organizations that under-deliver and downplay help desk system improve accuracy and their own capabilities. "Like a business" is a loaded efficiency, and increase ROI for system investments.phrase, however. It implies that while IT units may adopt the trappings of a real business-treating employees and internal constituents with the same types of service levels and guarantees the business provides to actual customers; following elaborate escalation procedures when service delivery efforts falter; etc.-the effort, by definition, is euphemistic. IT organizations become "like" businesses. They do everything a business does but are rarely held accountable to bottom-line business demands and rarely suffer the consequences of delivering poor service.
www.kineticdata.com/5steps WHITE PAPER | This situation is changing, however. As enterprises become ever-more dependent on IT, they are demanding that IT organizations operate not just like businesses, but as businesses. Services and their associated costs have to be more clearly defined (in commonly understood business terms), easier to order, and delivered in a way that is far more transparent to customers than the traditional "black hole" into which service requests once disappeared. The most basic and crucial services are especially subject to this new sense of urgency. No longer are employees content to wait a week to get a desktop provisioned or access to a managed application such as Salesforce.com (which simply requires a license addition). IT ... [download for more]