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Over the years, information technology (IT) has become so essential to the business world that it would be impossible for most companies to function, let alone succeed, without it. Demands that business-critical systems run at peak performance, enable strategic changes, and drive revenue growth are escalating. At the same time, CEOs are looking for reductions in IT expenditure. The result is an increasing gap between business demands and IT's ability to keep up. IT organizations are faced with the challenge of controlling costs while increasing IT's value to the business. They need to “do more with less” and to shift their value from that of a technology provider to that of a strategic partner providing business value.
To meet this need, IT organizations must evolve into trusted service providers that adapt quickly and offer the cost-effective, reliable, flexible IT services so critical to today's business initiatives. This evolution is not easy. It requires that the IT organization adopt an IT service management (ITSM) framework, invest in the right types of technology, develop and implement the correct IT processes, and train people to apply these technologies and processes properly.
Depending on the unique and specific needs of a business, management may choose to implement one of the following two approaches to ITSM:
- Transformational ITSM is designed to help the organization implement major changes (“transformational changes”) to their service management practices.
- Operational ITSM is designed to help IT incrementally and continually improve their service management practices on an ongoing basis.
HP's approach to significant and lasting improvements in service management outcomes is not just to focus on discrete improvement projects—but also to provide IT organizations with help in establishing and running formal continual improvement programs as well as in executing everyday operational ITSM tasks. This focus on operational ITSM also provides an evolutionary approach for companies that may not have the resources to finance and staff a large ITSM implementation project, including people, processes, and technologies. HP ITSM Services can help IT organizations through this process and facilitate the successful realization of their service management and business goals.
Strategic challenge: How can you continually improve the quality of your IT service? More than likely, when you discuss improving the quality of IT services, you and your IT team are facing these key questions:
- How effective is our IT service now? How well prepared are we to deliver the right level of service?
- What risks could impact our ability to deliver high availability and meet service-level commitments?
- How can we make incremental improvements and remove some of these risks?
- Can we implement new technology without introducing new risks?
- How do we improve productivity to reduce costs and still continue to meet service levels?
- How can we address these issues without a major investment?
- What are the relevant skills needed for IT staff to be more productive, effective, and service-focused?
To be competitive today, companies must innovate quickly in response to new challenges and opportunities. Businesses across all industries—from banks and network service providers to manufacturing companies—are continually innovating, bringing new customer services to market, and acquiring new businesses in the quest for competitive advantage. IT organizations play a vital role in enabling business processes and change, and this dynamic environment creates multiple, simultaneous challenges. For example, management is typically faced with the challenge of enabling business growth through IT, while aligning business and IT strategies. At the same time, there is mounting pressure to show the business value of IT, making sure that internal resources compete favorably on performance and price with external service providers. In addition, management needs to continue to measure key performance indicators (KPIs) for IT operations and services. And there is new pressure to improve IT governance to support good business governance while maintaining business continuity, availability, security, and privacy.
Maintaining alignment with the business and adapting to change
The degree to which an IT department can function as a full business partner is dependent on the CIO's ability to focus IT resources on the priorities driving the business; to deliver innovative, high-quality services; and to manage the IT/business relationship so that business management sees clear value and acknowledges that IT is a key partner in driving the business's success. IT organizations and the infrastructure must be able to adapt to changing business needs without sacrificing service quality.
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