SERVICE MANAGEMENT. ITSM Not By the Book. White Paper

Transcription

1 SERVICE MANAGEMENT ITSM Not By the Book White Paper

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3 Table of Contents Executive Summary 4 ITSM A Rewarding Process, Not a Panacea 5 A Simple, Illuminating Example 5 Three ITSM Myths Debunked 6 Here are three common myths. 6 Myth 1 ITSM Instantly Improves Efficiency 6 Myth 2 Cost Reductions are Automatic 6 Myth 3 If You Build It, the Data Will Come 6 A 5-Step Plan to Do ITSM Right 6 Step 1 Take People Out of the Process 6 Step 2 To Embrace Success, Embrace Data 7 Standardize Processes and Procedures to Keep the CMDB Up to Date 7 Audit for Accuracy 7 A Practical Guide to Building a CMDB 7 Step 3 Use Lean Six Sigma to Proactively Improve Processes 7 Study Cycle Times 7 Find and Eliminate Anomalies 8 Step 4 Implement Organizational Change Management 8 Take the Time to Do ITSM Right 8 Use Tools As Is 9 Step 5 Perform Continual Service Improvement 9 How Unisys Supports and Accelerates Your ITSM Journey 9 The Unisys Applied Service Management Practice 10 Tools and Managed Services 10 The Unisys Service Excellence Office 10 Edge Service Management by Unisys 10 Conclusion 11 About the Authors 11 3

4 Executive Summary Many organizations believe transforming their IT operations is simple: Just buy a new IT Service Management tool and adopt the ITIL methodology and voilà, you get immediate cost savings and improved customer satisfaction. But to date that has not been proven to be true. We at Unisys think differently. We think it is more about the data and less about the tools to drive effectiveness and obtain value out of IT Service Management. Achieving true effectiveness and value out of IT Service Management means rethinking your IT business processes and, in many cases, changing your corporate culture. Information Technology is like a manufacturing plant where analyzing process data is key in driving a lower unit cost and improved quality. The same is true for IT: If you want to achieve increased customer satisfaction and lower unit cost, you must have a process control system in place. For IT, the process control system is IT Service Management. Once you can begin to see IT as a manufacturing plant and understand that process data is key to the improvement, then - and only then - can you get the operational data out of the process control system. You need to provide the necessary insight, perform the proper analysis, and have the ability to make more intelligent decisions. Thus they may never know their processes are failing or out of control which means they can t address the root causes. Ultimately they will fail to understand what end users truly require to increase their productivity or what they need in order to achieve the proper alignment with the business. Critically, they also will not understand where IT costs can be improved. To avoid these issues and reap the many rewards of IT Service Management, organizations need more than just tools and books. They need to apply the process of extracting data from their IT Service Management a.k.a the IT process control system along with the expertise, experience and a proven road map to obtain improved customer satisfaction and a lower unit cost of providing IT services. Again, Unisys thinks differently. Executing on the above is known to us as Applied Service Management. Only when you engage in Applied Service Management will you unlock the value of IT Service Management by executing based on the facts that are driven out of studying wasted cycle time and defects that are contained within process data. This whitepaper provides five steps organizations can take in developing their ITSM implementation plans to meet their goal of reaching true Applied Service Management. If not managed properly, these far-reaching and ultimately rewarding changes can have unintended consequences. Organizations without deep process management expertise may analyze IT service processes using the wrong metrics. 4

5 ITSM A Rewarding Process, Not a Panacea Today s organizations demand IT services that are reliable, high performing and cost effective. But that is just the beginning. IT must also support business processes and adapt easily to change. More importantly, end users need services and support that increase their effectiveness while decreasing their downtime. Loss of productivity from unnecessary downtime can be measured and eliminated, with the resulting savings rapidly reinvested to internally fund innovation and new projects. The answer is Applied Service Management, which is a combination of Lean Six Sigma, ITSM, and ITIL. All three are proven and effective frameworks for improving IT service efficiency and effectiveness, lowering costs and aligning IT with business and end user requirements. ITIL provides a set of best practice-based processes; ITSM provides the capabilities to turn these into actual services. Lean Six Sigma provides a mean to reduce waste in processes and eliminate process defects. As organizations embark on ITSM implementations, many believe they can achieve the full benefits simply by reading the ITIL books, hiring consultants, and purchasing tools. This is usually a mistake often a very costly and time-consuming misstep. ITSM and Lean Six Sigma are more than tools. They are a mindset, one that requires changes in people and processes as well as technology. And, yes, it s also very much about the data. The success of an ITSM journey depends on how effectively the organization understands, implements and employs the necessary changes. Change at the edges will not move the organization forward. Real change unlocks the data within the processes and the organization and opens it up to a world of actionable analysis. From this insight come the actions needed to reduce cycle times and improve the quality of services while lowering the unit cost of delivery. Yes it is quite possible to do it better and less expensively. Purchasing an ITSM tool is like buying a hammer and expecting to be able to start right in and build a complete house. If the organization wants a house, it must look at the bigger picture to better understand what the end goal will be and design a plan to accomplish the goal. It must decide on the type of structure it wants and the features that will satisfy its needs. Next it would have a professional design the house to make sure it is structurally sound and meets code. Then comes the selection of someone to manage the building of the house, coordinating the specialists (or point solutions) needed for installing electric, air, water, etc. The hammer is a key tool, but alone it is not going to come even close to getting the job done. A Simple, Illuminating Example Say an organization wishes to improve its help desk operations. Let s say employees currently use the phone to call the help desk but wind up waiting five to 10 minutes in the queue. It would be in the organization s interest to hasten time-to-resolution and reduce costs by employing self service technology to automate Level 1 help. But if the organization provides shallow self-service functions and a knowledge base that doesn t address frequently asked questions, customers will be unable to find the answers they need. So while one supposedly key metric the number of calls to the help desk is lower, a much more important metric, customer resolution, doesn t improve. It may even worsen. Ultimately, end-user productivity and satisfaction don t improve. Considerable time, money and effort have just been wasted. Just as it s easier to hire an architect to supervise the construction of a house and get it right from the beginning, organizations would do well to work with an organization with experience implementing ITSM and Lean Six Sigma for IT. An advisor with thousands of customers will guide them through the intricacies of an ITSM and Lean Six Sigma implementation with a steady, even hand, helping them avoid problems and getting to the rewards much more quickly. 5

6 Three ITSM Myths Debunked Organizations embarking on an ITSM journey commonly suffer from misconceptions of the benefits, the timing or the ease of implementation and what may or might not be realistic. Here are three common myths. Myth 1 ITSM Instantly Improves Efficiency IT service organizations think that all aspects of ITSM change management, configuration management, incident management, and so on will instantly be available when they implement an ITSM tool. Achieving these benefits requires expertise and effort. For example, while an ITSM tool may be capable of meeting an organization s requirements, it may require adjustments to deliver the appropriate value. That can take some time, especially if the organization is working without the help of an experienced advisor. The organization will also need to train IT to use the tool, teach end-users to employ the new processes and communicate new processes and benefits to all users. The tool is only as powerful as the experience and expertise of its owner. Myth 2 Cost Reductions are Automatic Many organizations believe that installing an ITSM tool will automatically reduce costs as if IT and the business will instantly and automatically align to deliver more efficiency. To reduce costs, it s necessary to first understand the process and the cost of delivering the service. The key to reducing costs is to install a configuration management database (CMDB) to manage data information about all configuration items and their upstream and downstream relationships. With a CMDB, organizations can truly track the impact of changes and measure (and reduce) costs. Myth 3 If You Build It, the Data Will Come The CMDB doesn t automatically gather the right data. Organizations must assign their most talented personnel to carefully construct the CMDB within the context of a service view - defining all the necessary relationships and entering all configuration items. This requires the selection of a high-quality team a team free of day-to-day tasks so it can concentrate exclusively on building the service view of the business. A 5-Step Plan to Do ITSM Right Leveraging the experience of advisors that have successfully completed a wide range of ITSM implementations for organizations of all types produces several tangible benefits. They will for example reduce the time, cost, and risk of an ITSM initiative. Based on our extensive experience with ITSM implementations, Unisys recommends that organizations follow these five steps for a successful service management initiative: Step 1 Take People Out of the Process In many IT organizations, people are the IT service management process and knowledge base. In other words, all of the necessary information about the organization s IT systems and processes and functions resides in a individual s head. If someone goes on vacation or leaves the company, service management stops. To keep processes running effectively, IT service organizations must separate the processes from the people who implement them so that people become interchangeable. People are still at the top of the value chain, but institutionalizing their knowledge within a logical platform frees them up for higher-level activities - while helping the organization achieve consistency, reliability and speed. In the end, the process control system tells the people what to do so you have consistent execution, which eliminates defects and wasted cycle time. Automation and integration must be brought into the equation But how do you take people out of processes that are wasting their time? Organizations must encourage technicians to transfer their detailed knowledge about configuration items and their relationships to business processes into a configuration management database (CMDB). The idea is to create standardized processes and procedures to keep the CMDB up to date, then periodically audit the CMDB for accuracy. 6

7 Step 2 To Embrace Success, Embrace Data The first step toward improving processes and measuring costs is cataloging detailed and consistent data about all of the IT and human resources required to deliver IT services - and their relationship to each other. Only with this data can organizations perform a complete analysis of the impact of the change on business processes and calculate the associated costs. The CMDB, as we all know, is the centralized repository that captures all configuration items required to deliver a business service, such as human resources, hardware, software, documentation, service level agreements, service catalogs, and warranties. Unlike an asset management database that stores only configuration information about hardware and software, the CMDB defines all resources and their upstream and downstream relationships. The centralized CMDB acts as a single source of the truth that can be accessed by all ITIL processes. Standardize Processes and Procedures to Keep the CMDB Up to Date To increase the integrity of the CMDB, organizations must update it every time a configuration item changes. They must create standardized processes and procedures to: Identify all IT components and include them in the CMDB Specify who is authorized to change items in the database Update the status of all configuration items in the CMDB whenever anything changes, because any change has a ripple effect on the entire business process Audit for Accuracy Although the CMDB is designed to automatically ripple changes through the repository, accuracy will never be 100 percent. Duplicate or incorrect information is inevitable. An auditor should regularly check the accuracy of relationships. A Practical Guide to Building a CMDB Creating the CMDB requires that the organization deploy its best and brightest who fully understand the service view of all available services that IT is delivering or supporting, as well as their subsequent taxonomy or hierarchy of infrastructure and applications. Typically these IT experts spend their days managing systems and fighting fires. To give these experts the time to take on this strategic project, organizations must make an investment to remove them from day-to-day fire drills. This is a great time to elevate another team member to replace this role and look to temporarily back fill lower-level and repetitive operational tasks. Step 3 Use Lean Six Sigma to Proactively Improve Processes While ITSM provides a process control framework for establishing consistency, few new processes perform optimally. Organizations can proactively improve process quality and speed cycle times by employing a Lean Six Sigma strategy to complement ITSM. Lean Six Sigma improves the quality of process outputs by enabling organizations to identify and remove the waste in this case, the causes of defects (errors) and minimization of the variability in business processes. Specifically, Lean Six Sigma provides IT with a way to baseline service quality, study cycle times to identify process variations/anomalies, prioritize which anomalies have the greatest impact on the business and customers, and then quantify ways to improve. Study Cycle Times While Lean Six Sigma provides methods for studying cycle times, finding wasteful (non value-producing) activities, and removing waste to reduce cycle times, it requires considerable know-how. Organizations must first determine what metrics they will use to measure the process. This can be challenging. For example, as we noted previously, an organization looking to measure customer help desk processes might think the correct metric is the call completion rate. However, if customer service reps improve their call completion metrics by simply telling people Sorry, I can t help you, then the organization is using a false statistic. 7

8 To determine the most appropriate metrics, organizations must look at their processes from the viewpoint of a customer. Useful techniques include focus groups and interviewing customers--even speaking with their most vocal critics, because it is precisely these people who are willing to articulate problems that other users may have but won t complain about. With the appropriate metrics selected, the next step is to record a series of cycle times for the process. Find and Eliminate Anomalies Improving process quality and reducing cycle times requires identifying and eliminating variances/anomalies to raise the process outputs in a consistent manner. For example, if the help desk is constantly handing off from Level 1 to Level 2 support, that s a variance. When analyzing variances in cycle times, look at the mean of the results rather than the average. The mean represents the midpoint of results. The average is the sum of all the results divided by the total number of results. While an average is a popular measure, it has the disadvantage of being affected by any single value being too high or too low compared to the rest of the sample. Thus, tracking average cycle times will produce a skewed result. Focusing on the mean enables organizations to more easily see variances. When prioritizing which variances to address, look at how often they occur and their duration. One variance may take place very frequently but take only a few extra seconds. Another may happen infrequently yet take several hours to resolve. From a business perspective, it may make sense to address the less frequent, more disruptive variance. Next, look for ways to change the process and/or use technology to eliminate non-value adding activities. Say an organization receives numerous requests for password resets and takes five minutes to reset passwords manually. Automation that reduces the cycle time to five seconds and offloads work from customer service can significantly improve productivity. Step 4 Implement Organizational Change Management A successful ITSM/ITIL implementation requires changes to people, process and technology. Yet people often resist change. If management and employees are not committed to the new processes, the ITIL project will not reach its full potential. If ITIL is to succeed, the culture of the organization must change to embrace the new processes. Organizational change management is a critical aspect of an ITSM implementation. Management must demonstrate support for the changes and invest in their success by putting in place measures to explain the value of the new processes to service support managers and business users alike. It must train them in the use of the new processes and in their benefits - and hold people accountable. The following are two important aspects of organizational change management: Take the Time to Do ITSM Right Organizations must be realistic about the time it takes to implement ITSM and Lean Six Sigma. While it might take six months to put an ITSM tool in place, expect the full implementation to take 18 months. This time should include the following: Implementing the tools that enable the new process Training the IT organization to use the tool Marketing the new processes to end users to drive success. The marketing effort should include communicating the changes and explaining their impact and benefits to end users. For example, if a new self-service help portal is available, marketing should publicize its availability and explain how using the new portal will improve their workflow Providing necessary training to end users so they ll be able to use the new solution 8

9 Use Tools As Is One way people resist change is by modifying new tools to conform to their accustomed way of doing things. Yet the tools embody the ITSM and ITIL best practices. Organizations must break people s habits and evangelize that they embrace the best practices embodied in the new tools by establishing policies to prohibit people from customizing them, and retraining people to use the tools properly. Step 5 Perform Continual Service Improvement Business constantly changes. New technologies enter the market rapidly. If an organization fails to keep up, it can easily find itself at a competitive disadvantage. ITIL recognizes this through the concept of Continual Service Improvement - the never-ending alignment and adjustment of IT Services to meet changing business needs by identifying and implementing improvements to IT Services that support business processes. Organizations implementing ITSM and ITIL must never stop examining their processes to determine whether anything has changed in their business and, when necessary, adjust their services accordingly. In addition, they must consider whether new technology might enable them to improve their business processes. A third party that keeps a constant eye on the marketplace can help organizations understand the value of new, disruptive technologies, such as mobile, social media and the cloud, and how to apply them to their business and their IT operations. About Unisys How Unisys Supports and Accelerates Your ITSM Journey The complexity involved in any ITSM journey means organizations are likely to encounter any number of unexpected gotchas or unintended consequences. For example, an organization that accedes to user demands to employ personal mobile devices on internal networks might discover that its telecom expenses unexpectedly triple with security threatened because it no longer controls who has access to the system. Any change that solves one problem has the potential to open up a Pandora s box. That s a powerful argument for partnering with an experienced advisor who s been there, many times. Unisys offers ITSM strategic and managed services, Lean Six Sigma consulting and SaaS-based, vendor neutral ITSM tools and solutions to assist organizations undertaking their own service management journey. We understand the complex ITSM processes and technologies. As a result, our customers avoid gotchas and unintended consequences. Unlike traditional ITSM tool vendors, we ve performed comprehensive ITSM implementations and managed the daily service management functions for hundreds of customers, giving us unique insight and experience to help you navigate their service management journey. 9

10 The Unisys Applied Service Management Practice Unisys Applied Service Management Practice provides strategic consulting and training that helps organizations raise the ITSM and ITIL maturity levels of existing in-house subject matter experts through the application of Lean Six Sigma. This is based on the insights we ve gleaned and continue to glean by doing strategic transformations for clients. At the same time, strategic change can only occur if key internal experts have the free time to make it happen. Unisys also offers Managed Services that can perform day-to-day IT Management activities and firefighting so organizations can redeploy their process experts to drive strategic optimization. Our Managed Services team performs world-class IT operations, eliminating the need for large upfront hiring and personnel costs and long project lead times. Tools and Managed Services We provide a complete, vendor-neutral ITIL toolset using Software as a Service (SaaS) model delivered via an infrastructure that is owned, managed and maintained by Unisys. With SaaS you no longer need to invest in upfront capital costs or deal with ongoing maintenance or upgrades. The Unisys Service Excellence Office Our Service Excellence Office is a focused practice specializing in implementing Lean Six Sigma. Our consultants use big data to study and improve cycle times to enable organizations to optimize their costs. Specifically, we help customers analyze IT service operations, measure cycle times and identify anomalies, as well as prioritize their response to anomalies based on financial or quality impact. Drawing on our ITIL-based services delivery framework and applying Lean Six Sigma techniques, Unisys consultants enable clients to move from a reactive help desk to a true service management practice, optimizing process and reducing waste within their service delivery operations. Edge Service Management by Unisys Turn insight into action with Edge Service Management by Unisys. Drive increased value through a cloud-based pre-built, proven, and business ready solution powered by BMC and advanced by Unisys. Use real-time analytics to accelerate problem resolution, proactively improve and gain competitive advantage through enhanced support for people, operations, and business. Unisys also provides strategic support of existing ITSM toolsets as well as full ITSM outsourcing. 10

11 Conclusion Organizations cannot undergo a service management transformation by simply installing an ITSM tool or reading a book. It s a complex process, but it s also ultimately very rewarding if handled right. Success involves taking people out of the process, using data to proactively improve processes, performing organizational change and ensuring continual service improvement. The best solution for managing the success of a service management transformation is to find an experienced guide that thoroughly understands the pitfalls and knows exactly how to avoid them. About the Authors Dan Huberty is the CTO and VP Solutions Portfolio Management at Unisys. In his role with Unisys he crafts the overall Global Managed Services portfolio strategy and client solutions. Mr. Huberty is ITIL v3 certified as well as a Six Sigma Black belt and is an industry expert in the areas of service management and IT operations. Previously he was the Director, Enterprise Strategy and Planning, Office of the CIO for the Carlson companies. Mr. Huberty is a graduate of St. Mary s University of Minnesota. Andrew Harsch is the Director of Portfolio Marketing at Unisys where he focuses on the Global Managed Services portfolio and the disciplines of ITSM and IT operations. Prior to joining Unisys he was the Senior Manager for the Remedy ITSM suite at BMC software. Mr. Harsch is a graduate of Iowa State University. 11

12 For more information visit Unisys Corporation. All rights reserved. Unisys, the Unisys logo, and Edge Service Management by Unisys are registered trademarks or trademarks of Unisys Corporation. All other brands and products referenced herein are acknowledged to be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Printed in the United States of America 03/