The 2020 CIO and ITSM Paradigm A Discussion Paper by Barclay Rae, IT Service Management Consultant October 2015 www.cherwell.com +44 (0)1793 544888 info@cherwell.com
Forward Now, we all work within the IT department. So, do we still need an IT department? These days, since there is such a complete reliance on technology for business operation and innovation, it s not uncommon to hear companies and organisations of all kinds being described as IT companies. (CIO of a major UK financial services organisation We are an IT company that sells insurance. ) Technology clearly has a strong and embedded future within almost every kind of organisation worldwide. The fate of the battered and bruised internal retained IT organisation is, however, less certain. The growth and adoption of new technology has overtaken most retained IT departments in one way or another. IT departments are at a crossroads, where their own relevance and future is the agenda. For many large and established enterprises, the IT operation has had a charmed life in terms of what it does, how well it does it and how much it is accountable. All of that has changed irrevocably. Many disruptive factors, both commercial and technological, have contributed to this situation, including the spread and complexity of new systems available, the growth of consumer use of IT, the various types of external sourcing available, and even simply the way people buy and use technology. Still, regardless of the influencing factor, IT departments are being forced to look at themselves and find ways to modernise and stay relevant. During the past 40-50 years, the IT department within most organisations has grown organically. For many large and established enterprises, the IT department has had a charmed life in terms of what it does, how well it does it and in what ways it is held accountable all of that has changed irrevocably. A response is needed. How do you refresh and revitalise the IT department to now manage the operation of centralised applications, mainframes, client servers and other centralised systems, plus standard client devices? The nature of traditional applications development and how to deliver new and upgraded systems to market previously based on a slow and cumbersome waterfall project approach is now completely at odds with client expectation, particularly in terms of speed. This model of an IT department often based around technical silos and departmental factions cannot compete and must change, or it will wither and die. There are now too many good and viable alternatives from which organisations can directly, and externally, purchase IT services and capabilities. IT departments cannot ignore this. They must step up and reinvent themselves. Barclay Rae
CIO Challenges Today, the role of the CIO is now more critical than ever. The success and future of the IT department and the wider business depends heavily on the degree to which the CIO or IT department is ready to meet new challenges, take on difficult issues (including their own people) and make tough and far-reaching decisions. The good news is that this imperative has helped some enlightened CIOs seek out new opportunities for what IT is and what it can deliver. There is now a clear opportunity to develop some greater organisational unity and collaboration using a number of the tools and techniques used by IT departments for some time. This includes using some established approaches, like ITSM and the greater use of automation, and some new ones like DevOps, Agile and CX (Customer Experience). The CIO must be prepared to change and challenge their own organisation in terms of structure, function and skills. The role of internal IT needs to be clarified in many cases, now, more as a broker and facilitator so that the focus can be on value-added activities and quality for the business, with other commodity functions automated or outsourced. The role of internal IT needs to be clarified in many cases, now, more as a broker and facilitator so that the focus can be on value-added activities and quality for the business, with other commodity functions automated or outsourced. CIOs also are at the mercy of many non-it, C-level staff and their propensity to make decisions about IT based on flimsy and incoherent data and reasoning. Corporate governance (or the lack of it) around ownership and strategy for IT is another topic in itself. Most IT leaders are faced with demands to reduce costs and at the same time deliver more value, although, often, the challenge can be actually defining and demonstrating what that value is in the first place. The beleaguered CIO needs some simple, business-level data about what their department does and why it s important, but all too often this message becomes too IT-specific rather than business-value specific. Turning back to his or her department, the information and messages that come out do not help these can be defensive, over-technical and lacking in business focus or value demonstration. Plus, often, they are inconsistent and contradictory across departments. IT teams will often close ranks to preserve their own specific value rather than collaborate and work to a wider and more business-focused set of goals. This wastes time and effort and also misses the point, which is that the department needs to change and modernise, not simply justify its current state. The old mentality that the IT department can do it all must be consigned to history, and this must be promoted and mandated by the new breed of CIO. The old mentality that the IT department can do it all must be consigned to history, and this must be promoted and mandated by the new breed of CIO.
What will the IT department look like in 5 years time? This is a big question for CIOs what do they keep and what can they afford to delegate or outsource? In this constant spinning wheel of changing and evolving technical capability, how do they even start to make the right decisions about future-proofing their platforms and services? The landscape for technology and IT departments is hard enough to predict on an annual basis, so longer term planning is extremely difficult. Defining strategy in this context is becoming more about being clear on principles. Here are some key points to consider: Current high levels of administration and break/fix tasks in IT result in high levels of waste. Many support tasks can be eliminated or automated as can a number of administrative approval and documentation functions. Leaving this to IT departments to carry out takes up expensive technicians time, interrupts development and often irritates users if not done efficiently. There needs to be a policy to ensure that all possible tasks that can be automated are automated. This should go without saying, and the consumerisation of technology in recent years has accelerated the need for this. There is less tolerance now to call the service desk to reset a password when we regularly do this ourselves in our personal and domestic technical environments. Many functions that are left to IT teams actually require business ownership. There is a need to develop some areas like security, governance and financial control where these have been left to IT in the past, simply because this was related to technology. IT people are not the best placed to make business decisions yet, in many cases, they do so without real corporate governance or risk assessment. IT people can manage and deliver technology and platforms; however, as much as possible, business people should manage their own services and content. Vendors must be chosen based on a long term partnership with clients. Vendors need to move to a proper partnership model that includes solid risk assessment and shared responsibility/reward with their clients, and greater degrees of transition and project management. Vendors offer increased scope and broader skillsets, yet, often, the logistics of engagement (contracted consultancy days, fixed SLAs, tool requirements) overtake the focus on shared outcomes. IT departments still have a responsibility to manage and protect the information assets of the organisation. This is often forgotten in the race to be agile and to use cool, new development approaches. A fundamental function of internal IT (regardless of how much is actually internally or externally delivered) is to ensure that the information and data relating to the organisation is protected and managed securely and sustainability. This also
makes decision-making difficult, and in the current environment of speed and fast time to market expectation, it s not the most fashionable perspective. The potential issues with cyber security have helped to ensure that this agenda is met, although few organisations have taken this as seriously as they might. IT departments need to invest in hiring a wider range of people and skillsets in order to achieve success. If IT becomes the broker and facilitator of information and technology, then new skills and people are needed for commercial negotiations, contractual surety, relationship management, commercial and financial management, as well as niche technical skills. Service management functions can deliver value in Agile/DevOps environments. DevOps is the current flavour of the month. In reality, it is a useful approach for collaboration and the cultural integration of traditionally disparate groups operations and development. DevOps can be painted as being a threat or opponent to ITSM and ITIL framework although the reality is that elements of good IT service management are perfectly relevant in the DevOps world. Similarly, whilst the ITIL framework is associated with the old world of IT, there is nothing in the adoption and implementation of ITIL processes that precludes an agile approach. DevOps will succeed as a brand if it can be shown to relate to both operations and development. At present, it is marketed and sold more as a new way of doing development i.e. too much Dev and not enough Ops. IT service management is transferable to wider enterprise operations and management. This is not a new idea and for many years, has been done to some extent. However, now there is a clear imperative (supported by empowering technology) to work across organisational boundaries and achieve value and synergy by working together. The basic concept is that IT and ITSM processes are either the same or close to many other processes for managing work throughput in other back-office departments, like HR, finance, marketing, etc. All of these teams have to deal with issues, underlying problems, changes and the sharing of associated tasks within a framework of service and service expectations. ITSM toolsets now offer far more user friendly and user consumable functions which can be easily managed and presented in a familiar and rich environment, which in turn is more likely to attract users than old, IT-centric systems ever did. This last point is key in the discussion: IT has the skills, experience and now the opportunity to provide positive and value-driven solutions to its own organisation. Service management applied to the enterprise enterprise service management, or whatever we call it is the opportunity for IT departments to re-invent themselves as solutions providers (not just the department that always said no ) and to create new value streams with their own internal partners and departments. There is an opportunity for IT departments to re-invent themselves as solutions providers and create new value streams within their organisation. So, how does this work?
Digital at the core as well as the edges Whilst the term digital is used more and more as a means of engagement and for commercial gain in the wider marketplace, internal development of digital collaboration is now helping organisations to improve their effectiveness and quality in the internal workplace. Here are a few key points contributing to this development: ITSM tools are now easier and faster to build and update, usually without the need for technical input. So, development times are quicker, and this work can be turned around by service management staff rather than programmers. ITSM toolsets also provide far more user-friendly interfaces and customer portals, driven through service catalogues, which also improve the internal service providers management and control of its operation. Request fulfilment and provisioning are relatively simple to automate, and this can speed up turnaround times as well as cutting out wasteful administration and approval bottlenecks. Getting IT people out into the business and acting in a quasi-vendor and consultancy role is a great opportunity that changes the nature of IT s relationship with its customers and partners across the organisation. IT departments and ITSM operations have the experience of doing this work. They have been running these processes and tools for some time, so have already developed the skills and experience to deliver this in other areas. Many non-it departments have many old processes running on spreadsheets, etc. These can be automated, and this offers risk reduction as well as improved efficiency. Once an initial contact has been made and a specific process automated, both parties realise that there is a huge opportunity to improve processes and to automate. When this happens, the biggest challenge is that demand increases for new uses of the ITSM toolset. Of course, there are many challenges with making this work, not least getting IT people out into the business and acting in a quasi-vendor and consultancy role. However, for many working in IT, this is a great opportunity and a positive development that changes the nature of the relationship IT has with its customers and partners across the organisation. Also, many non-it staff may take some convincing that the IT department that they have moaned about for years is suddenly recast as a shiny, new, can-do operation! However, the evidence from a number of organisations is that there is both the will and the capability to make this happen (it will save money and improve quality). Where it has happened, there are great stories of success and value being achieved.
What does a CIO need to do to progress this? Good IT service management is key here, and for many organisations, that is still a challenge. Effective ITSM does require a collaborative approach, across the whole of IT, so new ideas like DevOps are actually highly effective in getting people on board and moving the agenda away from being just about the service desk. Even within IT departments, the ITSM tool and associated processes are often mistakenly referred to as simply the service desk, when in fact, this should refer to cross departmental integrated processes and objectives. DevOps takes this further and also encourages a new culture of open collaboration and mutual respect the elimination of blame culture is a key element here. Culture change is therefore an essential element in moving towards the new user-friendly and liberated IT solutions department. ITSM and DevOps are valuable tools that can help to frame this change. Overall, it is vital to improve the reach and maturity of the IT service management function first, then, integrate this across IT with development before trying to apply this to other business areas. The CIO also has to be ready to confront resistance and preference for old ways, often cleverly and passionately presented. The path to IT enlightenment will be paved with many challenges with people and politics that in itself is one of the requirements and capabilities required of the new CIO. There is also a need to re-define roles and skill sets and to hire the right sort of and people to make this work. It may be that there will be a mis-match with some of the existing people; however, we are talking about change and IT moving into a new phase of operations. This has happened in many other industries that have moved from initial engineering and entrepreneurial focus to a more normalised and retail/ supply chain focus. Supply chain is also a consideration (we have said that IT can t do everything itself), and there will be a need to look at the value versus commodity aspects of service delivery and ensure that focus is on value. Commodity services can be moved to external partners, and this may also involve the need to integrate and manage a number of different suppliers and services. This is where the broker tag is useful and commercial management skills are more needed in managing IT supply chains or SIAM environments. The path to IT enlightenment will be paved with many challenges with people and politics that in itself is one of the requirements and capabilities required of the new CIO.
We used to do alignment now it s re-alignment with the pace of change So, in summary, the old IT department has the opportunity to re-invent itself and drive collaboration across its own organisation. It can move from being a negatively viewed, obstructive organisation that no one wants to deal with, to being a solution provider by getting its own unified house in order first, then applying tools and techniques to the wider enterprise and embracing the shared services model. Service management isn t just for IT, and this can be achieved using more helpful tools and using experience and skills already within the organisation. There will be challenges and difficult decisions to be made, most of which will require influence, good communications skills and organisational change management. Overall, however, this will help to improve the quality of service and alignment delivered, as well as improving job satisfaction and useful employment of IT staff. The approach must be that change is inevitable and must be responded to positively and constructively this is the greatest challenge for CIOs in setting their strategy. We have been talking about achieving IT and business alignment for years, but we ve yet to truly achieve it. We are all part of the same organisation so alignment needs to be a collaborative effort to keep the whole business moving forward not just the needs of one or more internal departments. In order to align with the pace of business and technology change, we need to work together and realise the opportunities available. We re all working in IT now. About the author Barclay Rae s experience covers more than 500 service improvement projects, mainly in IT service management but also in CRM, contact centres and other service delivery areas. During the 1980s, Barclay gained pre-consulting experience in a variety of service delivery roles, including setting up media phone-in services, before transitioning, during the 1990s, into service management operations and project management. Barclay understands how service management is a true competitive differentiator for growth. Barclay is a true practitioner of service management and knows firsthand how future changes to the service management landscape can profoundly change the fortunes of IT departments. Barclay Rae IT Service Management Consultant www.cherwell.com info@cherwell.com +44 (0)1793 544888 (EMEA) 2015 Cherwell Software. All Rights Reserved. All other product or company names used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.