September 25, 2014 at 11:2510 reasons to learn ITIL and implement ITSM solutions
Where to start? From learning the basics of ITIL or from implementing ITSM (service approach) practices and automating them? Such a question arises in almost every organization and in most cases the answer is incorrect - in favor of choosing a means of automation and starting work “in a new way”. Today, ITIL and the service approach are the main language for managing IT services. Processes, services, incidents, problems, SLAs, CMDBs, etc. - this is all ITIL terminology used by IT experts who have never studied the service approach. You can implement ITSM tools without delving into the intricacies of the methodology, but if you understand what and why you are doing, then the likelihood of success increases significantly. Let's understand how to increase the success of implementing ITSM solutions?
Many are sure that it is only necessary to introduce an ITSM product and the processes will become more efficient. The problem is that implementing an ITSM solution is not enough, a prerequisite for a successful ITSM project is to align the work of the IT service in accordance with the ITSM approach.
Implementing ITSM tools alone will not improve the performance of your IT service or solve your problems. Of course, you will notice some improvements in any case. ITSM tools already include terminology and some principles of a service approach to IT organization. Using such tools, you voluntarily or involuntarily follow some elements of best practices. For example, starting to use the ITSM solution for registering and collecting applications from users, you create a single application registration center, stop losing user requests, you can track the progress of all registered applications, etc. But all this does not work, until the registration of applications is an obligatory element of work for each appeal, each user.
If desired, more than 40 different processes can be counted in ITIL books . Typical ITSM solutions offer automation of a much smaller number of processes. For example, ITSM365automates 10 core processes. However, even among these processes, not everyone is able to show an immediate result. Many companies do not need to implement and automate a significant part of the ITIL processes. Starting from the wrong process, you may not get a positive result. Do not expect immediate returns from change management, capacity management, SLA, CMDB, etc. All these processes require, at a minimum, a basis of functioning and automated processes of the operational level and the necessary functions, roles, etc. It is very easy to give up on the ITSM approach, starting from the wrong place and not achieving results. Knowing where to hit is often priceless .
The work of any modern company is tied to IT systems - sales, production, accounting, warehouse, logistics, marketing, correspondence, telephony, etc. etc. To one degree or another, all key company processes are automated. The work of the entire company directly depends on how the IT service handles various incidents in these systems. In many cases, every minute of downtime of a critical IT system results in quite tangible figures of lost profits or direct losses.
ITIL / ITSM contributes to the introduction of the best IT organization practices in the company, which are guaranteed to work in many companies both in Russia and abroad. The fact that the IT service identifies and implements ITIL processes in its practice already contributes to the improvement of IT performance.
ITIL / ITSM offers a model of interconnected processes. Mastering each new process involves changes in the work of the IT service, the emergence of new IT systems and increased IT maturity. However, in order to move in the right direction, you need to know this direction. By the way, ITSM tools are great for organizing the work of other service departments of the company that are not related to IT.
Many people have already tried to implement certain ITSM tools. Moreover, the market offers many free solutions. But many ITSM tools are not ready to use out of the box. It is necessary to attract consultants who adapt the solution to the needs of the company or a thorough independent study of the product is necessary. If your previous ITSM project failed, then you will be critical of similar projects in the future. Studying the principles of the ITSM approach, as well as choosing a ready-to-use solution, such as ITSM365 , will help you overcome negative experiences and evaluate the effectiveness of the service approach.
New working methods often seem illogical, inconvenient, and wrong for employees. It’s hard to give up the usual ways of working, and training will help to accept the new organization of work of the IT service.
Your specialists should understand why the use of ITSM solutions is convenient and important for them, why the processes are organized in this way and what is behind it. Without an understanding of the terminology and the basics of the ITSM approach by all or at least part of the IT service staff, the effectiveness of IT automation is significantly reduced. Look at typical customer support questions. How often are they caused by the fact that the user does not understand the logic of the program and the principles of organizing information in the operating system of his computer or on the Internet. When an IT employee does not understand the logic of the programs, he is no different from a typical user.
The ITSM solution is the central component of IT management in your company. Once you start implementing the ITSM solution, you will never return to its previous state. Your employees should get used to new methods of work and training provides an excellent opportunity to understand and adopt new principles of IT organization.
It’s impossible to change the usual working methods in one day. But you can gradually accustom users and employees with new rules for technical support. But in order to abandon the usual methods of work, it is necessary that the management of the company supports these changes. Long-term training for IT staff is a good argument in favor of a serious approach.
47, 34, 15, and even 10 are too many processes to start with. There are many examples of companies with successfully using just 4-5 ITSM processes. The point is not the number of processes, but how efficiently each of them is used.
ITIL / ITSM practices were created based on the experience of large and very large companies. These are hundreds of employees in IT services and thousands of processes that IT manages. Where there are 5-10 IT employees in a company, there is no need to single out so many processes and roles. Most likely your company and your IT service are simply not ready for this yet.
And yet, the fact that you do not control the processes does not mean that they are not at all in your company. Mastering the process model that ITIL offers allows you to consciously highlight the processes that are worth managing in your company and temporarily not pay attention to the fact that it has no significant impact on the work of your IT service.
The opportunity for professional growth is important for many IT professionals, and the company providing them with the conditions for development can count on their loyalty. Training allows you to get new and systematize existing knowledge, make new contacts, rally the team, etc. Having got an idea of all ITIL processes, in the future the employee will be able to cope not only with familiar incidents, but also with something new. It is not surprising that studying ITIL, and even more so obtaining an ITIL Foundation certificate, increases the specialist’s value for the company and its value in the labor market.
Companies often save on training specialists. Lack of budget is a problem, but we have a solution!
We are well aware of the risks of introducing ITSM solutions by untrained specialists and the difficulties in obtaining training budgets in small companies. Therefore, together with IT EXPERT, we offer a unique action on the market: until December 15, when you pay for a subscription to the ITSM365 service , you will have the opportunity to take one to four ITIL courses internally or remotely from one of the leaders in the ITSM training market for IT Expert IT practices. If you have already completed training in one of the courses at IT Expert at the courses declared in the promotion (and received a certificate of completion), then you will receive a discount on ITSM365 service subscription up to 20%.
Courses as a gift:
Subscribe to ITSM365 now and receive from 1 to 4 courses as a gift.
“If you automate chaos, you get automated chaos”
Many are sure that it is only necessary to introduce an ITSM product and the processes will become more efficient. The problem is that implementing an ITSM solution is not enough, a prerequisite for a successful ITSM project is to align the work of the IT service in accordance with the ITSM approach.
Implementing ITSM tools alone will not improve the performance of your IT service or solve your problems. Of course, you will notice some improvements in any case. ITSM tools already include terminology and some principles of a service approach to IT organization. Using such tools, you voluntarily or involuntarily follow some elements of best practices. For example, starting to use the ITSM solution for registering and collecting applications from users, you create a single application registration center, stop losing user requests, you can track the progress of all registered applications, etc. But all this does not work, until the registration of applications is an obligatory element of work for each appeal, each user.
And now we will implement the whole ITIL !
If desired, more than 40 different processes can be counted in ITIL books . Typical ITSM solutions offer automation of a much smaller number of processes. For example, ITSM365automates 10 core processes. However, even among these processes, not everyone is able to show an immediate result. Many companies do not need to implement and automate a significant part of the ITIL processes. Starting from the wrong process, you may not get a positive result. Do not expect immediate returns from change management, capacity management, SLA, CMDB, etc. All these processes require, at a minimum, a basis of functioning and automated processes of the operational level and the necessary functions, roles, etc. It is very easy to give up on the ITSM approach, starting from the wrong place and not achieving results. Knowing where to hit is often priceless .
Benefits from ITSM get the whole company, not just the IT service
The work of any modern company is tied to IT systems - sales, production, accounting, warehouse, logistics, marketing, correspondence, telephony, etc. etc. To one degree or another, all key company processes are automated. The work of the entire company directly depends on how the IT service handles various incidents in these systems. In many cases, every minute of downtime of a critical IT system results in quite tangible figures of lost profits or direct losses.
ITIL / ITSM contributes to the introduction of the best IT organization practices in the company, which are guaranteed to work in many companies both in Russia and abroad. The fact that the IT service identifies and implements ITIL processes in its practice already contributes to the improvement of IT performance.
- They began to record incidents - they stopped being lost, and their closing time became more predictable.
- The problem management process has appeared - you have reduced the number of recurring incidents.
- You signed SLA, got to access control and risk management, so you have to implement backup and recovery solutions after failures.
ITIL / ITSM offers a model of interconnected processes. Mastering each new process involves changes in the work of the IT service, the emergence of new IT systems and increased IT maturity. However, in order to move in the right direction, you need to know this direction. By the way, ITSM tools are great for organizing the work of other service departments of the company that are not related to IT.
Previous failures often make ITSM solutions critical
Many people have already tried to implement certain ITSM tools. Moreover, the market offers many free solutions. But many ITSM tools are not ready to use out of the box. It is necessary to attract consultants who adapt the solution to the needs of the company or a thorough independent study of the product is necessary. If your previous ITSM project failed, then you will be critical of similar projects in the future. Studying the principles of the ITSM approach, as well as choosing a ready-to-use solution, such as ITSM365 , will help you overcome negative experiences and evaluate the effectiveness of the service approach.
People need to understand what they are dealing with.
New working methods often seem illogical, inconvenient, and wrong for employees. It’s hard to give up the usual ways of working, and training will help to accept the new organization of work of the IT service.
Your specialists should understand why the use of ITSM solutions is convenient and important for them, why the processes are organized in this way and what is behind it. Without an understanding of the terminology and the basics of the ITSM approach by all or at least part of the IT service staff, the effectiveness of IT automation is significantly reduced. Look at typical customer support questions. How often are they caused by the fact that the user does not understand the logic of the program and the principles of organizing information in the operating system of his computer or on the Internet. When an IT employee does not understand the logic of the programs, he is no different from a typical user.
Too little attention to the ITSM solution
The ITSM solution is the central component of IT management in your company. Once you start implementing the ITSM solution, you will never return to its previous state. Your employees should get used to new methods of work and training provides an excellent opportunity to understand and adopt new principles of IT organization.
It’s impossible to change the usual working methods in one day. But you can gradually accustom users and employees with new rules for technical support. But in order to abandon the usual methods of work, it is necessary that the management of the company supports these changes. Long-term training for IT staff is a good argument in favor of a serious approach.
Not understanding the meaning of your actions, you are trying to do too much at a time
47, 34, 15, and even 10 are too many processes to start with. There are many examples of companies with successfully using just 4-5 ITSM processes. The point is not the number of processes, but how efficiently each of them is used.
ITIL / ITSM practices were created based on the experience of large and very large companies. These are hundreds of employees in IT services and thousands of processes that IT manages. Where there are 5-10 IT employees in a company, there is no need to single out so many processes and roles. Most likely your company and your IT service are simply not ready for this yet.
And yet, the fact that you do not control the processes does not mean that they are not at all in your company. Mastering the process model that ITIL offers allows you to consciously highlight the processes that are worth managing in your company and temporarily not pay attention to the fact that it has no significant impact on the work of your IT service.
For one scientist they give two unlearned, and even then they don’t take
The opportunity for professional growth is important for many IT professionals, and the company providing them with the conditions for development can count on their loyalty. Training allows you to get new and systematize existing knowledge, make new contacts, rally the team, etc. Having got an idea of all ITIL processes, in the future the employee will be able to cope not only with familiar incidents, but also with something new. It is not surprising that studying ITIL, and even more so obtaining an ITIL Foundation certificate, increases the specialist’s value for the company and its value in the labor market.
Companies often save on training specialists. Lack of budget is a problem, but we have a solution!
Master ITIL in theory and practice with ITSM 365
We are well aware of the risks of introducing ITSM solutions by untrained specialists and the difficulties in obtaining training budgets in small companies. Therefore, together with IT EXPERT, we offer a unique action on the market: until December 15, when you pay for a subscription to the ITSM365 service , you will have the opportunity to take one to four ITIL courses internally or remotely from one of the leaders in the ITSM training market for IT Expert IT practices. If you have already completed training in one of the courses at IT Expert at the courses declared in the promotion (and received a certificate of completion), then you will receive a discount on ITSM365 service subscription up to 20%.
Courses as a gift:
- Distance course "Introduction to ITIL"
- Distance course "ISO 20000-1: 2011 Requirements for a service management system"
- Full-time course "ITIL Fundamentals" in Moscow
- Full-time course "Service Desk and processes for the operational management of IT services in accordance with ITIL" in Moscow
- Full-time course "Making changes to IT in accordance with ITIL" in Moscow
- Full-time course "Management tools for organizing IT relations with ITIL-based business" in Moscow
- Full-time course "Optimal design of IT services in accordance with ITIL: information security, power, availability, continuity" in Moscow
Subscribe to ITSM365 now and receive from 1 to 4 courses as a gift.