“ There ’ s something happening here , but what it is ain ’ t exactly clear …”
IT Service Management ( ITSM ) implementations have long been a bit of an enigma .
On one hand , ITSM guidance has been touted as a way to design and deliver effective and efficient services . In many companies , however , ITSM became IT Process Management implementations because services were never being defined .
ITSM guidance has always been to “ adopt and adapt ”, but then organizations look for out-of- the-box solutions to address their unique , specific organizational needs .
ITSM is intended to manage services across their complete lifecycles ( plan , design , build , run , retirement ), but many ITSM implementations consist of only the “ run ” processes .
But change is in the air .
ITSM is evolving
The past few years in the ITSM industry have been interesting . If you haven ’ t noticed , ITSM is going through an evolution .
The ITSM toolbox is expanding ITIL ® is and continues to be a strong framework for ITSM . But the ITSM toolbox is expanding to include methodologies such as DevOps , Agile , and Lean IT . DevOps works to break down barriers ( whether real or imagined ) between the Development and Operations teams within many IT organizations . DevOps leverages Agile , Lean IT and ( yes ) ITIL to enable faster delivery of smaller units of work . Agile promotes an iterative approach to delivering software . This same approach can and should be used for service design and delivery . Lean IT focuses on the elimination of waste , the visualization of work , the improvement of flow , and continual improvement . All great tools to have in your ITSM toolbox .
Technology that moves ITSM to a new level Technology has made a dramatic leap over the past few years . The capability now exists not only to support or enable many ITSM activities , but to do so at the speed of business .
In my post on All Things ITSM , I discuss the potential impact from the convergence of technology . With the Internet of Things , we have sensors on machines , detecting issues in real-time and exchanging that information with other machines . Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence that provides computers with the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed . Machine learning focuses on the development of computer programs that can teach themselves to grow and change when exposed to new data . Cognitive computing involves self-learning systems that use data mining , pattern
22 itSMFI Forum Focus — December 2016