Outside-In

If we are truly seeking “Enterprise Service Management”, we will need to take an “outside-in” approach where all stakeholders are engaged and support the initiative.

With every organization now a technology-focused organization, an enterprise view of service management is needed.

Do not let a tool define what is – and is not – Enterprise Service Management.

It should be defined by your stakeholders.

Governance

Everyone wants technology innovation but few desire governance.

Consider the broad stakeholders represented in every Service Management and Asset Management program.

Each one requires specific data from the tools.

This data is why you have ITSM and ITAM tools.

The data is leveraged to solve business problems.

The data needs to be current and accurate.

The answer is governance.

This is one main reason stakeholders are unhappy with the ITSM and ITAM tools.

Types of Outcomes

Have you noticed how our society has turned every perspective into binary outcomes, “it’s great” or “it stinks”?

In reality, everything is on a spectrum.

This is true for our Service Management & Asset Management programs. With an iterative approach – filled with continual improvement – we should always be getting better.

This is why metrics are so important. They tell us how we are doing and illustrate the improvement opportunities.

As we move toward an enterprise-wide view of technology, the focus should be on improvements and outcomes, not the current state.

Blindspots

I freely admit it, I have blindspots.

We all do.

The solution is to have people in your life to see what you don’t AND to listen.

Sure, it takes trust. We’ve all listened to people we shouldn’t have, but those should be seen as learning opportunities.

As we start the week, try to find your blindspots and people who excel in those areas.

Reducing Outages

We are in – or entering – the most important time of the year for most companies.

IT outages are painful.

Two things to reduce outages if your organization needs maximum uptime:

1. Implement a “Change Frost” where changes are discouraged but there’s an escalation path for approval that includes senior leaders.

2. Spend extra time looking at Incident metrics for Proactive Problem Management.

Almost every organization has a time of the year where outages are extremely costly.