Winning big with your customer

Why is Service Management such a big deal?

Wow - Peter Sagan put in a truly impressive performance. He won the first four stages of the Amgen Tour of California in a row, and then the last stage - for a total of 5 out of 8 stages this year.

He also has 22 overall stage wins, and is lining up to be a tough dominant rider in one stage races. Congratulations Peter!

So how do these elite riders win stage after stage tough climbs and in hot weather on? All thanks to the carefully managed services their team members provide- shielding them from the wind, dragging them up the climbs and leading them to the final sprint.

Managing the customer experience

Likewise, these days IT systems are an essential part of how most organizations are run. IT is required for communications, financial management, operations, business reporting... even traditionally non IT functions such as HR and facilities increasingly have IT components as part of the service.

For those of us in IT the implications of this shift cannot be ignored.

All too often we operate in a mode of seeking out the next task without understanding and prioritizing based on the business value and business impact.

So what are your customers thinking?

Yes! Right now. What's their impression of the service IT provides. Positive? Neutral? Negative?

If neutral or negative what are they contemplating?

I've seen project teams sourcing Infrastructure through Amazon to get speedy provisioning. Watched business heads evaluating SaaS alternatives. And heard CEOs discussing outsourcing IT altogether?

First things first

So to really make a difference we really need to be able to communicate with the business in terms of capabilities and the service levels they value:

• Is the right service(s) being provided?
• How much does it cost?
• Is the customer prepared to pay for it?

 

Not all services are equal

Of course, not all things we do in IT have equal importance.

We need to define the business impact levels. An easy way to think of this would be to answer the question - if your Data Center fails, what sequence does the business want you to restore services?

I often hear, ERP systems first, then a Service Management tool to track all other changes, followed by an orderly restoration of communications, operations etc.

 

And lets not forget our supporting services

Of course, it's easy to give all the glory to the front office facing solutions - CRM systems, WWW interfaces and Order management solutions. But they all sdepend on core IT services such as

• Storage
• Database
• Network
• Communications 

Providing these solutions reliably and cost effectively is key to efficient Business Services.

If  can't measure it [correctly], you can't manage it [well]

The age old maxim still applies today in IT. If we don't have consistent repeatable processes, then it's hard to generate reliable data. And without that it's hard to make good decisions.

So to manage our services well we need to define how we'll measure

• Right service: Units of consumption; Satisfaction survey
• Service cost: Unit cost of service; Cost break down by HW, SW and labor
• Budget: Unit price, Planned consumption

                                                          

Working with the business to define the required services is hard work. But a Service Catalog is a key weapon for IT to improve alignment with the business and deliver value that drives the business forward. Please share you experiences with implementing Services in the comments.

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