Speaker: Aidan Lawes (from the IT Service Management Forum)

There are real issues with the role of IT in business organisations. IT is generally seen by business as a ‘consumer’ of resource (time/money), and not always seen as giving value.

Perhaps IT services need to concentrate much more on the services they offer, not the technology they use. Also perhaps need to break down walls within their organisation, rather than perpetuate existing ‘silos’ with PC support separate from Network support etc.

IT Service management is about managing the complete lifecycle from inital idea through to decommissioning of obsolete solutions.

The speaker suggested that the following aspects are key:

Processes
People
Tools
Partners

ITIL is a set documentation concentrating on (Quality) Processes. This has been used to develop a standard BS15000.

People need Knowledge, Attitude, Skills and Experience. There are ITIL based qualifications in this area. Ongoing competence is supported by the Institute of IT Service Management with a CPD scheme.

Also working with SFIA (Skills Framework in the Information Age) to embed IT Service Management skills into the SFIA qualifications.

Tools need to support the types of practice described by ITIL

Partners – looking for BS15000 certification and ITIL based practice.

Thinking service:
Expectations
Resources
Things going wrong
Change

Summary:
Information services are a vital and core part of the business
We need to think end-to-end service
Service management isn’t optional
Quality process-driven approaches and professional staff really deliver value
ITL/BS15000 provide a sold framework for developing an apporapriate solution
The business can/will reap the benefits and see ROI for IT