Interview with Adam Marland

As Service Management continues to evolve, it's important that our approaches continue to evolve to keep pace with market changes. I recently spoke to our Managing Director, Adam Marland, about his views on the current market and how we will continue to support our clients. We hope you enjoy reading the highlights of the discussion!

Me: How have you seen IT Service Delivery evolve in the last year or so?

Adam: Perhaps not one particular change, but in my opinion a continuation of the evolution over the past couple of years.?

We have seen a continuation of the shift towards agile working practices and there is a drive to make ITSM processes lean and strip out activities that don’t add value. We are often approached about this, whether it's modernising a change management process so that it supports speed to market and product innovation, or how the Service Delivery organisation enables its customers to be more self-sufficient, accessing self-services, and communicating with us in different ways.

We have also seen a focus on the tools and technology needed to support modern service management and organisations investing in a service management platform that drives automation and streamlines processes; or where they have already invested exploring how they can maximise its potential – the “what next?” question.?Also, in the drive for cost saving and efficiency, organisations are looking towards enterprise-wide solutions.?Many of the recognised service management solutions specialists have enterprise offerings now and having something adaptable to the organisation as a whole can really support the investment business case.

Of course with economic uncertainty key drivers are value and efficiency.?And this is reflected I think in the organisational model and how resources are utilised to get the most out of the skills & capability of the people.?Doing more with less means having skilled, flexible people who can take on varied roles or “wear different hats”.

We are also seeing organisations evaluating whether they are getting value from partners, for example service integrators.?Can they be flexible enough to meet business demands and are they prepared to work with us to evolve the services we offer, or are we being restricted in meeting these challenges because there is no flexibility in our contracts.?This is clearly a challenge for managed service providers and service integrators.

Me: What advice would you give to a CIO or Senior IT Leader who needs to modernise their approach to Service Management, but must mix this in with several other priorities and a busy schedule?

Adam: I think any modernisation programme or initiative needs to be in context and put value to the business at its centre.?Modernising service management to me is not just about buying a new tool or adopting the latest ITSM framework or guidance.?

Improvement programmes need to have clear deliverables and outcomes.?Modernise is very general, so what does this mean??How will it benefit the business??How can we make it easier for users to access services, so streamline the Service Desk processes, increase self-service.?Explore how we can better understand the business strategy and prioritise demand accordingly.?Do we have the right processes and roles to engage with our customer and understand the pain points, and what to “modernise”, or what to invest in??Don’t assume we know the answer as a service delivery organisation.

Also, ensuring there is the capability to drive some of the initiatives is crucial; of course support can be brought in but ownership of the initiative within the service delivery organisation will ultimately determine success.?It's like any other business change initiative, don’t overlook the softer skills, the overall change and adoption approach, and the collaboration required throughout.?

Me: What can you tell the readers about our newest offerings and why we have introduced them?

Adam: One of the things we are well aware of in iCore is that ITSM needs to move with the times, and we need to be able to offer services that respond to real world challenges. We are `long enough in the tooth` to understand that no one size fits all.?We provide our clients with the knowledge they need and work hand-in-hand with them to make sure they are successful. What we are driving towards now, is being able to clearly articulate services that directly address the challenges we have spoken about, from our traditional consultancy services, implementation approaches, and flexible resourcing models.

I am really encouraged by the work we are doing and excited to share more with our followers over the next couple of months.?You will see more from us around the themes of assessing current operating model capabilities, modernising service desk and support functions, service integration & management, and offering services that will help our customers align technology & services with business demand.?

Thank you very much for reading this and we hope you have a nice, long weekend.