ITSM Hype Cycle in Plain English - Episode 10

Welcome to the 10th and final edition of our Gartner ITSM Hype Cycle in Plain English newsletter. This week we are covering SIAM, ITSM and ITIL.? Ending with three staples of Service Management.

SIAM

The What

Modern IT comprises numerous systems, technologies, and capabilities.? It makes sense to outsource some or even all of this to providers who have specialist and niche skills. Most organisations rely on multiple IT service providers.? Service Integration and Management (SIAM) are the tools, processes and practices that make them all work like one.? This helps manage the interdependencies In a multi-sourced environment.?

The Why

The diversity of expertise needed to run an IT operation means that it is not possible to run an end-to-end service in-house, should an organisation even want to.? Because best in class organisations follow common ITSM best practice, it means that an IT service can be supported seamlessly by multiple suppliers.? Best practice in the form of SIAM has grown-up around the activity of knitting together many suppliers and services into an integrated whole.

The How

The basic principle of SIAM is that one supplier (or the customer organisation) becomes the 'authority'.? This provides one face to the business and to users. Presenting IT services as complete entities offered by a unified provider.? Using integrations, SIAM connects disparate supplier systems to create an extended support ecosystem.? For example, incidents logged into the authority are case exchanged to supplier systems to be worked on.? The authority manages the flow of work on behalf of the user who is unaware of the underlying workflow and hand-offs.? The authority holds suppliers accountable through Operational Level Agreements. This drives service reviews and reporting to ensure the aggregated service meets the customer's expectations.

ITSM Platform

The What

Classic IT is technology focused on things like hardware, code, and data.? IT Service Management seeks to create value by considering IT in terms of the value IT creates for users or the business. ITSM platforms codify the processes and the tools needed to provide this service wrapper.

The Why

The business needs to frame IT in terms of the benefits it can deliver.? The business 'has jobs to be done'. IT Service Management activities turn IT capabilities into customer outcomes.?? Writing the best code in the world is a waste of time if it doesn’t align with business requirements.? ITSM platforms provide the tools and workflow to manage IT services.? As ITSM processes interact with each other, combining them into an integrated platform enables integrated process flows through the value chain.

The How

ITSM describes the activities performed by an organisation to design, build, deliver, operate and control IT services offered to customers.? The frameworks consider the entire service lifecycle. From identifying the need for a service, to delivering it, to eventual retirement.?? There are numerous ITSM frameworks to choose from including ITIL, COBIT, IT4IT, DevOps etc. Implementation of ITSM benefits from toolsets that combine the technology and process needed to deliver services. ITSM platforms manage the data needed by the ITSM process. For instance, they pull in events and alerts to present them as dashboards.? They are also built with the forms and workflow that step support staff through the processes.? Having multiple processes operate as modules in one tool allows them to work closely together.? ?Platforms have modules like Configuration management, issue management and change management that work together.

ITIL

The What

ITIL stands for IT Information Library and builds on over 40 years of evolving best practice in IT Service Management.? It now comprises 17 Service Management, 3 Technical, and 14 General Management practices.

The Why

There are two main benefits to using ITIL.? Firstly, it encapsulates hard-won learning and best practice from thousands of IT professionals.? These practices have been proven many times over.? The ITIL framework have kept up-to-date and evolved to reflect current best practice.? Secondly it provides a common language and framework across the industry.? An organisation can switch systems or suppliers without having to fundamentally change their ways of working.

The How

ITIL provides guidance on 34 practices that should be used together to form value chains that provide outcomes for customers.? The ITIL practices cover a 4-dimensional approach to service management comprising of:? organisations and people, information and technology, partners and suppliers, and value streams and processes. Whilst each of the practices provides a capability to the organisation, they have been created to interact and work together.? Many systems and suppliers organise and market themselves around the ITIL framework. Organisations often hire process specialists who are qualified in ITIL and who can work together to build an integrated service management capability.

Thank you for reading our final edition of the newsletter. For any questions please contact [email protected] and come and see us at ITSM 23 in November.