IT is in the Name

Information Technology at the functional level has become a commodity. People expect to come into work, sit down at their system, and it is expected to work. Just like the lights coming on or the toilets flushing. All of these things are complex and require a large amount resources to maintain at the expected level of availability the business desires. If this, commodity level service, is the desired state the business has requested then Information Technology (IT) or Information Systems (IS) is an appropriate name.

However, if the business wants to leverage the assets and investments made in technology and information systems then a change is needed. If the business wants to move forward with data and information then a different approach is needed. If a digital transformation is needed then the mindset of the group needs to change from a commodity to a service provider. Imagine if the electric company not only supplied the power but also worked with you, directly, in improving your energy usage. Some companies do this now but it is passive. I am advocating for proactive service delivery.

I recently have worked with one organization in making this shift. The first thing I did was change the name of the department from IS (Information Systems) to ITS, Information and Technology Services. This name is a three part name to help our team focus and let our customers, not users, know what we provided:

1.      Information Services – this is a focus around data and access to data and information

2.      Technology Services – this is everything from network, to end-point to Audio Visual as well as solution architecture

3.      Information and Technology Services – this is the combination of the two to solve business problems. Example, when this company was having problems reaching customers on the phone (information delivery problem not technology, the phones worked) we implemented a texting solution (customer focused technology solution to deliver information).

The next things was to follow through with this service mindset and took on the challenge to implement the ITIL processes across the entire service portfolio. Including get the entire team certified at the Foundations level. To measure the effectiveness we used the Net Promoter Score methodology and established a baseline of 30.10, a decent score but room for improvement. I asked the entire company two questions:

1. On a scale of 0-10, how would you rate your overall satisfaction with the service ITS provides you?
2. Question 2 depended on Question 1

a. If the score was a 10 - In order to provide the best service possible please take an extra minute or two to tell us why you rated ITS with a 10.

b.      If the score was 0-9 - In order to provide the best service possible please take an extra minute or two and tell us what we could do to improve your experience.

Through changes in practices and focusing on service and the customers, 18 months later, the organization rewarded ITS with a score of 54.76. We are continuing to survey the organization twice a year and implementing changes around what the customers tell us.

IT changed across the organization because ITS in the name.

UPDATE: The Net Promoter Score survey completed another round, Q4:18, and the continued changes and process improvements have resulted in a score of 69.30.