Axios Systems, the helpdesk software supplier, has started to promote the notion of service value management as a method by which IT departments can better demonstrate the value they deliver to their organisations.
Most IT organisations are poor at defining where and how they add value and justify their costs, Axios said of its service value management messaging.
“The goal of any good IT organisation should be to deliver and demonstrate that it is delivering value from its services, or at least to show how its services contribute to the end goals of its customers. Service value management defines how an IT organisation can do this.”
It is particularly relevant to IT shops that follow ITIL best practice principles of service management.
Barclay Rae, Head of Global Services for Axios told us, “A focus on service value management is the logical next step up the business level for ITIL. The elements of service value management are to be found in the midst of ITIL practice through the use of service catalogues and management of service priorities, but it is not as explicit as it needs to be.”
Service value management will help IT shops translate their IT activities into the business language and value-based reporting that will make them relevant and understandable by the organisation.
Rae explained that in practical terms this means using the service catalogue to define key IT components of a business service, then reporting actual performance of these components as a business service with the SLA referencing the service rather than its components.
The value element of this is to provide reporting that relates to the overall delivery of a service, and not just its components, be they network availability, server utilisation, or whatever.
Axios said one of the tricks is to ensure a logical connection between business services held in the service catalogue and the components of the configuration management database. “That will provide the intelligent link via tools to fully unlock the value of ITIL processes.”
The service management vendor said research it had conducted during the summer suggested there was a lack of such approaches in the field.
In a global survey of over 1,500 IT professionals it found some 57% believe their IT systems, processes and services do not deliver the value expected by the business. As many as 64% of respondents feel unable to provide their business with quantifiable metrics demonstrating the value of IT services.
“Most IT organisations are reporting on what they do, rather than on how what they do supports the business,” Rae commented.
“One of the root causes is that too many will define an IT service as a composite of IT assets and IT activities. They should be demonstrating how what they do supports a key business service like opening a customer account, or paying out dividends, and reporting on that accordingly.”
According to the research, 63% of respondents are focused on cost reduction as the principal driver for IT projects over the next 12 months.
With that as a business driver the need for a new, more pragmatic and value-orientated approach to IT becomes increasingly important, Axios said. It believes that service value management, with ITIL at its foundation, will emerge and grow as an approach for IT executives.
