Service portfolio management is not so much about managing physical technology infrastructure, but more about application management, and how the IT department can add value to the business and customers through services.
This is according to John Kampman, director of technical sales and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) service manager at CA.
Says Kampman: “A major trend now, according to ITIL, is service portfolio management.”
Due to the economic downturn, says Kampman, the optimum use of IT and human resources has become imperative for businesses to grow or simply to stay afloat and give customers what they need. As a result, service management has become an even more important aspect of doing business today.
“IT infrastructure is up 99.2% of the time, but that doesn't mean your system is doing what it's supposed to in terms of delivering what the business and customers require. The system might be up all the time, but the applications might not be performing and adding value to the business,” he says. “This requires careful management.”
According to Kampman, IT departments in SA in general still focus on the technology and infrastructure, and have not looked in earnest at the business sense and strategy to get added value out of their IT systems.
“I also sense that locally businesses are taking a 'look-from-afar' approach and not really engaging big time in adding to global best practices. This means making decisions is slower,” says Kampman.
While the rest of the world may view this as the wrong approach, states Kampman, it is not necessarily the case, as it means companies in SA like to think things through more thoroughly.
Boosting best practice
Andrea Lodolo, technical operations manager at CA SA, believes local companies do not add input to the industry and global best practices “because they are afraid to be called on if what they say and suggest are wrong”.
Both Kampman and Lodolo agree that South African IT organisations should contribute more to best practices, as this will assist in strengthening the industry as well their own service management capabilities.
Kampman believes that with the uptake of virtualisation, service management also becomes more important. “Virtualisation is key for businesses today and to get that right you need to implement proper service management principles.
“With virtualisation you can have applications and services activated as you want it and whenever you want it, which makes managing these services and the value they add more important to gain a competitive edge over others.
“I don't think SA lags far behind Europe in terms of service management. The culture and approach to service management and best practices are simply different,” Kampman concludes.
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