Managing IT services is the key to maximising business returns on IT investments. Best practices management results in savings of 15% to 20% even in previously well-operated IT installations, according to research by the Gartner Group.
Today, no organisation that is serious about the quality of its IT services can afford to ignore IT service management.
The growing realisation of this in South Africa has led to the launch of the Information Technology Service Management Forum of Southern Africa (itSMF SA), a non-profit group for all companies committed to improving the quality of IT service management.
It is affiliated to the IT Service Management Forum International, with sister organisations in the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, the USA, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Over 50 individuals from 27 South African companies, covering users, product vendors and service suppliers, are founder members.
"Getting business value from IT depends on excellence of client service more than it does on buying the right products or management tools," says Joe Pearson, Dimension Data Networking consultant, a member of the itSMF SA. "The IT Service Management philosophy recognises that running an IT system for users is about the provision of a service to clients".
As Foppe Vogd, IT Manager of Rabobank in the Netherlands and founder of the itSMF Netherlands, reports: "We achieved a 60% saving in the cost of a transaction per year between 1992 and 1997."
Pearson points out IT service management is not new: concepts like systems management, network management and enterprise management have been around for many years. "But businesses continue to find IT resources are not being managed in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Management tools are typically an afterthought, and rarely meet expectations without great effort. Fundamentally, there have been no standards against which IT management can be measured."
He says the itSMF recognises there is no quick fix to getting value from IT. "But improvements in service and cost savings can be realised by professionally managing client and supplier relationships, developing good processes for IT service delivery, and managing IT staff according to these processes. Tools can then be effectively deployed to support these services."
No company today can afford to develop world-class standards in isolation. The itSMF exists to promote sharing of expertise and information between interested parties.
David Cannon, chairman of the South African organisation, explains the objectives of the itSMF SA: "The organisation seeks to provide an independent, non-profit forum for people committed to providing quality IT services, as well as to promote the exchange of IT service management, experience and information both locally and internationally. We also intend to facilitate a South African base of knowledge and resources which can assist IT organisations to manage the delivery of IT services. Finally, we encourage the growth, standardisation and recognition of IT service management throughout the SA IT industry.
"IT is no longer a support tool for the business, it is the business," he says. "Managing the quality of IT services is therefore essential for business survival and growth."
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