Despite IT service management`s (ITSM`s) importance to organisations, there is a significant lack of adoption in best practice and ITIL-based standards - so says South African service management specialist NSS following research conducted by ITIL IT service management software solutions provider Axios.
CEO Lynda Odendaal has warned IT departments to "shift their mindsets" from being a technology function to an IT service provider in order to help support their organisations more effectively.
"Our business partner, Axios, conducted research at several leading industry events to explore the current trends and challenges in ITSM and discovered that a frightening 38% of all respondents believed their roles were to ensure IT systems worked, while 30% said their roles were to `react to IT incidents`," Odendaal states.
Only 53% felt that ITSM should proactively work with the business.
"What is truly significant is that improving IT service delivery (43%) and aligning IT to business (37%) were the two most important challenges facing IT departments, with increasing the status of IT within the organisation (33%) the third biggest challenge," she says.
The discrepancy highlights the need to deploy best practice ITIL-based ITSM solutions to help IT become a service to the business, she adds.
Research showed most organisations are failing to adopt best practice because few have deployed ITIL-based frameworks for ITSM, with a mere 23% of respondents looking to become ISO/IEC 20000-accredited.
"A worrying 43% have no plans at all," Odendaal says. "We believe this failure will result in IT being unable to truly support organisations fully in their strategic objectives. By adopting ISO/IEC 20000, enterprises will have the most efficient IT support possible and ensure processes meet all levels of compliance, while managed services providers will be able to demonstrate proven, best practice ITSM.
"So many companies not deploying best practice ITSM solutions based on ITIL is concerning. The success of many enterprises is dependent on IT and coupled with the complexity of today`s infrastructures, it is critical that IT environments are managed effectively. IT departments must also break the shackles of the past and find ways to ensure they are no longer simply the `IT help-desk` but a service to the business. ITSM is the antidote."
Too many companies are reliant on phone and e-mail to resolve IT issues with 93% of respondents citing them as the main methods of communication, with 26% using Web self-service which Axios believes is the fastest, most cost-effective and efficient way to communicate.
"By using Web self-service, such as assystNET, which is used by customers to log, monitor and track their IT incidents, organisations will reduce the volume of calls (eg basic password enquires) and allow support staff to focus their attention of more advanced IT requirements," she concludes.
The survey also found that in terms of ITSM technology, only 25% said they use an ITIL-based configuration management database (CMDB), while a worrying 78% said they did not know about the concept of federated CMBD.
CMDB is integral to any ITIL asset and configuration management software implementation as it provides an accurate inventory of IT resources and the relationships between them. By federating data from external data sources into a centralised system, it provides a holistic view of configuration items and related information so as to ensure successful service desk management, incident management, problem management, change management, service level management, release management and financial management.
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