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IT delivery becomes key business driver

Lebo Mashiloane
By Lebo Mashiloane
Johannesburg, 21 Feb 2014

It has increasingly become clear that the delivery of IT solutions has become a key business driver, and enterprises that fail to grasp this, face the danger of lagging behind.

This is a view expressed by Peter Lindsay, CA Technologies' business services manager. Speaking at the CA IT Management Symposium 2014 in Midrand yesterday, Lindsay emphasised that IT management solutions fail due to enterprises building them without a plan, unrealistic expectations, scepticism, poor requirements, poor governance and control.

"Would you build a house without a set of blueprints? So why is it that so many companies embark on an IT service management programme without a detailed plan?" asked Lindsay, adding that a good IT service management plan should address issues such as awareness; organisational change; process development; tool selection and implementation; employee training; and, most importantly, ongoing process governance," he said.

The initial phase, Lindsay explained, should be the framework and plan, assessing the current situation, determining where you want to be, a gap analysis, creating a plan, and creating a strategic plan which aligns to the enterprise's vision and proven framework, as well as developing a business case on the return on investment or governance requirement.

Peter pointed out that once these have been outlined, solution architecture and design, plus high level test and integration plans should be put in place.

"Design your organisation based on functions and roles; include mentorship/expert assistance to grow; and guide your administrative and operational staff. Also dedicate resources to the IT business management solutions and separate production from project activities," said Lindsay.

He added that organisations should also conduct initial discovery to verify that applications are appropriately installed, configured, and operational.

"For an enterprise to achieve its set goals, it should run, manage and maintain an application environment; provide architectural guidance; define deployment roadmap; validate existing architecture; and assist in identifying and resolving issues, as well as provide knowledge transfer platforms."

He emphasised that a vendor-supplied information technology infrastructure library - a set of practices for IT service management that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of business and IT management systems - should be considered where possible.

"These processes will help organisations to identify constraints that might be placed on the solution design, whether turnaround time or delivery challenges," Lindsay explained.

He concluded that the more detailed the plan, the easier it will be to justify the effort involved.

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