As IT Service Management (ITSM) continues to evolve, the following five trends may influence how your IT organization delivers ITSM.
- Proliferation of cloud computing
The cloud has made it faster and easier for the business to apply cloud solutions, leaving the ITSM team holding the bag to support solutions on which they’ve not had a chance to vet or provide input. Wired.com’s John Graham wrote and excellent summary of the impact of the cloud on ITSM service levels, security and several other qualitative metrics. - ITIL adoption or lack thereof
While the debate rages on around ITIL certification and its role in ITSM, one trend is clear. ITIL will require greater context around customer focus. ITIL for the sake of ITIL doesn’t improve ITSM and service delivery to the customer. Organizations must approach ITIL as a basic framework and understand the value it adds to the customer side of the equation. Whether ITIL v3, ISO or anther ITSM framework, it must first begin with the needs of the customer, and as we all know, those needs change quickly as businesses change, so flexibility must be built in. - Proving the value of ITSM
This is not a new trend; however, as the complexity of Enterprise Architecture grows and so does scrutiny of IT budgets, the need to prove the value of ITSM also grows. What does the future of ITSM look like? How will it add value to the business as an enabling function and a support function? The opportunity for ITSM lies in its ability to understand the needs of the business and easily adapt to enable and support them most efficiently and cost effectively. The first step is getting a handle on IT costs. - IT Cost Transparency
One could hardly discuss value without also discussing cost. This growing trend has been addressed in ITIL v3 Financial Management guidelines. However, ITSM, being a critical element of the IT organization, must have a clear picture of its operational costs so that when those costs are combined with IT financial data, they provide an accurate account of the IT organization’s costs and ROI. In order to do so effectively, ITSM practitioners will need to rely on comprehensive monitoring data, which includes organizational performance metrics such as ticket, asset and project portfolio management of on- or off-premise IT assets and services in physical or virtual environments. - Data Security and Compliance
Growth in cloud deployments is expected to continue, raising concerns about data security and regulatory compliance. PCI DSS standards spell out that virtual environments can be compliant; however, compliance in a virtual environment can present added risk. We expect the risk to increase well beyond 2012, particularly as more enterprises adopt social technologies. The PCI DSS Virtualization Guidelines can help organizations leverage ITSM to mitigate compliance risk.
Talk to a Nimsoft ITSM expert and learn how your IT service organization can capitalize on these growing trends while remaining cost effective, compliant and competitive.
