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Introduction
The digital world as we know it is changing fast. The traditional role of IT as service provider is evolving to one of service broker. IT is moving up and out of the traditional data centre. Digital transformation, Cloud Computing, Virtualization, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and advanced practices such as DevOps, Lean and Agile are entering the IT ecosphere at a rapid rate. Service organizations are asking: “How do we glue all this together? How do we take the best of all these solutions and make it best for us?”
1. Creating Order Out Of Digital Transformation Chaos With VeriSM
As of last year, the practice of Service Management was starting to age. While key practices such as ITIL. IT4IT, COBIT and other management approaches are strong and still very robust, cracks were beginning to show. Aggressive changes in how services are developed and delivered were taking place. DevOps, Lean, Agile, Virtualization, Cloud Computing, IoT and many other disciplines were entering the IT ecosystem and exploding at a rapid rate. One of the more important changes was the customer perception from viewing their services as transactional to putting value on the entire customer experience. Where fulfilment of an order was prime in the past, customers also want a good experience when it comes to support, billing, responsiveness, being easy to work with and sharper attention to their specific needs.
This has had a noticeable impact on service management as we know it. To operate in today’s world, a service must have a complete supply chain behind it to be successful. The traditional model of IT as a service provider to the rest of the business can become troublesome as it creates a rift in that overall supply chain. The gravity of focus and control for services is now shifting upwards and outwards from the data centre. The role of IT is evolving into a capability that is now part of a wider delivery chain, parts of which may exist in the data centre but also the business as well. IT is embedded and integrated with other business functions necessary to create a holistic end-to-end customer experience.
2. The Basics:
These challenges were the basis for development of VeriSM™ – Service Management For The Digital Age. A means to address this challenge was needed to steer service management development and delivery of digital services in an era of rapid transformation. VeriSM recognizes that trying to operate with a single source of best practice is no longer viable. There are many good practices, many delivery organization styles, differing environment and competitive challenges and emerging technologies that make the use of a sole practice no longer viable. A means is needed to take the best that these all have to offer, take what’s best for a business organization, and merge these into a model for how the business will develop, deliver and manage their services. I am proud to have been offered a chance to help co-develop the VeriSM vision.
3. Summary:
While the author group collaborated together on much of the VeriSM content along with other contributors and reviewers, my main focus was the Progressive Management Practices and Emerging Technologies sections. With this, we tried to communicate many of the newer practices that were emerging in the industry. The level of depth for these is meant to be overview level and to help steer the reader elsewhere for in-depth information. Of importance, was to create an awareness of what practices are out there. This becomes key as organizations pull together their operating models. The concept of the VeriSM Management Mesh provides a means for integrating selected practices into an organization’s, environment, resources and emerging technologies into a comprehensive service management operating model.
4. Target Audience:
The target audience for VeriSM is anyone involved with strategy, development, delivery, operation and improvement of their services. The audience is not just for IT workers but can include anyone in the business who is creating and managing services or trying to improve their quality.
5. Scope:
It is fully expected that we have only taken a first small step on the VeriSM journey. There is an expectation that management practices will evolve. New ones will enter the industry. Some will leave. We tried to position VeriSM that this is to be expected. Operating models will evolve as the industry evolves. VeriSM provides a means to glue a set of practices together, replace and modify them to suit business, marketplace, industry and technology changes.
6. Relevant reading
Some further reading that may be interesting and helpful: