SIAM (Service Integration and Management) – in 3 minutes

Blog references the following book published by Van Haren: SIAM: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES FOR SERVICE INTEGRATION AND MANAGEMENT

Blog Author: Andrea Kis

The basics:

The traditional IT organization that purchases hardware and software from suppliers, develops its own skilled resources and uses those components to deliver services to its business is no longer valid. All large IT organizations now need to consume services from an increasing array of Service Providers to remain competitive and keep up with the rate of change in the industry. They need to leverage lower cost resource pools and delivery models, including the ability to consume all things ‘as a service’. This means that IT organizations are now required to integrate and orchestrate services provided by others, as much as deliver the services themselves. This requires organizations to change; change processes, change skills and change culture.

Many different names have been applied to the practices which integrate services and Service Providers, including; Service Integration (SI), Multi-Supplier Integration (MSI) and Service Integration and Management (SIAM). For the purposes of this book, the practice will be called Service Integration, and use the abbreviation of SIAM, so as to avoid any confusion with Systems Integration. The organizational unit primarily responsible for performing Service Integration activities will be referred to as the Service Integrator.

Summary of the method:

Definition of Service Integration:

Service Integration is the set of principles and practices, which facilitate that collaborative working relationship between Service Providers required to maximize the benefit of multisourcing.

Service Integration facilitates the linkage of services, the technology of which they are comprised and the delivery organizations and processes used to operate them, into a single operating model.

Whenever an organization procures services from more than one Service Provider, some level of integration will be required. Integration is a service in its own right and can be provided by either the customers own retained IT organization, or outsourced to an external party.

Whatever the model, the Service Integrator always has the end-to-end responsibility for the delivery of the aggregated IT services that are required to support the service customers and their business process outcomes.

Some fundamental objectives of a Service Integrator are to:

• Reduce complexity to the customer by acting as a single point of service for all customers;
• Improve operative stability through standards and supplier coordination and collaboration;
• Reduce the time to market by effectively and efficiently integrating and orchestrating processes between Service Providers;
• Reduce the cost of IT service provisioning by:
• Improved efficiency and effectiveness through removing gaps and overlaps between
• providers;
• Ensuring the definition of the scope of each service is appropriate (‘economy of scope’);
• Economy of scale through reuse of service management resources and capabilities;
• Effectively orchestrating multiple providers’ services to provide the required balance between service cost and service quality.

In fully mature and integrated environments the key responsibility of a Service Integrator is to act as a Single Point of Service (SPOS) with which the service customer objectives, requirements, desirable outcomes etc. are agreed upon and formally propagated further to every service and its provider.

Since there are many dimensions to the Service Integration concept it is wide ranging and this book covers the following:

• Chapter 2 will cover basic concepts and terminology as well as conceptual models for Service Integration;
• Chapter 3 will describe the people and the processes that are needed;
• Chapter 4 discusses the implications for tools and data management;
• Chapter 5 covers sourcing as an important aspect of Service Integration;
• Chapter 6 covers governance;
• Chapter 7 will focus on continual service improvement;

Target audience:

SIAM is for everyone involved in the supply and demand chain in a multi-sourced integrated environment in all roles and at all levels..

The quoted book specifically is a practitioner’s guide and, like all best practice, it is documentation of what has seemed to work well for other people. It will form a sound foundation and starting point for those with similar issues in similar situations.

It contains practitioner tips and real life case studies.

ITSM professionals working in integrated multi-sourced environments

Service customer managers, with a responsibility to secure the business supply of IT-services in a multi-sourced environment

Service provider delivery managers with a responsibility to integrate multiple services to meet the demands of the customers’ business and users

Service provider managers with responsibilities to manage integrated services, participating in an multi-sourced environment

Consultants with interest in SIAM

Scope and constraints:

The quoted book covers the following Service Integration and Management perspectives:

• Basic models, concepts and terminology
• Governing and managing enablers
• Strategies for multi-sourcing
• Contractual aspects
• Process integration
• Customer/Provider relationships
• Roles and competencies
• Organization
• Supporting tools, data and information
• Governance
• Continual Service Improvement

It is important to remember that despite the changes in the industry, there is still no formalized SIAM competence recognized and industry standards have not yet caught up to provide the required guidance.

Providers, consulting firms who are involved in SIAM design, implementation and delivery all have their own interpretation of SIAM which can often overlap, have similarities as well as differences in their models and definitions.

This book details the interpretation of SIAM by the authors and it isn’t industry standard but a practical guidance.

Relevant website:

siam.vanharen.net

Title: SIAM: Principles and Practices for Service Integration and Management (english version)
ISBN: 9789401800259
Author(s): Dave Armes & Niklas Engelhart & Peter McKenzie & Peter Wiggers
Price: € 39,95 (VAT

https://www.axelos.com/news/introduction-to-service-integration-and-management

http://www.isg-one.com/web/expertise/SIAM/

And some optional suggestions

• Jan Van Bon’s slightly controversial blogs– https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/siam-hoax-jan-van-bon
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dear-jan-van-bonthe-siam-hoax-unraveled-michelle-major-goldsmith
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/siam-hoax-round-2-jan-van-bon
• https://www.axelos.com/case-studies-and-white-papers/who-is-the-king-of-siam
• http://www.itsmf.co.uk/?page=ST_AUTUMN_SIAM