Identifying common sense aspects of service management
In the delivery of service management education, which primarily focused on IT resources, it has long been obvious that the concepts discussed do not approach rocket science complexity. Many may come to the education event thinking that it will be an IT class. That’s a natural inference from the name ITSM.
In actuality, this education, at a foundational level, focuses on what it takes to be a valued service provider. Although the education event is largely attended by IT resources, it is not unusual to see participation by resources from human resources, sales, marketing, finance, administration, and even customer-vendor relationships. Many of these non-IT-specific resources refer to the phrase “This seems like common sense.” Presumably, effectively using analogies (for example, the restaurant as a service provider) helps in driving understanding of the concepts. While helping the resources visualize a scenario outside of their own lives with the help of analogies, it also makes sense to transition to a situation where the resource connects these analogies naturally to their work, such as an actual business process (for example, close a sales order, procure to pay, onboard a new employee, and so on).
A significant aspect of education on formal service management – that is, why participants attend – is the exposure to best practices. In years past, this education included a focus on the difference between best practice and good practice, with the real goal being the latter. A best practice represents leveraging what other service providers have done to drive efficiency and effectiveness in provisioning IT services. Good practice, on the other hand, represents tailoring those concepts to your organization’s culture and needs. This is where common sense must prevail. An example is a healthcare organization with multiple hospitals that has adopted service management concepts in the areas of service desk and incident management. The service desk is staffed with healthcare-related resources, who bring knowledge of healthcare-related disciplines (such as nursing, radiology, and others). The common-sense aspect of this is the service desk agent’s ability to speak the same language as the users most likely to contact them (for example, a hospital nursing station). At the same time, a manufacturing organization is not likely to staff its service desk with healthcare-related competencies. Common sense must prevail!
Once service management education has been attained, participants can judge their organization’s current service management capabilities against the learned criteria. Whether a formal practice or not, all service providers practice service management. It is a matter of what level of maturity they are at, contrasted and compared with where the business of the larger company is going. Is the IT organization (service provider) optimally positioned to support that vision? Is the IT organization exercising an improvement culture, demonstrating an ability to increase service delivery capabilities? Can IT map the services it delivers to business outcomes and values? These questions represent common sense aspects of being a valued service provider.
The real work begins once formal service management education has been completed. The current question then becomes “What should the participant do differently now?” Though not rocket science concepts, the sheer number of concepts is comprehensive and begs a practical (short-term set of actions – low-hanging fruit) and pragmatic (long-term character attribute – think program) approach.