I've had lots of comments over the years from IT people who basically are scared of implementing SLAs and a Service Catalog - usually it's:
"we've not needed this for 30 years so why do we need it now?"
Whilst this can be frustrating and the reasons behind this approach might be suspect, it is a good question that has to be answered strongly and compellingly.
We know it's usually an uphill struggle to win these guys over without an epiphany, some form of brain surgery or personality change, but here's some tips:
1 Service Catalog will save your company money
2 Service Catalog will improve quality and efficiency
and, if neither of these are of interest;
3 Service Catalog will keep your jobs and make them more interesting and relevant.
So how do we back up these statements?
1. Service Catalog will save your company money
Always a popular one this - both for individuals, their bosses and everyone's careers and popularity in the office. It's what managers and business people want - its also often a moving target and difficult to pin down exactly what tangible savings can be made and how these will be measured and accepted. So its important to bear this in mind and set out realitic and achievable targets. However there are numerous benefits that can be achieved and captured simply through the automation and streamlining of standard request management processes.
Basically through service definition and automated fulfillment you will inevitably cut down delivery and human intervention time - and therefore cost accordingly. Generally you are looking at savings of between 20% - 40% of request management costs (analysts passim), and there are good examples of ROI models with good payback and strong Net Present Value that appeals to the finance guys.
2. Service Catalog will improve quality and efficiency
We've mentioned speeded up delivery times as a quality benefit - there is also the opportunity to deliver processes with less manual admin, which is always error prone. A Service Catalog will also help to focus the organization and its people on the key business priorities and so reduce wasted effort - plus there is then a greater sense of where to concentrate improvement and efficiency programs.
I've always wondered about how any 'service' organization can exist without a clear definition and working aganda for what services it is actually delivering, but that's how most IT departments have worked for 30 years... which leads to the final point:
3. Service Catalog will keep your jobs and make them more interesting and relevant
Well of course Service Catalog alone can't do this, but it will certainly help to protect people and departments as they get better at defining their value, start working to clearly defined prioirties and targets and producing much more relevant, business-focused reports. I have seen organizations where morale levels have greatly improved simply through IT seeing their part in the business 'supply chain' more clearly and then being able to actively feel more connected to the business and its general improvement.
So there are plenty of good reasons to resist the Catalog Luddites and push forward. I always ask the CIO - if you haven't got services defined, then what are your staff actually doing; what are they working on? Can you show your value to the business?
Whilst we might get resistance to this sort of project - and that makes it a tough job - that still shouldn't deflect us from doing the right thing for oursleves and our businesses.
Do you agree or do you still need to be convinced?
"we've not needed this for 30 years so why do we need it now?"
Whilst this can be frustrating and the reasons behind this approach might be suspect, it is a good question that has to be answered strongly and compellingly.
We know it's usually an uphill struggle to win these guys over without an epiphany, some form of brain surgery or personality change, but here's some tips:
1 Service Catalog will save your company money
2 Service Catalog will improve quality and efficiency
and, if neither of these are of interest;
3 Service Catalog will keep your jobs and make them more interesting and relevant.
So how do we back up these statements?
1. Service Catalog will save your company money
Always a popular one this - both for individuals, their bosses and everyone's careers and popularity in the office. It's what managers and business people want - its also often a moving target and difficult to pin down exactly what tangible savings can be made and how these will be measured and accepted. So its important to bear this in mind and set out realitic and achievable targets. However there are numerous benefits that can be achieved and captured simply through the automation and streamlining of standard request management processes.
Basically through service definition and automated fulfillment you will inevitably cut down delivery and human intervention time - and therefore cost accordingly. Generally you are looking at savings of between 20% - 40% of request management costs (analysts passim), and there are good examples of ROI models with good payback and strong Net Present Value that appeals to the finance guys.
2. Service Catalog will improve quality and efficiency
We've mentioned speeded up delivery times as a quality benefit - there is also the opportunity to deliver processes with less manual admin, which is always error prone. A Service Catalog will also help to focus the organization and its people on the key business priorities and so reduce wasted effort - plus there is then a greater sense of where to concentrate improvement and efficiency programs.
I've always wondered about how any 'service' organization can exist without a clear definition and working aganda for what services it is actually delivering, but that's how most IT departments have worked for 30 years... which leads to the final point:
3. Service Catalog will keep your jobs and make them more interesting and relevant
Well of course Service Catalog alone can't do this, but it will certainly help to protect people and departments as they get better at defining their value, start working to clearly defined prioirties and targets and producing much more relevant, business-focused reports. I have seen organizations where morale levels have greatly improved simply through IT seeing their part in the business 'supply chain' more clearly and then being able to actively feel more connected to the business and its general improvement.
So there are plenty of good reasons to resist the Catalog Luddites and push forward. I always ask the CIO - if you haven't got services defined, then what are your staff actually doing; what are they working on? Can you show your value to the business?
Whilst we might get resistance to this sort of project - and that makes it a tough job - that still shouldn't deflect us from doing the right thing for oursleves and our businesses.
Do you agree or do you still need to be convinced?
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