Agile IT Service Management Balances a Business’ Need for Control with Innovation
No longer just a cost center, IT is now a critical facet of corporate success. Without the right tools and support, employees can’t innovate fast enough to keep up with the speed of business and competition. To address this issue, many companies have adopted IT service management (ITSM) frameworks that, according to TechTarget, represent a strategic approach for designing, managing, delivering and improving how IT is used within companies.
This approach to ITSM includes use of the cloud and mobile access to improve productivity. However, the evolution of cloud technologies, mobile devices and on-demand compute resources has fundamentally altered the IT landscape. Now, enterprises need a way to bridge the gap between rapid change and reasonable control. The answer: agile ITSM.
Why Agile?
The agile set of principles is widely accepted as a solid approach for developing software and applications. This method creates value in small increments — known as “sprints” — with each sprint delivering a defined level of minimum value that offers increasing returns over time. Some of the benefits include the ability to rapidly improve or alter projects and quickly re-iterate if particular versions don’t perform as intended.
When it comes to ITSM, however, many companies shy away from the agile model because it demands a work-in-progress approach and many of them are more comfortable with a fixed-rule mandate. But an agile workflow and ITSM are actually an ideal fit because no IT service deployment is ever “complete.” Users add new mobile devices to the network and new security threats emerge, and ITSM must adapt to remain applicable. Agile processes give businesses the ability to define key ITSM processes, refine them and then test them to determine where improvement is required.
The Automation Advantage
One way that businesses are leveraging agile ITSM to change and control their IT environment is with automation. They can automate common activities and still remain compliant with industry regulation controls, mediation and reporting. For example, Transamerica Life Insurance Company uses BMC BladeLogic Server Automation and BMC Remedy Service Management Suite to automate a closed-loop compliance process that enables the company to quickly identify, fix and revalidate out-of-compliance servers. This process reduced Transamerica’s resolution times from days or weeks to just minutes and decreased its auditing prep effort from six dedicated employees working for a week straight to a single person working for just a few hours.
The big benefit of these solutions is that it gives the company room for agility. When IT staff aren’t tied up preparing for audits or compliance challenges, they have more time to develop improved service frameworks.
Mobile Matters
With businesses having to embrace constant change, business owners need to consider the rise of mobile devices, which permit employees to access secure corporate applications and services anytime, anywhere. Agile ITSM ensures users have the ability to connect to complete business tasks while still maintaining a high level of control over the security and visibility of corporate networks. Furthermore, businesses see a 75 percent increase in productivity when they implement mobile service desks.
A great example of a company taking advantage of mobile workflow is Vodafone. The company’s 150,000 employees work at the office, at home and from other locations, but they were having to go through 31 service desks that were running 23 different platforms to resolve over 250,000 support tickets every month. To solve this problem, Vodafone began using BMC MyIT, which is a context-aware, self-service mobile application that gives IT professionals the freedom to access the tools and answers they need regardless of their location and role. Level-one calls, for instance, are diverted to the service desk and crowdsourced data gives users self-service access to contributed solutions, information about reported outages and other assets. In Vodafone’s case, BMC MyIT helped its employees solve their own problems and get back to serving customers no matter if they were using a desktop, laptop or mobile app.
Future Foundations
Agile ITSM is critical for businesses to meet future challenges. The ever-evolving nature of agile development means no project is ever “done” or unable to support new initiatives. For example, one emerging area in need of IT support is the Internet of Things (IoT). Companies need to design effective and secure ways to manage a host of wireless, user-less and high-speed devices on their networks. Agile ITSM provides a way for companies to embrace IoT without abandoning current service models.
IT service demands change, and IT security demands control. Business owners must embrace the best of both worlds with agile ITSM to survive the coming changes in their industries. Business owners should check out BMC’s website for more information on agile ITSM and how it affects service management to better prepare their organizations for the future.
