I first heard IT4IT mentioned at the ITSMF UK conference last November. It piqued my interest but I admit to being unsure as to how this fit within the world of ITSM.
Fast forward six months and we’re holding a joint event with The Open Group to illustrate some of the benefits specific to those working within the world of ITSM.
Ahead of the event on 25th May at the Copthorne Tara Hotel in London I chatted with Andrew Josey of The Open Group, Tony Price of HPE and CEO of ITSMF UK, Barclay Rae about what delegates can expect from the day.
Q. Without giving too much away ahead of the event what kind of impact can IT4IT have on a Service Management environment?
Tony – IT4IT has the potential of “providing the missing link” we have had in IT for so many years. A prescriptive reference architecture for running the business of IT. If organisations adopt this then IT Service Management at last will be contextualised and in my opinion even better understood. We have always said ITSM is about People, Process and Technology but combine this with the overarching IT Value Chain and supporting value streams and you have something significantly more powerful than we have had in the past that the business can understand and that will drive IT to deliver true value.
Barclay – We’ve talked for some time about supply chains and value chains for IT Service Delivery. However the reality within ITSM delivery has been a focus on some effective yet still silo-based processes. IT4IT is a means to combine these approaches by applying a supply chain approach to established processes – so it builds on and complements ITSM/ITIL. I’m looking forward to this event to hear some good practical stories.
Q. On The Open Group website FAQ’s it says “The IT4IT vision is a vendor-neutral open standard Reference Architecture and value chain-based operating model for managing the business of IT.” What does this actually mean for organisations?
Andrew – IT management is fundamentally industry agnostic and up to now has had no prescriptive reference architecture – there has been no standardised approach, no common information model. The IT4IT Reference Architecture fills the gap. It was created as a holistic, concise and structured standard for how IT should be managed in order to provide maximum value for the business.
It can be thought of as a blueprint to accelerate IT’s transition to becoming a service broker and service integrator. While existing frameworks and standards have placed their main emphasis on process, the IT4IT standard is process-agnostic, focused instead on the capabilities and information needed to manage a service through its lifecycle. It defines how the IT function can be supported by information systems automating the IT activities as well as providing the necessary insight to improve IT decision-making and support continuous improvement.
Q. Why is holistic management of the business of IT so important?
Andrew – The essential principle behind the IT4IT approach is that the IT function should be organized and managed as a business. The IT4IT value streams and IT4IT Reference Architecture define an overall framework that can be used to identify the end-to-end workflows in the IT organization that create value for the business — they provide the bigger picture of how IT services should be managed, throughout the entire lifecycle. Every IT organization can benefit by adopting this holistic end-to-end view based upon the IT4IT value streams.
Q. Finally what can delegates expect to take away from the IT4IT for Service Managers event on the 25th May?
Tony – A good background on IT4IT and how complementary ITSM is. Plus, some real life practical examples showing how IT4IT has delivered true value. We will also highlight some lessons learned by early adopters and show some comparisons to lessons in the ITSM world.
Barclay – We’ll be exploring this area as a complementary approach for service management as part of our wider debate about professionalism in ITSM – it’ll be a great event
Join us on the 25th May and find out how IT4IT can drive your ITSM organisation to deliver true business value.
Rebecca Louise Beach
Rebecca helps IT service management companies and individuals to connect with audiences and communities by developing and running their digital marketing programs. In addition she is an Associate Analyst at ITSM.tools.
