Cause of Outages

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Earlier this year, I was researching some of the largest IT outages of 2021. They all, the ones which stated the cause, were due to a configuration change.

Think about that for a moment.

Large companies with everything redundant were brought down by a configuration change.

This tells me 2 things:

1). Those organizations need to invest in a better Service Management organization, especially CMDB. They had no idea of the change risk or relationship between CIs.

2). Billions of dollars were spent on redundancy and hardening the infrastructure without a true view of risk. In the same way, many organizations have experienced security breaches from third-party partners.

Enterprise Service Management

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When we think of what Enterprise Service Management will look like five years from now, it will include a tool with workflows, but will also include:

1. All enterprise Assets and configuration items (CIs) in the same tool
2. Common set of processes throughout the enterprise, regardless of the type of technology
3. Group leadership will move toward strategy and business-focused instead of technology-focused
4. Focus will be on limiting risk and maximizing the investment in technology
5. People will become the most valuable differentiator for success

Conflict

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It might be unsaid, unmet, or unfair expectations.

I have found this axiom true in 3 distinct (among others) ways in the ITSM and ITAM worlds ???? .

1. Leadership thinks there’s an understanding of licensing within the ranks, then comes a software audit.

2. Lack of a RACI with persona-based training so everyone knows what is expected of them.

3. Lack of understanding regarding segregation of duty for changes.

These types of situations cause conflict within an organization.

Relationships

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Just like in our personal and professional lives, the CMDB is only as good as its relationships.

The value in a CMDB is in the relationships reflected. Think of how a CMDB is consumed. It is to

1. Aid the assessment of changes,
2. Speed up the resolution of incidents
3. Help understand the health, performance, and compliance of the configuration items (CIs)
4. And, much more including service costing, service levels, and many other aspects of managing an IT environment

Like in our lives, invest in the CMDB relationships. They are key to understanding your environment.

Focusing on the “Why”

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Honing in on the “why” we are doing something is the most important aspect.

If we know the business drivers, it is much easier to identify the best solution.

Far too often, a solution is implemented poorly because it is focused on the “what” without realizing the “what” and the “how” are only acceptable when aligned with the “why”.

For example, building out an Asset Management program was easier once I knew the drivers (“why”) were a failed audit and a desire to save money.

Another example is understanding the “why” of continual improvement so we can prioritize improvement opportunities.

Bottom line: there should be a direct link between the business drivers and the desired outcomes. Those desired outcomes should be the deliverables.

Helping Others

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This Monday, remember that we each are “drinking from wells we did not dig” in our professional lives.

Consider the wells you can dig today that will help others in the future.

Someone must “dig those wells”.

I believe strongly in this concept.

Knowledge Management

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I often talk about Knowledge Management.

I do so because so few do and it has TWO key benefits:

1. Experience – The majority of the workforce prefers looking up the answer in a quality knowledge base than calling the service desk.

2. Cost Savings – Knowledge articles are cheaper to create and keep current/relevant/accurate than service desk agents.

Every organization should be INVESTING in their Knowledge Management.

If your organization needs help in this or another Service Management or Asset Management area, let me know. Service Management Leadership would love to help.

Software Asset Management

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The Flexera 2022 State of ITAM Report had several great nuggets, including:

Barely one-third feel that SAM functions at an advanced level. While SAM processes have been defined for more than a decade, only one-third (34 percent) of respondents feel their SAM processes are functioning at an advanced level, where they’re proactively optimizing the use of software licenses.

Thirty percent of organizations are at the beginner stage of maturity, where they’re just getting started with SAM and employing an ad hoc approach to discovery and audit.

Thirty-six percent are in the intermediate phase, where they’ve implemented ongoing tracking of software use and license positions, a precursor for optimization activities.
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This is unsurprising. Most organizations struggle with the Asset Management processes. If your organization needs help saving money and reducing risk, contact me today.

Service Management Leadership can help your organization save money that should be going to provide innovative outcomes.

Leadership

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Have you ever noticed the relationship between integrity and accountability.

This thought started yesterday as I was reflecting on the people who I revere as great leaders.

For leaders, you cannot have one without the other. Integrity cannot exist without accountability. Neither can accountability be present without integrity.

These two qualities bring transparency into all relationships. In today’s world of collaboration, it’s all about relationships.

In this time of employment turmoil, great leaders are needed.

Costs

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In almost everything, there is a cost of doing something that must be balanced against the cost of doing nothing.

Everything we do in Service Management and Asset Management must be weighed on this scale.

The scale helps determine the “why” we are doing it.

For example, we do Change because the cost of outages and risk of disruption is greater than the cost. The same goes for Incident, etc.

So, since you are doing something (like Change) because it’s a worthwhile endeavor, we need to do it well. Very well.

The scales get messed up when we don’t do things well. The reason for doing it becomes less obvious.