Is Anyone Out There?!
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For the past two months now I've been trying to find a builder to bid on the construction of my house. It's been a rather "interesting" experience. Apparently business is good in the construction industry because I've had a rather difficult time getting them to return phone calls or honor their commitments. Just this morning, I received an email from a designer who told me that he stays busy all the time and that I should just get in the queue. This was after waiting for about six weeks from my initial inquiry. One builder told me on April 10th that it would take three weeks to produce a bid. Seven weeks later, I still haven't received the bid. This behavior boggles my mind.
Unfortunately, I see it in the IT field as well. Far too often, business customers and end-users feel as if their IT departments are missing in action (or moonlighting in the construction industry)! Requests for service are either ignored or take longer than expected to be addressed. Communication during and about service outages are either too infrequent and cryptic or completely non-existent. For their part, IT departments may actually be working on trying to help, but no one outside of IT ever knows about.
To address this issue, IT departments need to have an effective Service Desk function and a supporting Incident Management process. Together, these two combine to ensure that user requests and issues are addressed in a timely manner in accordance with business priorities and agreed-to service levels. For many IT departments, this combination represents a great starting point for their IT Service Management (ITSM) initiatives. An effective Service Desk will provide immediate benefit to the user community and allow IT to achieve a "quick win" with the business. The business needs to know that someone is there to respond to its needs. The Service Desk fulfills that objective. Specifically, a Service Desk can provide the following benefits:
- Improved Customer service, perception, and satisfaction
- Increased accessibility through a single point of contact, communication and information
- Better quality and speedier turnaround of customer requests
- Reduced negative business impact in the event of service outages/degradations
While this may seem obvious to some, I still run into quite a few people who want to begin their ITSM efforts with a CMDB implementation. Although this may make sense in a particular situation, in general, it is not the best place to begin. Among other reasons, it will not be immediately visible to the business and thus will not help you garner the support you need from the business to keep the program moving forward.
At the end of the day, the business wants to be assured that IT is there, ready to meet its ever-changing requirements and priorities. A timely response and resolution goes a long way to providing that assurance.
Now, if only builders and designers had Service Desks!!
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You related that an effective service desk function, coupled with a supporting incident management process could work to mitigate the end-users feelings that the IT department has abandoned them.
I submit that if end-users actually feel that way, it will take more than additional processes and tools to win them back. In a June 2004 article in CIO magazine, Jerry Gregoire (former CIO of Dell and Pepsi Co.) related that laziness and lowered expectations [on the part of business leaders] are killing the IT department. He outlines the shift that has occurred in business today that has caused the IT department to loose value in the eyes of business leaders. (Gregoire, 2004)
In his 2004 Harvard Business Review article "IT Doesn't Matter" Nick Carr paints a provocative picture of how the commoditization Information Technology has caused the IT industry to go the way of the telephone and electricity. IT is clearly important to competitive advantage, however, just like electricity - everyone can have it. (Carr, 2003)
Many of today’s business leaders have subscribed to that school of thought and are singing the chorus to “Do more with less”. Organizations that look at the IT department as a cost center (like electricity) rather than an organizational value-add and a key enabler of competitive advantage will not make the emotional and financial investments required to ensure that they can in fact “Do more with less”.
In-short, I believe that end-users discontent with their IT departments’ performance is indicative of a deeper systemic issue: IT-business alignment.
I believe you are correct when you articulated the process and tools that can improve end-user satisfaction. They just need to be underpinned with strong strategic alignment within the organization to achieve the desired results.
Ref:
Carr, N. G. (2003). IT Doesn't Matter. Harvard Business Review, 81(5), 41-49.
Gregoire, J. (2004, June 1 2004). The Vanishing IT Department; Whats killing many IT Department is not talent shortages or offshore outsourcing. As one longtime CIO argues, it's laziness and lowered expectations. CIO, 17, 1.