A Service Manager for Service Management

Organizing for Service Management

A couple of weeks ago I visited with a customer who was trying to figure out how to "move our operations group to the next level".  They had implemented several of the ITIL processes within their organization (e.g. Change, Config, Service Desk, and Incident) but were still struggling to show any gains in either improved service or improved efficiencies.

As we dug a little deeper into their situation, I discovered that they were a very silo'ed organization.  Although they did have someone looking at the performance metrics of their group (operations), there was no one responsible for looking at the metrics across functional silos.  Also, the ITIL processes implemented were just within the ops group.  Finally, there really wasn't a concept of "service" within the organization.  By that I mean that they didn't think in terms of attributing the work done within the organization directly to the provision and operation of services consumed by the business.

In the course of our discussion, I shared how BMC's IT department was organized when I joined BMC back in 2002.  As Director of Service Management, I reported to the CIO and was responsible for monitoring, measuring, and reporting on the quality of the services provided by IT and consumed by the business.  I was a peer with the Director of Application Development and the Director of Infrastructure and Operations and thus was able to independently measure and report across the functional silos to provide an independent, holistic view of the service being provided.

Today, I'm seeing more and more companies moving toward this organizational model.  In the absence of this cross-functional role, you inevitably wind up with a silo'ed view of service performance.   For example, this same customer shared a situation where his desktop support team was getting heat from the business for failing to provision laptops for new employees within the five day SLA.  Meanwhile, he had metrics for his team showing that it took on average only a half-day for the desktop support technician to image and deliver the laptop upon receipt.  The issue, of course, was that procurement, the external vendor, and the asset management folks required almost three weeks to order, ship, receive, and inventory the hardware.  The SLA was put in place with no supporting Operating Level Agreements (OLAs) or Underpinning Contracts (UCs).  It was done in a vacuum.  Someone responsible for measuring the service end-to-end, however, is going to look at all aspects of delivering the service prior to entering into Service Level discussions with the business.

The other problem you run into is if the role is not placed sufficiently high enough in the organization you'll wind up with the fox guarding the hen house.  I've heard more than one story from service managers reporting to the VP/Director of Operations that they've been asked to alter their reporting formulas so that the ops team always looks good.  Yes, it happens!

To avoid these types of issues, organizations need to designate a Service Manager and then give that person the responsibility and authority to look at service across the enterprise.  Ideally, they should report directly to the CIO or at a minimum, high enough in the organization to be able to affect change across the organization.

At the end of the day, I contend it's a little difficult to implement Service Management without a Service Manager.  To use the words of this customer, "it's like pushing a boulder uphill!"