Many IT organisations seeking to improve their performance as an IT Service Provider turn to ITIL for guidance. The majo
Implementing ITIL successfully– 5 pitfalls to avoid Introduction Well designed and well managed ITIL based service improvement initiatives will deliver significant benefits in any organisation. But, the unfortunate truth is that in the majority of cases, ITIL based initiatives deliver very little benefit. Many IT organisations seeking to improve their performance as an IT Service Provider turn to ITIL for guidance. The majority of these organisation do not attain the expected benefits or (even worse!) they find that their performance and reputation with the business have moved in the wrong direction. A common reaction is then to blame ITIL… but the real reasons are usually far more fundamental. These reasons are generally linked to the way these organisations have implemented ITIL, and the fact that they may have fallen foul of one or more of the common pitfalls associated with an ITIL based initiative. Here we provide you with guidance on 5 of the most common (and most damaging) pitfalls that should be avoided when undertaking an ITIL based initiative. This is not a comprehensive listing and it does not detail all of the pitfalls you are likely to encounter, but these are the most commonly observed.
Charles Fraser – Partner Consultant (ITIL, ISO20000)
Implementing ITIL Successfully
Pitfall 1 Insufficient attention to organisational change and / or no consideration of the “people” elements The need to formally manage organisational change is frequently overlooked, yet change is a fundamental element for success. During any transformation effort (and this is what an IITL initiative should be!), 80% of the work involves persuading people to change the way they do their jobs, and making the new practices stick. This is widely recognised as the most difficult part of an ITIL project, and deserves the most attention, effort and measurement. Yet this is often the part of the project that is completely overlooked. In addition, an ITIL (and ITSM) effort requires coordinating the dimensions of people (human factors), process, technology and business management.
Neglecting to
identify and manage the requirements for any given area to attain the stated objectives can put the ITIL project at risk. For example, a common mistake is to place too much emphasis on the tool sets, and to give very little consideration to the people elements.
Recommendations The project and management in general must incorporate organisational change as part of
“A common mistake is to
their initial and on-going planning of change.
place too much emphasis on
There must be metrics that capture the degree
tool sets, and to give very
to which individuals and tams implement the
little consideration to the
new methods.
“people” elements”.
Project governance needs to
take action quickly if an individuals’ natural reluctance to change ascends in to concerted team resistance. As part of the ITSM program planning, ensure that the people factors are taken fully in to account.
Communicate with staff regularly to ensure that they are kept fully
aware of what is happening, why it is happening and give them the opportunity to provide their input in to the proposed changes. To help with this, create and maintain a stakeholder map that articulates the desired involvement and activity of each stakeholder group.
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Implementing ITIL Successfully
Pitfall 2 Implementing ITIL with poor linkage to business priorities The goal of a business is to create value, and so the purpose of IT is to provide services and functionality to support the business’ objectives. Therefore, any ITIL project must directly link to strategic business priorities and deliver improvements that provide real tangible benefits to the business. IT Management teams that decide to “implement” ITIL without fully understanding the benefits or links to the business objectives, risk irrelevance from the start. ITIL is a source of advice and guidance for how best to run IT. But, ITIL is not, and never was intended to be prescriptive. ITIL cannot be implemented as if it were an International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standard. Rigidly deploying any best practice, including ITIL, is an exercise in futility.
Recommendations: Ensure that the reason for initiating your ITIL project are relevant to the goals and objectives of the organisation. Management must define and communicate a vision for Service Management that establishes why it matters in terms of creating and protecting value relative to the organisational goals. The focus should be on service improvement overall, and not just to “implement ITIL” or any other industry best practice.
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Implementing ITIL Successfully
Pitfall 3 Insufficient Governance, Measurement and Planning ITIL initiatives must lead to improvement. If the intended improvements are not clearly identified and stated upfront, then IT management risks having the efforts labelled as irrelevant. Transformation programs need governance or a clear management layer where objectives are set, progress is monitored and corrective actions identified. This requires introducing metrics that show that the project's goals, not only tasks, are being achieved. The project office may be mainly concerned that the Gantt chart shows the tasks are being completed, while the sponsor and governance teams are concerned with achieving the goals (i.e. ensuring that the planned improvements will be achieved). In the early days of an ITIL improvement initiative, the impact may not be evident; therefore, the metrics considered by the governance body will evolve as the transformation project moves forward. It is a governance responsibility to decide the appropriate indicators for the current phase of the project. The team responsible for project governance should include the sponsor. The team should meet regularly and actively consider the values of the project metrics and whether they are still the most appropriate metrics.
Recommendations: Clear goals, in terms of measurable improvements, must be defined for any planned IITL initiative. Over the life of the project there should be an on-going evaluation to check that the stated goals are being (or will be) achieved. If necessary, the goals themselves, or at least how the achievement of these goals will be measured should be modified according to changes in circumstances.
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Implementing ITIL Successfully
Pitfall 4 Focus on Tools The selection, acquisition and implementation of service management tools is a major undertaking with significant risks. But the danger is that ITIL Service improvement initiatives can easily become tool implementation projects and the team can lose sight of the original business goals. It should be clearly recognised that simply changing / upgrading one service management tool for another (no matter what additional functionality might be available) will in reality achieve very little. Many organisations fall into the 'trap' of blaming the current toolset for their inability to improve (citing lack of functionality (etc.) as the reason they cannot change their working practices. This is generally nonsense. The real causes of their inability to change and improve almost always lies in the “people or process” elements.
It should be clearly recognised that simply changing or upgrading one ITSM tool for another (no matter what additional functionality might be available) will, in reality achieve very little.
The toolset is rarely the real cause of the issue, and as such, simply replacing the toolset (without key changes to culture, working practices, underlying processes etc.) will have little or no real benefit.
Recommendations: Resist the pressures to invest in tools until the maturity of the people (human factors), processes and business management of operations has been dealt with. If tool investments are unavoidable, ensure that these are always accompanied by required changes to working practices, processes etc. Avoid at all costs simply changing one toolset for another.
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Implementing ITIL Successfully
Pitfall 5 Use Consultants…but use them carefully! Experienced ITIL and ITSM consultants may be used to enhance both the quality and speed of delivery of service improvement projects. The great value in using an experienced consultant to assist you is that they can help ensure that many of the pitfalls typically associated with ITIL initiatives will be avoided, they will also be able to guide your thinking on what is actually achievable, what the priorities might be etc. But it is essential that you use consultants to supplement and not replace your own staff. Ensure that your own staff are heavily involved in owning and undertaking much of the remedial activities (e.g. developing processes). Only by being actively involved in this way can your own staff eventually take 'ownership' of the revised processes, working practices etc.
Recommendations: Use consultants as long as they bring specific skills and intellectual property to your project. Be clear about the benefits that any consultant will be expected to bring and manage them to deliver those benefits. Do not use consultants to replace, or work in isolation from your own staff.
The methods and techniques described in this paper are based on the service offerings for ITSM, ITIL and ISO20000 available from CIH Solutions. For more information please contact Tanya Marshall at
[email protected]. Also visit www.cihs.co.uk
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