ITIL Malcolm Top Ten

Top Ten Reasons Organizations are Unsuccessful Implementing ITILTop Ten Reasons Organizations are Unsuccessful Implementing ITIL by Malcolm Fry Recognized industry luminary Malcolm Fry outlines the reasons organizations fail to effectively implement ITIL, and discusses why a philosophy of continuous improvement is paramount to success. 1 .................................................. He serves as an independent executive advisor to BMC Software..... and is regularly contacted as a source of information by technology journalists...........................................1 Top Ten Reasons for Implementation Failure ...............................5 High-Level ITIL Benefits ................................................7 Time To Reap the Rewards....................................................... has had many other articles and papers published........................................................ best-selling video series made for the Help Desk Institute..........3 The Impact of IT Failures ........8 About the Author Malcolm Fry is a recognized IT industry luminary with over 35 years experience in Information Technology........5 The Need for Continuous Improvement ......................................................... He is an original contributor to ITIL and has Masters level ITIL certification........1 Unsuccessful Implementing ITIL......6 What ITIL Is Not... ® ITIL is a registered trademark of OGC ... Malcolm is the author of four best-selling books on IT service and support...... he is the solo performer in a highly successful..............Top Ten Reasons Organizations are Unsuccessful Implementing ITIL Table of Contents Top Ten Reasons Organizations are ........................... In addition............the Office of Government Commerce 2 ................... The Information Infrastructure Technology Library (ITIL®) is the de facto industry standard framework for providing guidance specific to IT service delivery and support processes. but these wins will be few and far between. yet many organizations are unsuccessful in implementing ITIL. the need for reliable. You can achieve isolated wins with ITIL without management commitment.Lack of management commitment – No project can succeed without management commitment and drive. IT needs well-defined processes to ensure that IT operations are maintained at optimal levels.Top Ten Reasons Organizations are Unsuccessful Implementing ITIL IT Service Management has become both more sophisticated and more critical to the business. organizations fail to establish written work instructions because they spend too much time on creating complex process maps. ITIL can help IT organizations improve Service Management processes. 3 .Not creating work instructions – Too often. This is not necessary for most of the processes. those in management must show their commitment to ITIL by their presence and involvement. Why is this? I’ve worked with numerous organizations through the years. you should create simple process maps for some of the ITIL processes.Spending too much time on complicated process diagrams – When you start to approach ITIL. 3 . and even impact a company’s stock valuation. Many of the processes. The ITIL books are comprehensive and clear. well-managed services continues to increase. and have concluded that many factors contribute to failure in implementing ITIL successfully. We are now in an era in which an IT failure or error can interrupt critical business processes. affect the bottom line. and change categories. and wastes valuable time and resources. These work instructions must be written. As organizations become more reliant on technology. severely damage a corporation’s image. there is a great temptation to produce complex and detailed process maps. Work instructions include escalation rules. are performed hundreds of times every day and do not need rigid process maps. such as Incident Management. as well as enable them to deliver benefits that matter most to both the IT organization and the business. With this increased demand on IT performance. and continually reviewed. However. priority definitions. Commitment itself is not enough. Top Ten Reasons for Implementation Failure Below I’ve listed my top ten list of reasons that organizations fail in their attempts to implement ITIL: 1. 2. published. the “power of one. 6 . The process owner should concentrate on the structure and flow of the process. 4 . to maintain the momentum from those early achievements. but few can report how often they escalate incidents to the wrong person. staff unrest. you must implement all of the ITIL processes. This often causes conflict among departments. causing confusion. many other best practices and frameworks exist to facilitate Service Management. can also affect ITIL.Concentrating too much on performance – Most IT monitoring activities concentrate on performance. which can delay ITIL implementation. if you fail to complete the whole course of the prescription. and poor integration between the processes. Corporate control requirements. that is. Remember. Even worse. Many organizations attempt to implement too many processes at once. Think of it like a taking a course of antibiotics when you are ill--after a few doses. especially in organizations where department boundaries are rigid and ownership is important. while ignoring quality and processes. is often silo-based and not process-oriented. All departments need to understand that ITIL is a joint venture and success comes from all working together. such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel II. These other components are often ignored. 5 . Organizations need to spend more time on improving quality as part of implementing ITIL. then you are not maximizing ITIL’s potential. For example. 9 .Being too ambitious – ITIL consists of ten Service Management processes.Ignoring solutions other than ITIL – Although ITIL is regarded as the industry “best practice” for IT Service Management.Not assigning process owners – IT. such as Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT). Six Sigma.Allowing departmental demarcation – Some of the processes cross more than one department. if you don’t focus on these components. 8 . But.Failing to maintain momentum – It’s a huge effort to implement all ten ITIL processes and maintain the momentum. A complete and successful implementation of ITIL takes most organizations between three and five years –a long time to maintain momentum.Top Ten Reasons Organizations are Unsuccessful Implementing ITIL 4 . A process owner should be assigned to each of the ITIL processes that cross functional silos. and CMMi. you feel better. Quite simply.” and not from ownership of a process. like most other departments. the process owner’s job is to carefully monitor and manage the assigned process so that it can be continually improved. 7 . without having to focus on staffing and other departmental issues. you will soon be back to square one—feeling ill again. most Service Desks can report how quickly they escalate incidents. especially if the biggest gains come early in the ITIL implementation. suggesting that this type of change had been performed many times before. 2004 (www. This failure was obviously caused by the testing of a future change. this looks like a failed change. Surely.com) Again.m. 5 . a routine update shouldn’t fail. To maintain your IT Service Management at the highest level. you have to continuously practice and train. first when the National Air Traffic System failed to operate in the UK: “NATS’ Flight Data Processing System failed at around 0600 BST for an hour.globeandmail.Not reviewing the entire ITIL framework – Although there are ten basic ITIL processes. The Impact of IT Failures I’ve just outlined the reasons that organizations fail in implementing ITIL. 2004. The Need for Continuous Improvement Ensuring successful IT Service Management is like becoming a martial arts expert. review the Security Management and the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Infrastructure Management books. the lack of attention to the “routine” can cause the worst problems. should it? Sometimes. The bank’s national system failed to register withdrawals. 2004( www. No IT Service can rely on previous successes. June 4. yet it still had an enormous effect. but let’s take a step back to understand why we need the welldefined processes as defined by ITIL. It appears that poor change management was the cause of this failure. Two examples show the impact of two critical IT failures in the same week.com) As a result of this failure.” Friday.bbc. but is described by the bank as a routine programming update. on June 3. look at the entire ITIL framework when putting ITIL best practices in place. because ITIL success is dependent upon other IT processes. you must practice continuous improvement. because it was a full working week before IT was fully restored. for the IT failure at the Royal Bank of Canada in the same week: RBC’s computer woes began on Monday.” Extract from a BBC (UK) report dated June 3. May 31 with what it described as a routine programming update to one of its computer systems. In particular. so it is important for IT Service Management to embark upon a continuous improvement cycle. The impact to RBC was huge.Top Ten Reasons Organizations are Unsuccessful Implementing ITIL 10 . because laziness breeds failure and incompetence. To maintain your martial arts level status. virtually all flights from commercial airports were grounded for at least an hour beginning at 6 a. Can you imagine the chaos? Not to mention the cost and image damage. or you will breed failure and incompetence. deposits. Note that the change was only being tested. after overnight testing of an upgrade. Now. and payments against customer balances. Both the ITIL Service Delivery and Service Support books include a list of ten benefits that you should achieve as a result of following ITIL Service Management processes. Page 17. accuracy. speed and availability.more reliable business support More focused IT Service Continuity procedures. but also in its philosophy of continuous improvement. In addition to simplifying communication with IT. for the required level of service Improved cycle time for changes and greater success rate. ITIL has a standard set of terminology that allows IT to communicate more easily with customers. improved job satisfaction through better understanding of capability and better management of expectations Enhanced customer satisfaction as service providers know and deliver what is expected of them Increased flexibility and adaptability that is likely to exist within the services System-led benefits.1 High-Level ITIL Benefits This is quite an impressive list of benefits. If you are not currently achieving these benefits. Here are some additional high-level ITIL benefits that are not mentioned in the ITIL publications: Common terminology.g. as required. To gain the full benefits of implementing ITIL. The philosophy of continuous improvement is reflected in the following list: • • • • • • • • • • Improved quality of service . improvements in security. improves reporting. Best Practice for Service Support. IT staff and IT management must meet this challenge of continuous improvement. Published for Office of Government Commerce under license from the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office ©Crown Copyright 2001. and reduces confusion. ITIL. more confidence in the ability to follow them when required Clearer view of current IT capability Better information on current services (and possibly on where Changes would bring most benefits) Greater flexibility for the business through improved understanding of IT support More motivated staff.Top Ten Reasons Organizations are Unsuccessful Implementing ITIL The power of ITIL lies in not only in its well-defined processes. standard terminology also improves training. but are using different lexicons to describe their actions.Apart from standard processes. e. The Key to managing IT services. then quite possibly you are suffering the losses and impacts of not implementing ITIL best practices. This is especially useful to large. multi-site organizations in which all sites perform the same IT Service Management functions. 1 6 . along with the ability to implement and manage ITIL in the workplace. Reaching the standard required for ratification is a great vision for the improvement of IT Service Management. is allied to ISO9002. Staff certification – ITIL has independent staff certification comprised of two main levels of certification: foundation and managers. In most organizations. ITIL does not provide work instructions. it is a flexible framework that you can tailor to meet your specific needs. Rather. it does provide a solid foundation. or a manager may not have performed some of the processes. though. For example. A by-product of ITIL certification is that you can gauge the quality of your training by the percentage of your staff that passes the exams. There may be too many processes for management to understand them all. If you are certified at the foundation level. Think about it like this: memorizing the rules to baseball does not mean that you can play the game. not only must you follow the rules. even if you do not wish to become ratified. ITIL provides the foundation and information that you need to build and improve your processes. while ITIL is not the complete answer to everything. and is awaiting ISO ratification. 7 . It may be useful to look at what ITIL is not: • • • ITIL is not a methodology for implementing IT Service Management processes. International standards – ITIL has a BS15000 British Standard. but it doesn’t tell you how to escalate the incident. for a variety of reasons. the processes may have changed. or who you should escalate the incident to. One of the benefits of an ITIL shop is that senior management can use the ITIL books as a guide to help them ensure that Service Management processes are being performed according to best practices. To play baseball well. To pass managers-level certification. only you can determine this. you show a general understanding of the ITIL processes and terminology. you need a comprehensive knowledge of ITIL. It is refreshing to discover that. to draw a line between looking for tangible benefits and merely tinkering with technology. but you must also learn to utilize your strengths and abilities. there is still much good work to be done. ITIL does not contain detailed process maps. Also.Top Ten Reasons Organizations are Unsuccessful Implementing ITIL Narrower gap between management and practitioners—Senior management often does not understand many of the processes under their control. It’s important to note that ITIL certification examinations are set and marked by independent examining boards that cannot teach or profit from ITIL certification. Be careful. What ITIL Is Not Your organization can realize many important benefits by implementing ITIL best practices. the ITIL Incident Management process tells you at what point you must escalate the incident. and to the success of your overall business. you can successfully implement ITIL best practices only by understanding your IT strengths and abilities. aren’t you ready to see what it can do for you? Let this industry framework guide you as you implement IT Service Management best practices in your IT organization—and begin to reap the rewards that ITIL can bring—to IT. and the benefits it can bring to your business. memorizing the ITIL books does not mean that you can effectively implement the ITIL processes. Time To Reap the Rewards Knowing what you know about ITIL. to users. 8 .Top Ten Reasons Organizations are Unsuccessful Implementing ITIL Similarly.