• Article
  • May.30.2017

The Valiantys perspective on ITSM: Getting what you need

  • May.30.2017
  • Reading time mins

For years now, IT organisations have been implementing ITSM (IT Service Management) using different tools to support ITIL and have struggled with adoption and flexibility. Either the solution was very expensive and rigid with its implementation or it did not have all of the necessary features that IT organisations require to provide excellent customer service. In today’s digital age, IT teams need to balance stability and innovation – without making compromises.

I have seen ITSM evolve quite dramatically: from the silo approach where service requests, incidents, problems and changes were segmented by request type to today when it’s project-based, nurturing agility, collaboration, productivity and customer satisfaction.

Just recently, I was talking with one of our customers with whom we had just completed their ITSM project with JIRA Service Desk. Overall they were extremely happy with the outcome but they did admit that they weren’t sure about how it would conclude. The first challenge was to understand the difference between what they “wanted” and what they “needed”. Often, this is the most difficult part of a transformation project such as ITSM involving IT, Development, QA, Support and Business teams.

To facilitate the discussions, we’ve conducted a number of workshops that helped the teams clarify their “needs” and prioritise their objectives. Once we’ve completed this and we had a good idea of the direction, it was time to breakdown the different pieces (Epics) to start configuring the solution. Although the customer was not completely comfortable with using an Agile methodology for initiatives, it did not take too long for him to fully appreciate the flexibility that it provided him and his teams.

I’m not claiming that it was a completely smooth ride. The good thing about JIRA Service Desk is that it has so many features and yet, the bad thing about JIRA Service Desk is that it has so many features. With this type of flexibility, it’s sometimes hard to stay focused and to concentrate on addressing the “needs” when there are so many “wants” that we can configure. That said, what we strive to do as well is to have customers become as self-sufficient as possible through our coaching and training. Since we’ve been exclusively a Partner of Atlassian for over 10 years – and that’s all that we do – we’ve become experts at developing best practices and at training our customers to be self sufficient. This customer has successfully deployed JIRA Service Desk throughout all of their teams and is now serving their internal customers with unprecedented results.

ITSM can be complex, but at the core it is not complicated – ITSM is about aligning the right people, the process and the right technology:

  • People: From the leadership team to the developers, everyone needs to understand, own and agree on the vision, the direction and the objectives of the IT organisation.
  • Process: Defining the end-to-end processes is critical, starting with identifying the key steps at the global level then moving into more detail to capture the various layers involved and the various exceptions.
  • Technology: Once the people aligned and processes defined, technology can be applied to ensure consistency to keep the processes on track.

With JIRA Service Desk, Atlassian has created a single ITSM solution which includes Service Requests, Incident Management, Problem Management, and Change Management while keeping the lines of communication open. JIRA Service Desk streamlines people, process and technology perfectly.

It can be intimidating starting the ITSM journey with your teams, but rest assured that Valiantys can help you overcome cultural and technological challenges. You’ll get the most experienced and knowledgeable experts in the field and we pride ourselves on being an international leader in delivering and supporting the Atlassian tools in Europe and North America.

If you’re ready to get what you need in order to implement your ITSM project, get in touch by clicking on the button below!


 

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