ITSM problem management: What are your pain points?

• 
  Emily McLaughlin

  Content Development Strategist
• Published: 06 Jun 2014

Early in SearchCIO's ITSM-themed #CIOChat, it became clear that the evolution of technology isn't necessarily the...

biggest pain point in ITSM problem management, but rather how new technologies are leveraged and how ITSM processes change in tandem.

According to our tweet jammers, while mobile and cloud computing may be forcing ITSM to evolve, the major drivers for change in service management should be business-user expectations and risk.

SearchCIO asked our followers: "What are the biggest pain points for those crafting strategies around ITSM?" 

Our tweet jam expert for the month, Jerry Luftman, founder and managing director at the Global Institute for IT Management, listed several potential sources of stress that CIOs may encourage as they establish an IT service management (ITSM) strategy:

@searchCIO Business role, demonstrating value, changing requirements, IT governance, skills gap #CIOChat

— Jerry Luftman (@JerryLuftman) May 28, 2014

Other participants weighed in from there, insisting that people are what make ITSM efforts a success:

@tcrawford Too often people are left out and processes are the answer, hardly ever works #ITSM #CIOchat

— Brian Katz (@bmkatz) May 28, 2014

@tcrawford Always the case. The strongest misconception of #ITSM (and esp. #ITIL) has been that you need to do it all. Says who!? #CIOChat

— Andi Mann (@AndiMann) May 28, 2014

Tweet jammers might not view emerging technology as the key driver for change in traditional ITSM processes, but there's little doubt IT innovations are changing service management as we know it. "We are living in a time that is anything but predictable," wrote business strategist Harvey Koeppel in a recent SearchCIO column on new approaches to ITSM. "In this environment, 'traditional' has a place only in museums, not in forward-looking IT departments."

Regular SearchCIO tweet jam participant Andi Mann chimed in, suggesting that new approaches to IT -- those tied to new technologies such as cloud, mobile everything, real-time analytics, big data and software as a service -- can be sources of trouble. Others agreed:

@AndiMann absolutely, and not just the technology. Concept of ITSM seems dated and process heavy #CIOChat

— Mark Griffin (@grifmon) May 28, 2014

@grifmon Yes, I agree. The heavy 'control' processes especially need to give way to more lightweight 'assist' processes. #CIOchat

— Andi Mann (@AndiMann) May 28, 2014

@AndiMann Agreed, not anti process just the ones that evolve into the process being more center stage than the product #CIOChat

— Mark Griffin (@grifmon) May 28, 2014

@grifmon This is just right. Process is not bad *per se* - it must simply serve the business, not restrict it. #CIOChat

— Andi Mann (@AndiMann) May 28, 2014

And what if an organization chooses to avoid IT service management altogether? SearchCIO Executive Editor Linda Tucci asked Andi Mann and Mark Griffin for their take:

@LTucci @grifmon I think so, but mostly outweighed by pros. It is not about not having *any* ITSM; but applying it judiciously. #CIOChat

— Andi Mann (@AndiMann) May 28, 2014

@LTucci @AndiMann I think light weight process/governance combined with talented people overcome that, heavy wt. processes hide the flaws.

— Mark Griffin (@grifmon) May 28, 2014

We'll leave you with some words of encouragement from tweet jammer David Chou, CIO at the University of Mississippi Medical Center:

A3 #ITSM is a methodology and one size does not fit all. Keep it simple and it will work #ciochat

— David Chou (@dchou1107) May 28, 2014

To learn about our next #CIOChat, scheduled for June 25, 2014, please follow @SearchCIO on Twitter.