Douglas Duncan, CIO, Columbia Insurance Group
First, one might argue that while the IT shops themselves are all different, the processes or frameworks they use are more uniform. ITIL does a great job in bringing uniformity and definition to the practice of IT service management. It provides a simple and clear approach to providing service management. And therein may lie the problem. It tries to make simple something that is inherently complex, perhaps even chaotic. ITIL helps us structure and understand how to provide service, but it can fall short on specific issues that break the standard mold.
Second, perhaps all IT shops are not so different. After all, we are really talking about 1) computer systems, which have the same core components, 2) software programs, which follow the same Boolean logic, and 3) business data, very similar across a vast variety of organizations. Why not provide service at that level?
Ultimately, it is because our customers do not operate at that level. They work at the level of processes inputs, outputs, decisions, and interactions. This brings back the complexity - every business’s process is different.
Is there a way forward? Are we doomed to IT Service Management never being good enough, a point of customer pain and IT angst?
The fundamental problem is that we are trying to match the complexity of our systems against the complexity of our business processes. This many-to-many approach will always leave loose ends.
The alternative is to simplify one side of the equation. Assuming for the moment we cannot control the business side, then that leaves the system side. The answer lies in the Cloud; or more specifically, in the inherent nature of virtualization.
Through virtualization of hardware, software, and services we can drastically simplify how we interact with our systems. We are not really simplifying the core functions, but we are removing the complexity needed to interact with those functions. Well-designed cloud implementations will allow significantly simpler and maintainable IT software and hardware services.
The Cloud is sold as the answer to many problems, often inaccurately, but for IT Service Management it will bring the virtual simplification we need.
