Continuing in my series (finally) on what the key elements of Business Service Management are (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, please enjoy and comment on Part 4 below.
In order for Business Service Management to stick for the long haul within a company it needs to be thought of as equally important within the company as other key business or IT initiatives do. Just as Sarbanes-Oxley and other compliance mandates changed the way most companies manage IT and their business processes or how the expected benefits of a SOA will change the way IT things about how to standardize complex enterprise architectures, Business Service Management must be elevated to these same levels within the company.
Strategy – strategic – what’s this mean?
Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy] defines strategy as a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often “winning”. Strategy is differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand by its nature of being extensively premeditated, and often practically rehearsed. The key words here we want to focus in on for our Business Service Management strategy are “long term plan of action”, “extensively premeditated” and “practically rehearsed”.
What’s a Business Service Management strategy and why should I have one?
First, it clearly defines what Business Service Management is for your company in your own words – it’s not IBM’s or an analyst’s definition of what Business Service Management is.
Second, your Business Service Management strategy is your vision and value statement, your governing principles – how your company will use Business Service Management to achieve value and competitive differentiation. It should include your own defined goals and objectives such as better cost controls, higher margins, improved service, improved user experience. At a high level your Business Service Management strategy should introduce how your company will operationalize the value statement and governing principles within specific lines of business, in IT, in Operations, in Application Support, etc.
Third, your Business Service Management strategy links Business Service Management’s expected value, returns, methodologies, integration and alignment with all of the other key business and IT strategies, architectures and initiatives. All key company initiatives such as Enterprise Architecture, Service Oriented Architecture, Business Transformation, Outsourcing/Insourcing should all have direct Business Service Management alignment and value statements.
Fourth, the Business Service Management strategy creates consensus and buy in within key audiences and sponsors. It neutralizes opinions and speaks in “good for business” terms. With the right level of agreement and support, the Business Service Management strategy establishes the value the initiative has for the company and that it’s not just another pet IT or Business project vying for scarce budget dollars or resources.
When starting work on your own Business Service Management strategy, it should focus at a higher level, not a low level. You should not talk about specific vendors, products or technologies within the strategy document. Technical standards, concepts, methods and practices can be mentioned if they are ones you wish to adopt as key guiding principles for enabling your Business Service Management strategy within your company
The Business Service Management strategy should be flexible and change based on the dynamics of the business yet fixed enough to allow planning and progress to be achieved. Your Business Service Management strategy helps you begin with the end in mind and will guide development of the Business Service Management roadmap. [see Post 3]
These tenets and guiding strategic principles are the underpinnings of successful Business Service Management initiatives. While most companies go for the “quick win” and strive to recognize “quick value” from their technology investments, these tactical efforts are mostly short lived and unsustainable. By focusing on Business Service Management as a strategic component and differentiator within the company, a foundation for long term success and value is established.
Follow on post will be discussions on the fringe benefits of establishing a Business Service Management strategy for the monitoring tools group, examples of Business Service Management strategies and linking the Business Service Management strategy to the Business Service Management roadmap (with examples).