ITSM Tools – Making the right choice the first time

Sharon Taylor – President Aspect Group IncChief Architect - ITIL

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Your Speaker Today . . .

Sharon Taylor

President, Aspect Group, Inc. since 1999

CIO for 14 years

CEO for 10 years

Author, thought leader

Dedicated to the ITSM industry

Chief Architect ITIL V3

Chief Examiner ITIL V3

Chair, itSMF International

ISM, Fellow

Strategic Advisor, ICSM

www.aspect360.net

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Agenda

Common aches and pains

Filtering out the noise

Assessing requirements

Tools as your strategic partner

Decision factors

Advice

Common aches and pains

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Aches and pains

Too late to say goodbye? Reluctance to write off old investment Failure to realize that this can cost more in

the long run Heavy customization and configuration Innovation past its time

Grandma’s quilt Comforting but full of holes Patchwork of solutions stitched together Array of tools that don’t work together as

needs mature

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Aches and pains

Analysis paralysis Too much to choose from Unclear on how to filter the noise

from the music Stalled requirements building Keeping up with the Jones’

Tools:Detectors Reveal Invisible

Particles and Forces

Spark Chamber

Detector Detail

Ionization Detector

Geiger Counter Cloud Chamber

Before the tools...

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Place the horse before the cart

Get processes, adoption, workflow in place first, THEN think about tool requirements…

Define outcomes that you need from tools that relate to these Talk to the business and listen to their view of what QoS means Be realistic about what you can automate with tools Plan beyond the horizon Think of what is possible from 3 perspectives

» Strategic» Tactical» Operational

Use your maturity path as a guide» Incident, Change, Config, etc.

Go back to the service lifecycle

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Innovative thinking first

Look beyond the obvious things to push your

idea of need to the next level

Tools as strategic partners» Analytical, trending, patterns of service use, capacity and demand

intelligence» Portfolio management, portfolio and investment management» Self help for customers and IT staff» Cost and risk avoidance» Return on investment

Risk and reward» Vendor relationships» Tool delivery models: SaaS, provider-hosted, trial subscription,

procurement partnering Post-sales needs for implementation, training, support Rate of organizational change Migration and integration needs Architectural constraints or opportunities

Defining needs

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Establishing Requirements

Defining Mandatory and Desirable functionality» A Mandatory requirement should be a tool function or capability that a

process activity cannot be executed efficiently without OR which provides a significant benefit or cost saving

―Example: automatic population of customer data in a record

» A Desirable requirement should be a tool function or capability that provides an automation benefit but would not exclude a tool from consideration if absent

―Example: a graphical representation vs. a sorted data view

Mapping process use to tool requirements» Walk through the way each process works and document the flow, listing

tool functions that can automate or support it (building a workflow map will help)

» Determine which are Mandatory and which are Desirable

» List the points of integration to other processes, hand-offs and triggers that require additional functions

» Check that each service lifecycle stage is covered and linked

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Establishing Requirements

» Consider both Performance (easy? Fast?) and Functionality (How?) requirements

―Accessibility―Security & audit trail―User defined or system

generated―Execution flow eg.; Detecting,

logging, filtering, transferring, escalating, tracking, monitoring, closing, etc.

―Reporting―Archiving

Building the requirements list» Classify requirements by priority of need weighting them accordingly

during an evaluation

» Organize by process area and lifecycle to check that you cover all areas

» Categorize requirements to organize your needs intuitively

Common pitfalls

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Avoid the tricks and traps

✗Complex and comprehensive are synonymous

an educated balance between best-fit or overkill

✗ You have unique requirements

core requirements are all similar

✗Ram and refine for quick wins

Never try to correct a non-technical problem with a tool

✗Upgrading is cheaper than replacing

Hidden upgrade costs will surprise you

✓

✓

✓

✓

Dollars and sense

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Determining ROI

Number of usersNumber of PCsNumber of IT StaffNumber of s/w licensesCost per IncidentIT BudgetFirst-time fix rateCost per incidentCost per changeCost per problemService DowntimeUser TCOService Desk costRequest Fulfillment timesRequest Fulfillment costs

Cost savings reductions in operational costs through improved automation

Future state operational

costs

Project costs

Current Operational

costs

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Tips

1. Don’t rush in no matter how pressured

2. Make the vendor choice as critical for best-fit as the tool is

3. Avoid short-sighted vision about needs

4. Talk to experts, customers, vendors

5. Choose technology that fits you – not solutions that you have to fit into

6. Question the obvious and look for the not-so-obvious automation opportunities

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Additional Resources

Axios Systems Details:www.axiossystems.comassyst@axiossystems.comhttp://twitter.com/axios_systems

ITSM Tooling Resources:Sharon Taylor Webcast Recording:

http://www.axiossystems.com/en/resources/detail.php?webcast=44 Sharon Taylor White Paper:

Coming Soon!Axios ITSM ROI calculator: Submit your request for the ITSM ROI calculator here:

http://www.axiossystems.com/en/contact/contact.php Alternatively, you can email assyst@axiossystems.com with your request.

Axios Systems provides numerous other ITSM-related

resources on our website, including:▪ White Papers: http://www.axiossystems.com/en/resources/itil-white-papers.php ▪ On-Demand Webcasts: http://www.axiossystems.com/en/resources/itil-

webcast-on-demand.php▪ Solution Datasheets: http://www.axiossystems.com/en/resources/itil-

datasheets.php ▪ Case Studies: http://www.axiossystems.com/en/resources/itil-case-studies.php

Thanks to our partner for co-sponsoring webcast:

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Over 21 years of focused and organic growth to become a global leader in IT Service Management delivering a best in class solution

Axios assyst and ITIL® ‘grew up in the same neighbourhood’ – assyst technology has been designed from inception and built from the ground up around the ITIL framework

Development of assyst is very customer focused

The assyst core product supports, automates, and integrates all ITIL v2 &v3® processes – in single application

Main areas of differentiation – Service Catalog, Service Design, Workflow Engine, Workflow & Process Design and Self Service – All driven by very easy to use GUI drag & drop tools

Additional Areas of differentiation – Ease of Use, Ease of Admin and Seamless upgrades

The Axios Commitment to ITSM Innovation…