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IT Transformation and ITIL- Which Comes First- Process or Automation?

JillLander posted on August 22, 2009 10:35

It seems an obvious answer doesn't it? The whole idea behind ITIL is best practices in PROCESS improvement- right? But how many times do we see ourselves and our peers looking for a short cut to solutions through technology that automates. As an ITIL consulting firm, over and over we see clients that pay lip service to ITIL process transformation but are often looking for technology alone to solve the problem. IT otpimization and transformation, it seems, at its core, is simply analysis of tasks and workflows that are repititious and can be streamlined and automated (through technology). And yet how can you possibly identify those that are good candidates for automation with analysis of process? And once processes that are good candidates for automation are indeed, changed, that leads to new, improved processes. Right? Please write and give us your opinion on this topic- which comes first, the process chicken or the automation egg? Jill Lander Evergreen Systems

Posted in: Business Value of IT , ITIL Implementation Tags: it, itil, it process improvement, it automation, it service management, itsm

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Comments

andrea frazer

August 29. 2009 05:08

I am a writer, not an ITIL person. But my husband is looking into a certification. Would love to find someone who has done the certification program to see if it was worth it. Don't know if that's you or if you're just looking for feedback on if it's worth it or not - in which case, we are in the same boat! Anyway, good luck to you. Let me know if you can answer any questions on the ITIL deal. You can find me at the email above. Many thanks - Andrea

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valdez ladd

December 29. 2009 12:13

Manual processes rarely are done in a timely and consistent manner that produces business value unless its is a critical one such as counting receipts payable/ receivables.

So any manual IT process that is not automated will die on the vine, get false data (you are auditing) your processes ?) or be ignored by the process owners and management.

Automation is key to maintain any IT / ITIL process after it is birthed to reduce costs, provide timely information and leave an auditable log.

Please read searchcio.com article URL below for more information:
ITIL best practices and lessons for the new year by By Karen Guglielmo

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Dave Simmons

January 12. 2010 07:25

I have been in this business since 1971. There has always been a marker that "to automate a bad process is to perform a bad process faster." Typically, those of us in a process improvement business recommends mapping current processes first and then implementing (a whole discipline in itself) improvements and provide automation for the new methods. At times, a technical product can help define the direction and magnitude of the improvements.

ITIL provides a framework but sometimes a confused one. One must really understand and have experience with the processes and how they fit and integrate - Develop Service, Event, Problem, Change, Release, Configuration, Capacity, etc. ITIL doesn't really address development of new services well (using SDLC and PMBOK) but does address well how current services are delivered and measured by defining processes that have been around for at least 25 years. There is more ambiguity in processes like Availability Management – where, when and with what tools should an organization anticipate problems with technology before the user is affected. Typically, this is a technology monitoring process but not very clearly defined in ITIL.

There is much ambiguity in the development of new services – a new application, implementation of a new operating system or upgrade of network capability. Both systems development life cycle (SDLC) and project management (PMI’s PMBOK) processes fit together to develop a new service. Which new services should be developed is normally defined through an IT Governance process. The aforementioned are not really well defined or discussed in ITIL as well as the service delivery processes.

Bottom line, ITIL will help, but there is more in depth understanding needed of how the basic IT processes fit and integrate with ITIL and each other. On top of that, an understanding of organizational development and organizational change management is needed to implement changes in the processes.

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