Government agencies consider IT service management as a priority, but staff often lack the skills to implement and manage IT projects, a recenty study by Telstra has shown.
About 110 Australian companies and government agencies were interviewed for the Telstra commissioned study, conducted by research firm Longhaus.
The study, IT Service Management in Australia: Improving organisational outcomes through enhanced service provider integration, found almost three quarters of those interviewed, saw IT service management (ITSM) as a priority.
However, the biggest barrier to effective IT service management was an organisation’s IT employees.
The Telstra study also found that there was a lack of standard ITSM protocols to allow organisations and their suppliers to integrate their respective service management processes. Other barriers to effective ITSM was the lack of skills and knowledge among employees, with 54 per cent of survey respondents identifying that as an issue; staff resistance to change (46 per cent) and implementation budget (42 per cent).
About sixty per cent of organisations use or implement industry recognised ITSM approaches and despite the strong internal adoption of ITSM practices only 41 per cent have made headway on integrating internal ITSM practices with those of external providers.
Telstra enterprise and government executive director, John Paitaridis, said without agreed industry standards there were simple ways for ITSM integration with external service providers to be successful.
“For the ITSM recipe to be successful, three ingredients are needed,” he said.
“Organisations need to match their investment with their strategic objectives, choose service providers with proven track records that add measurable value to businesses in their industry.”
They also need to define roles, responsibilities, deliverables and performance targets for both their own resources as well as the provider, Mr Paitaridis said.
ITSM benefits organisations and their customers, most organisations do not have the right mix of people, processes and technology to effectively integrate ITSM in their operations, said Sam Higgins, research director at Longhaus.
“ITSM provides organisations with the opportunity to improve their quality of service, increase productivity and customer satisfaction, as well as reduce costs,” he said.
“While many organisations understand the importance of an ITSM approach, they also need to undertake an objective analysis to fully experience ITSM’s benefits.”
.gif)
.gif)
