Execs Use Services Model to Reshape IT Units

Patrick Thibodeau   Today’s Top Stories    or  Other Skills Stories  

Learn-Fast Guide: It's All About You Sign up to receive Security Resource Alerts

October 17, 2005 (Computerworld) -- CHICAGO -- Several years ago, the state of the help desk at GuideStone Financial Resources could be summed up by what end users called it: "the helpless desk." Not only was the moniker unflattering, it reflected lingering system problems that hurt the investment management firm's employee productivity.
With that in mind, the IT department at Dallas-based GuideStone, which is owned by the Southern Baptist Convention, turned to the Information Technology Infrastructure Library standard. One of the driving goals of ITIL is to reshape IT operations into a services model by spelling out service levels and detailed processes for delivering, managing and supporting technology.
Proponents say the standard can help cut IT costs and improve alignment with business units, which may explain the interest in it among IT managers at a conference held here last week by AFCOM, an Orange, Calif.-based professional association that focuses on data center issues.
Dawn Sawyer, operations manager at GuideStone, said that she began implementing ITIL processes four years ago and that the work is still in progress. As part of the ITIL process, tech-support workers assigned to the company's help desk were retrained or replaced with systems analysts and employees who could probe application problems.
Using workers with better skills increased GuideStone's payroll costs but led to a dramatic turnaround in responsiveness, Sawyer said. Most IT problems are now resolved within seven minutes, she noted. Before the adoption of ITIL, it sometimes took more than a day to fix problems.
Jim Marrs, data center manager at Austin Energy in Texas, said the utility started implementing ITIL this year. Marrs said he sees the standard as a framework for organizing internal processes, "so IT is more focused as a service."
For IT staffers, that means documenting their activities in more detail, as well as spelling out the steps and processes used to manage IT-related events and changes to systems, he added.
ITIL was developed in the 1980s by the U.K.'s Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency and is now maintained by that country's Office of Government Commerce. The standard incorporates suggested best practices across a spectrum of IT processes and also details those processes while documenting how to manage them.
But getting IT workers to change their ways isn't always easy, said Slater M. Butts, director of network services at Safeway Inc. in Salt Lake City. When it comes to standards such as ITIL, many IT staffers really "don't like to adhere to them," he said. "They just like to carry the banner."
However, Butts sees value in ITIL, which Safeway's IT operation has been deploying in a gradual way for the past four years. Having a framework for internal IT services "takes cost out of the process because you don't have to re-engineer them" whenever you need to make changes, he said.
Richard Davenport, a senior consultant at Bridgeport, Pa.-based Fox IT LLC, which helps companies implement ITIL, said the standard forces adopters to think about IT more as a service than as a collection of technologies.
For instance, Davenport said that if a company's help desk -- or service desk, as it's often called in ITIL shops -- discovers a number of small errors, ITIL problem-management processes will trigger a search for larger underlying causes. Tech-support workers also can become more proactive and recommend new IT services that add value for business users, Davenport said.

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

Sidebar: Data Center Standards Get a Broader View Execs Use Services Model to Reshape IT Units

"Employees at Computerworld's Best Places to Work in IT have managed to tame the IT career beast by rejecting the..." Read more... "Today's US college business professors, hopefully, aren't all like the one who is teaching a Florida university's business major. Maybe..." Read more... Read more Careers posts or See all Blogs

DNS hole prompts synchronized patching effort by IT vendors Microsoft plugs nine holes in Windows, DNS, SQL Symantec warns of new Word attack More top stories...

Microsoft sets XP SP3 automatic download for Thursday Don't give Google a free pass on data collection, privacy advocates say after YouTube ruling XP SP3 to reach most users 'shortly,' says Microsoft

This old laptop: Revitalizing an aging notebook on the cheap All it takes is a couple hours and about $125 to breathe new life into an old laptop. Here's how. Bill Gates moves on Is Microsoft's Golden Age over? What are Gates' most memorable quotes? Find out in Computerworld's complete coverage of the end of the Bill Gates era at Microsoft. Five things you should never tell your boss There are some things your CIO definitely doesn't want to hear. Also don't miss the flipside, Five things you should always tell your boss. Hands-On: Firefox 3 fixes what's broke and keeps what's right With its latest version, Mozilla's browser continues to raise the bar for what Web browsers should be. Windows Vista A to Z Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS. More Continuing Coverage After 9/11: Homeland SecurityAsk a Premier 100 IT LeaderBlackBerry Legal BattleData Security BreachesElectronic VotingFirefoxH-1B VisasHP's Boardroom ScandalHandheld DevicesHurricane Katrina AftermathMicrosoft Legal IssuesMicrosoft's VistaOpen SourceRFID TechnologySCO's Linux FightSarbanes-Oxley ActSpamVoice Over IPWi-FiWindows Meta File VulnerabilityWindows XP Service Pack 3 IT Careers 2010 Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready? More Special Reports Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Best in Class2006 Computerworld Horizon Awards2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders2006 Salary Survey2007 Best Places to Work in IT2007 IT Forecast2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders40 Years of ComputerworldASPs, Take TwoBest Places to Work in IT 2003Best Places to Work in IT 2004Best Places to Work in IT 2005Best Places to Work in IT 2006Business Intelligence Home RunsBusiness Intelligence: Smarter BIBusiness Intelligence: The Future of BICRM Goes VerticalCRM: Sober CRMCareer Planning Guide 2005Careers: IT Profession 2010Computerworld Horizon Awards 2005Data Management: Mining for GemsData Management: Taming Data ChaosDevelopment: Hard-Workin' Web SitesDevelopment: New Tools New ChoicesDevelopment: The New World of Application DevelopmentDevelopment: The Web Services TsunamiDevelopment: Web Services HurdlesDisaster Recovery: Preparing for the WorstE-commerce Grows UpE-mail/Groupware: Big DecisionsFaces of Mobile ITForecast 2006Global MobileHardware: Multiple Cores, Multiple ChallengesHardware: On-Demand Un-HypedHardware: The Shape of Things to ComeHorizon Awards: 10 Cool Cutting Edge TechnologiesIT Management: Guide to Managing VendorsIT Management: Navigating Global ITIT Management: Recovery AheadIT Management: The Future of ITIT Management: The Resourceful Project ManagerInnovative Technology Awards 2004Management: Reinventing ITMicrosoft in TransitionMobile/Wireless Leaders and LaggardsMobile/Wireless: The Untethered WorkerMobile/Wireless: Tiny Gadgets, Huge CostsNetwork Management: Taking ControlNetworking: Turbulence Ahead!Networking: VoIP Goes MainstreamOperating Systems: In the Slow LaneOperating Systems: Linux Goes GlobalOperating Systems: Should You Nix Unix?Outsourcing: Offshore Buyer's GuideOutsourcing: Outsourcing DangersPremier 100 IT Leaders 2004 Best in ClassPremier 100 IT Leaders 2005 Best in ClassROI: Do the Math!Salary Survey 2003Salary Survey 2004Salary Survey 2005Security Action PlanSecurity: Compliance HeadachesSecurity: Proactive SecuritySecurity: Risk and RewardSecurity: Tips From Security ProsSouped-up SecurityStorage: Battling ComplexityStorage: Cheap & Secure Data StoresStorage: Stretching Your Storage DollarsStorage: The Lean Storage MachineStorage: The New Rules of StorageStorage: The Ultimate Backup GuideSupply Chain: Missing LinksSupply Chain: RFID Reality CheckThe Business of SecurityWeb 2.0 SecurityWireless: Wireless At Work All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone Data Center Management Zone Enterprise-Class Security Zone The File Data Management Zone Grid Computing on Windows Zone Security Management Zone ITIL Best Practices Zone The SAS Zone Storage Virtualization Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone See your link here

Learn-Fast Guide: It's All About You (Source: Computerworld) Is your career in sync with the current megatrends: business alignment, globalization, the consumerization of IT, web 2.0 and beyond? In this guide, you'll get advice about how to make yourself more valuable, how to make the global talent pool work for you and how to make sure you "get found" when you put yourself out there. Download this executive briefing  Long Tail Supplier Collaboration - What's In It For You? Long Tail Supplier Collaboration - What's In It For You? Download this webcast, free, compliments of Sterling Commerce Go to the webcast  Managing Operational Change through ITIL and a CMDB Get this white paper now! (Source: Opsware) This paper suggests what IT organizations should consider when creating a short list for ITIL and CMDB products, the Opsware ITIL and CMDB solution, and implementing change, compliance or configuration management processes Download this white paper  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Virtualization Analysis for VMware A Guide to Understanding Messaging Archiving Archiving Compliance with Sunbelt Exchange Archiver View more whitepapers

• Sidebar: Data Center Standards Get a Broader View
• Execs Use Services Model to Reshape IT Units

• DNS hole prompts synchronized patching effort by IT vendors
• Microsoft plugs nine holes in Windows, DNS, SQL
• Symantec warns of new Word attack
• More top stories 

This podcast delivers summaries of key technologies and concepts every week. Listen to the short program on your iPod or in your Web browser. This Week: Darwin Information Typing Architecture,  List of Episodes Subscribe

Optimizing Web Application Delivery from an End-User Perspective - How can I see what my Users see? Learn why traditional performance tools can’t deliver the visibility and control required to manage today’s complex architectures as well as requirements an optimal solution should provide. Listen to this podcast now

Computerworld's Premier 100 honorees drive innovation and strategy at top-tier IT departments. Learn the secrets of their success.