This week there are two Service / Help Desk conferences taking place in London and Orlando.
In the past the main aim of individuals attending these conferences was to “swan around” and visit as many vendor stands as possible in order to pick up items for their goodie bag. Typically, Vendors showcase new product functionality, however I am not sure how many customer enquiries are converted into firm orders / sales.
In practice not many organisations will be able to make a compelling business case to “rip and replace” their existing solutions. It is important to understand that a solution that is not web, mobile or social enabled will not be fit for the future. It is not possible to transform a “Lada into a Lexus” overnight.
Most large or mature organisations that have moved to a multi-sourcing model will be more focussed on establishing automated interfaces between the various service provider solutions in the value chain. For example, a Global Service Desk may have implemented one Service Management solution and end-to-end interfaces need to be established to their Level 2 / Level 3 external service provider tools.
So attendees have shifted their focus from browsing the exhibition hall and listening to Vendors wax on about all things social / mobile to booking in for the keynote and seminar sessions.
I have looked at the schedules for both conferences and picked out one topic from each side of the pond.
The Service Desk & IT Support Show features the ITSM industry’s leading specialist vendors, integrators, consultancies and service providers.
Lean IT Moving Beyond Cost Savings
Roy Illsley @royillsley is principal analyst, infrastructure management for Ovum
Here is a taster of his presentation.
“Lean IT is becoming a vogue term for how organizations can look to ensure the operational aspects of other functions in business can be made more efficient; hence the term operational efficiency (OE) is now more widely understood. However, moving a function like IT to be a ‘lean’ operation requires organizational change as well as a shift in thinking by the IT department. Critical to this is defining the role of IT within the enterprise and getting both business leaders and IT to agree on the key aspects of responsibility and accountability”
At 3:00 mins – IT must respond at the speed of the Business
At 5:30 – ITIL is not a given right to success
Roy will present the OVUM Model (Chart) at this session
Here is a LINK to his article – Lean IT much greater than a cost saving exercise
“The biggest lesson for any IT department is that lean IT is not about the tools that are used; it is about the processes and procedures deployed.”
The Lean IT: Moving Beyond Cost Savings research paper is available for $1895. Scope:
- Segmenting the responsibilities is key to understanding the Lean IT model
- Recognize the role of IT differs within and between organizations
- Business Relationship Managers (BRMs) do not operate in isolation
- Changing the IT service delivery approach to a demand-led model
MOVING TO A LEARNING-BASED APPROACH IS CENTRAL TO UNLOCKING BENEFIT FROM LEAN IT
People, process, and purpose are the key attributes
Session 610: Create, Innovate, and Get Out of the Cave
“IT has evolved so quickly that the average consumer now has access to more online services and collaboration tools at home than they do at the office.
Social media and collaborative technologies are setting expectations around delivery of IT services that most IT departments fail to meet.
Business managers have already started to bypass their IT departments to obtain services faster and IT appears to be losing control. IT organizations that are too slow to evolve face a real threat from outsourcing.
This session looks at the technologies you cannot afford to ignore in 2012.
What can we learn from these new trends?
How can we leverage these technologies to create a better IT experience in the workplace?
If IT is to maintain its reputation and deliver value, we need to change, and change fast.”
Speaker Patrick Bolger @patb0512, Chief Evangelist, Hornbill Service Management.
Here is a LINK to his presentation at SDITS 2011 entitled – Chaos to Value
Slide 7 – The Evolution of IT Focus
Slide 18 – How is IT serving top business priorities?
Slide 21 – Your ITSM Journey Plan
Slide 31 – Although Processes and Technology are important remember that People…
So which side of the pond is best?
Over the years, both conferences have placed more focus on improving the quality and awareness of new Service Management Practices.
This has been achieved through the sharing of thought leadership by recognised speakers at breakfast briefings, sessions across different subject streams and “expert” panels.
For me the HDI conference shades it because it has 8 streams and more recognised “experts” speaking.
e.g. Charles Araujo, Ian Clayton, Chris Dancy, Malcolm Fry, Lou Hunnebeck, Robert Stroud
It is deeply disappointing that both conferences are being held in the same week, so it will not be possible to hear from the “best of the best” in one conference setting. Patrick Bolger is attending SDITS and then he is jumping on a plane to present at HDI which is not ideal preparation.
Methinks Continual Service Improvement is required M’Lud to avoid a conference scheduling clash in 2013.
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