Hats off……
I have spent the past week educating a private corporation on ITIL v3. This mid sized company has been working toward an ITIL based Service Management Framework for the past 6 months. They started with the usual Service Desk, Incident Mgt and also introduced Change Mgt. They are currently working on implementing Service Level Mgt, along with Release and Deployment.
What makes this gratifying is the energy and enthusiasm they are displaying toward this journey. Management has committed to this and demonstrating this by investing in training and certification for their staff.
As per usual, I engage in chats with participants about “where they fit” in the ITIL framework. One person saw his pathway…. He has passion for support, thrives on the challenge of finding root cause – and as he describes it… works best with computers, not people… PROBLEM MGT is his calling, he proclaimed….
A new champion is born… and hopefully a new process for this service oriented company….
Hats off to the company for valuing their staff enough to train them, and hats off to the staff for taking advantage of it!
Till next time
Cheers from The Art of Service
Michael
Read Full Post »
News last month of struggling Blu-ray disc sales is no surprise to many, but it could be a good lesson for many IT organisations in underscoring the importance of value perception relating to their products and services offered.
Now I’ll preface the rest of this post by saying upfront that I’m looking forward to the next de facto standard for video entertainment, replacing DVDs which have been the dominant force in our lounge and media rooms for the last ten years. Just what that standard will be however is still to be seen, and I’m certainly not willing to bet on Blu-ray just yet. Value is still the sticking point, even for those who are willing to splurge disposable cash in the current economic climate.
As an easy comparison, the classic action flick Die Hard can be found on DVD for $14.95 (Australian). The comparable Blu-ray version is $39.95. Now while there’s no denying the improvement in picture and audio, I’m guessing that the improvement isn’t worth $25 to the vast majority of the public (including myself). Things get even worse when you start looking at new release titles, with Blu-ray commanding prices of $50 or more.
So why isn’t this an attractive value proposition? Perhaps a few reasons:
- The wide availability of cheap upscaling DVD players on the market, which, coupled with decent video and audio cables can produce a pretty good picture. In comparison, Blu-ray players have come down in price, but you won’t get much change from $400 on the cheapest options on the market.
- Competition from the digital download scene, in your ad-supported (e.g. Hulu) or paid (Netflix, iTunes HD movies) varieties
- The large percentage of standard definition televisions still found in homes that would not benefit from the change
Consumers have no issues paying more for a higher quality product, but with the current price difference between the two and the ability to queue up a HD movie easily on the Apple TV, no doubt the desire to make the switch is greatly diminished. When prices eventually come down I’m sure things will start to happen, but by then what other alternatives will be available on the market? In the same time, how much money will the movie studios lose to piracy?
So what’s the connection to IT Service Management? Well perhaps we are guilty of the same mistakes made by the Blu-ray Disc Association (including Sony, Disney, Warner Bros and more) investing time, money and effort into offering services to customers without a compelling business case, reasoning that they’ll eventually realize all the extra bells and whistles, increased performance and slick interfaces are worth the additional money being charged for them. This isn’t just the fault of IT mind you, with many customers themselves insisting on the development of these offerings, but this still doesn’t excuse us entirely from blame. As discussed in my previous post, in the current economic climate these sins are particularly grave.
So are we to continue to repeat the mistakes of the past? Now that’s a bet I’ll make.
Long live the Betamax!
Tim
Read Full Post »
