MJ:  Pete Wilder is the former Head of ITSM for the Asset Management division of a global Investment Bank.  This is Part 1 of a 3-part blog documenting his journey.  Part 2 discusses Outsourcing and Part 3 discuss a Tool Deployment and ITIL Adoption.  I should note that while we are a provider of ITIL in-class/online education, I did not edit any of Pete’s answers with respect to the value of ITIL education.  Skeptical?  Feel free to contact him! 

 

Story Highlights:

• I’m the Head of Service Management – Now What?
• Let’s Begin!  Kind of… – I still have my old job
• ITSM Education – The decision to get ITIL v2 Manager certified
• ITIL V2 vs. V3 Education – Starting off with what ITIL does best
• Educating Staff on ITIL Best Practices – Not everyone needs ITIL foundation training, let alone certification
• Profound Support from Senior Management

 

 

I’m the Head of Service Management – Now What?

 

After a reorganization at the Bank I found myself labeled the new, ‘Head of Service Management’ for one of the three business divisions.  Pretty cool, eh!?  Now the fun would start!  Or so I thought…

 

You see, nobody really knew – or agreed to – what this role would entail. 

 

Senior Management came up with a blueprint for the IT organization and were rolling it out across the organization.  So here I was, ITIL Foundations v2 certified, 15+ years of experience in Service Delivery, with a passion for service.

 

This is how the journey began for me.  The following is the part one in a series that will describe how we achieved a cultural shift in the way that we supported the business.

 

 

Overview

 

Broadly speaking, my journey involved the following:

1. Part 1:  ITSM Education
2. Part 2:  Outsourcing 
3. Part 3:  Tool Deployment
   • ITIL Implementation/Adoption
   • Metrics and the Ensuing Behavioral Change

 

 

Let’s Begin!  Kind of…

 

For the first few months, I was still dealing with legacy responsibilities.  Nothing really changed and everyone was still doing the same job as they did before.   Sure, they may have had a new job title, a new department name, or even a new line manager.  But they were still doing the same activities day in, day out.

 

In fact, the only difference was that I moved to a new department (the one I used to provide services to).  And hey, Pete?  By the way, your old role doesn’t exist anymore, but the work still needs to be done, so you get to do your old job and the new one.  And hey, Pete?  Another thing:  if a project or activity even so much as alludes to the idea of ‘service’ you’re taking the lead.

 

 

ITSM Education

 

So I made a decision – I wanted to do the ITIL Manager’s Certificate training and get my Red Badge.  That way, at least one person would know what the role should entail.  Luckily, I had an understanding manager who approved the training without hesitation.

 

MJ:  Can you flesh out why you thought it was necessary to get ITIL certified?

 

Peter:  I was passionate about service delivery and got excited when providing customer delight.  ITIL struck a chord with me because it seemed to align with these interests.

 

Throughout my IT career, I was aware that the IT Department’s customer satisfaction ratings were consistently low.  Colleagues would refer to customers as ‘clots’ or ‘dummies’.  It was as if they expected business users to be as proficient as they were at IT.

 

They didn’t seem to understand that the customer just wanted something that worked when it was supposed to and an explanation when it didn’t.  When they submitted a Service Request they wanted to know how long it would take, how much it would cost, and who had to approve it.  They also wanted to know how the request was progressing, who was dealing with it, and who they could contact if the SLA was breached.  IT departments seemed to be largely populated with techies who sometimes treated the customer as an annoying interruption, interfering with their quest to develop more and more gadgets using bleeding edge technology.

 

After taking the V2 Foundation training, I was converted.  I worked in an organization with 10,000 people in the IT department plus 3^rd party service providers.  ITIL made so much sense in this kind of highly complex, globally distributed computing environment.  If nothing else, ITIL provided a common language and terminology.

 

Obviously, I recognized that ITIL would do more than that.  It provided a framework to measure and manage IT.  I’m not saying that I thought ITIL was a panacea for all evils, but it was the best we had given our challenges.  Furthermore, it was being adopted and providing beneficial results to organizations we respected.  This widespread adoption only added to the allure/value of ITIL.  It made no sense to go down another route while the rest of the world was ITILizing.

 

Getting back to your question, I wanted to improve my knowledge and get qualified.  I was proud of the position that I had, I enjoyed the challenge of evangelizing ITIL and I felt it could only enhance my credibility if I completed the Manager’s Certificate training.

 

 

ITIL V2 vs. V3 Education

 

MJ:  If you had to do it all again, would you have gone down the ITIL v2 Manager path?  Would you have pursued training other than ITIL certification?

 

Peter:  Yes, I would have gone down the same route.  I have no regrets about the ITIL training that I took.  In fact, I would thoroughly recommend it.

 

When I took my training, V3 wasn’t available.  However, I think V2 is a good starting point for most organizations and a challenge in itself to implement.  I believe V3 is a definite improvement and provides a more refined view of IT services but I think it is appropriate to deploy the mature aspects of V3 in mature organizations.  I wouldn’t recommend ‘leapfrogging’ over what ITIL does best, namely Incident, Problem, Change, and Service Level Management. 

 

MJ:  FYI, for those who would like a better understanding of the differences between ITIL V2 and V3, click here.  The focus of V2 was on Incident, Problem, Change, Service Level, Capacity and Availability Management.  V3 wraps all processes/functions into a Service Lifecycle, which consists of Service Strategy, Design, Transition, Operation, and Continual Service Improvement.

 

 

Educating Staff on ITIL Best Practices

 

MJ:  Now the thousand-dollar question:  did you educate your staff on ITIL best practices?  If so, how did you do it?

 

Peter:  When I joined the Asset Management division as Head of ITSM, the training department asked me for my training requirements.  I made sure that ITIL education was a priority for those individuals delivering services to end users.  That said, I certainly did not believe everyone needed to be ‘certified’.

 

To ensure that my staff was adequately trained on ITIL best practices to help them provide better service, broke up the training as follows:

1. Half-day ITIL awareness sessions for everyone.
2. Two-day condensed ITIL Foundation classes for those that needed it.
3. One-day ‘practitioner’ level training for Incident, Problem, and Change Management given to those individuals that required more advanced education.

 

If a staff member wanted to get certified, it was up to his/her line manager to get the certification exam approved and funded.

 

 

Profound Support from Senior Management

 

MJ:  Was the ITIL education program supported by senior management?

 

Peter:  Absolutely – so much so that the Global Head of Infrastructure produced an introductory video seen by every staff member taking the training.  In the video, he personally talked about the importance of ITIL training and the adoption of ITIL best practices in the organization.

 

 

Click here for Part 2:  Outsourcing

Click here for Part 3:  Tool Deployment & ITIL Adoption

 

 

Pete Wilder is a certified ITIL V2 Manager (Red Badge) ITSM professional with extensive cross industry experience covering Financial Services, Construction, Utilities and the Public Sector.

Results oriented and client focused with a long proven track record of service delivery and client satisfaction.  He is currently seeking a challenging opportunity to demonstrate his passion for providing service excellence and customer delight.

 

Michael Jagdeo (SCM, ITIL v2/v3) has an extensive background as an ITSM/ITIL enthusiast.  He has worked on placements in Singapore, Dubai, London, and across North America.  As Director at B Wyze Solutions, he manages relationships with clients like Johnson & Johnson, Toyota, Maple Leaf Foods, and the Government of Ontario.  Follow him on Twitter!

Related Posts

• July 11, 2009: ITIL v3 Education, not Certification
• July 7, 2009: Implementing ITIL - Insight from Head of ITSM (Part 2: Outsourcing)
• July 7, 2009: Implementing ITIL - Insight from Head of ITSM (Part 3: Tool Implementation & ITIL Adoption)
• June 10, 2009: Maintaining Momentum for Your ITIL Program vs. The Service Catalog
• May 26, 2009: Interpreting ITSM Metrics Isn’t Always Straight Forward