Most businesses are now so reliant on IT for success that it is imperative for IT to become a strategic asset. So why is it that so many IT organisations find it so hard to adopt a framework for best practice, ultimately placing the business at risk? Purchasing technology, managing your partners and implementing process does not address the key critical success factor for becoming a successful service provider – PEOPLE.
Pink Elephant have always acknowledged the importance of cultural and organisational change for the successful implementation of IT Service Management. In taking a holistic view of a process change initiative, organisations need to consider people as a critical success factor alongside process and technology. Employees’ change readiness is usually determined by how well they know the overall vision, the specific plan, their part of the plan and the benefits to them as individuals. The commonly cited ‘WIIFM – What’s in it for me?’
The human condition brings with it a large number of variables in behaviours which results in a range of issues for consideration. For project success, resistance to organisational change is a key factor. If not identified, addressed and managed, this resistance can result in greater problems and project costs than originally planned for.
There are a number of sources of information to assist organisations with effectively managing a programme of change. Pink Elephant often refer to the work of Harvard Professor, John P Kotter, in which he details the ‘8 steps’ for leading successful change, including:
It is important to arm yourself with as many resources and tools as possible to ensure your project is a success. Our mission in life is to help organisations drive improvements in the services they offer. A service organisation needs to drive a service culture. You need to acknowledge the culture of the organisation as it currently exists and decide whether it is driving the behaviours you want within your environment.
In order to help our customers achieve the best results, alongside Kotter, we also now deliver ABC of ICT workshops.
So how does ABC of ICT work? ABC of ICT stands for Attitude, Behaviour and Culture within IT organisations. It is the combined elements of ABC which will determine the success or failure of your ITSM initiatives.
Successfully addressing ABC will ensure buy-in, commitment, involvement, ownership, self-improvement, continual improvement and more importantly an ITSM organisation that can realise business added value, and efficient and effective IT organisation with satisfied customers and employees.
It is the ABC issues that are preventing many IT organisations from realising the benefits of ITSM improvement projects. A recent Forrester report revealed 52% of such initiatives fail because of resistance to organisational change. Unless the ABC issues are addressed there is a strong possibility that deploying such frameworks will fail. Frameworks alone are not enough and ultimately this is about Risk and Risk management.
Understanding the ‘Attitude, Behaviour and Culture’ of ICT will show how worst practices need to be identified, addressed and eliminated to ensure the success of any change programmes.
People are acknowledged as strategic assets in ITSM, but how do you effectively manage those assets? In a highly interactive session, a number of small teams will be given exercises to perform using the ABC of ICT worst practice card set which contains 57 industry recognised ABC worst practices. This session is intended to stimulate dialogue and discussion amongst participants, and the aim is to identify the most common ABC worst practices and the consequences, impact and risk to your organisation. Participants will gain insight into the hidden ABC issues within their organisation and can also discuss experiences in dealing with these worst practices.
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