Reader Question:  Our momentum in ITSM is stalling and not really generating the value we had hoped. We had initial excitement and did some good things but we are not sure how to progress further. How do we sustain and build on the efforts and investment we made?

Third Sky Expert Answer:

Dick Szymanski, Director of Education, Third Sky

One of the most cost-effective, long-lasting and proven ways to leverage pre-existing ITSM investment is by moving from generic equipping of masses to specific equipping of leaders, via a strategic education initiative.

Consider how most every technology in our infrastructure benefits from having a go to person. Virtually every process in an ITSM vision does as well. As in technology, where we cannot afford to have "zero" expertise in any area, we cannot hope to succeed as well in complex, inter-connected ITSM culture with only one or two processes having some level of higher, "go to" expertise and leadership. If your ITSM progress seems stiffled because there is not enough best practice expertise to make decisions confidently and expeditiously, further targeted education may be in order.

Think about identifying, within the current IT team, those who can rise to the level of leadership needed to make each/any/every process more effective in design and/or execution, as one hat they wear. Then you would have "Champions", that may become dedicated specialists eventually, as needed. The fact you are not "deploying" ITIL best practices in a dozen processes at the moment, does not mean you are not dealing with those issues (i.e. Capacity, Availability, Service Level Management, etc.) every day!

ITSM cannot thrive with even the broadest Awareness/Foundation understanding if there are few of well-trained resources. Role-based education, education with a purpose, can and will provide significant continual improvement in ITSM value. 

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Join us for a webinar that will discuss practical and cost-effective targeted ITSM education, giving you the tactics to match a strategy of equipping your leaders for success.

Educating with a Purpose - Building a Role/Responsibility Specific Direction for your ITSM Service Team