Aligning IT with Business

For years, companies have been searching for a way to align IT more closely

with the ever-changing needs of the business. Now they have one. It’s called

service management, and it gives IT managers’ greater visibility into their

operations and tighter control of their costs, while dramatically improving IT

service levels. Service management comprises all the essential business and

operational functions an IT department must implement to contain costs while

improving services. These functions include service metering and provisioning,

service-level assurance, cost allocation and billing, and the development and

maintenance of a service catalog.

Controlling costs



With service management, IT managers no longer have to guess which users are

using what resources–because they have the tools to measure bandwidth, storage

or server usage by user, department or line of business. They can offer

different levels of service to different groups of users and get greater

visibility into which users are costing what dollars to support. That, of

course, means they can do a better job rationalizing their expenditures for

management and justifying their budget requests.

The need, right now, for service management is great. Despite years of

effort, most IT departments are still struggling to get their operations aligned

with corporate business goals. According to a recent META Group survey of

Fortune 1000 companies, 70 % of corporations continue to look upon their IT

organizations as cost centers, not as strategic investments. This makes them

outsource IT operations to the lowest-cost provider.

To meet this challenge, CIOs and other senior IT managers need to run IT like

a business and focus on providing cost-effective services for which their

end-users and customers are willing to pay. IT departments need to respond more

quickly to user requests and do a better job of allocating resources and

tracking systems usage.

But how does IT go about becoming a service-oriented organization? A number

of forward-thinking IT executives are embracing the service management concept.

They have begun using service management tools and techniques to track resource

usage and more efficiently deploy new services, while significantly improving

service levels. These IT organizations are also using service management to

better assess their costs and justify their budget outlays. Using service

management software, IT planners can allocate hardware, software and

communications charges; identify superfluous and redundant expenditures, and

compile usage-based cost data for budgeting purposes. Cost justification has

never been a bigger issue, and CIOs must clearly demonstrate to management that

their capital expenditures will provide bottom-line benefits.

But, if cost and budgeting is one side of the equation, quality of service is

the other, and service management provides a holistic view of service levels and

performance. A service management suite has everything IT managers need to

control costs, improve services and respond effectively to shifting business

priorities. Indeed, for the first time, service management gives CIOs and their

managers the practical tools they need to keep IT marching in step with the rest

of the business.

Nancy Li is CEO of iCan SP, a

subsidiary of Computer Associates International