Let's talk about three tasks that ITSM can help solve: managing development, protecting data, and optimizing processes beyond IT departments.
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Software Development Management
Many companies utilize agile methodologies like Scrum. Even engineers from Axelos, who develop the ITIL methodology, use them. Four-week sprints help teams track progress and effectively allocate human resources. However, some organizations face challenges when transitioning to agile. The problem is that without a significant restructuring of workflows, sprints and other components of agile methodologies can prove ineffective or even useless. Here, ITSM comes to the rescue, specifically — software development management systems.
They allow for deeper control over the entire application lifecycle: from prototype to release, from support to updates. SDLC services — Software Development Lifecycle — can assist in software development management. Such tools enable the integration of several development methodologies (like Waterfall and Scrum) and simplify employee adaptation during the transition to agile. Platforms provide the ability to hold daily meetings and discuss scheduled work. Backlogs can also be maintained here.
For instance, one of the largest lottery providers in Australia uses an SDLC tool. The system helps the company's developers manage their schedules and track the completion of over 400 different tasks.
Data Protection
This year, European regulators a fine of 200,000 euros on a Danish furniture company. They failed to timely delete personal data of nearly four hundred thousand customers — according to GDPR, such data no longer than required for processing purposes. A similar violation to one of the Lithuanian payment services — the amount was 61,000 euros.
Avoiding such mistakes and optimizing workflows can be helped by ITSM, specifically by IT Operations Management (ITOM). With its help, a company can deploy and populate a specialized Configuration Management Database (CMDB). This allows tracking the relationships between individual infrastructure components, making it easier to find errors in business processes and monitor how stored data is used.
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ITOM has already been implemented by a large number of organizations. An example is the car auction company KAR Auction Services, which set up a CMDB that acts as a single source of information regarding all events related to the IT infrastructure and data about buyers and sellers of cars. Additionally, the configuration management database helped optimize workflows at one of Toronto's airports, where it monitors the operation of information systems responsible for passenger check-in counters and control dispatch points.
Optimizing Business Processes Beyond IT
Initially, ITSM practices were applied to manage an organization's IT infrastructure. However, they quickly expanded beyond technical departments. For example, there are known cases where the automation platform ServiceNow was used for .
Moreover, the ITSM methodology is actively being implemented in scientific laboratories and large manufacturing companies. For instance, ITSM practices are used at CERN, where the laboratory addresses logistics and fire safety issues, monitors the condition of buildings and structures, as well as paths and parks on its premises. Similar cases exist in Russia, where one of the major machine engineering plants uses the ITSM methodology. Six months ago, specialists automated incident management processes within the enterprise and organized a Service Desk.
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According to last year's study (), in which analysts surveyed representatives from several hundred startups and large organizations, 52% of companies implement ITSM beyond IT departments — five years ago this figure was 38%. Experts predict that if the trend continues to gain momentum, the term 'IT' may completely disappear from the name ITSM in the near future.
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