Within our delivery team we regularly look back at completed ITSM tool implementations to see where we can improve for the future, something I’d recommend every team include in their calendars, (continuous improvement is the name of the game!) In our last review I noticed the same three themes kept cropping up. These seemed to apply no matter the customer, industry or department – so what were they and how could we all avoid these in the future?
Evaluate
How are you deciding the service management tool for you? Every service desk works in their own way, and I’ve seen all sorts during my time in this role. Likely, if you’re looking for your first service management tool then your team are working off a shared mailbox to manage your workload and efficiencies can be realised with quite a simple implementation , equally if you’re looking to transition from an old hefty on-prem system you might be looking for a sleek cloud-based bells and whistles platform. But no matter the end-product, it’s key for you and your team to think about what is important to you – are you triaging incoming work and need automatic assignment? Are you dealing with sensitive personal data and need to keep ticket details private? Or is your focus on getting visibility of volume of work and response times? My advice would be to agree on these requirements before you get dragged into the Sales pitch for the latest shiny AI tech.
Engage
We’ve all been there, that key contact hasn’t shown up to the call so you won’t get a decision and the whole implementation timeline is at risk. Or you’re days away from go-live and a stakeholder is requesting changes that don’t align with the wider strategic goals. Ultimately this boils down to stakeholder engagement and making sure your VIPs are on-board and up to speed.
Project sponsorship is a difficult role to take on, but is critical to see success of an implementation of any ITSM tool, ideally your project sponsor is available for the duration of the project and has a good relationship with both senior management and the colleagues down on the ground working to get things over the line. And if you can find that perfect project sponsor, lucky you! Stay on their good side and keep communication lines open, you’ll need to have each other’s backs.
End Goal
Not to be confused with an own goal! It’s critical that through-out the implementation you keep in mind what you are trying to achieve. With the increase in popularity of Agile working practices, 9 times out of 10 we’re going to be aiming for the Minimum Viable Product and everything else falls into the next sprint or phase. But make sure you keep the bigger picture in mind.
Devs offering workarounds to hit go-live? Take a minute to think through the longevity of what they’re suggesting. What might seem like a good short-term fix could end up being a long-term headache. and if this doesn’t align with your overall goals or creates more work to unpick later then it’s likely not worth going for. Especially when looking to implement an ITSM tool that will be exposed to your customers via a self-service portal, those customers will immediately be put off by a clunky or glitchy system when first logging in, so often times the safer approach is to keep your service desk reputation in tact and push go-live back, knowing you’ll ultimately deliver a better service to everyone.
So how can you avoid the pitfalls and stay on track?
Implementing a service management tool should be treated as a project in its own right, and fall within your organisations standard change approach, that means
Project Management and Project sponsorship throughout
Clear requirements identified at the beginning of the process
Benefit realisation tracking beyond just the go-live date
But this is just the beginning! The more your organisation buys into this project and sees how important it is to the business, the more successful the implementation will be.
Great insight Rebecca!