What is fascinating about Bytes’ strategic service improvement programme is that it is being pioneered by the Financial Director, Brad Fraser.

Fraser identified a number of new business opportunities within the Bytes Group as well as undertaking a technology review of the service management processes, behaviours and working practices.

Bytes had become aware of its own requirements to rationalise its client support systems. Each business unit had its own way of operating, applications and software, which needed to be incorporated into the combined Bytes infrastructure and supported in a centralised model. This segmented approach had arisen as a direct result of the organisation’s growth strategy through company acquisitions, resulting in a complex IT infrastructure and client support matrix.

Through ICCM’s e-Service Desk, Bytes established a progressive service management strategy. In addition, Bytes also initiated a technology strategy that has helped the company differentiate itself from competitors by creating new services for its product portfolio. As a result, the solution has enabled Bytes to generate new revenue opportunities.

Fraser, an experienced executive, is responsible for the financial direction of the business as well as the operational support systems. This ensures there is a continued focus on value, efficiency and vision, something which Fraser believes he has seen in this project.

He says, “Obviously having an ITIL aligned service desk that operates smoothly is our immediate priority, but we see ICCM’s e-Service Desk being utilised across a number of different business units, effectively streamlining far more processes than we had originally anticipated. Our service management strategy has taken on a new direction which we are delighted to drive forward, particularly as it will help generate new revenue opportunities for the company.

“We have been able to distinguish between ‘incident management’ supported by SLA’s and ‘change requests’, which require additional effort and scoping. This has enabled Bytes to generate revenue from the change requests that were previously dealt with under ‘problem management’. Other revenue opportunities are developing by offering e-Service Desk as a ‘Managed Service’ to existing clients who do not wish to establish their own Service Desks.”

Bringing Together Offerings
The company needed a solution that encompassed and integrated the business intelligence that had gathered. The largest problem was ensuring the management of the clients’ IT infrastructure was correct. Many different business managers needed to be able to use the technology, all with different skills, service sets, needs and priorities.

Fraser explains, “We needed to revolutionise the way our business operated. A number of strategic acquisitions in South Africa led to a range of different systems that had been inherited and utilised without a common approach. In order to maintain a smooth running of the client support systems, it was necessary to overhaul the service strategy, design and continual service improvement processes – and not just to cope with the current requirements, but to future proof.”

During the technology selection, each manager was asked for input into the process and base their decision on the results that could be generated from each solution – not just the technology. Bytes needed a solution that would not only satisfy requirements on a tactical level, but actually solve problems they were thinking about. Nine out of the ten managers voted to implement the ICCM e-Service Desk solution.

Hidden Gems
At the outset Bytes’ key driver in this service improvement project was the standardisation of its many service desks. In reality ICCM’s offering gave much more than this. Bytes soon realised the e-Service Desk solution offered a return on investment far beyond its original remit.

The solution has enabled Bytes to implement value added services and differentiate itself from key competitors in seven key ways:
• total transparency of service;
• bespoke client support;
• proactive support and disaster avoidance;
• business continuity;
• bespoke SLA agreement levels;
• consolidated view of data and third party information; and
• the use of a portal to up-sell products and services.

By using the solution to its full advantage the company is offering improvements in its service and product portfolios and creating new business opportunities. As a result Bytes will be turning the client support function into a revenue-generating unit, rather than just cost-centre.

This has been achieved by allowing recognition of non-billable calls to billable calls. Anecdotally, the team has found that for larger customers, requests would be generated through the service desk. Previously, requests were undertaken without question because the particular customer was important. The priority for the service team was to keep the customer rather than ensuring the request was justified and could be completed within the service level agreement. Now, each request is logged and, by implementing this process, the revenue opportunities have been identified.

The entrepreneurial spirit of the organisation has also shown through during the process of moving from a cost centre to a profit centre – the business managers are now identifying new opportunities to generate additional revenue streams from the business intelligence obtained through ICCM.

A Return On Investment
Whilst Bytes has seen a return on investment beyond its initial expectations, the hidden gems of the e-Service Desk solution are central to Bytes’ key consideration during its purchasing decision: value.

Fraser says, “ICCM is a beautiful fit; we can literally change almost any parameter and it adapts accordingly, due to the operational platform based on Business Process Management. And it’s not just about delivering service management process deployment, it enables us to demonstrate clear operational business value, efficiency and return on investment. Without a doubt, this is the most effective solution I have ever worked with.”

“Many companies make claims in the market about their solutions but ICCM has propelled our service management, a core business process management function that delivers full business technology integration in line with our requirements and objectives. We’ve benefited enormously across every single business unit.”

James Gay, Director, Sales & Marketing for ICCM explained; “ICCM is delighted to receive the news that we have won this award. The prestige that comes with this announcement acknowledges the growth that ICCM has experienced over the past few years. ICCM has beaten World Leaders in the
IT Service Management field with huge investment into our product from many global brands, including, Tesco, BBC Worldwide, Qualcomm, DHL and The British Transport Police.

The Wiltshire Business of the Year Awards recognises companies that have demonstrated outstanding level of business excellence in their particular Award category. Previous winners range from very small companies with just a few employees to large multinational corporations with thousands of staff.

ICCM’s Innovation has resulted in our Growth:
Jason Gardiner, ICCM’s Technical Director Comments: “Companies are looking for a software solution that offers great Return on Investment and also solutions that do not require a huge amount of effort to tailor to their requirements and maintain.” Jason continues: Our revolutionary process based solution offers improvements in returns and efficiencies that are leaps ahead of technology offered by other stock vendors, which is exactly why companies such as Tesco have selected us.”

London, Baltimore, Cincinnati, April 13th, 2010 – ICCM Solutions, a globally recognized IT Service Management software company has been named in the 2010 Gartner ‘Cool Vendor in BPM’ report. Gartner, Inc., is among the world’s leading information technology research and advisory companies. The report, written by Michele Cantara, Vice President in Gartner Research, identifies Vendors who are innovative, impactful and intriguing.

James Gay, Director, Sales & Marketing for ICCM explained; “The Gartner Report is renowned for its independent opinions and recognition of cool vendors. The fact that ICCM is acknowledged as a ‘Cool Vendor’ in this report makes us particularly proud. We believe it reconfirms the benefits to our very unique approach to Service Management in what is an especially crowded market.”

James Gay continues: “We feel the report allows companies to stay ahead of the IT technology curve by examining pioneering technologies that enable great business and investment opportunities. With this information companies can make more informed strategic business decisions to provide a competitive advantage thereby ensuring market leadership. ICCM’s customers including: Tesco, BBC Worldwide, Qualcomm, DHL and The British Transport Police are already realizing these competitive
advantages by delivering more value from their IT Service Management initiative.”

ICCM’s e-Service Desk has been recognized under the BPM report thanks in part to its underpinning Metastorm® BPM platform, which is also recognized by Gartner in the Leaders Quadrant of the Business Process Analysis Tools2 and other industry analysts as a leading process improvement platform. e-Service Desk seamlessly enables continual improvements in process efficiencies that are leaps ahead of applications offered by the other stock vendors, as it allows IT Service Management
processes to be mapped in alignment with business goals and objectives. These processes can be quickly and effectively modified internally as needed, assuring they are an exact fit with other in-house business systems.

According to Gartner, “Organizations should consider a BPMS-based ITSM solution in the following situations:

• An end-to-end view of ITSM processes across multiple pre-existing ITSM solutions is needed
• Service-level objectives (SLOs) for IT processes need to be directly linked to business process key performance indicators (KPIs)
• processes change frequently or need to be continuously improved
• process models, rule sets, user interfaces and dashboards need to be easily customizable
• When “To be” processes need to be simulated prior to deployment”

About Gartner’s Cool Vendors Selection Process Gartner’s listing does not constitute an exhaustive list of vendors in any given technology area, but
rather is designed to highlight interesting, new and innovative vendors, products and services. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness of a particular purpose. Gartner defines a cool vendor as a company that offers technologies or solutions that are: Innovative, enable users to do things they couldn’t do before; Impactful, have, or will have, business impact (not just technology for the sake of technology); Intriguing, have caught Gartner’s interest or curiosity in
approximately the past six months.

About Gartner’s Magic Quadrant
The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2010 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner’s analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the “Leaders” quadrant.
The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

 The report that was produced by Stephen Mann, Senior Analyst for OVUM states that: “ICCM, through the use of BPM, differentiates itself from the ITSM vendor pack with a solution that delivers the required functionality with the additional benefits of BPM.  Mann continues: and, in Ovum’s opinion, this will stand it well in what is now an overpopulated ITSM tool market.”

 Mann further explains: “ICCM’s ITSM software portfolio delivers against all of the core ITIL v3 processes (with flexibility based on customer need), and should be considered by any organisation, from mid-sized SMEs upwards, seeking to meet corporate requirements for an ITSM-enabling tool.

 James Gay, Director, Sales & Marketing for ICCM explained; “This independent audit confirms that ICCM adds a unique approach to the ITSM product landscape in that it leverages the capabilities and functionality of BPM technology to provide unrivalled flexibility and agility, with customers achieving rapid deployment times simply not capable with other established ITSM toolsets”.

 ICCM has already beaten World Leaders in the IT Service Management field with investment into our product from many global brands, including, Tesco, BBC Worldwide, Qualcomm, DHL and The British Transport Police to name a few.

 About OVUM Butler Group

OVUM is a resolutely independent advisory organisation, combining the ICT expertise of Datamonitor Technology, Butler Group and Ovum Tech, with Datamonitor Group’s 350 business analysts and relationships with 18 of the largest 20 global corporations; and, is uniquely positioned to provide practical advice to the technology, telecoms and other business sectors. OVUM’s clients have access to research and support from best-in-class analyst and consulting teams, turning analysis and insight into action. Research and advisory services make clients’ planning more effective, and help them to identify and assess relevant business opportunities. OVUM doesn’t just advise its clients, it collaborates with them to help them exploit these opportunities and to turn them into business results. At the heart of OVUM’s approach is its mission to help, to be approachable, responsive and focused on clients’ business issues, and to provide pragmatic and actionable advice and recommendations.

 About ICCM

Extraordinary Service Desk Software created within the Leading Process Improvement Architecture

ICCM’s core objective is to provide revolutionary software and superior services to organisations aspiring to Best Practice Service Management. Rather than the legacy “application development” driven approach that many vendors in the market have adopted, ICCM’s forward-thinking approach blends their first-class ITIL® aligned Service Desk tool with the functionality of business technology in the form of Metastorm BPM®. This collaboration delivers unparalleled Service Management capabilities across all industries and business functions in almost every geographical region.

You can download the full report from here; http://is.gd/5xdHx

The conference runs from 20^th – 23^rd September, 2009.  It will be held in Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, Dallas, TX, USA.  ICCM will be exhibiting at booth 1921.

For more information, click here

This short video clip shows how ICCM e-Service Desk is leveraged through Microsoft Sharepoint, as well as the integration available to Microsoft Office through smart-text binding and the MS office ribbon bar capability.  Yes, you could completely operate e-Service Desk through Sharepoint, thanks to its use of webparts technology for it’s interface.  Other integrations;

• Tasks resulting from process orchestration can be revealed through Microsoft Outlook.
• Planned Service Outage calendars can be shared through Outlook.
• Microsoft Word and Excel documents can be linked to folders within e-Service Desk (folders are Incidents, Changes, Problems, etc).

Microsoft Integration Demonstration

This short video clip shows how ICCM e-Service Desk is leveraged through Microsoft Sharepoint, as well as the integration available to Microsoft Office through smart-text binding and the MS office ribbon bar capability.  Yes, you could completely operate e-Service Desk through Sharepoint, thanks to its use of webparts technology for it’s interface.  Other integrations;

• Tasks resulting from process orchestration can be revealed through Microsoft Outlook.
• Planned Service Outage calendars can be shared through Outlook.
• Microsoft Word and Excel documents can be linked to folders within e-Service Desk (folders are Incidents, Changes, Problems, etc).

Microsoft Integration Demonstration

Yet here in the United States, customers still take the traditional “application specific requirements approach” to RFP’s and solicitations, comparing e-Service Desk on a functionality basis to other “vertical” ITSM solutions on a requirement by requirement basis.  While this approach is fine, and we are more than happy to engage that way if that is what is required; if these customers considered for just a moment, what BPM technology provides to any business process, including those defined by the ITIL framework, they would quickly realize any process requirement can be met out of the box, or through process design, as that is exactly what BPM was created to do. 

I have outlined below some of the key differences between traditionally developed (from the ground up) IT Service Management applications, and BPM based IT Service Management solutions, whether purchased from a vendor such as ICCM, or developed in-house with current BPM technologies such as Metastorm and other BPM solutions;

1. A BPM based Service Management is not “hard walled” and limited to original process scope.  Traditional IT Service Management solutions are confined to the processes and “process modules” included or purchased, often times “digitized” in multiple technology platforms that are loosely integrated through complex integration mechanisms.  Conversely, a BPM Service Management solution provides the infrastructure for an organization to add customer (or bespoke) processes, beyond those defined by ITIL v3.  And these new, custom processes are as easily integrated into the ITIL processes, and measured in the same form and fashion.
2. A BPM Service Management solution is driven by a graphical process model from start to finish rather than manually “coded” to support a process requirements specification.  Traditional IT Service Management solutions may try to implement processes from models and may use UML models for requirements definition, but the solution is “developed” or “customized” to support the process requirements.  A human being (typically referred to as a developer) must convert the model or requirements specification into code or configuration settings to “imitate” the process.  BPM allows for models used for documentation, to be used for defining how the application executes.
3. A BPM Service Management solution inherently is self-documenting.  Traditional IT Service Management solutions may provide some documentation, but many, including the “leaders” in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, require extensive manual documentation effort.  The resulting documentation almost always ‘atrophies’ over time as the application is modified.
4. A BPM Service Management solution inherently provides “workflow” as a means of controlling application.  BPM is essentially a superset of workflow, taking traditional workflow technology way beyond and incorporating integration, roles, forms, attachments, handshakes, timings, etc as part of the workflow.  Traditional IT Service Management solutions may provide embedded workflow within specific hard-walled processes, and are typically used for status or field control.
5. A BPM Service Management solution is an integrating platform by nature.  BPM technology was developed many years back to solve a specific business problem; managing and optimizing business processes that thread though a number of heterogeneous systems.  Why train users on six different interfaces for systems that do not measure the overall business process?  Isn’t it more optimal to leverage one technology to provide a single interface, controls and measure the handshakes and transitions among the systems, and provides the necessary process foundation for making any kind of improvements.  This heritage of BPM is not lost in today’s BPM technologies, which make integration to virtually any system “out of the box”, cost effective and easy.  The only hard and fast requirement is that you understand the process.  Traditional IT Service Management solutions typically require integration products and projects, which in some cases are as elaborate as the implementation of the solution themselves.  And because they lack the overall process awareness, they typically are not capturing the necessary process data to do any kind of process improvement.
6. A BPM Service Management solution provides a “process orchestration engine” sometimes referred to as an Enterprise Orchestration Engine (EOE) that can be leveraged for other processes, not just IT Service Management processes.  Customers have the option of implementing BPM tactically or strategically.  With a tactical implementation, the Service Management solution is essentially identical to traditional IT Service Management solutions in that the technology is only orchestrating ITSM processes.  However, with a strategic implementation, IT Service Management can be the first of many business processes to be implemented and can become the foundation on which to build an Enterprise Orchestration Engine.  A pre-designed solution, based on ITIL v3 best practices, such as ICCM e-Service Desk, can service as not only your Service Management platform and initiation point, but a launch pad for a BPM environment within your environment.
7. A BPM Service Management solution doesn’t require extensive administration, designer or user training.  As BPM technology typically “walks” a user through a process, preventing mistakes and errors, monitoring timings and conditions, the amount of training required for a user is minimal.  Furthermore, with a common interface for any process, as user only needs to understand process specific information, as they will understand navigation almost immediately.  Traditional IT Service Management solutions often times have entirely different interfaces by process, requiring process specific training for both administration and navigation.  A BPM trained administration/designer resource can be leveraged for any process.  Traditional ITSM solutions typically have multiple training curriculum for each process and/or module, and typically at extensive cost.
8. A BPM Service Management solution, depending on the BPM technology, typically incorporates document and forms management. Another by-product of leveraging BPM technology is that it typically supports document or form management, allowing for easy forms modification, document storage, indexing, etc.  Traditional IT Service Management solutions usually can add this capability through third party add-ins, or custom development.
9. A BPM Service Management solution costs significantly less to purchase, maintain, administer, change and support.  The benefits of developing and executing processes within a BPM environment are well known and documented.  See my first blog “Optimizing IT with Business Process Management” (http://tinyurl.com/l9l847) for an outline and reference to this research.  As an ITSM solution provider, we are able to incorporate our experience, customer feedback and improvements to our system in very little time.  This savings is obviously passed along to our customers in that we don’t have to charge for long development, QA, testing cycles, nor do we have to have a large organization to do the design.  Traditional IT Service Management solutions are encumbered by their own legacy application technology.  According to Gartner, this is one of the reasons they cite that there is no innovation in the industry, as it is too expensive and time consuming to “add” capabilities to existing solutions.  So they acquire other companies and solutions from other vendors but the “suite of solutions” still looks like 6 different boxes shrink wrapped together.
10. A BPM Service Management solution results in greater visibility into business metrics and response time to business needs.  BPM technology provides common process architectures, process metrics, performance indicators, audit trails, timings, etc.  Because this architecture can be leveraged into the business, either integrated to existing business systems or as a full business process orchestration solution, visibility and integration into the business is almost inherent in the solution.  Traditional IT Service Management solutions focus just on IT Service Management and often miss opportunities to integrate, at a process level, with business processes important to the business.
11. A BPM Service Management solution provides quick and reliable compliance with regulations and improved communication between business and IT silos.  BPM customers have been able to demonstrate PCI, Sarbanes-Oxley, FDA and other compliance in a very short amount of time.  Evidence required by the control objectives of any compliance framework typically are the result of process execution, which is easily mapped and measured within the BPM environment.  There are plenty of examples available of how customers within and outside of IT Service Management, has been able to demonstrate many forms of compliance, in a very short amount of time, and significantly reduced cost.
12. A BPM Service Management solution provides improved transaction reliability and seamless B2B integration with partners, suppliers.  Thanks to BPM technology integration, measurement, validation, and auditing, it is almost impossible to miss transitions or drop information.  Typical “objects” within BPM technology contains various mechanisms to ensure that the objects flow through the process with measurement and assurance.  Traditional IT Service Management solutions typically provide “records” which can be lost and modified to bypass process orchestration.
13. BPM Technology and Architecture lends itself to several flexible pricing models.  BPM based ITSM solutions are inherently “web 2.0″ and require little to no modification to a customers clients or systems.  This architecture lends itself tremendously to some very flexible pricing structures, making the solutions even more affordable to a customer.  This includes Software as a Service (SAAS), Application Service Provider (ASP) as well as Subscription and Traditional licensing models.
14. A BPM Service Management solution can be implemented “in whole” or modularly, depending on the existing systems and processes of a customer.  Traditional ITSM solutions tend to “fall down” if part of their process is contained in outside systems.  A BPM solution, thanks to the integration architecture, process focus and measurement, and flexibility, allows for a BPM based ITSM solution to be implemented modularly, or completely, depending on the customers needs.

Other smaller differences that customers make comments about;

• Less mouse clicks to get through a process
• Web Client and web interface, no client installation or configuration
• Integration to outside tools

It’s time for the ITSM industry to recognize a new and proven approach to process execution, one that provides;

• Process Focus: eService Desk is designed with process in mind first, not as an afterthought
• Process Creation: You have the ability to design and orchestrate specific processes to your organization, as extensions to e-Service Desk completely stand-alone.
• Ease of Administration: Process Owners have ability to configure the system without the need of specialized technical resources
• Low Cost of Acquisition, Rapid Implementation Time , and Minimal Support Requirements and a Considerably Low Cost of Ownership
• Microsoft Integration: SharePoint workflow/attachment, Office Plug-ins, Tasks and Calendars in Outlook.

All it takes is a demonstration to see what this is all about!  For a complete set of “Frequently asked questions (FAQ’s)” about e-Service Desk, download our FAQ document; http://tinyurl.com/dj9zmz

Obviously, I found that the solution I currently represent, ICCM e-Service Desk, to be an extraordinary and compelling means of process orchestration.  However, prior to joining the “dark side”, I had been working on business process modeling, architecture modeling, and model driven orchestration of process underpinning applications for a number of years, and e-Service Desk approached that capability, especially around IT Service Management.  But it’s more than that. 

I have watched, observed and read about so many failures around IT Service Management and believe there has to be a better way.  I have a genuine concern that ITIL/ITSM could become a flash in the pan if it doesn’t start showing more demonstrable successes than failures.  I wrote in my last blog entry “Why ITSM programs fail” (http://tr.im/nTYb) highlighting many of the reasons ITSM programs fail, or do wonderful things, but fail to achieve the objectives that they were started for in the first place.  I think part of this is because people in IT expect non-traditional results from traditional approaches.

Over the past twenty years, I have written RFP’s, responded to RFP’s, met with many ITSM vendors, delivered a good many ITSM projects (people, process and technology) and implemented a good number of ITSM solutions.  I have found some fairly common characteristics in how customers and vendors interact- which leads to me writing this blog entry. I thought I would offer some basic information, suggestions and guidance that may help you in selecting the appropriate solution to address your ITSM program needs, and avoid the failures.

Some of the key tenants…

• “Don’t trust your ITSM vendor…” .. There, I said it.  Don’t trust me, don’t trust HP, BMC, Service-Now, CA, Frontrange, EMC, or any other vendor.  Start with that, and you will be on your way.  Yes, this makes the RFP process very difficult because you don’t know if the information is truthful.  Here’s some insider information; While ICCM doesn’t practice this, other traditional software vendors will answer “yes” to all the questions on your RFP response in hopes to get to the “next stage”.  Once there plan on a “kabuki dance” around those requirements that they don’t entirely meet.  At this point, they usually try to convince you out of your requirement, or propose a costly and complex solution that they hope never is realized.  Guidance: Obviously, trust should be earned, not something given because of brand name or stature.
• Pink Elephant or OGC Certification Only speaks to effectiveness – None of the certifications I have seen so far test anything other than process effectiveness.  If two solutions orchestrate Incident management identically, but the second cost 10 times as much and requires three times the resources, they will still be seen as equivalents.  The certifications do not factor in cost of ownership, complexity, etc.
• Check References – I worked with one of the larger ITSM software companies on the planet.  We had a great many references but rarely did we have any contact information, quotes/comments, from the specific customers.  Sales would often use customer comments and quotes from other products or services out of context.  Guidance: If it were me talking to ITSM software vendors, I would not only check references but ask very specific and direct questions of their customers (examples that I will provide below).
• Look beyond Waves and Quadrants.  This was a great webinar title conducted by Third Sky a few months back.  They made some very good observations about the IT think tanks.  Gartner and Forrester do highlight very well, the issues with the industry, but do very little, in my opinion, to drive and support innovation and new approaches.  They wonder why the industry hasn’t advanced – could it be because they continue to recommend the 800lb solutions as “leaders”?  Most of the information they provide are lagging indicators (looking in the rear view mirror), vs. leading indicators (looking to the future).  Guidance: Use the Gartner and Forrester research as a data point, not philosophy.  It’s interesting but not significant.  I don’t think even Gartner analysts expect you to consider their research infallible and it should be used in context.
• Request a Trial/Proof of Concept – I think this is the single best way to differentiate solutions.  An RFP provides a static, two dimensional, myopic view which as I stated before, may not be honestly responded to.  The state of modern technology and software should allow for quick “Try it before you buy it” scenarios and use cases.
  • If you don’t have the time to invest in understanding “What’s behind the curtain”, I wouldn’t invest anything at all in any solution.  If you do select a solution that doesn’t pass the tests of efficiency, you may be spending a lot of time (usually billable to a consultant) figuring out how to make what’s behind the curtain work for you.
  • If the software vendor doesn’t have the time to invest in you as a customer, they either aren’t interested in your business, or they have something they would rather you not see before you purchase.

Since RFP’s tend to be process/technology specific, and vendors can dance around the responses, I thought I would provide structural/context questions to ask any ITSM vendor, rather than drill them on requirements.  Their responses, but more importantly how they respond should be noted.  Hopefully, these questions allow you to answer most of your specific RFP/Requirements yourself.  Since we are talking about process solutions, I have included questions about effectiveness, efficiency, usability, and administration/maintenance. 

With regard to all these questions, it is important to note they are subjective, requiring elaboration – a simple yes/no will not suffice.  And if you get yes/no, follow it up with “How?”.

1. What is the “Design Basis” of your solution? In other words, can I see the process and/or architectural documentation, which drove the out of the box configuration?  This way you can determine how much gap exists between your processes and the solution processes.
2. Can your solution be used “Out of the box”?  This means, other than linking it into your people, locations, roles, etc, can the solution be used “as is”?  Many customers anymore want to take a more “Adopt and go” strategy as their current processes aren’t well documented and managed.
3. Are customers using it like this?  Can we speak to them?  Very important to understand what it means to use “Out of the box”.
4. Can your technology efficiently be used for purposes other than that of IT Service Management?  In other words, can I use it strategically with my business, vs. tactically, just within IT?  Does your solution support other processes I define without “major effort”, or do I need to adopt your processes as my design basis?  (Major effort meaning I will need to hire consultants to make it work)?
5. Does your solution orchestrate processes I need in the near term AND long term on my roadmap, or is it just geared at the processes I am looking to implement in the next six to twelve months?  Consider your ITSM roadmap and what processes you hope to implement and by when.  This will keep you from optimizing near term processes and sub-optimizing far term processes.
6. Does your solution provide a consistent set of metrics and measurement around process execution?  For example, can I easily determine lead times, wait times, queuing, etc.  Metrics needed for process optimization.
7. What is the reporting capabilities available from the solution and what reporting will have to be obtained from third parties?
8. How am I be able to perform process improvement activities efficiently?  Where do I get the data?  Will it be leading or lagging indicators? 
9. How many process improvement engineers will be needed to be able to perform any analysis across a number of processes?
10. How does your solution provide a means of version/source control from a process perspective?  Can I move “processes” around as a single object?
11. Does your solution have a common look and feel across all processes?  How much will my users have to train on different modules or components or can I train them once?
12. Does your system integrate to my common desktop tools such as Microsoft Office, Excel, and Word?  For example, can I link documents to objects in the ITSM database?  What options are available to integrate to SharePoint?
13. How much does your solution walk me through a process, vs. how much do my users have to know in order to get through the process?  This is probably an effectiveness question as well.
14. What technology add-ons will my users need on their desktops or laptops to utilize your solution?
15. Change Management is always an intensive process.  How many key clicks, mouse clicks, forms and data elements are included in getting an RFC from start to finish?
16. How many Administration resources will be needed to implement your solution? How many to support and operate it ongoing?  Are the fully loaded, or can they be shared in other areas of my organization/business?
17. When a major or minor release comes out, how much of my process design basis will be affected?
18. Can my “Configuration” be moved and provided via SAAS/ASP or vice versa?  How difficult is it to move my specific configuration (design basis) and data between environments?

There are many examples of where ITSM projects fail to fulfill the objectives set forth.  There are plenty of reasons why this happens;

1. Goals and Objectives aren’t defined ahead of time.
2. ITIL for ITIL’s Sake
3. Process Only Focus – Processes are defined that cannot be executed within the given (or standard) software
4. Technology Only Focus – Misplaced trust/expectations in the software vendor that a single process design basis drives the way the tool functions
5. Missed Management of Change or Organizational Change Management
6. Failure to define what “success” is or knowing “we have arrived”

 Other than #2, these are reasons that many IT programs and projects fail.

I would argue that these are symptoms of a larger issue that plagues many in the Information Technology organization.  ITIL is about running IT “like a business”.  This presumes a profit/loss mentality, managing expenses, and being measured real time and managing to that.  Unfortunately for many in IT, they have never actually operated a business before.  They have not had to “make payroll” this month.  They have not had to deal with the up and down business cycles.

Historically, IT has been a safe place to be regardless of economic or business conditions, and waste can abound without being noticed.  Only until recently, has there been real pressure to focus and measure IT.  The number of IT Service Management consultants now looking for work is a testiment to the fact that ITIL is no longer a blank check or guarantee of success.  It still requires smart, intelligent, data based decision making on the part of those desiring the end results (and actually defining those end results in business terms ie. contribution to the bottom line).  In organizations where making a profit is not criteria for success, efficiencies that drive down the cost of operations and drive up operational revenue are foreign concepts (gov’t, IT, etc).  This is why there is often so much waste in government—“what gets measured gets done”, and the profitability or efficiency of operations (they are the same thing) doesn’t get measured.  In private enterprise (like business units) you literally don’t exist without profit; therefore, survival is predicated on constant attention to costs and revenue and efficiency.

As long as IT is a cost center – this divide will continue to exist, and finding efficiences to drive down costs of operations or increasing operational revenue will be as foreign to IT as the fundamentals of private enterprise.  As long as the same urgency for profit is absent in IT, I don’t expect IT business alignment to happen overnight.

When you start a business, you define what your product or service is, who are the customers, what is the marketplace, and THEN focus on support and returns.  This is standard Supply Chain best practices (Supply chain council), but IT typically implements this business model in reverse (starting with Incident and problem management). 

My suggestions on how to think about and approach things differently and with a business (profit) focus;

1. Define Business goals and drivers, linking principles to be realized to those goals and drivers – assessment!   Make sure these principles align closely with your business partners.
2. Start with defining your customers and the services you provide to them.  For anything else that doesn’t have a direct or indirect customer, ask “What value is this bringing to my business?”
3. Do NOT label it your “ITIL project”.  It’s your improvement, quality, or efficiency program, brand it accordingly…  ITIL is simply an input and set of books. Don’t make it about ITIL.
4. Make sure process and technology teams are aligned and incorporated.  Their success criteria should be highly coupled (they both succeed or fail together).
5. Remember “Organizational Change Management” (OCM).  Process and technology, especially when there is a considerable “People” component to it, often succeeds or fail because of OCM.
6. Select process and service supporting technology that not only supports Incident and Problem management (those are “return” processes of a business supply chain, and not what a normal business would start with), but also provides the service design, transition, and improvement processes as well.  Most important; with a focus on efficiency ie – not a lot of different products bundled, doesn’t require a PHD to implement, doesn’t require a ton of time to implement, etc.

It’s really not that hard – but the answers aren’t always in a chapter of the ITIL books.  The answers are all over the Internet, taught at most business schools, and most likely someone in your organization already has these fundamentals down, or you wouldn’t be in business to begin with.