ITIL Implementation - Where Are We Today?

Implementing ITIL roadmaps and the core OGC texts all stress the importance of creating the Vision and then understanding 'Where Are We Today?'

This generates the gap. Here is a picture of a gap.

As you can see it depends totally on the size (and ambition) of your vision and the position of where you are today. The difference being the actual 'gap.

From working with many clients - it's clear that there is a cloudy picture of the 'today' position in many cases. Senior executives are often surprised (even shocked!) to uncover the precise nature of the today position.

Clarifying the 'today' position is also key to establishing the baseline from where you are moving forward from. It's your over-arching baseline date. It's historic in the sense that this is where you started from when you look back in years to come.

In my view a detailed understanding of the today position demands much more management attention, thought and focus.

Correctly documenting your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats will assist you (like you wouldn't believe) as you go about beginning and advancing your ITIL implementation strategy. The key tool that has been used for decades now is the SWOT analysis.

To help you perhaps revisit the good old SWOT analysis tool - I have put together some memory jogger slides that don't just give you a basic template to adapt for your own organization - but actually illustrate some key points:-

• Separate SWOTs should be integrated to form the complete picture
• Your 'one version of the truth' should be people centric
• Effort is required to generate the integrated picture - but there is great payback!

To complete the slide deck I have included four additional sources of information:-

• Link to Business Balls.com - Great for learning much more about SWOTs!
• Links to two interesting background articles/papers
• Link to www.ITServiceToday.com for the Top 10 SWOT searches, in ITIL context

Download the slide deck here...

Download PresentingtheNewITIL.ppt

All this should help to (re)establish the good old SWOT analysis tool within your kitbag of Implementation Techniques.

Now - what else can you SWOT?

Comments

[JohnWorthington]

Couldn't agree more. Considering ITSM should be a never ending journey, being deliberate at the beginning is a basic step. Many customers do not do formal stakeholder analysis, SWOT analysis, and even service targeting; preferring to jump right into 'process improvement' activities. This often results in tool-driven implementations and/or re-starting the initiative somewhere down the road.

In addition, fundamental to quality is ongoing analysis and feedback so these activities should be re-visited as a normal part of the quality program.