Comments on: ITIL: Part of Your 2009 Managed Services Strategy? http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/10/08/itil-part-of-your-2009-managed-services-strategy/ Managed Services & Cloud Services Blog for VARs & MSPs Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:25:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: toddsw http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/10/08/itil-part-of-your-2009-managed-services-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-27976 toddsw Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:32:56 +0000 http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/10/08/itil-part-of-your-2009-managed-services-strategy/#comment-27976 Unfortunately, I have lived through a very rigid ITIL / MOF implementation. From this I learned that the folks who actually support the customers and do the day to day operations must be intimately invovled AND heard when they have opinions about the various procedures being created. In this case, the compliance guys went a bit crazy and used the MOF (Microsoft Operations Framework) as their template, thus forcing everything through that prism of best practices MS published (intended for single enterprises, not an MSP. good concepts, but they must be adapted to an MSP, ours weren't). Throw in a little ITIL certification with a lack of knowledge about how an MSP supports its customers and you have a recipe for problems. It looks great on paper (over 700 pages thus far), but absolutely kills productivity at the expense of following the processes. Unfortunately, I have lived through a very rigid ITIL / MOF implementation. From this I learned that the folks who actually support the customers and do the day to day operations must be intimately invovled AND heard when they have opinions about the various procedures being created. In this case, the compliance guys went a bit crazy and used the MOF (Microsoft Operations Framework) as their template, thus forcing everything through that prism of best practices MS published (intended for single enterprises, not an MSP. good concepts, but they must be adapted to an MSP, ours weren’t). Throw in a little ITIL certification with a lack of knowledge about how an MSP supports its customers and you have a recipe for problems. It looks great on paper (over 700 pages thus far), but absolutely kills productivity at the expense of following the processes.

]]> By: Joe Panettieri http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/10/08/itil-part-of-your-2009-managed-services-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-27850 Joe Panettieri Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:16:39 +0000 http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/10/08/itil-part-of-your-2009-managed-services-strategy/#comment-27850 Lane: Your comment about "common sense" caught my attention. You are right, best practices like ITIL remind us of common sense approaches. It's simple but important. Imagine if the government AND mortgage lenders referred to common sense best practices for financial lending over the last decade. We would have largely avoided today's economic problems. Lane: Your comment about “common sense” caught my attention. You are right, best practices like ITIL remind us of common sense approaches. It’s simple but important. Imagine if the government AND mortgage lenders referred to common sense best practices for financial lending over the last decade. We would have largely avoided today’s economic problems.

]]> By: Lane Smith http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/10/08/itil-part-of-your-2009-managed-services-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-27843 Lane Smith Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:07:13 +0000 http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/10/08/itil-part-of-your-2009-managed-services-strategy/#comment-27843 I think that as people look into ITIL they will find that it really is just based on common sense practices and is not as complicated as one might think. The two areas that are very relevent to an MSP are the Service Support and Service Delivery concepts, I listed them below along with how an MSP would address them: <b>Service Support</b> Incident Management – IT Service Management Suite Problem Management – IT Service Management Suite Configuration Management – IT Service Management Suite Change Management – IT Service Management Suite Release Management – IT Service Management Suite Service Desk – Your NOC and Help Desk teams <b>Service Delivery</b> Service Level Management – IT Service Management Suite Financial Management for IT Services – The MSP (QBR) Capacity Management – Remote Monitoring and Management Tool Availability Management - Remote Monitoring and Management Tool IT Service Continuity Management – Process & backup tools Just implementing the Incident, Configuration and Change mangement processes are going to greatly increase your efficiencies as an MSP. Also a great side effect of adpoting this sort of IT Management is that it really aligns with many of the compliance requirements out there such as HIPPA, SOX, GLBA, etc. We have found that many of our customers with these requirements easily comply as a result of how we run their IT departments through these ITIL processes. I think that as people look into ITIL they will find that it really is just based on common sense practices and is not as complicated as one might think.

The two areas that are very relevent to an MSP are the Service Support and Service Delivery concepts, I listed them below along with how an MSP would address them:

Service Support
Incident Management – IT Service Management Suite
Problem Management – IT Service Management Suite
Configuration Management – IT Service Management Suite
Change Management – IT Service Management Suite
Release Management – IT Service Management Suite
Service Desk – Your NOC and Help Desk teams

Service Delivery

Service Level Management – IT Service Management Suite
Financial Management for IT Services – The MSP (QBR)
Capacity Management – Remote Monitoring and Management Tool
Availability Management – Remote Monitoring and Management Tool
IT Service Continuity Management – Process & backup tools

Just implementing the Incident, Configuration and Change mangement processes are going to greatly increase your efficiencies as an MSP.

Also a great side effect of adpoting this sort of IT Management is that it really aligns with many of the compliance requirements out there such as HIPPA, SOX, GLBA, etc. We have found that many of our customers with these requirements easily comply as a result of how we run their IT departments through these ITIL processes.

]]> By: Jesse Kliza http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/10/08/itil-part-of-your-2009-managed-services-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-27840 Jesse Kliza Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:44:06 +0000 http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/10/08/itil-part-of-your-2009-managed-services-strategy/#comment-27840 Hi Joe, We are also big believers in ITIL at Autotask. We have individuals on staff that are have their ITIL certifications, and many of our professional service offerings focus on ITIL best practices. In addition, both Autotask Pro and Go! are becoming more and more aligned with ITIL. For instance, our most recent update included a massive overhaul of our Service Level Management functionality, which we've gotten rave reviews for thus far. Just like in the enterprise/internal IT space, it's important to keep in mind that they are a best practices framework, not a rigid set of rules that MUST be strictly adhered to. Over the years large organizations have sunk massive amounts of money trying to meet every aspect of ITIL to the t, yet they've never been able to realize the benefits because they've been too busy trying to "comply". Those that have been the most successful are the ones that have looked at ITIL as a framework, and then focused on realizing the tangible benefits it can provide to their business. Hi Joe,

We are also big believers in ITIL at Autotask. We have individuals on staff that are have their ITIL certifications, and many of our professional service offerings focus on ITIL best practices.

In addition, both Autotask Pro and Go! are becoming more and more aligned with ITIL. For instance, our most recent update included a massive overhaul of our Service Level Management functionality, which we’ve gotten rave reviews for thus far.

Just like in the enterprise/internal IT space, it’s important to keep in mind that they are a best practices framework, not a rigid set of rules that MUST be strictly adhered to. Over the years large organizations have sunk massive amounts of money trying to meet every aspect of ITIL to the t, yet they’ve never been able to realize the benefits because they’ve been too busy trying to “comply”. Those that have been the most successful are the ones that have looked at ITIL as a framework, and then focused on realizing the tangible benefits it can provide to their business.

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