Senior Editor Denise Dubie guides you through the latest developments in management tools and services.
Most IT organizations are working to put the days of firefighting and ad hoc processes behind them by adopting some type of IT service management strategy. And recent news around the economy could accelerate companies' adoption of best practices around IT service delivery, research shows.
Recently IDC conducted a survey of some 600 IT organizations at companies with 1,000 employees or more worldwide to learn more about the issues surrounding adopting formal IT service management processes, such as those that are laid out in the best practice framework ITIL Version 3. HP sponsored the study which found that a majority of those polled see reduced IT costs as a potential outcome of implementing ITIL.
When asked to select from a list of expected business benefits, 46.9% of respondents in the Americas selected "lower IT asset costs." "Improved business unit capabilities" and "lower IT operational costs" tied with 45.8% of those respondents expecting to achieve those outcomes after standardizing on the best practice framework. According to the IDC/HP research, more than one-quarter of organizations in the Americas surveyed are already implementing ITIL and over 60% indicated they plan to bring the best practices in house within the next one to six months.
ITIL plans center around a few key areas for IT organizations in the Americas, IDC says. To start, IT executives and managers in the Americas identified their main challenge in 2008 as "aligning IT with the business." Yet those plans are closely tied with "cost and budget concerns," the IDC research paper reads. While Europe had fewer ITIL adoption plans, that region was also focused on addressing cost and budget concerns as well as end-user service and support. In Asia/Pacific, the IDC/HP survey found that cost and budget concerns were the top priority for IT organizations.
"ITIL adoption may be stronger in the Americans and Asia/Pacific than in Europe because IT managers feel that without the strong tires forced by ITIL between the business unit and IT, IT becomes less relevant and therefore easier to eliminate through layoffs," the research report reads.
Denise Dubie is senior editor with Network World.
Partner Content
www.netscout.com
VOIP OPTIMIZATION
Optimize and assure the delivery of Voice over IP services with a superior packet based management platform that delivers unified views and analysis of voice, video and data traffic.
Download Technical Note
VIRTUALIZATION SIMPLIFIED
Industry analyst Jim Metzler helps identify how to overcome the challenges of managing virtualized server environments in this in-depth whitepaper.
Download the Whitepaper
Managing Modern IP Networks
Industry expert Nate Kalowski discusses the best practice approach of a Performance Assurance Layer (PAL), built in an ITIL framework, as a means to speed problem resolution and enable high quality QoS.
Download the Whitepaper