Implementing IT Infrastructure Library best practices

Dawn Sawyer
IS operations manager, GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, Dallas

Nearly everyone is so nice in our company that if we missed a service level, there was no repercussion. And I couldn't get them to negotiate something competitive. It was OK [with them] if the network was down for 10 minutes - but I know that doesn't improve business value.

Instead of reinventing the wheel, we went with ITIL . . . to make IT an integral part of the business. Without ITIL, if you are not perceived as something the business needs to make money, you are the person everyone loves to hate. Then you're open to outsourcing and I didn't want to go there. I wanted to be proactive.

In the past, if there was downtime with the processes - for instance, the public address book in Microsoft Outlook - we wouldn't have reported that. We now say, "Here are the financial repercussions and the inconvenience it cost." In other organizations there might be a backlash, but senior management sees our willingness to point out our own mistakes and get better.

This has been a three-year project for us. We've seen a distinct return on investment. The thing people forget is that ITIL doesn't end - it's a continuous process.

- As told to Sandra Gittlen

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