CIS3008

ITSM

NSI Service Desk

Executive Summary

The present report provides an overview regarding the importance of IT service management in the organization and related standardisation required so as to ensure benchmark for the IT services required in the organization. The major focus for the report would be to ensure service desk requirements for the IT related infrastructure in NSI and establishing certification related with ISO 20000 so that proper processes and policies required for the IT service management are in place for the organization.

From the below report it has been established that IT service management processes are important part of overall IT infrastructure for the organization and managing IT service desk would enhance customer satisfaction (Rovers and Haren, 2012). It is highly recommended to manage outsourced service desk in the organization so that better focus can be done on the core activities of the organization and cost efficiencies can be established with help of outsourced service desk. Further outsourced service desk in the organization would demand for better control over business function and requirement for higher level of information security in the organization. Also it is recommended for the NSI to obtain ISO 20000 Certification in the IT service management field so as to develop higher level of standardisation for the IT related processes. In addition to standardisation ISO Certification would ensure consistent service delivery for the IT processes and policies.

Part-1 Importance of ITSM at NSI

Explain why is it important for NSI to have effective processes in place to manage IT services.

ITSM for any organization working in business or other domains can be defined as the processes and functionalities which are essential in order to manage the IT infrastructure in the organization. ITSM acts as the oil which is necessary for the wheel of IT machinery implemented in the organization.

§  To implement consistent delivery: For NSI major role for information technology service management is in terms of ensuring the consistent value delivery for the activities performed (Van, 2002). Consistent value delivery not only ensures the delivery process but also would ensure the quality standards which needs to be comply through IT services and processes.

§  Improved quality and efficiency: Aim of ITSM is to enable the IT service through improved quality and efficiency in IT services management. Processes followed for ITSM are business centric and helps in improving quality by close monitoring not only in terms of the delivery but from the business point of view as well (Czegel, 1998).

§  Adding business value: ITSM not only helps in enabling IT services for the NSI but it would help NSI to add business value for the organization. Adding value means that the value addition process in terms of economic as well as strategic benefit as well. In terms of strategic benefit value added would be to enhance customer satisfaction through development of effective IT services in place which would give NSI chance to enhance business revenues as well.

§  Governance for information technology: For any organization IT governance is of prime importance and for NSI which is a premium institute IT governance are of vital importance as these would help in order to manage IT services effectively and creates long term strategic advantage for the organization which can be leveraged upon by the NSI in order to have effective IT services for the students ().

§  Goal alignment: Another major objective of the ITSM is to enable IT infrastructure for the organization with such power that it can be aligned with the business goals set up by the organization. In case any organization has proper processes for IT service management then there can be synchronization among the various business activities and processes which are driven with help of IT processes. Appropriate level of IT service management would enforce reliability among the business processes which are dependent upon the IT services so that business processes have higher level of accuracy with them.

§  Faster problem solving: IT service management processes in place for any organization would help so as to resolve the IT issues at much faster pace in comparison to the organization without ITSM processes (Dugmore, 2006). Further establishing IT services in place would provide entire organization a platform for reporting their issues related with the IT implementation and resolving them. Faster problem resolution would not only help in creating higher level of efficiency in the organization but also would induce the confidence for the human resource working in the organization towards IT processes and policies.

§  Long term strategic strength: Implementing IT services & processes in organization can create long term strategic advantage for the organization but implementation of any new processes in organization would depend upon proper support and infrastructure in place. IT service management processes would allow support for the business team and employees so that any new processes implemented in the organization can survive for longer term without any hurdle being faced by the users of the IT application (Rovers and Haren, 2012). Once the IT services are implemented successfully in the organization then these acts as the source of long term competitive advantage for the organization.

Part-2 Service design

In the current design model of IT service provision at NSI, the service desk function is provided in-house by TAFE employees. Consider the option of outsourcing the service desk. Discuss the roles and responsibilities associated with IT support and the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing the service desk.

Role and responsibility for the IT support function

Presently the IT support function has been provided in house by the TAFE employees for NSI and considering outsourced function for the service desk for NSI there would be various roles and responsibilities which needs to be played by the outsourced IT service team such as the IT champion, service manager, operation manager, business owner, training manager and change manager. Roles would be assigned by to the entire IT service team in order to manage the IT services in effective way so that overall IT processes can be managed effectively and supports the IT infrastructure for the organization.

IT champion role would be assigned to the very senior person having wide experience into information technology and implementation field who have worked with the various organization into their IT department and is well aware of the IT infrastructure of NSI (Clifford, 2008). Entire responsibility for managing IT service part would be on IT champion as entire business functions for service management would be handled directly by the IT champion. IT champion would work as the bridge between the IT service management team in the organization and management of the organization there by inculcating management values into the IT team for the organization.

IT business owner in the organization would be having role as the owner of entire business function where in entire processes related issues would be handled by IT business owner. Another major responsibility for the business owner would be in terms of assessment of business needs for the customers and designing the IT system so as to accomplish the customer’s business needs for the IT solution. Starting from the role of need assessment for the customers, designing systems which can fulfill customer needs and delivering appropriate solution so as to accomplish business goals for the customers would be the major responsibilities for the business owner working in the IT. Business owner would be the major part of the entire business service design and would be held responsible for the value delivery and customer satisfaction enhancement so that overall information technology processes are designed in such a way that business goals can be realigned with the IT system implemented (Czegel, 1998).

Service manager as the name suggest would be the person who would comply with the actual service requirements of the customers related with the IT processes. A service manager would directly act as the bridge between customer and solution provided thereby communicating the service needs of the customers for IT related processes so that business needs for the customers can be included in the service design. Service manager reviews the entire service delivery for the IT related processes and obtain customer feedback on the services and would communicate IT team so that same can be revised and aligned as per the customer’s needs.

Operation manager has the role to deliver on the operational part for the management of IT services. Operation manager handles day to day functioning concerning with the IT service delivery part and ensures that IT services are going as per the decided quality and reliability. Operation manager supervises the entire operation related issues such as IT infrastructure, compatibility for service delivery and other operational delivery issues so that entire service delivery system does not get affected due to the operational issues being encountered in the service delivery of the IT system. Operation managers are liable to review operational performance of the system implemented for delivering IT services and recommend changes in the design of the operational infrastructure so that better service infrastructure can be designed in the organization for quality service delivery system implementation (Hlvey and Melby, 2005).       

Training manager has the role to supervise and fulfill training needs for the staff involved in the IT service delivery process. IT services required in the organization involves human resource through different sphere of people such as technical, non technical and voice staff. It is important to assess the training needs for the staff and arrange proper training for the people involved in the service delivery for the IT related services in the organization. Every now and then there are several modification and additions in the IT services which needs to be communicated to the line team and accordingly users needs to be educated about the changes in the IT systems. Hence training managers are being given responsibility to train people for their technical and non technical expertise so that overall service delivery for the IT system can be made smooth.

Change manager implements the change in the organization which inculcates through change in any IT related system or processes. At initial stage in the organization people take changes with adverse perception and are not ready to understand & work as per the new processes and system. Role of change manager in the organization is to understand the reason for resistance created by users so as to accept the new systems and processes implemented in the organization. Post understanding of the system & processes for which users has resistance, it is the prime responsibility for the change manager to communicate benefits of the current systems to the users so that users can understand benefits of new system and adopt the implementation of new system which is of immense importance for ensuring smooth service delivery and employee benefits as well (Click and Duening, 2004).

Advantages & disadvantages of outsourced service desk

Outsourced service desk for the servicing of IT systems and processes in the organization can have several benefits and limitations in the organization which can be given as below:

Advantages

Advantages of the outsourced service desk include managing human resource; focus on key working areas, cost reduction and managing business risk. Human resource management has become a tuff task in the current age where there is high rate of churn for the IT human resource and outsourcing service desk would allow management of human resource through external agencies for the purpose of service desk and hence would reduced the burden. Another major advantage for NSI through outsourced service desk would be to focus on the key working areas which are the key strength of NSI. Outsourcing service desk function which is not the core function area for NSI would allow them to have deeper focus on their key business strength leaving aside service desk functionality which would be managed through external agencies.

Cost reduction would be the key benefit which NSI would be seeking through outsourced service desk as service desk is not their strength area and there are chances of higher expenses being made by NSI in comparison to the outsourced agency which has expertise into service desk management (Atwell, 2012). Hence through creation of higher level of competition among vendor NSI can reduce their overall cost to manage the service desk. Business risk can be managed by NSI through outsourced service desk as multiple vendors would allow continued services for service desk without any halt being created into the services hence there would be lesser chance of any contingency pertaining to service desk which would avoid risk pertaining to service desk.  

Disadvantages

Major disadvantages of managing outsourced service desk by NSI would include lower control on service desk, issues of confidentiality of data and uncontrolled expenses. By managing outsourced service desk NSI would be having inherent risk for the confidentiality of data being used in the organization. Hence higher level of tracking mechanism would be required to ensure that data security is not at stake which may enhance the cost as well as risk for the organization. Further any business function which is not managed in house by the organization creates the problem of lower control on that business function and similar issue would arise for the NSI as they would not be able to have higher level of control on the service desk which might create problem for them in future. Finally there would be concerns for NSI in terms of the higher level of expenses being levied for management of service desk as monitoring would become a key issue as NSI would have to monitor whether or not outsourced business function working in synchronization with the business goals of the organization (Eric, 2007).

Part-3 ISO/IEC 20000 Certification

NSI is certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 and is now considering ISO/IEC 20000 certification. Ms Christie has asked you to advice on the decision. Provide a brief of why NSI should or should not seek certification for ISO/IEC 20000. Identify the benefits and drawbacks of certification.

In addition to the present certifications i.e. ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 obtained by NSI, they are seeking ISO 20000 certification which is especially for establishing IT service management through international standards. There are sub divisions done for the ISO 20000 certifications which are in terms of the designing part of the service delivery, improvements in service delivery, customer satisfaction enhancement and procedure established for the service management requirements in the organization. Implementation of ISO 20000 certification helps an organization to achieve international standard best practices in terms of the IT service management where in organization is committed towards regular review of the service design and improvement process.

In the first part of ISO 20000-1 which is mainly focused towards review of design for the service management and recommending various improvements in the service design process for the IT infrastructure setup in the organization. ISO 20000-1 has the major objective to create high level service management practice so that customer satisfaction through service management gets enhanced and higher business value can be created through service management function. Role of ISO 20000-2 is to ensure that proper policies and procedure are into place to carry out service management functionality in the organization. Procedure for the service management regarding IT infrastructure in any organization include below mentioned four steps:

o   Collecting knowledge regarding usage of IT services and requirement

o   Implementation of ISO 20000 certification

o   Following best practice as cited into ISO 20000

o   Implementing practices which helps in maintaining certification

Some of the major benefits for having ISO 20000 Certification include consistency in service delivery, international benchmark and synchronization in business goals along with IT services. Implementing ISO 20000 Certification would help in ensuring consistency in the IT service management processes as best practices would be followed for the delivery of IT services required for managing business functionality. Consistency would be in terms of lower contingency, higher level of business support and well managed services. ISO 20000 would establish a benchmark for the organization where in best practices which are followed into the service management domain worldwide would be followed for the management of IT services. Finally ISO 20000 Certification has the business policies and processes which help the organization to align their business goals with the IT service processes being followed in the organization (Malcolm, 2010).      

Limitations of ISO 20000 Certification for NSI would include lower flexibilities in processes, cost inefficiencies and inconsistency with the other ISO certifications. Implementing ISO 20000 would restrict any organization to become flexible in their processes and policies being followed for the service delivery as strict adherence is ensure for the policies which would reduce flexibility in IT processes which are required many a times to manage smooth business operations. Another limitation for NSI would be in terms of cost inefficiencies as gaining ISO 20000 would be a costly affair for the organization as many a business processes and policies would have to be realigned which would require high cost. Finally there would be chances that business processes being followed for ISO 20000 Certification might clash with the existing business processes followed in the ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 availed by the NSI.

Part-4 Conclusion and Recommendations to Managing director

Recommendations

Some of the key recommendations regarding IT service management for NSI can be given as below:

      Looking at the business processes and IT process synchronization in business it can be recommended that NSI has need for the IT service management policies and procedure which should be managed properly to generate effective results in the organization (Sharon and Ivor, 2005).

      Considering benefits and limitations for the outsourced service desk in the organization it can be recommended that NSI should manage outsourced IT service desk so as to save cost and focus on their core strength areas.

      ISO 20000 Certification would provide international standardization for the organization where in processes and policies followed for management of IT function would be rescheduled.

      NSI should give high emphasis to the IT service management processes through inculcating the service management processes into their mission and vision so that employees in the organization can get significance of the IT service management for the organization.

Conclusion

From the present analysis of the IT service management requirements for the NSI it can be concluded that NSI should have outsourced service desk in order to manage its IT service management process. From the discussion of benefits & limitations related with the service desk it can be clearly highlighted that there are numerous benefits for the outsourced service desk management in the organization and it is always advisable to have well managed service desk for the IT services so that consistent service delivery can be ensured in the organization. Further ISO 20000 Certification would prove advantageous for the organization in terms of establishing international standards for the IT service management in the organization where in higher service delivery consistency and lower number of breakdowns would be encountered in the IT services.  

References

§  Van Bon, J. (2002). The guide to IT service management. Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-73792-2.

§  Sharon Taylor and Ivor Macfarlane (2005). ITIL Small Scale Implementation. The Stationery Office. ISBN 0-11-330980-5.

§  Malcolm Fry (2010). ITIL Lite. The Stationery Office. ISBN 97801133121225 

§  Eric J. Feldman (2007). "The Eight Essential Elements of an IT Service Lifecycle". ITSMWatch.com.

§  Atwell Williams (2012). "A Practical Guide to Service and Service Models". BMC Software.

§  Click, R and Duening, T (2004). Business Process Outsourcing: The Competitive Advantage. John Wiley & Sons

§  Hlvey, J and Melby, B (2005) Information Technology Outsourcing Transactions: Process, Strategies, and Contracts. John Wiley & Sons

§  Czegel, B (1998). Running an Effective Help Desk. Wiley, 2nd Ed.

§  Clifford, D (2008). Implementing ISO/IEC 20000 Certification: The Roadmap. Van Haren publishing

§  Rovers, M and Haren, V (2012). ISO/IEC 20000-1:2011: A Pocket Guide. Van Haren Publishing.

§  Dugmore, Jenny (2006). Achieving ISO/IEC 20000 - The Differences Between BS 15000 and ISO/IEC 20000. BSI Group [1]. p. 124.ISBN 0-580-47348-1

CIS3008 ITSM

ITSM 3008

 

CIS3008

North Dakota

Executive summary

Information technology services are of immense importance to the organization and should be managed in such a way that all business functions can run smoothly without leading to any issues pertaining to IT services. In the present context Information technology department of North Dakota has been considered to evaluate the IT related services in the organization. ITSM is one of the key tools for the business organizations in order to manage needs into effective manner and to enhance customer satisfaction level smoothly. ITIL V3 service strategy phase would involve customer relationship, service portfolio management and financial management aspects for ITD of North Dakota. Service design process for the IT service management would include assignment of roles and responsibility and decision making for outsourcing. North Dakota should consider the decision for outsourcing in order to implement low cost IT services in the organizational context. Decision need to be taken for implement of ISO/IEC 20000 certification and looking into perceived benefits for North Dakota it is advisable to implement ISO/IEC 20000 certification.

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction. 3

2.0 Importance of ITSM in North Dakota. 4

3.0 Service strategy- ITIL V3 service strategy phase. 5

4.0 Service design. 7

Service design part of the information technology service management function for ITD would include two major aspects which are assignment of roles and responsibilities for various system stakeholders and making decision pertaining to the outsourcing process for IT services. Roles and responsibilities of various system stakeholders are appointed in order to define system workings in effective manner. 4.1 Roles and responsibilities. 7

4.2 Outsourcing advantages. 8

4.3 Outsourcing disadvantages. 9

5.0 ISO/IEC 20000 certification. 10

5.1 Benefits of ISO/IEC 20000 certification. 10

5.2 Limitations of ISO/IEC 20000 certification. 11

Conclusion and recommendations to deputy CIO.. 12

References. 13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.0 Introduction

Information technology service management is an important system for managing IT services of the organization in smooth manner. In the present context ITSM services used for North Dakota would be evaluated so as to understand the major benefits of ITSM at North Dakota. Further service strategy used through ITIL V3 strategy phase would be evaluated for Information technology department (ITD) of North Dakota. Service design of North Dakota would be explored in order to understand the roles & responsibilities of IT support stakeholders along with benefits & limitations of outsourcing for IT services pertaining to the organization. Finally present paper would look into the ISO/IEC 20000 certification and would assess the viability through benefits & limitation analysis for North Dakota ITD department. Conclusions and recommendations would be presented to deputy CIO of the company in order to make appropriate decision on the IT service management issues pertaining to the organization based on the recommendations mentioned in the present paper.  

2.0 Importance of ITSM in North Dakota

Management of information technology services in smooth and effective manner would require implementation of information technology service management system to be implemented in organizational context (Bon, 2007). For any organization major role of ITSM is to simplify the business processes so that entire IT infrastructure and IT services are aligned and business processes are taking place in smooth manner. Some of the key benefits of ITSM for ITD of North Dakota would include workflow automation, minimizing service delivery time, improving service quality, building competitive advantage and providing service support for the organization in conformity with the business needs of the customers.

First key benefit of implementing ITSM in ITD of North Dakota would automate the workflow in organization wherein various business processes implemented in the organizational context would be smoothly managed. Request tracking for any IT related service would be carried out in automatic manner by ITD of North Dakota. Resolution for the issue faced would be provided by allotting the call to the concerned person and after resolution of the call it would be closed automatically asking for the user feedback regarding call process. Hence starting from the call log process to call closure would be done without any human intervention and this would help in order to smoothly manage the workflow for the organization.

By eliminating the human intervention from the IT service issue resolution process it would be possible for ITD department of North Dakota to considerably reduce overall time consumed in resolution of the call. Hence there would be faster services provided to the IT users and lesser time would be wasted in resolving a call and waiting for the system or human to intervene in the issue logged in into IT system of the organization. ITSM systems would be closely monitoring service quality from the each and every call resolved through the present system would be checked for service quality through feedback obtained from users.

ITD of North Dakota can attain competitive advantage through ITSM in the organization as this would lead to lower cost and better service management in the organizational context. By automating work task and making fast delivery entire work processes in the organization would add to an efficient system. North Dakota would be able to foster high level of efficiency along with managing competitive advantage to compete against the competitors of the organization (England, 2008).  

Role of information technology service management would be to provide the service support for the clients in accordance with their business needs. ITSM has the ability to assess and understand the business needs of consumers and accordingly information technology services would be delivered for the organization’s client so as to fulfill their organizational requirements. Entire IT and non IT related system requirements would be fulfilled through maintenance of single contact point with the ITD department of North Dakota.

Hence overall it can be said that ITSM system managed in the organizational context for ITD of North Dakota would be helpful in building competitive advantage, providing good service quality, reducing delivery time, managing automated workflow and developing competitive advantage for the organization based on which ITD department of North Dakota can manage their business operations and client base in efficient manner.

3.0 Service strategy- ITIL V3 service strategy phase

Service strategy domain is the base for the ITIL V3 strategy phase in the organizational context wherein there are four major elements of the strategy phase included in the strategy design. This phase of the service strategy would include the objective setting for the organization and setting a plan in order to achieve these objectives of the organization. The four important phases for ITIL V3 strategy phase would include service portfolio management, financial management and business relationship management. Further present section would suggest for the possible improvements in the IT service strategy process of the organization as well (Knapp, 2010).

Service portfolio management part of the service strategy phase for the organization would include appropriate mix of services in order to meet business requirement of customers. Exact match needs to be created between customer requirement and services delivered by the ITD department of North Dakota. In order to develop perfect match between consumer requirement and services delivered by the organization it is important that customers would be engaged in continuous communication for taking feedback and accordingly service delivery should be improved to develop exact match. It has been observed that North Dakota ITD department does not take care of the strategic objectives of the organization. From the survey conducted for customer satisfaction pertaining to ITD department of North Dakota it was determined that more than 99% of the consumers are being serviced with high customer satisfaction. The major focus of the ITD department for North Dakota is on the development of strong customer relationship, engaging in continuous feedback mechanism and providing technological directions for the client base of the organization.

Financial management part of the service strategy phase for the organization would strive for the arrangement of funds in order to establish service infrastructure for the organization and developing cost efficiencies in service management for IT (Kolthof, 2007). Financial audits are being carried out in the organizational context so as to understand overall cost structure followed in the organization and continuous efficiency management programs developed in the organization. One of the major aspects for the financial management in the organization is to ensure that adequate funding is made available for development of IT service infrastructure. Service strategy phase has its focus on accounting, budgeting and charging activities so that income exceptions are effectively managed in the organizational context. Unit costs are being managed in such a manner that costing can be efficiently managed and cost pertaining to consumers can be forwarded to them. This would manage overall cost for the organization and efficient funds would be made available for the IT service infrastructure of the organization.   

Management of customer relationship with the IT service provider would be an important aspect as this would manage high customer satisfaction by delivering appropriate solution for IT services as desired by the customers (Buchsein and Dettmer, 2008). The major set of aims for which business relationship management is being implemented in ITIL V3 service strategy would include understanding consumer requirements, establishing effective communication, developing feedback mechanism and enhancing customer satisfaction through efficient complaint management system for the services provided by the organization. ITD department of North Dakota understand important of customer relationship management and this can be revealed through survey conducted in the organization wherein it was found out that more than 90% of the consumers rate ITD as the most trusted business partner and would like to carry out future businesses with ITD only.

ITIL V3 service strategy phase has another objective to recommend various improvements in the IT service strategy processes pertaining to the organization. A set of changes for the IT service strategy can be implemented in organization where focus should be on the strategic importance of the IT service strategy of the organization so that service strategy of the organization can be developed in organization in such a way that aims and objectives of the organization can be fulfilled. Strategic aims of the organization need to be assessed and accordingly service delivery should be enhanced in such a manner that organizational objectives are efficiently attained through improvement proposed in the IT services provided by the organization (Rovers and Haren, 2012).

4.0 Service design

Service design part of the information technology service management function for ITD would include two major aspects which are assignment of roles and responsibilities for various system stakeholders and making decision pertaining to the outsourcing process for IT services. Roles and responsibilities of various system stakeholders are appointed in order to define system workings in effective manner. 4.1 Roles and responsibilities

There would be five major stakeholders of the present system under service design strategy to whom various responsibilities pertaining to ITSM would be allocated and these roles and responsibilities can be given as under:

1.    System admin: System administrator would ensure the availability of various systems and network element in order to develop smooth business functioning. System admin would build the system rules regarding transfer of asset, transfer of data, installation and other aspects related with the systems. System admin would be responsible for tracking the system performance on regular basis (Hlvey and Melby, 2005).

2.    Service analyst: Service analyst would track the performance of services imparted in the organizational context by conducting service audit. Inefficient services would be identified and based on the organizational processes these services would be improved to bring higher efficiency in the system.

3.    Process coordinator: Process coordinator would analyze the organizational processes and policies. Further role of process coordinator would be to modify processes of organization as per IT infrastructure available in the organization.

4.    Change owner: Change owner in the system would perform the function of initiator for the change request. Form filled by change owner would be considered as the initiation request for change and this change request would be assigned to change management team in the organization. Changes implemented by change management team would be reviewed and feedback would be provided on the changes so that IT service infrastructure and IT processes followed in the organization are in exact congruence with each other.

5.    Operational analyst: Operational analyst for ITD department of North Dakota would have the role to manage day to day operations of an organization. Operational analyst would monitor daily expense activities for the IT service department and recruitment of employees for managing IT services with the organization.

4.2 Outsourcing advantages

Outsourcing of IT related services for ITD department of North Dakota would offer several advantages which can be considered in order to evaluate the decision of outsourcing in the organizational context. By outsourcing the IT services of the organization it would be possible to put higher focus on the core activities of the organization (McBride, 2000). Outsourcing activities would involve external partners in the process of service delivery pertaining to IT service delivery infrastructure hence overall risk for IT services would be shared with service provider. Managing outsourcing for IT related services in the organization would help in order to maintain lower costing structure for the organization wherein investment in the IT service infrastructure can be reduced. Managing outsourced IT services would help the organization in order to manage lower staff for IT services and hence in accordance to that training and development expenses can be saved. Technology cost can be significantly shifted to the service provider agency.

4.3 Outsourcing disadvantages

There are several disadvantages of outsourced IT services as well and these should be considered before making decision for the outsourcing of IT services in organizational context. Some of the major disadvantages of outsourcing would include higher dependence on service provider; risk to data, issues faced in process alignment and delayed service delivery instances. Third party providing IT related services would be solely responsible for managing IT related service and organization would lose their control from IT services in the organization. Information contained in the system of the organization would also be at risk by going for outsourcing as external service provide would be having complete control of the system. By implementing IT service outsourcing there would be difficulties faced in the alignment of IT service infrastructure and processes developed in the organizational context. Finally the major negative consequence of the outsourcing for the IT services of ITD of North Dakota would be in terms of delayed service delivery instance and reduction in user satisfaction towards IT services of the organization. By outsourcing there would not be proper quality and time management aspects implemented in the organization hence there would be higher time consumed in each issue resolution which would further reduce customer satisfaction level towards IT related services (Sharon and Ivor, 2012).

5.0 ISO/IEC 20000 certification

Adopting ISO/IEC 20000 certification is an important decision for ITD of North Dakota which needs to be taken after proper consideration of the benefits and limitations of the ISO/IEC 20000 certification in context to present organizational context.

5.1 Benefits of ISO/IEC 20000 certification

Major benefits identified for the ISO/IEC 20000 certification for the ITD department of North Dakota would involve below mentioned:

§  Assessing consumer demand: Consumer demand for the service requirement would be the major focus area for the ISO/IEC 20000 certification wherein consumer needs would be properly assessed. Further with instant change in any service requirement for the organization by following ISO/IEC 20000 certification it would be easy for ITD of North Dakota to manage the service requirement with high ease.

§  Higher focus on service parameter: Service would be the major focus area for ISO/IEC 20000 certification wherein services would be delivered to the customer base depending upon the requirement of the consumers. And business objectives would be aligned such that there is high degree of attention towards the service delivery for the consumer segment. A synergy would be created between service elements of the business processes and business strategy followed by the organization (Eric, 2007).

§  Continuous improvements: ISO/IEC 20000 certification has proper monitoring processes in place which emphasis on the continuous service improvement for the organizational IT services. A continuous feedback and improvement system is being maintained in the organization wherein feedback obtained from users would be implemented and users would be involved in continuous communication process with the organization.

§  Reliability for delivery of services: Processes and policies in ISO/IEC 20000 certification would be such that it would foster much higher level of reliability in service delivery aspect for the organization.

5.2 Limitations of ISO/IEC 20000 certification

There are several limitations for implementation of ISO/IEC 20000 certification which would give motivation for not obtaining ISO/IEC 20000 certification for ITD of North Dakota. Some of the major limitations which are observed in context of ITD of North Dakota can be given as under:

§  High compliance requirements: There are several compliances which need to be fulfilled by the organization implementing ISO/IEC 20000 certification in the organization. These compliances may require key changes in the business processes and this would lead to significant resources invested for business process re-engineering. Hence for organizations which can’t compromise on the business processes it would be really difficult to implement the ISO/IEC 20000 certification (Atwell, 2012).

§  Initial phase for ISO/IEC 20000 certification: ISO/IEC 20000 certification is in its initial phase of development wherein entire standards and processes for these certifications are yet to be developed. There can be drastic changes in the policies and processes adopted for ISO/IEC 20000 certification in some time which may again led to changes in the business processes and IT service infrastructure implemented by the organization.

§  High cost implications: Implementation of ISO/IEC 20000 certification would require high amount of cost for the implementation of certification. This high amount of cost would be invested in system design, process re-engineering and training aspects for the ISO/IEC 20000 certification.

Hence depending upon the benefits and limitations for the implementation of ISO/IEC 20000 certification it can be advised that ITD department of North Dakota should implement ISO/IEC 20000 certification in order to enhance service quality level and ensure continuous improvement in IT services of the organization. Continuous improvement in the service quality level of the organizational services would be ensured by providing business solution as per consumer need and aligning organizational objectives as per the consumer requirements (Dugmore, 2006).  

Conclusion and recommendations to deputy CIO

Present paper has explored the area of information technology service management in specific context for information technology department of North Dakota. In the first part of present paper importance level of information technology service management was assessed for ITD department of North Dakota. It was established that ITSM has high level of importance for ITD and some of the major importance factors concerning to the organizational environment would include providing service according to consumer business needs, automated workflow, reducing service delivery time and enhancing customer service quality thereby contributing to overall high level of customer satisfaction for the organization.

Second part of the present paper talks about ITIL V3 service strategy phase includes three major factors for the service strategy of the organization which includes service portfolio management, customer relationship management and financial management (Dugmore, 2006). These three parameters would be important in order to implement the service strategy of the organization so as to gain high competitive advantage by managing low cost and high level of customer service for the organization. Fourth part of the current paper evaluates the service design for the current level of IT service management in ITD of North Dakota. Service design parameter would include two important aspects which are defining roles & responsibilities of various stakeholders working in the It environment. Several key roles such as system administration, service analyst, operation analyst and process coordinator etc were analyzed for their level of responsibility in the organization (Eric, 2007). Further important strategic decision pertaining to outsourcing of the IT services for North Dakota was determined based on the benefits and limitations of outsourcing activities. It was made out that benefits of outsourcing are much more in comparison to the limitations hence it is advisable for the organization to make benefit from outsourcing of IT services. Fifth part of the current paper was related with the decision making for adoption of ISO/IEC 20000 certification in the organizational environment. Based on the various benefits such as focus on quality, continuous improvement and strategy based on service parameter it was decided that ITD department of North Dakota should adopt ISO/IEC 20000 certification so that organization can be directed towards continuous service excellence path.  

From the present paper after analysis of various IT service management aspects several key recommendations can be made which would help in successful IT service implementation for the organization and can be given as mentioned below:

§  ITSM has high level of importance in ensuring customer satisfaction level for the organization hence ITSM should be properly managed

§  ITIL V3 has three major aspects and it is important for North Dakota that they should manage these three aspects i.e. customer relationship management, financial management and service portfolio management. Out of the three major emphasis of the organization should be towards service portfolio management

§  ITD department of North Dakota should strive continuously so as to make improvement in IT services area

§  Roles and responsibilities of IT stakeholders should be defined properly at the time of system design only. Further each stakeholder should be provided with proper training so as to carry on with their responsibilities

§  Looking into benefits of outsourcing activities it is recommended for ITD of North Dakota that outsourcing should be implemented for management of IT services (Eric, 2007)

§  ISO/IEC 20000 certification should be adopted in the organizational environment so as to enhance focus of the organization towards service element.

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