There is little doubt that after more than a year of deep cuts to infrastructure and operations (I&O) budgets, many businesses are now returning to a growth agenda.

Indeed, according to the Forrester research group, many organizations are dedicating as much as half of their I&O budget to new initiatives and supporting capacity expansion for business growth. But that can cause a problem because the challenge for the I&O department is its ability to deliver quality services that empower its business customers and is directly related to its overall organizational and process maturity.

The Blog has previously reported the sense of dissatisfaction with today’s ITSM Solutions with 350 respondents to an EasyVista survey demonstrating the overall state of negative concern towards organizations’ current service desk and the consequent need to have customizable, codeless and integrated alternatives.

Indeed, research by the Forrester group into the Total Economic Impact (TEI) benefits of using EasyVista has delivered some impressive return on investment (ROI) results.  Forrester’s analysis revealed a stunning 271 percent ROI over three years with payback within 12 months for one organization that deployed EasyVista on premise within its IT department.  Now, Forrester has created an IT Service Management (ITSM) Maturity Assessment Model designed to evaluate key operational and process activities and provide a snapshot of maturity as a baseline which then should be used to create improvement plans.

The model coincides with the results of a new Forrester report on ITSM maturity which says that with continued pressure to do more with less, I&O professionals are increasingly accountable for improving service-level performance.  IT process models, which are typically based on ITIL, are the most popular new organizational models, Forrester research shows. In a survey of 135 IT professionals at enterprises, and small and medium-sized companies worldwide, 38% of all respondents indicated they have or are adopting IT process models as part of their new organizational structure.

The reasons according to Forrester are: IT process models can help IT organizations reduce costs; they can overcome legacy silos and better align with how work is done; and that in turn enables more consistent and reliable service delivery.

But moving to process-driven, service-centric operation isn’t a quick and easy undertaking, hence the need for Forrester’s maturity model which is designed to help IT organizations determine their current ITSM maturity level and identify their desired end state. In particular, the framework will help IT professionals isolate useful baselines; identify gaps and develop remediation plans; prioritize and quantify investment validation; and prepare for audit compliance.

It also helps to use a system that is ITIL compatible. EasyVista is codeless, ITIL v3 compatible certified on 11 service management processes and covers all aspects of IT Management (IT Service Management, IT Asset Management, CMDB, automatic inventory, user portal) in a single, integrated and modular solution.
Forrester suggests that using the self assessment tool will help organizations new to ITSM or evolving ITSM deployments.

« For organizations new to ITSM, an assessment provides an understanding of gaps and key issues. From there, you can address identified top priorities that speak to IT service effectiveness, » Forrester says. « For organizations already entrenched in ITSM, it’s important to remain flexible and continuously evaluate yourself, understanding your strengths and weaknesses. Regular assessments are quality management initiatives that provide the IT organization with facts and information that it can use to make decision improvements. »