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This article was originally published in the
inaugural edition of Remedy Online Newsletter, a quarterly
publication for Remedy customers worldwide. The article, which ran
in Fall 2003, is the first of a recurring series on “Emerging
Trends” in Service Management. Kurt Milne, Senior Manager of
Strategic Marketing at Remedy, a BMC Software company, writes:
In this first column, I am going to try my hand as a
matchmaker. No, I am not going into the romance business. What I
am going to do is propose bringing together two seemingly
independent approaches to improve the quality of IT service
delivery — the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL&#reg;) and Six Sigma.
These two approaches, each of which has attractive features, can
certainly function without the other. So why bring them together?
Let me explain.
ITIL defines a framework for IT Service Management. It consists
of a set of guidelines, based on industry best practices, that
specify what an IT organization should do. ITIL does not, however,
define how to do it. For example, ITIL specifies that IT should
allocate a priority for each incident that comes into the service
desk. But, it does not specify how to allocate those priorities.
With ITIL, it's up to the IT staff to flesh out the details of
process flow, and create detailed work instructions, all in a way
that makes sense for their organization.
Six Sigma, on the other hand, defines a specific process, based
on statistical measurement, that drives quality improvement and
reduces operational costs. It helps in developing detailed work
instructions, and it defines a methodology for continually
mapping, measuring, and improving the quality process. Six Sigma
tells you how, but doesn't tell you what. This approach does not
specify any best practices specifically for IT Service Management.
In summary then, ITIL defines the “what” of service management,
and Six Sigma defines the “how” of quality improvement. Together,
they are a perfect fit for improving the quality of IT service
delivery and support.
As in any match, however, there is a challenge. That challenge
comes in reconciling the egos and expectations of the parties
involved. In the case of ITIL and Six Sigma, this involves
reconciling two separate camps of purists, each of which is
convinced that their approach is best. To make things harder, both
camps have impressive credentials to support their claims. ITIL
has master’s level certification. Six Sigma has its “black belts.”
So, your challenge is to bring these two approaches (and their
advocates) together to implement the optimum combination for your
organization.
The good news is that as a Remedy customer, you
already have a great solution that helps bring them together.
Remedy IT Service Management applications for the Enterprise help
implement ITIL best practices straight out of the box. Remedy
supports the ITIL best practices described in incident and problem
management, change management, configuration management, service
level management, and availability management. At the same time,
the applications provide a great source of data for Six Sigma
quality improvements. Outside the manufacturing area where Six
Sigma was invented, there is no better place than the service desk
to find operational data that drives customer relevant quality
improvement.
By using Remedy applications to help implement the
processes that bring ITIL and Six Sigma together, you have a great
opportunity to use them both to improve the quality of IT services
that are critical to your business. |
