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IT service management (ITSM) practitioners recognize the need for continuous improvement of IT services. Using a design science research approach, we develop a five – step process improvement frame...

The article reports on Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) implementation in Maersk Oil. We analyze the values embedded in ITIL, compare them to Maersk Oil’s organizational culture, identify implementation challenges, and discuss how to manage these. The contribution of the article is as follows: (1) it identifies the values underlying ITIL, (2) discusses how to overcome cultural incongruence through business process implementation, and (3) highlights implications for managers trying to improve processes through the use of quality management standards and process models.

There is a growing interest in businesses around the world when it comes to professionalize IT operation by implementing process-based frameworks built on best practices. There are, however, indications that firms in general find the concept of ITIL challenging, and that many firms are confused about how to implement ITIL successfully. This research has studied what are the most important factors for the successful adoption of ITIL, and bases its results and conclusions on a study in which a ranking-type approach to the Delphi method has been conducted in the Norwegian Armed Forces. A panel of experts on the adoption of ITIL has participated through the method three phases: brainstorming, reduction and ranking. The result is a ranked list of the most important factors, which clearly demonstrates that issues related to management, and leadership, competence and training, information and communication, stakeholders' involvement, and culture, are considered by the experts as most important. Factors related to technology and methodology was ranked lower. This paper validates the results of earlier studies, and provides additional knowledge about the factors that influence successful ITIL adoption.

Efficient and effective processes and knowledgeable employees separate high-performing organizations from average or low performing organizations. In this paper, we develop a five-step method to tune IT Service Management processes by focusing on the knowledge needs for each role and identifying the employee who possesses the needed knowledge. This five-step method employs a Dynamic Network Analysis (DNA) model that includes three classes, Persons, Roles, and Knowledge, and four important relationships between and within these classes.

This paper raises awareness of industry's move to blend ITSM lifecycle concepts with the systems development lifecycle to foster collaboration between the silos of systems development and IT operations. Academia has an important role in integrating ITSM into traditional systems development coursework. The case of systems development is used to illustrate the types of IT service management concepts and models that can be introduced into current systems development offerings to support the focus on IT services being called for by industry today.

IT governance is critical to most organisations and has an influence on the value generated by IT investments. Unfortunately, IT governance is more aspiration than reality in many organisations. This research seeks to address the dearth of empirical evidence about IT governance in practice, presenting the findings of an IT governance case study in an Australian organisation. Recommendations are provided to assist organisations to maximise potential of IT governance and insights are provided for researchers.

IT Service management is an emerging discipline likely to enhance existing academic IT program offerings. One barrier to adoption of ITSM in IT academic programs is the uncertainty that students can get jobs as a result of such education and knowledge. To overcome this barrier, a survey of the membership of the U.S. IT Service Management Forum, a practitioner organization, was conducted. The results of this survey show that there is a market of at least 15,000 hires per year in the U.S. for undergraduate and graduate students who have ITSM skills, and that companies are willing to hire ITSM-trained graduates.

A growing number of organizations are implementing the ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) “best practice” framework in an attempt to improve their IT service management processes. However, not all ITIL implementations are successful and some companies have been disappointed with the outcomes. This exploratory research reports on four case studies of “successful” implementations of IT service management using the process-based ITIL V2 framework. Two companies are located in the U.S. and two in Australia. The cases demonstrate a mix of implementation justifications and strategies. Critical success factors (CSFs) suggested in the literature are compared against those attributed to these successful ITIL implementations. Some CSFs, including executive management support, interdepartmental communication and collaboration, use of consultants, training and careful software selection are confirmed. Three new CSFs are identified: creating an ITIL-friendly culture, process as a priority, and customer-focused metrics. Practitioner guidelines, to assist IT managers, who are contemplating adopting ITIL for process improvement and organisational transformation, are also provided together with some challenges encountered and their associated resolutions.