Technology vs. value

A former colleague of mine used to deduce that service management ultimately would lead IT to become a commodity: simply a device that would provide functionality without any worry (guaranteed, repeatable, measured, managed, fixed-price, … sound familiar?). His example was the telephone: how often do you pick up the telephone and wonder whether you are going to hear a dial-tone, or a get a connection … not often (if ever); it truly is a commodity service.

I am not convinced IT will ever reach this level of commoditisation or standardisation. Or at least not in the short term (measuring on an industrial revolution scale, so another 5-10 years). For one there is the apparent inability of IT to standardise. Partially as technology develops at a rapid pace so new standards are constantly being developed (for instance wireless a, b, g, n … bluetooth, USB etc.). Even with 'downwards' compatability this still creates the issue that ‘older’ devices suddenly are no longer able to seamlessly provide functionality (when combined with other devices using a newer, incompatible technology).

And then there is the fact that in IT we have become very territorial were it is almost a badge of honour to do something different (with its own benefits and drawbacks) … can anybody say Apple, iPhone\iPad?

And this possessiveness or preference for a particular technology even permeates through to the users (and sometimes the customer). The result of this is that IT as a service provider is no longer asked to provide a service (or value, outcome, functionality) but instead to provide a particular technology. The obvious example here is that users do not want a mobile phone, they want a iPhone!

On this topic, I have for a long time exclaimed that I was yet to see a valid business case for an iPhone. What was it that makes a iPhone provide more value to the business than a Blackberry (or Windows Mobile at the time). Most people shrugged and failed to find an answer, until one manager posed that by providing iPhones they would instill a better loyalty in their staff. So, not a direct business, functionality of performance benefit, but a more longer term staff satisfaction, staff turnover and/or recruiting one. What a great way of assessing the service-value!

PS: I think this staff loyalty, Gen-Y benefit is also the key driver behind BYOD, not cost-savings.

So, there may be a very good reason why users want a particular bit of technology: maybe it does something (provides certain functionality) that no other ‘thing’ does, or maybe they are aware of its perceived quality (warranty). However, often the users do not have the full picture of utility & warranty nor of the alternatives available and thus they are not in a position to request a piece of technology (but instead should identify value required).

I have heard more than one story of how IT was told (by often high-ranking Customers) to ‘make iPhones happen’, thereby scrapping a well-researched, designed and managed Blackberry solution with all the (potential) security consequences that come with it. Given time I am sure IT could have provided an ‘iPhone’ service with similar utility & warranty, but apart from customer saying that they want that, they normally follow this by saying they want it NOW.

Ultimately this is the customers right and decision as they will wear the risk and negative outcome (although IT will normally get the blame, see my blog on the Bermuda triangle between customers, users and IT), but it does de-value the role of IT as a service provider, as subject matter expert and a trusted partner of the business\customer. And this situation will only be intensified with the rise of BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device) and cloud.

 

That does not mean that we can’t do BYOD within service management, but it does mean we need to be ahead of the curve. And it does mean we do have to negotiate, agree and enforce certain standards. This as that way we can still provide a guaranteed level of utility and warranty.

For instance: you can BYOD your mobile, as long as it is iOS 5+, Android 3+ or Window Phone 7+. So not just anything, but freedom within the defined boundaries. BYOD laptops, as long as they can run a certain application (Citrix client for instance). And tablets can be viewed as either large phones or small laptops.

The trick is now to make sure that the ‘boundaries’ of the BYOD encompass the most popular devices, which brings us back to one of the earlier points, which is that technology is changing rapidly. IT needs to be ahead of the curve, so they can offer new technology (safely, guaranteed, …) when, or perhaps before, it becomes mainstream.

BYOD posses further challenges in our service management world, but as long as we keep the business value (, outcomes, …) in mind it is possible to incorporate this into your service model.

the ITIL Zealot
August 2012