We are all concerned with the current state of the economy and how it might affect our personal and business dealings. Most agree that it is going to be quite some time before things get back to normal. Maybe this is the new normal. Hopefully IT service management practices are a fine-tuned machine that is conditioned and trained for the worst. More importantly, it should be aligned and integrated with what is important to the business, because at the end of the day it is the business and business decision makers who sign the checks and approve the budgets. In a way, they are the judges handing out the gold medals.

Hopefully IT has a spot on the judges' panel and the CIO is making the call on IT budget decisions since, presumably, that office is more in tune with the needs of IT than the CEO / CFO suite. Better yet, IT pros should be seen as trusted advisors who do what's right for the business. In the end, most would prefer rational and prioritized budget cuts from within than from a blind swipe of the pen from an executive who is only looking at dollars and cents.

If IT expects respect from the executive suite in this economy there must be a solid IT service management plan in place. A good ITSM game plan will be a mix of best practices from a framework like ITIL, customizations to fit the business, people who own the plan and technology that automates the work of people and processes.

So lace up your best pair of running shoes. Now more than ever it is time for IT to be agile. Here are six workout tips to get your IT organization in shape to outlast the economy:

- Muscle memory - You've probably been through this before. Remember the dot com fallout? Hopefully lessons about efficient IT service on a budget were learned then. If so, this downturn should be less painful than the last.

- Gold medal - Wear your record of continual service improvement as a badge of honor. Can other parts of the business show measureable business benefits and alignment? Probably not. Your ability to improve service through measurable and flexible means just earned you top spot on the gold medal platform. Use it to your advantage.

- Show me the money - A sports agent doesn't make money unless his clients are successful and happy. Do you feel like your vendor agent has all the leverage and do they care if you are successful? Legacy vendors have been trapping customers in one-sided licensing agreements for years, banking on the fact that alternatives were just as unappealing. Software-as-a-service subscription licensing is built on the premise that vendors must keep customers happy or risk subscription termination. Consider licensing and service level agreements that are in your best interest, not the best interest of the vendor.

- Get a good caddy - Let someone else carry the clubs for you. Software today is not the same as software from ten years ago. With software-as-a-service, you don't have to install, maintain and upgrade software like before. Push the dirty work to the vendor while taking all the credit for that ITSM hole in one.

- Sign the rookie over the free agent - That free agent is probably expensive and won't live up to expectations. Next time you're faced with an expensive and time-consuming upgrade, take a look around. There is a good chance that a fresh start with a modern, Internet-based SaaS product, like Service-now.com, will be easier and less expensive than the upgrade and better for the business in the near and long term.

- Just take it one game at a time - Be efficient. Make sure your IT services really support the business. Take IT asset discovery and CMDB population for example. Does knowing every last hardware component in a $1000 laptop really support the business? Probably not. Collect only the necessary data and relationships to rapidly service critical business systems. Too many CMDB projects have failed because vendors and IT organizations have tried to boil the ocean. Take it one game at a time and never look past what the business really needs now.

An old ITSM industry fallacy is that IT organizations should only purchase technology that does not require customization. IT organizations and vendors have become resigned to the fact that customization breaks software so they try to avoid it at all costs.

Every business is different. Software can't be delivered in a one size fits all model and still be expected to support diverse businesses. Software customization and upgrades are one of the leading causes of ITSM program failures. IT organizations are left without automation or worse, end up with more work on their hands than they had when a combination of spreadsheets and email at least got the job done. It's amazing what IT organizations have been conditioned to put up with these days. End the abuse.

As IT organizations are forced to do more with less, ITSM disciplines need to take a fresh look at the status quo to make sure they are really getting the most out of their technology and people. Hopefully the technology is not getting in the way but is a true tool to automate processes and help people. Service-now.com was built on the premise of doing what is in the best interest of the customer. By taking full responsibility for the software,

Service-now.com lets the customer focus on the business and its supporting IT service management plan. Technology today is drastically different from what it was just ten years ago and there is no reason why it can't be leveraged to your advantage. Get in the game and don't settle for less.

Please contact Rhett at : rhett.glauser@service-now.com

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