Defining Best in Class IT Service

We all (or at least most of us) want to be the best at what we do. This holds true even for those who perform IT services and manage IT services organizations.  I remember the sense of pride we had in my service department, which went far beyond a paycheck. Overtime was the norm for our group, and customer dissatisfaction personally upset the people I worked with. That pride was an intangible asset that the companies I outsourced to usually understood within the first month or two of our engagements. While IT technicians as a whole may not have the best customer service skills, they certainly have a sense of pride in their work. The same principle held true for my administrative staff. While my service management experience dates back 10-15 years now, I suspect these things still hold true. 

While pride in employees’ work hasn’t changed, the industry itself has transitioned during this same time frame. IT services and support, outside of the mainframe realm, has been around for quite some time (at least from the mid-1980s). We no longer need to be pioneers, creating innovative processes and procedures. The industry can boast of a wealth of time and trial experience and offer a variety of best practices. That makes it easy to define what best in class IT service and support is. Yes, it’s time for us to mature as an industry, stop being “lone rangers” and recognize our collective years of IT services experience.  Combining industry minds and sharing experiences of success (and failure) will help the industry the most at this development stage. A rising tide really does lift all boats. That may explain the current popularity of small industry groups collaborating to share experiences and agree on best practices. Together, we are stronger. 

Personally, this is the stuff that I love and have always enjoyed about a trade association such as CompTIA. Those who ‘get it’ truly understand that the value of working together far outweighs a more competitive environment. Likewise, a growing number of IT services executives have been working diligently for approximately two years to compilate a list of service delivery best practices in order to establish best in class IT service. This is not an easy task, with a moving target for a goal, but the effort has been well directed by one of our very capable member-leaders, Brian Gatke of Insight Technology Solutions.  It’s a diverse group of collaborative partners, including companies such as Unisys, DecisionOne, ASI System Integrators, Barrister, Canon, CDW, Compucom, Dell, Diebold, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Lenovo, MPD Parts, NCE Computer Group, OnForce, Flextronics, Sears Holdings, Siemens, and Xerox.

We’ve attempted to define services best practices in five areas:  Processes and Procedures, Measurements and Reviews, Communication and Management, Parts and logistics and Alignment to other Standards.  These best practices can be found at: http://www.comptia.org/communities/ITServicesSupport/ResourceLibrary.aspx

While there are other industry standards and best practices established, they are not focused on the same objectives.  The simplicity, granularity and practical nature are what separate ours from the rest.

Check out the best practices the IT Services and Support Community compiled and let us know what you think. I encourage you to get involved with our efforts to share best practices with your peers and thank you, as always, for all you do to help us help our industry!

Let me know your thoughts at pbittorf@comptia.org.