There's a trend in IT to prefix terms with an i in a mistaken belief it automatically builds a culture that the organisation wants. If you really want to change the culture of IT, all you need to do is be innovative, it already starts with i.
I remember the story of an IT organisation where ITIL was already in place but they hadn't gone further and implemented Constant Service Improvement. Services were seen as reliable, but costly and no longer responding to customer requirements. Rather than talking to customers and staff, the new CIO followed the usual runbook and started reimplementing ITIL fundamentals again.
This was in an industry with high touch customers, so reinforcing metrics like call closure rates and further centralising IT just frustrated staff and further infuriated customers. Furthermore having IT staff close to the customers had provided the flexibility that the processes lacked. Installing more bureaucracy in an environment where bureaucracy was seen as part of the problem further compounded the issue.
A better approach would have be to understand this and improve this customer engagement capability rather than roll it back by centralising IT. In addition to this, in an attempt to build a new culture IT was rebranded and banners were hung from the ceiling of the IT call centre. On the side facing the customer there was a word prefixed with i, on the side facing the staff they were blank. The outward image wasn't one that matched the internal one.
From this example we can see that building culture isn't simply a matter of prefixing a word with i. You need to understand your current organisation, your staff and your customers. Many organisations already have a framework like ITIL in place that is delivering the base IT services well, but customers are finding those services don't have the level of flexibility they require.
The obvious thing to do here isn't to install yet more bureaucracy, but understand the problem. Understanding the problem would have led to the realisation that this was like many ITIL implementations where the basic processes and metrics had been implemented but a culture of Constant Service Improvement hadn't been.
As we know IT changes rapidly, and processes need to be able to change in response to changing requirements. Putting a program of Constant Service Improvement in place, and allowing processes to be modified to meet changing requirements will help build an innovative culture. This requires leadership to drive a culture that sees ITIL as a framework rather than a doctrine, and sees customer satisfaction metrics as more important that call closure rates.
Obviously we still need metrics like call closure rates, but if processes are not delivering what customers require and there isn't a program of Constant Service Improvement in place, then both staff and customers are going to be increasingly frustrated. If the process isn't delivering what customers require in the timeframes they require, forcing staff to close calls to meet metrics is just ludicrous.
Rather than working on resolving the issue staff bounce the call between teams or more ridiculously close the call and ask the customer to reopen the call simply to meet some arbitrary metrics. It's no wonder customer satisfaction metric weren't being taken.
We've all experienced dealing with organisations where this happens. It's incredibly frustrating. Running an organisation by these kind of metrics alienates both staff and customers. It also reinforces bad organisational culture. The Service Manager should be using customer satisfaction metrics and customer engagement to be constantly improving the service being delivered. Services should be tailored to customer requirements.
Changing IT culture takes genuine leadership from the top, not prefixing a word with an i. It requires a genuine desire to change the organisational culture for the better. It means talking to your customers and staff to understand where the current processes work and where they don't, not installing more bureaucracy.
To cope with the increasing rate of change we need to create a culture that is agile and flexible at the point of customer engagement, and rock solid where it needs to be. It means enabling and empowering staff to get things done. It means building teams where staff understand their value to the business and are able to contribute in ways that improve the business.
In order to do this you need to understand what is and isn't working in your current organisation. If you don't have a baseline for the organisation how can you measure your improvement. While there are many frameworks available like ITIL, implementing them without understanding your organisation can leave staff focused on metrics like call closure rates rather than customer satisfaction.
Contact us to discuss how we can help your organisation to be innovative, and increase your agility, flexibility, and profitability.