IT service management hamstrung by skills shortage, says Telstra

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 14 December 2010 10:08

Business IT - Technology

Telstra has released the results of a survey into IT service management (ITSM) implementations in Australia, which found a widespread belief that IT staff lacked the necessary skills to implement and manage major IT service management projects.

Analyst firm Longhaus surveyed 111 Australian companies and government agencies. According to Telstra, "Almost three quarters saw IT service management (ITSM) as a priority, however, the biggest barrier to effective IT service management was an organisation's IT employees."

The study, "IT Service Management in Australia: Improving organisational outcomes through enhanced service provider integration" found:
- a lack of standard ITSM protocols to allow organisations and their suppliers to integrate their respective service management processes;
- employees lacking the necessary skills and knowledge (54 percent), staff resistance to change (46 percent) and implementation budget (42 percent);
- Sixty percent of organisations using or implementing industry recognised ITSM approaches, but only 41 percent having made headway on integrating internal ITSM practices with those of external providers.

Sam Higgins, research director at Longhaus, said: "While ITSM benefits organisations and their customers, most organisations do not have the right mix of people, processes and technology to effectively integrate ITSM in their operations.

"While many organisations understand the importance of an ITSM approach, they also need to undertake an objective analysis to fully experience ITSM's benefits."

Over the past two years Telstra and supplier Infosys have developed what is claimed to be one of the largest ITSM implementations in the region with over 16 million configuration items in its configuration master database. It was launched in June 2010 and in August won the year's Best ITSM (Project of the Year) award, along with an entry from the Department of Immigration, from itSMF Australia, the peak body for IT service management in Australia.

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