17 February 2014

3 career options if you work in a traditional IT department


IT departments are under pressure from two sides. On the supply side from multiple external service providers that are encroaching into the IT departments’ space and eroding jobs. And on the demand side from the business that is claiming a more dominant role and is engaging external service providers directly, but that at the same time is struggling with their new responsibilities. No, you weren’t expecting this and no, you probably don’t welcome it. But it’s happened and it’s called progress. If you work in an IT department, you have three main options.
  • If you want to continue doing IT service management as you always have done, go work for an external services provider.
  • If you have feel for logistics and retail, stay in the IT department and develop the competences that will help the IT department fulfill an ‘IT Retail’ function. With increasing technological standardization, ‘IT Manufacturing’ has moved from the IT department to the external service providers.
  • If you understand the business and get along well with business people (or ‘normal people’ as my wife likes to call them), jump the fence and move across to the business, where business and IT are morphing into a new function.
Things will change, they might just change without you. So go reinvent yourself.

Multi-supplier value streams (questions, not answers)

About a year ago, I compiled 90 questions that 27 world leaders in IT believe that people in IT Service Management should be asking themselves. The compilation is available here.

From that list I've selected eight that pertain to Multi-supplier value streams, the topic that the Pink Think Tank explored at the Pink14 conference in Las Vegas in February 2014 (Twitter #pinktt). I trust that they are worth thinking about.  

Rob England, IT Skeptic, Owner & Managing Director at Two Hills Ltd, NZ
  • How to better manage multi-party value chains? Especially cloud environments and XaaS providers
Troy DuMoulin, Vice President Professional Services at Pink Elephant, USA
  • Consider the premise that today’s Enterprise IT functions are made up of a mixed group of diverse suppliers (internal and external) and becoming even more diversified and complex as we integrate cloud and online services. How in the world will an organization keep all these moving parts synchronized in order to play their designated part in the larger value service system or even get them moving in the same direction?
  • How can all players in the IT value system achieve shared values, priorities and practices in order to deliver service in a harmonious fashion?
  • How can you create a shared IT Operating Model that outlines the key elements of the value stream comprising Demand, Plan, Build and Run?
  • Which Enterprise IT Governance Roles are needed to ‘conduct’ all the various parties participating in the Service Orchestra?
Steven de Smet, President itSMF Belgium & Manager at Capgemini Belgium
  • Trends and recent rumours predict that IT as a department will disappear, the business will control IT themselves with a maximum of XaaS, cloud and mobility solutions. The purchasing department will manage these contracts. What will be the future for ITSM?
AN Rao, Senior Vice President at Cognizant Technology Solutions, India
  • As deals get unbundled and go into multi-vendor sourcing and as the traditional on-premises moves into a hybrid environment, how are CIOs planning to construct their service integration and multi-vendor service management arrangements and contracts ? How would they measure the success of such an arrangement in supporting the business?
James Finister, EMEA Competency Lead for IT Governance, Service Integration & Service Management Excellence at Tata Consultancy Services, UK
  • Both IT departments and the business have a track record of failing to leverage benefit from large suppliers. How then will they manage the shift to multiple supplier ecosystems - and should they?