Strategic IT Operations Management
Achieving the strategic goals of an IT organization requires proper management of the systems using ITIL. ITIL explains the exact approach to organizing IT employees’ daily processes. This paper provides a sustainability plan with detailed information on how the individual goals of TreasureChest’s IT infrastructure will be implemented through year one, three, and five.
| E. Sustainability Plan | |
| One Year
Ø Strategic Goal #3: Update the technology operational workflow. · Establish a 24/7 follow-the-sun (FTS) monitoring capability with current staff
| Ideally, the company uses a combination of Agile and Waterfall (SDLC) and aims to assimilate the right team to achieve a rapid deployment capability and development to attain 16 or more releases per year. In this regard, the company needs to update the technology operational workflow to assess the performance of the staff efficiently. ITIL provides a system of accountability through KPIs which allows the evaluation of IT unit’s and employees’ performance (Dubey & Hefley, 2011). Additionally, the ITIL stores data regarding each individual’s responsibilities through the ITSM platform. |
| Three Year
Ø Strategic Goal #3: Update the technology operational workflow. · Disengage from OnsOne Ltd. and establish an internal monitoring capability within TreasureChest.
| The TreasureChest’s networks and computing systems are monitored by a hired company – OnsOne Ltd whose services are limited based on working timeframes. The company operates from 1800h to 0700h Monday to Friday excluding the 18 French National Holidays and weekends. While TreasureChest availability to customers requires 24-hours operations, such exclusive monitoring hours and days poses a serious threat to the management of SaaS systems if technical issues occur during such ‘off-hours’. In this regard, ITIL has specific tools that help to organize operational activities which are; Service Operation and Service Transition (Elephant, 2019). IT operations require the elimination of certain tools, services, or signs to be effective (Madison, 2017). Consequently, the CIO aims to disengage OnsOne Ltd by developing their monitoring system. ITIL will help the company to assess the cost savings by the service provider – OnsOne Ltd and hence disengage the company based on informed decisions (Madison, 2017). Service Transition allows assessment of the execution phase. Considering that the TreasureChest’s employees have to wait until the OnsOne company resumes duties which leads to piling up of assignments, service transition is paramount. This prompts the company to shift the monitoring system services from OnsOne Ltd to developing in-house services. |
| Five Year Ø Strategic Goal #4: Restructure and update the organization of the IT Department.
· Implementing a CRM capability by the salespeople which are a SaaS cloud service for future growth and customer management.
| The company lacks a formal CRM ticketing system which prompts it to rely on ServiceNow for incident reports. Such reports are only sent to the CIO while the other stakeholders do not see customer service tickets which becomes an issue because accountability may be corrupted (Martin et al., 2018). Accordingly, the company intends to implement a CRM ticketing system. Implementing changes in the IT infrastructure of a company is usually chaotic and ITIL frameworks ensure that flexibility and sustainability are efficient (Elephant, 2019). Such implementation will be focused on the company’s strategic goal of restructuring and updating the organization of the IT Department. As the company has increased sales and marketing direction to target larger businesses that generate more revenue per account, the ITIL helps in managing such changes through a detailed procedure for IT changes (Cusick, 2018). ITIL allows the changes to be approved before informing the employees of such intentions. This is vital because the Chief Information Officer together with the other stakeholders scrutinize thoroughly the change implementation plan to assess the possible outcomes (Krishnan & Ravindran, 2017). People are then informed which prepares them psychologically to embrace the changes. |
Generally, the implementation of ITIL in TreasureChest’s operations is vital. The paper has outlined the strategic goals for the company’s year one, three, and five to be achieved through ITIL. The goals are focused on reducing operating costs and increasing revenue margin.
