Service Matters! ITSM & IT Management

The London Bikeathon is an annual cycling event organized by the Leukemia Research Foundation based in the UK. Well, this being my first bikeathon, I decided to register for the City ride - a 26 mile stretch that took me and another 5000 participants through the heart of London - the Thames Barrier, Canary Wharf, London Eye, St Paul’s Cathedral, etc.

Perhaps, some of what I experienced might appear as relatively non-extraordinary and fairly straightforward events. Possibly they were. But then again, you can also argue that managing an IT Service is also relatively straightforward – after all, what’s the big deal about fixing a bug, determining the root cause, raising a change and so on. Right? Hmmm ... then I wonder why most IT organizations still struggle to deliver even bare minimum good customer experience

Anyways, back to the bikeathon. So, there I was - a customer this time and I must admit, with my ITSM glasses intact. And here's how the world looked to me with my glasses on –

Great Communication – There were posters all over town
It all started when, four months before the event, I came across posters - fabulously visual ones - all around town announcing the bikeathon. Standing in front of one such poster, it was an instant decision – just had to be a part of this. Talk of great comms! So what does that mean in our ITSM world? Process flow posters?? Ouch ... I dislike them intensely! But how about Visual Roadmaps? One of my former clients, who heads the ITSM program at his organization, goes out of his way every six months to publish visual roadmaps showing where the program is headed. Simple and visual – these roadmaps really reinforce the message.

And I registered
So, having decided to participate, I registered using the simple online user interface. Straightforward. But what struck me was the non-intrusive way in which the process led me to set up my own justgiving.com webpage to further promote the event and raise funds. In our ITSM world, how “smooth” are our interfaces? For starters, are you able to intuitively link your incident tickets to changes, or automatically revise your Projected Service Availability based on changes going through?

Then the Big Day arrived …
The first thing that struck me as I started out on the bikeathon was how this event brought together so many diverse people towards a common cause. A common cause – a goal – raise awareness, raise funds and have a good time doing it. Simple and clearly stated.

Well finally, the incentives - I got a Gold Medal !
Serious. Alright – so did a bunch of others who crossed the finish line From an ITSM perspective, that tells me to keep thinking about innovative, and yet very personalized incentives. I know one organization that instituted an award of a thousand dollars every month to the person writing up the most meaningful Post Implementation Review on a Change Request. And that’s only a start. The whackier the incentive, the better.

So, there it was – coming together of all these individual pieces to deliver amazing service, leaving one totally delighted customer – me.

If you ever get a chance to participate in the London Bikeathon, go for it ! Meanwhile, I am looking forward to my next big biking venture - it's the London Duathlon this time.

Till then - happy biking, running and managing your IT service!