Monthly Archives: May 2014

Converting a Budget Deficit Into an Innovation Surplus – USPS

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve been meaning to write the blog, “I Left My Brain in San Francisco” for the last 2 weeks. Unfortunately, without a brain, it’s pretty hard to write a blog!  And I say that I left my brain in San Fran, because it was blown away by what I learned, saw and heard at the ServiceNow #Know14 conference.  What a great event they have grown into.  The line-up of presenters, topics, labs… it’s really a well orchestrated week, filled with learning and fun – two of my favorite things….

One of the BEST presentations was by the folks at the United States Postal Service, titled Converting a Budget Deficit Into an Innovation Surplus.

The title certainly caught my attention, and it sounded like it might be a little different from the other presentations, so I attended.  And man, am I glad that I did!

I am so impressed with their Service organization, and how in tune they are with their stakeholders and customers, that I reached out and asked if they would re-present for ITSM Academy’s June webinar… and they said YES 😉

So I am very happy to say;

Please join us for a complimentary webinar: Converting a Budget Deficit Into  an Innovation Surplus on Thursday, June 19th at 11am (Eastern) – Register 

Presenters: John Edgar, VP of IT and Kathleen A. Warnaar, Manager, Performance Achievement, United States Postal Service.

EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR BANNER June 2014“It’s no secret that the United States Postal Service operates under a stringent budget deficit, but what may surprise you is that the IT organization has converted that deficit into an innovation surplus. Join USPS, John Edgar, VP of IT and Kathleen Warnaar, Manager, Performance Achievement, as they discuss how they’ve been able to align IT as an enabler in support of a cross-organizational initiative focused on service, revenue and value transformation. Employing new strategies and approaches in service definitions and delivery, IT is successfully achieving operational efficiencies, cost savings and customer satisfaction. John and Kathleen will discuss how IT is reinvesting the savings delivered by their ITSM initiatives to drive additional innovations and automation across the enterprise.”

Have questions you want included? Post them on Twitter; #askITSM.

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Learning!

Advertisement

Full Circle – from ESM to ITIL and Back Again

Posted on by
Reply

I guess it means that I’m getting old… I can look back over my career now and see many things coming full circle.

As example, we just celebrated our 10th anniversary here at ITSM Academy.  Of course, we are much larger, with more robust processes in place (and 30,000+ Alumni!) But, with the introduction of our new Agile Service Management Line of Training, there are many parallels to when we originally launched our ITSM/ITIL Line of Training.

Earlier this month, I was fortunate to attend the ServiceNow Knowledge14 Conference, and that’s where it really hit me.  Several people talked to me about “Enterprise Service Management” and how that title needed to replace “ITSM”.  I don’t disagree, but it struck me as so funny.  10.5 years ago, I was an ESM Practice Manager, but got so much feedback that people didn’t know what that meant.  My favorite was, “Why would you call yourself that when your are the ITSM Practice Manager?” Based on that conversation, I did something as unethical as it gets here in LisaLand…. I went onto LinkedIn and changed my job title…(insert shocked face here!).

So what does this mean, this movement to (as one presenter called it) – Innovating Beyond ITIL: Enterprise Service Management.  Well, quite simply, it’s where we should have been 15 years ago.  The focus of ITSM / ITIL / ESM – whatever you want to call it – has to be outside of IT.  The focus of any successful (insert your letters of choice here) Program needs to be on;

  • the services we provide
  • the stakeholders we provide them to
  • the cultural change that needs to shift our IT organization into a service provider

One of the KPMG presenters said, “Innovate on ITIL, but don’t emphasize the IT in  ITIL”. Which will leave some feeling IL – LOL (sorry, couldn’t help it!)

KPMG also spoke a lot about Global Business Services.  I did a little follow up reading and, “Global Business Services (GBS) business operating model is poised to replace standalone outsourcing and shared services…with around 60 percent of the organizations embracing GBS over the next three years. The research also predicted that expenditure on external GBS is expected to nearly double-up to reach $73 billion in 2017 as against US$ 40 billion in 2013.”

arrows_tail_spin_multi_colored_400_wht_9654And to take us full circle now on this blog….I think, we are back to where we should have started 15 years ago.

I also think that getting older gives you some perspective that makes life more interesting…. but that will go full circle too.  One day, we won’t be able to remember any of this anyway.

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Circling!