The IT Operations Scenario: Preparing for the Bi-Modal Future

Please join us for January’s “Webucation”;  – Register

On Thursday, January 20, 2015, Jeff Brooks, Research Vice President at Gartner, Inc. will present:

The IT Operations Scenario: Preparing for the Bi-Modal Future
Often left tJan2015o flounder in the dungeon of IT, IT operations needs to break free from those traditional practices and become part of the organization’s growth. This will only occur through embracing current thoughts and practices around bimodal IT and creating an IT operations organization that will both renovate the core and exploit the new.

We will explore these key issues affecting I&O leaders:

  • What is the current state of IT operations?
  • What is the future state of IT operations?
  • What best practices and technologies will help us migrate from current state to future state?

Register Today

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Learning!

Advertisement

Happy National Customer Service Week – October 6-10

This one is for you @ITSM_Donna (well, it’s actually From you too… LOL)

Knapp_smallOkay…two questions…

  1. How is it October?
  2. What are you doing for National Customer Service Week?

National Customer Service Week (NCSW), is held the first week in October each year and is designed to raise awareness of customer service and the vital role it plays within an organization. It is also an opportunity to say thank you to those who work in customer service for a job well done.

So to those of you who are customers / clients / learners / alumni of ITSM Academy… THANK YOU.

And to our talented, dedicated, loyal and hard-working teams… THANK YOU.  Each and every one of you plays an invaluable role in making ITSM Academy a place that is easy to do business with – and that’s something that makes us proud.  #ILoveMyTeam

PS – If you missed out on booking one of our customer service classes, it’s not too early to plan for next year! Customer Service Excellence for the Service Desk Professional is a perennial favorite.

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Customer Service Week!

DevOps Enterprise Summit

I am very excited to be attending the DevOps Enterprise Summit 2014 in San Francisco, October 21-23.  #DOES14

DevOps Enterprise is THE event for people who are bringing Lean DevOps Enterpriseprinciples into the IT value stream while building DevOps and Continuous Delivery into their organization.

The conference assembles leaders of large, complex organizations who will be sharing their transformation stories.

They have announced speakers from: GE Energy, Macy’s, Disney, Blackboard, Ticketmaster, Target, US Dept of Homeland Security, Nordstrom, Capital One, Raytheon, Barclays and more.

If you love heroic and courageous tales of DevOps transformations, this conference is for you!

If you can join me and members of the #ITSMCrew then register using promo code “ITSM20” for a 20% discount!

So, it’s really weird/sad/strange to not be attending itSMF Fusion (for the first time in 11 years!) but I am very excited to learn from these awesome organizations, make new friends and see my amigos who are attending.

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Conferencing!

DevOps Resources

In the last 2 years, there has been groundswell of interest in DevOps; some of my favorites;

  • Websites: www.devops.com
  • Certification Training:
  • Conferences: #DOES14
    • The DevOps Enterprise Summit will assemble leaders of large, complex organizations who are adopting #DevOps, and who will be sharing their transformation stories.
    • They have announced speakers from GE Energy, Macy’s, Disney, Blackboard, Ticketmaster, Target, US Dept of Homeland Security, Nordstrom, Capital One, Raytheon, Barclays…
    • If you love heroic and courageous tales of DevOps transformations, this conference is for you!
    • Use promo code ITSM20 for a 20% discount!

Until your next trip to LisaLand… Happy Reading, Conferencing and Training!

ITSM Academy Presenting at Fusion

I think this is the 10th year in a row that at least one ITSM Academy team member has spoken at @itsmf_usa Fusion – #SMFUSION14 – event.  As Montgomery Gentry says; “That’s something to be proud of.”

This year, my business partner, Jayne Groll (@ITSM_Jayne) has been invited to present on two topics:

And Donna Knapp (@ITSM_Donna) will be co-presenting with Anthony Orr: Breakfast Briefing 01: How to Pass Your MALC Exam – If you are planning on becoming an #ITIL Expert, and you are attending Fusion, don’t miss this breakfast!

Until your next visit to LisaLand…Happy Conferencing!

ITIL is turning 25 this year…just like me, who knew! ;)

Guest Host Post – by Donna Knapp (@ITSM_Donna)

ITIL is turning 25 this year…just like me, who knew! 😉

ITILResearchIn honor of this milestone, AXELOS commissioned a study (The Importance of ITIL® – A Global View – 2014 and Beyond) to provide a global and independent assessment of the current perception of ITIL, engaging nearly 400 C-Level and medium tier service managers in key international regions across a range of industries.

One of the stated reasons that the study was commissioned is because ITIL’s benefits are being questioned in light of factors such as cloud computing, more advanced automation, and agile. The results of the study reaffirm ITIL’s value, particularly in the eyes of IT executives. In fact, according to the study, just under 70% of executives indicated that ITIL is becoming more important in light of these trends.

Other interesting results presented in the survey include:

  • 71% of those surveyed view ITIL as playing a tangible role in supporting the move to DevOps and Agile
  • ITIL 2011 adopters are more likely to see ITIL as growing in importance
  • 40% of non-2011 respondents plan to move to 2011 soon
  • Certification and training was deemed the most valuable resource (over, for example, the core books themselves)
  • Having said that…43% of respondents specified ‘too busy’ as their reason for not taking ITIL training (Lisa Note:  this is one of the many reasons ITSM Academy is now delivering live, virtual training and supplementing with our Learner Portal!)
  • We still have a ways to go, however…only 21% of the organizations surveyed had achieved ‘improved agility and flexibility in provisioning services’  through ITL (Agile Service Management to the rescue!)

Have I peaked your interest?

Click here to check out the complete study.

Until your next visit to LisaLand… Happy ITILing!

DevOps Gold: What the Olympics Teaches Us About Agile Development and Release

I am kind of “little girl excited” about our next webinar.  Probably because, ever since I was a little girl, I have LOVED the Olympics; summer and winter, I equally love them both. WebinarBanner_Sept2014Some of my fist TV memories are centered on the Olympics.  Nadia, Flo-Jo, Eric Heiden, Greg Louganis, Mary Lou, Apollo; actually it would take too long for me to list them all! Let’s just say it’s serious.  And now with TiVo, it’s almost ridiculous… but that’s for another day…

The point of today’s post is to invite you to our September Webinar; DevOps Gold: What the Olympics Teaches Us About Agile Development and Release. Presented by: Dave Roberts, Executive Advisor, BMC Software.  Thursday, September 18, 2014 at 11am (Eastern) – Register

At the recent winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, we saw athletes from all over the world striving for excellence. Some turned in the best performance of their lives and came home with a gold medal. Others, some favorites, struggled and saw their dreams slip away. In this presentation, we’ll see how DevOps done right is a lot like the Olympics. If you set reasonable goals, train hard, and execute well, you’ll reach DevOps Gold, too. But if you take your releases for granted, you may end up with nothing to show for it.

Register Today

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Learning!

Converting a Budget Deficit Into an Innovation Surplus – USPS

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!

Full Circle – from ESM to ITIL and Back Again

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!

DevOps: Moving Beyond Early Adopters to Pragmatic Acceptance

Join us for a complimentary webinar: DevOps: Moving Beyond Early Adopters to Pragmatic Acceptance on Thursday, May 15th at 11am (Eastern) – Register

Presenter: Alan Shimel,Editor-in-Chief, DevOps.com

EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR BANNER_May2014

Just about every technology trend over the last 30 years has followed a similar pattern. Originally championed by a dedicated core of enthusiasts, it gathers adherents among those willing to live at the bleeding edge. Over time champions emerge who seek to spread the word on the benefits of the technology. These visionaries eventually come to a chasm that separates early adopters from the vast majority of the mainstream. Some technologies cross the chasm, others fall in.

DevOps is now at precipice of the chasm. It appears to have the momentum to make the leap. Why? How will it affect you? Separating the fact from the hype, examining the truth behind the myth, learn how DevOps is not a threat to IT jobs, but can be the greatest catalyst of improved performance that we have seen in IT for a long time

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

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Learning!