Industry Comments
Successful businesses listen to their customers and provide them what they want. For an IT organization to run like a successful business (a demand on IT heard more and more often) IT must do the same. Serving as an online “shop window” for the things IT provides, a catalogue and request management system provides the very best way for IT and the users of IT to collaborate on a standard set of products and services and their associated approvals, costs and delivery times. 
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Are You A Candidate?
Successful businesses become successful by listening to their customers and providing them what they want. IT must do the same. Is there a disparity of expectation between IT and its customers when it comes to the provisioning of IT services? Is your Service Desk flooded with requests that would be better served via a self-service portal? Is it time to define what IT offers, standardize processes for delivery and measure compliance as part of a continual improvement program?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you are a candidate for our Request Management offering.
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The Promise of Our Offering
The primary reason IT pursues Request Management is to better manage the delivery of IT services thereby creating a more satisfying service experience. While serving others has its own rewards, what’s in it for IT? A better understanding (and ultimately appreciation) by the entire company of the challenges and the costs associated with supporting the user population. As well as, an elimination of the chaos associated with providing services by defining the “shop window” that allows customers see just what is available to them.
Consequently, the promises of our offering include:
- The framework for establishing realistic and achievable expectations between IT and the business units IT supports
- A “self-help” Service Catalogue and underlying Request Management system where your customers place and track their orders within a standard set of products and services—with Service Level Agreements, required approvals and associated costs clearly conveyed
- A reduction in the cost of fulfilling requests via the elimination of redundant requests, the streamlining of the fulfillment process and the allocation of IT services to those items demanded most
- Dashboard-based reports providing you with a way to measure service performance and to communicate achievement levels to customers and the business. Also providing satisfaction derived from delivering to expectations and the positive morale that provides
Where to Begin?
It begins with recognition that IT responsibilities continue to mushroom. In fact, 80% of business practices within your company are now carried out by IT. What tools are available to you to ensure the needs of your company are met? Now is the time to clearly articulate what services you provide and to make the services accessible to those that need them in a manner commensurate with the available resources. It is via effective Request Management that you will uncover any discrepancies between what is being asked of you and what you have to offer.
We begin with an assessment of your current Request Management processes and any software automation currently in place. Following, we will provide you with an analysis of the suitability of our offering. Where data is available we will calculate the costs associated with the current state of your environment and compare that to the costs and financial savings associated with our offering.
If you decide to proceed we will submit a Statement of Work and Project Plan detailing our responsibilities (and yours), our suggested timeline, the project’s success criteria (your goals and ours) and our deliverables.
You will receive a successful project managed by our Project Management Office, delivered to the expectations Whitlock established at the outset. Take that critical initial step to more effective service management—a worthwhile investment in technology, your personnel and the well-being of your business.
Thank you for your interest in Whitlock.
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