ITSM (IT Service Management) addresses the long-standing challenge of aligning IT investments with business needs, and as a result, it is gaining a growing user base in China while its principles become increasingly ingrained in the minds of these users.
Current State of ITSM Implementation in Chinese Enterprises
Li Hanzhong, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai BETA Network Company, remarked in an exclusive interview with 51CTO: ITSM emphasizes the integration of IT and business. Among the Chinese clients we have worked with, we find that most remain in the initial stages of the ITSM methodology, specifically the IT infrastructure management stage. Clients are weighed down by the heavy pressure of manual management tasks and are more concerned with whether network devices go down, whether services and applications terminate, and how to resolve virus and system security issues.
According to Li, there is another category of clients whose IT systems are relatively closely integrated with their company’s business. With the management of IT infrastructure technology in good order, they are now moving toward the orderly management of business processes. However, at this stage, the management of work orders, service desk dispatching, and some incident management aspects still remain chaotic. Furthermore, there is yet another category of clients that has fully integrated IT process management with business management, but this type of user is still very rare in China. Most Chinese users remain at the IT infrastructure management level.
Regarding the characteristics of ITSM solutions in the Chinese market, Li believes there is still a certain gap between domestic and foreign vendors. Domestic products are better able to provide strong solutions for key modules based on users’ current needs. For example, they can specifically address user needs in areas like incident management and service attitude management. Foreign vendors, on the other hand, tend to use large, comprehensive systems to meet these needs, which introduces several problems: first, implementation is very difficult; second, the price is extremely high; and third, the success rate is hard to manage. Domestic vendors can leverage their localization advantages to deliver effective management products that target clients’ phased management requirements. This is entirely beneficial and harmless for domestic users.
Regarding the products of domestic vendors, they already feature targeted planning. Take Beta’s products, for instance; different product series exist for different applications. In the realm of IT service management processes, there is the BTNM series. Through the planning of this series, corresponding services are provided to meet the requirements of different users.
Misconceptions in Enterprise ITSM Implementation
Industries like finance, government, and telecommunications have relatively complex IT scales and are at the forefront of ITSM implementation. However, many enterprises are still confined to the incident monitoring stage and are not yet practicing IT service management in its truest sense. This limitation is tied to enterprises’ understanding of ITSM, and they often fall into common misconceptions during implementation. Generally speaking, enterprises encounter two major misconceptions when implementing ITSM:
“Over-reliance on Consulting Firms.” Companies follow consulting firms’ advice blindly, using ITIL processes to plan the company’s entire system and set up processes as prescribed.
Although ITIL represents best practices derived from practical applications, blindly copying it without considering a company’s own business situation can lead to a mismatch between processes and business needs.
“Over-reliance on Implementation Tools.” Enterprises one-sidedly focus on the “What You See Is What You Get” implementation effects within ITSM solutions but often overlook whether the implementation truly resolves the practical problems in IT operations and maintenance.
A primary cause of these misconceptions is that enterprises view ITIL as a rigid, unchanging standard. They do not select appropriate IT management processes or optimize their design based on their own business processes and local conditions. This often results in companies investing significant human and material resources in establishing ITSM and implementing ITIL, only to achieve outcomes that fall short of management’s expectations.
In fact, ITSM is merely a set of methodologies; it only delivers value when combined with a user’s IT status quo and business needs. ITSM consists of several process modules, including business and IT strategy integration, corporate IT daily operations, IT service development and application, IT service planning and management, and service delivery assurance. It encompasses two major phases: front-end data collection and back-end process management. The process that runs through both front-end and back-end is essentially one of customization and industry specialization.
How Enterprises Should Implement ITSM Correctly
Aidan Lawes, CEO