On September 12th and 19th, Scopism hosted two virtual events showcasing SIAM adoption in North American government associations. Hosted by Be Executive Events and in partnership with Integris Applied, the events focused on using the SIAM approach to enhance customer experience and cost efficiency using an integrated approach to service management.
If you missed the live sessions, you can catch up here and here.
Event speakers and agenda
Our event speakers included:
Claire Agutter: Founder, Scopism
Robbie Head: Director of IT, Georgia Technology Authority
Joshua Zamarippa: Chief, ENT IT Service Integrator, US Defense Health Agency
Tim Ryckman: Managing Director, Integris Applied
Matt Reprogle: Senior Advisor, Integris Applied
And our agenda included two US government case studies plus expert commentary showcasing:
The importance of a clear sourcing strategy.
How to implement service integration and management (SIAM) from procurement through operations.
How to build an IT environment that addresses both current and future customer needs.
How to map and manage your vendor landscape effectively.
Strategies for efficiently onboarding and offboarding vendors
Questions and Answers
In this blog, you can find a summary of the key questions from the event attendees and panel answers. If you’d like any further information, please get in touch.
Question: Where can I find SIAM training and certification?
Answer (Claire Agutter): Scopism partners with EXIN for the delivery of SIAM training and exams, and EXIN uses a global network of training organisations for delivery. You can find training partners on their website. We also showcased a special offer from Suerte during the event for SIAM Foundation training, which can be accessed here.
Question: Did you face issues with internal teams who felt the SIAM team was taking over their supplier relationships during the implementation of improvements? Was this a big culture change for your suppliers? How did they react to the introduction of a service integrator?
Answer (Joshua Zamarippa): “We encountered several challenges related to general organizational change, particularly in conveying that we are not here to take over anyone’s mission; rather, we aim to support them in achieving their objectives. Effective communication and a positive communication structure were essential not only for engaging with the mission owners responsible for the services currently provided but also for ensuring that this message was communicated from the CIO level downwards. It was important that everyone was aligned toward a common goal.
Organizational change management and effective communication were critical in guiding everyone in that direction. This is an ongoing effort that we continue to address today. Even with my capability service provider team, I must consistently ensure that we are implementing organizational change management practices and communicating with our customers in a fundamentally different way.”
And so I know there’s another question about suppliers and in our own experience is saying, you know, if on the client side, so the government entity or the firm that’s buying or coordinating these services, It’s to say, this is our goal, this is our approach as a program, and we want all of our delivery participants to work together as part of it. And so therefore, we’re going to introduce this framework or these operating level agreements or these service management manual processes or whatever. And, you know, so I I think that helps to bring the suppliers along as well as the as the existing entities within the current delivery organization.
Answer (Tim Ryckman): “I think it’s important to address the questions about culture, as they are quite interesting. One of the key points we often emphasize is that technology is rarely the primary challenge; it’s everything else surrounding it. While I don’t want to downplay the complexity of selecting the right technology or developing software, many attendees, particularly those from government, recognize that politics, relationships, budgets, and similar factors often come into play.
Aligning everyone on the reasons behind our initiatives and the benefits they bring is incredibly helpful. Regarding suppliers, our experience on the client side—whether from a government entity or a firm coordinating these services—highlights the necessity of clear communication. We need to articulate our goals and approach as a program, encouraging all delivery participants to collaborate effectively. To facilitate this, we introduce frameworks, operating level agreements, and service management processes etc. This not only helps in bringing suppliers along but also integrates them with the existing entities within the current delivery organization.”
Question: What level of KPI/Reporting we are performing to have clear view on all components and engaged providers and performance?
Answer (Joshua Zamarippa): “At the end of the day, Rory effectively explains the purpose of reporting; we shouldn’t engage in reporting merely for its own sake. It’s essential to have validation and realistic measures in place. For us, it’s crucial to ensure that we report on IT performance and our collaboration with mission partners. For instance, we work closely with the Department of Veteran Affairs, and we want to verify that our initiatives are functioning as intended.
Ultimately, the goal of reporting is to ensure that systems operate as designed and that we deliver the expected services. Service level agreements (SLAs) and key performance indicators (KPIs) should accurately reflect this. Additionally, dashboards must be presented in a way that facilitates decision-making. I find it frustrating to look at numerous dashboards without clear indications of their intended use. My aim is to provide the right executive dashboard to my CIO so he can make the informed decisions necessary for our success.”
Question: How did you deal with contract reviews to have the service providers in the “same environment”?
Answer (Rory McClure, Integris Applied): “Great question and of course the answer is it depends. Depends a lot on your contract management practices and requirements. At DHA, they must follow the DoD regulations and guidelines. But like Joshua was saying they look at it as one integrated environment. The key for the integrated environment is attending to their relationships and handoffs. Part of that comes from having an Organizational Conflict of Interest agreement with the Integrator – the integrator cannot be a service provider. Part of it is by having formal Operating Level Agreements between the service providers.”
Answer: (Matt Reprogle): “Another practice we promote is for the integrator to facilitate separate monthly reviews covering both contractual and operational topics with each major service provider. These give the SP a forum to, for example, be transparent about cross-functional issues that might involve other providers or even the customer without directly involving other SPs.”
Question: Is it accurate to say that the SIAM position is not just a framework or set of processes, but rather a method for managing vendor personnel and coordinating their efforts to achieve a common objective?
Answer (Matt Reprogle): “You are definitely correct that the SIAM approach is not just a framework or a set of processes. However, usually it is not a method for managing vendor personnel or coordinating efforts of individual resources. Typically, the vendors do not provide staff resources but instead deliver services to specified outcomes. Each vendor is accountable for their service performance as measured by service level metrics, and the SIAM integrator’s role is to orchestrate and assure the delivery of services across the service providers, whether vendor or retained/internal. That said, certainly the relationships, collaboration, and communications between individuals are key to the success of service integration.
The best results arise when a cross-section of people in an integrated ecosystem come together to solve problems and improve the customer experience.”
Question: Have you moved to shorter contracts to allow plug and play? And have you rethought your contracts to allow for continual improvement?
Answer (Robbie Head): “Yes, when we first began outsourcing, we had very long contracts. Initially, we understood that lengthy agreements were necessary to facilitate the transitions. However, we have since shifted to shorter contracts. Instead of the typical eight to ten-year agreements, we now aim for contracts ranging from three to five years for many of our service provider partnerships. Currently, we are going through this process for our MSI contract but we need to navigate the necessary steps involved in this transition.”
Question: We’ve implemented a model with an integrator running several ITIL processes in a multi-vendor environment. So we’re doing a lot of the things that you mentioned in your presentation, even though we’re not formally using SIAM. What would be the suggestion for the next step in terms of maturity and efficiency for us?
Answer (Matt Reprogle): “That’s a really interesting question, and I’d love to hear more about that journey and how you got to this point. There are many different paths you could take, and it’s hard to pinpoint a specific situation. However, right off the bat, it seems there are opportunities for automation. Once you have the framework in place, you can examine the interactions and document the handoffs, which will reveal areas where you could automate processes and enhance reliability.
Additionally, focusing on performance management and service levels is always beneficial. It’s important to see how these elements integrate. Since this is closely tied to ITIL and its associated processes, I recommend looking at the ITIL 4 value chain to identify connections. This is likely a good step for any organization pursuing SIAM that has an ITIL foundation—adopting that framework allows you to start from your current position and work your way through to find areas for optimization.
Partnering is another crucial aspect. As you might have heard from Robbie, collaborating with agencies and engaging with application owners—whether they’re within your IT group or not—is essential. Understanding how these applications utilize data and exploring ways to work together more effectively can lead to significant opportunities for improvement.
Typically, SIAM focuses on the interconnections between different individuals and groups, identifying ways to bring them together for better collaboration and efficiency. While there isn’t a magical tool that will solve all problems, adopting a more organized approach can help you use data and processes more effectively.”
Question: Your service integration was mandated at senior levels, how much of a difference do you think this made?
Answer (Robbie Head): “It contributed to our success when participation was mandated. I should note that we didn’t face much pushback from the heads of the agencies, such as the commissioners. However, the resistance often came from the technical groups at lower levels. It’s interesting to observe that some of them continue to push back even today.”
Answer: (Claire Agutter): “I agree. Matt mentioned the importance of organizational change management, and it’s such an important thing for any SIAM adoption. In our SIAM survey conducted each year, we consistently find that OCM challenges rank among the top concerns. Therefore, having strong support from senior management is incredibly important.”
