We’re delighted to welcome ISG (Information Services Group) as a sponsor for Service North. Andrea Kis, a senior consultant at ISG, joins us as our keynote speaker at Service North to talk about Smart SIAM and digital transformation.
In this blog, you can find out more about ISG and why they see SIAM as a hot topic for 2017.
Tell us about ISG
ISG (Information Services Group) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 700 clients, including 75 of the top 100 enterprises in the world, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organisations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specialises in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; technology strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis.
ISG employs more than 1,300 professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data.
What does SIAM mean to you?
Service integration and management (SIAM) is as much about a philosophy and an approach for managing complex, multi-sourced environments as it about specific processes and tools.
The most important letter in SIAM is the ‘I’ because the operating model has to be designed and built with integration in mind. Integration must be at the forefront – from design of the end to end services to the sourcing of the component services; from the customer need all the way through the supply chain to the service providers; from the design and build of new services to the implementation and operation. SIAM constitutes the vast majority of retained functions in heavily outsourced organisations and, done well, it can ensure that the value sought from outsourcing is achieved. Some organisations even choose to partially outsource even their SIAM functions – although the days of wholesale SIAM outsourcing are behind us.
Why is SIAM a hot topic for 2017?
SIAM is just as important now as it was ten years ago despite the rise of some trendy new concepts such as Digital Enterprise Agility and DevOps. The continual need to be able to seamlessly integrate services from multiple sources, adopt new service models (Cloud, XaaS, etc.), and to do everything cheaper, faster and better means that SIAM principles are perhaps even more relevant now than they ever have been. In reality we have been “doing SIAM” for more than a decade already, but we just didn’t have the label to stick on it nor the structured approaches that we now have. And we will be “doing SIAM” for many, many more years to come – although the label may fade and the techniques will continue to evolve and mature.
What business problems does SIAM fix?
SIAM is about delivering business value from the services delivered. This value can arise in multiple guises. For example, SIAM can help resolve longstanding services issues, delays and wasted time arising from poor handoffs between suppliers. This can lead to increased customer satisfaction and fewer wasted business hours. SIAM can improve the design and sourcing services that the business needs, making IT more responsive. It can help to eliminate shadow IT, optimise the service portfolio and prevent money being wasted on redundant or duplicate services. SIAM can also help maximise the value from external suppliers by managing contractual obligations and ensuring the customer is getting everything they are paying for. In short SIAM is a way to achieve operational excellence and optimise services.
How do you see SIAM evolving in the next 5-10 years?
We are going to see a big shift away from heavily process-centric approaches towards automation and tool-based optimisation. This will be largely driven by the increased speed demanded by agile delivery and DevOps adoption. Many of the traditional, high visibility processes such as Change Management will disappear from view because they will have been automated, standardised and optimised so that they become almost invisible (although they will still be there, protecting and controlling). Other processes such as knowledge management will become more critical as they drive self-help tools, cognitive support systems and virtual agents.
SIAM training and certification launches in March 2017, what’s your view on this?
As with any form of professional training and certification, much of the value of these schemes derives from the common terminology and frameworks that are created. It allows us to all talk the same language, share good practices, learn from each other and further improve the professionalism of service management. SIAM training and certification adds a much needed body of knowledge that extends and expands on traditional service management practices. It will provide guidance to help manage the realities of modern, complex multi-sourced service environments.
About the author
Simon Durbin is a Director with ISG, leads the Strategy & Operations practice in Europe and is an expert in Service Integration and Management (SIAM). He has nearly 30 years of experience in IT service operations and consulting with Fortune 500 companies, leading and advising on major organisational transformation projects in complex, multi-sourced environments.
Access free resources from ISG
SIAM – Understanding the Basics
Thoughts on Service Management Metamorphosis
Provider Management – Saving my Marriage because Divorces are Expensive
Three Best Practices for a Solid SIAM Foundation
Key Challenges in Implementing a SIAM Function
Further research articles can be found in the ISG Insights Research Library (search for SIAM or related topics).
Case studies and white papers can also be found on the Operating Model Design & Implementation page of our website
