Tag Archives: strategy

Why Your Organization Gets the IT It Deserves

May 4, 2026 Doug Tedder Leave a comment

“What is the value of IT?”

It’s the question that gets asked over and over. But the question itself is not the problem – it’s a symptom. It distracts from the real issue: the absence of organizational accountability for IT value.

As a result, your organization gets the IT it deserves.

How organizations end up with the IT they deserve

Organizations end up with poor IT when:

Technology is viewed as a cost center
Leadership fails to modernize or invest
Business units and IT operate in silos
Digital transformation lacks clarity
Governance is weak or outdated
The human experience is undervalued

That’s not to say that all of this is the fault of the organization. IT can influence many of these issues by defining a service catalog. A service catalog is the authoritative, business-facing description of IT services—defined in clear, outcome-oriented terms that show how IT enables business value. A service catalog is not a list of technologies or a menu of request forms. It is a structured representation of what the IT organization delivers, why it matters, and how it supports business outcomes.

Without a service catalog, IT becomes invisible – a utility seen as a just a back-office function tasked with fixing technology and keeping systems running, rather than driving value. This mindset allows the business to avoid owning strategic technology decisions, deflecting responsibility for unclear business requirements, shifting priorities, poor planning, or the lack of business strategy alignment. As a result, IT is left to guess or assume what business outcomes the organization is expecting.

On the other hand, when the business and IT work as one team, the question of “IT value” disappears. IT value isn’t a question when:

Organizational leadership treats IT as strategic, not tactical
Investments (including technology) align with business priorities
Workforce readiness is cultivated
Innovation and foresight become cultural norms
Processes are designed to enable, not constrain
Systems are human-centric and intuitive

The key difference in the organization getting the IT it deserves – good or bad – is how business strategy and IT strategy are connected. The service catalog (or lack thereof) is the concrete expression of that connection.

What we have here is a lack of strategic alignment

As Mark Lutchen noted in Managing IT as a Business, technology only delivers benefits when implemented with an understanding that it changes how a company works. Among the principles discussed within his book, Lutchen advised that business and IT strategy must align to ensure that technology drives profits.

But when business strategy and technology strategy are treated separately, then the organization is constrained, if not prevented, from fully leveraging technology for business benefit. This approach results in bad behaviors within the organization, such as

IT is expected to align to a business strategy for which it had no input
IT is brought in at the last minute to strategic business discussions when it becomes apparent that technology is involved.

McKinsey’s research reinforces this point – without aligning investments to strategic technology trends, organizations chase hype instead of harvesting value. Many companies chase trends without developing internal capacity, resulting in minimal return.

Defining IT services and, subsequently, a service catalog not only provides a framework to evaluate innovation, but it also represents a mutually agreed understanding between IT and the rest of the business for ensuring that technology investments result in business value.

But the hard truth is that some organizations do not want to change the status quo. Some within organizations would rather bluster about “IT value” rather than taking action to establish and enforce accountability through strategic alignment.

Stop debating IT value, start aligning IT with the business

Defining IT services establishes the critical foundation for answering the question “what is the value of IT?” Start from the “outside” then work back “inside” the organization to answer the following questions:

What is the business of the business?
Who are our customers?
What do those customers need?
Why do those customers come to us?
What do those customers expect from us?
Who is accountable for ensuring that customers are happy?
What combinations of IT and non-IT people, processes, and technology enable us to do that?

The answers to these questions provide the foundation for defining services, and ultimately, a service catalog.

Earn the IT you deserve

Business-IT alignment is one of the strongest predictors of whether technology investments translate into outcomes such as business performance, operational excellence, and competitive advantage. IT cannot create value in isolation – it’s the partnership between IT and the business that unlocks it. A well-defined service catalog demonstrates that both share a common understanding of value, outcomes, and expectations – the foundation of alignment.

ITSM, Leadership

The ITSM blind spots holding back your business

December 3, 2025 Doug Tedder

In today’s digital economy, IT is no longer just a support function. The products and services provided by IT are engines for business growth, enabling a differentiated set of capabilities in the marketplace.

Effective ITSM transforms IT into a powerful engine that drives exceptional business performance and fuels sustained competitive advantage.

Yet, too many organizations have a blind spot when it comes to ITSM. Too many organizations view ITSM only as a back-office activity, providing support and resolving tickets. A significant reason why this situation exists is that many ITSM implementations are focused only on managing the work of (some parts of the) IT organization, and not the business of the business.

I’ve talked about this before – too many organizations take a technology-first approach to service management, rather than investing effort in establishing a mutually-agreed understanding of the benefits of ITSM. Many organizations’ ITSM efforts are not aligned with business goals and objectives. These ITSM implementations are focused on what has happened, seemingly looking through the rear-view mirror rather than looking through the windshield, to proactively becoming a business enabler. These ITSM environments are perceived as being overly bureaucratic, unable to respond to or quickly adopt new capabilities or technologies in response to ever-changing business needs.

These organizations have created – and maintain – a blind spot when it comes to ITSM.

What’s been overlooked – or ignored?

For many organizations, ITSM is only the service desk and the ‘core four’ practices – incident, change, service request, and problem management. Are these practices necessary? Absolutely.

But by only implementing these ‘core four’ practices, organizations will have overlooked opportunities to change the perception of ITSM to business enabler. What has been overlooked?

Service Strategy – What is the plan for developing, providing, and supporting technology-based products and services that align with business goals and objectives? How will these products and services create value and enable competitive advantage? What trends and emerging business demands should be considered? Unfortunately, many organizations have not considered defining their strategy for service management.
Portfolio Management – A defined portfolio of products, services, and related service management investments enables strategic decision making. Effective portfolio management helps minimize technical debt, prioritize initiatives, and aligns service with business goals.
Service Design – Having a formally-defined, holistic approach to designing the products and services that provide the capabilities required by the organization is critical for the realization of business value. In many organizations, service design is the domain of only the application development teams, often with no involvement from users or other parts of the IT organization.
Measurement and Reporting – Many organizations capture measures and produce reports only because the tools that are in use do that – and even then, those measures and reports are about IT. Measures and reports must be purposeful and specific to the audiences (there is more than one!). If we understand how products and service enable business success (see service strategy), then we know what is important to the organization to measure and report.
Continual Improvement – Development and implementation of products and services can never be “once-and-done” activities. Business needs in response to marketplaces are continually evolving. Continual improvement provides a means of dealing with the ever-evolving needs of the organization. Yet, many ITSM implementations have not defined a formalized approach to continual improvement to deal with these ever-evolving needs, contributing to the perception of IT being nonresponsive.

Shining the light on the ITSM blind spots holding you back

There is no quick fix for addressing these blind spots in ITSM implementations. Addressing these blind spots will require collaboration, thoughtful experimentation, good governance, and commitment.

However, there are simple actions that can start to shine light on those blind spots.

Regularly job shadow non-IT colleagues for a day – Learn how IT-provided products and services facilitate the work being done by non-IT colleagues – or get in the way. Shadowing also encourages empathy between IT associates and non-IT colleagues and can provide input into future service designs.
Critically evaluate your current reporting – Are the measures and reports being produced by IT reflect organizational outcomes and business value? If not, it’s time to revisit that organizational mission/vision/goals statement and learn what is important to the business – and measure and report on that.
Challenge the status quo – Just because work has always been done in some manner doesn’t make it right. Where are the gaps in the ways that IT and non-IT colleagues interact? What work is being done that just doesn’t quite meet organizational requirements? Even small incremental improvements make a difference.

A “business results first” ITSM mindset transforms IT from a back-office support function into a proactive catalyst for business success. By shining a light on the blind spots in your ITSM environment and embracing strategy, portfolio management, holistic service design, meaningful measurement, and continual improvement, IT can truly enable competitive advantage, innovation, and organizational growth. The journey starts with collaboration, curiosity, and the courage to challenge the status quo—lighting the way for IT to become a valued business enabler, not just a resolver of tickets.

ESM

Fear of collaboration: A silent killer of ESM initiatives

September 8, 2025 Doug Tedder

Is your Enterprise Service Management (ESM) initiative stuck? Does it feel like no one wants to talk about, much less support, ESM? Do you feel like you’re on an island? If these questions resonate with you, your ESM initiative may be a victim of a fear of collaboration.

Collaboration is when two or more people work together to achieve a common goal. Successful collaboration involves sharing responsibilities, supporting each other, and sharing risks. When people collaborate, they invest in the success of each other, and work as a team to overcome challenges to achieve shared goals.

Successful ESM requires collaboration. But to many, being asked to collaborate is intimidating. It’s uncomfortable. In some cases, it is counter to the culture of the organization. In other cases, it’s a threat to an individual’s sense of control, self-worth, or identity.

Collaboration can be downright scary.

Why are people afraid of collaboration?

People are often afraid of collaboration for several reasons. These reasons range from psychological, cultural, and organizational factors – factors that create obstacles to the effective collaboration needed for successful ESM.

This article from Harvard Business Review discusses the “blind spot” many leaders have when asking their teams to collaborate. Leaders often overlook the experience teams may have when invited to collaborate, such as when asked to divulge information, break down organizational silos, share resources, sacrifice autonomy, or even relinquish responsibilities that define them as a group. Rather than embrace the opportunities and successes that come with effective collaboration, some teams take on a defensive posture to protect their team identity, legitimacy, and sense of control.

An ESM initiative may encounter other barriers to collaboration. Some people fear appearing incompetent or weak when admitting gaps in their knowledge, especially in high performing organizations. Others are concerned about being indebted to others or having to reciprocate in the future, which can make collaboration feel transactional rather than mutually beneficial. In workplaces that highly value individual achievement and self-reliance, people may feel pressure to solve problems on their own. Collaboration can be seen as a weakness, discouraging people from reaching out for help or engaging.

Why good ESM is critical to success in the digital economy

Why is having and practicing good ESM so important for organizations now?

Having reliable and responsive technology solutions is critical for business success in the digital economy. The digital economy moves at digital speeds. Understanding the organizational value streams – how work and value flow through an organization – is foundational for reliable, repeatable, and trustworthy digital interactions. Since technology is a critical factor in underpinning and executing organizational value streams, having a mutual understanding of the outcomes and value the organization wants to achieve is required. Good ESM enables and embeds that mutual understanding across the organization.

The customer experience will be significantly influenced by the interactions of customers with technologies provided by the organization. Those interactions must be frictionless, intuitive, and responsive – and in many cases, will not involve a human from the organization. Good ESM enables organizations to understand and continually improve how the technologies underpinning organizational value streams that face the customer.

Good ESM requires good collaboration

As I’ve stated before, ESM is not “ITSM for the rest of the organization”. ESM is holistic, organization-wide approach focused on value delivery, collaboration, and continual improvement, rather than just technology deployment. Good ESM is a strategic initiative that requires proper planning, leadership, and a focus on real business outcomes.

The focus of ESM must be on value streams and business outcomes, not implementing tools. Good ESM is achieved by aligning workflows and processes with organizational value streams and regular engagement among colleagues from across the organization to understand priorities and pain points and identify opportunities for improvement.

Good ESM relies on shared processes, increased collaboration, and improved communication across departments. This holistic approach enables organizations to leverage the full talents and competencies of the entire workforce, leading to better outcomes.[i]

Overcoming the fear of collaboration

While there is no “instant fix” that results in collaboration, there are some significant steps an organization can take to enable and motivate the collaboration required for ESM.

First, an ESM initiative requires executive sponsorship and a champion. Since good ESM requires a holistic approach, executive sponsorship is critical for helping tear down organizational silos. Equally as important is having an ESM champion. The champion not only represents the initiative at the senior levels of the organization but must also convey the vision for ESM. It must be emotionally compelling. Logical arguments alone are insufficient to overcome the deep-rooted emotional responses as discussed earlier.

Leaders must talk openly about the importance of psychological safety and make it an explicit team goal. Leaders should model inclusive leadership by actively soliciting input, showing vulnerability, and being approachable about mistakes. Associates have to feel safe to ask questions, experiment, and make mistakes.

The goals, expectations, and roles of the ESM initiative must be clearly communicated from the start. Leaders must define clear, mutual objectives so that everyone is working toward the same outcome. Regularly schedule check-ins to clarify any misunderstandings and to maintain alignment as the ESM initiative evolves.

Finally, having the right person lead the ESM initiative – and having the right people engaged – is key. Build an ESM team environment where team members feel safe to voice ideas and concerns without judgment. Encourage empathy and understanding among team members. Celebrate and reward knowledge sharing, but just as importantly, celebrate the learning that comes from failures.

Move toward a collaborative ESM initiative

Here are some suggestions for overcoming collaboration challenges and getting your ESM initiative moving in the right direction.

Establish the shared purpose – Why is ESM so important for the future of the organization? In his book, Start with Why, Simon Sinek wrote “people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.” [ii] Without the strong and compelling “why”, ESM efforts will not return the expected benefits.
Have a plan – ESM is not just extending the ITSM tool across the enterprise. ESM must be seen as a business strategy, not just a technology or IT initiative.
Make collaboration a personal objective – Start actively listening to others’ ideas and perspectives with empathy. This creates a foundation for trust and respect, which will open the door for more meaningful interactions and collaboration.

Effective service management is a key to success in the digital economy. But the future of service management is not within the IT department, but within the enterprise. Good ESM requires good collaboration across an organization to realize success.

[i] https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/20429/626830

[ii] Sinek, Simon. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. New York: Portfolio, 2009

AI, ITSM

Five critical steps for making a good AI/ITSM decision

January 14, 2025 Doug Tedder

There is no question that AI-enabled technologies have the potential for significant positive impact for organizations overall, and for ITSM specifically. This recent TechTarget article highlights a number of positive business impacts resulting from the adoption of AI-enabled technologies, such as new capabilities and business model expansion, better quality, more innovation, and personalized customer services and experiences.

New and existing ITSM-related vendors are rushing into the space with solutions like AI-powered automation, conversational AI, intelligent chatbots, predictive analytics, and agentic AI (A web search on these terms will return numerous examples!).

And we’re only scratching the surface. New AI-enabled capabilities are on the horizon, such as:

AI agents capable of executing discrete tasks independently based on personal preferences or providing customer service without requiring specific prompts.[i]
AI-powered cybersecurity in the form of automated, near-constant backup procedures and AI tools for managing sensitive data to enhance data protection and resilience.[ii]
Small Language Models (SLM) that aim to optimize models for existing use cases. SLMs can be trained on smaller, highly curated data sets to solve specific problems, rather than act on general queries (like Large Language Models).[iii]

But just because these rapidly-evolving technologies represent the “latest shiny new thing that really helps” (a tip of the cap to Paul Wilkinson) doesn’t mean that you should succumb to the fear of missing out by just “doing something”. In my experience, a new technology alone rarely (if ever) solves a business challenge. When it comes to technology investments, it’s better to make a good, informed decision, based upon the unique needs and challenges faced by your organization.

Yet, AI-related technologies can have and are having a significant positive impact on ITSM environments. Many organizations are already benefitting from the use of AI-enabled chatbots, automated ticket management, and service request automation.

The pressure to introduce AI-enabled capabilities to ITSM implementations is real. But which tools? What capabilities? How can one decide?

Five critical steps

Here are my five critical steps to making a good AI/ITSM decision.

Define overarching goals for using AI within ITSM. It’s easy to become captivated by the latest products and features, especially in today’s AI/ITSM market frenzy. But chasing new products and features usually results in a short-sighted approach to technology adoption that will likely not meet longer term goals and needs. AI within ITSM should not be approached as a point solution; rather, AI should be considered within the broader perspective of ITSM. How will adding AI capabilities address current challenges? How will adding AI enable the organization to realize future ITSM objectives? Defining overarching goals for AI in ITSM – in business terms – ensures that broader perspective . Defining overarching goals also establishes the foundation for measuring AI/ITSM success.
Conduct a SWOT analysis of the ITSM environment. Conducting a SWOT analysis identifies a company’s internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as external threats and opportunities. Understanding an organization’s ITSM SWOT identifies the critical factors that must be considered before developing an AI strategy. A SWOT is a good way to understand an organization’s readiness and ability to take on an AI initiative. Having the right stakeholders participate is critical to the success of a SWOT. Include stakeholders (especially non-IT colleagues) that have an interest in both ITSM and in AI capabilities and use. Include stakeholders that will freely share thoughts and ideas and have a pragmatic understanding of organizational issues and challenges.
Develop the AI strategy. What is the approach for bringing in AI into your service management implementation? An effective AI strategy is not about finding places to “plug-in” an AI solution. It’s about understanding the organizational change, data, skills, budget, and infrastructure that will be needed for successfully utilizing AI technologies within the ITSM environment to help achieve the organization’s mission, vision, and goals. Use the results of the ITSM SWOT as an input to this strategy.
Define evaluation criteria. The next step is to define the criteria by which potential AI solutions will be assessed. Defining this criteria up-front helps prevent falling victim to ‘shiny object syndrome’ and identify the solution that is best for your organization. As part of that criteria, consider the solutions alignment with the AI/ITSM strategy, costs (initial, ongoing, and cost effectiveness), the effectiveness of the solution to leverage issues identified in the SWOT, and how the solution enables the pursuit of potential future opportunities.
Develop and present the business case. Gaining and maintaining the commitment of senior management is critical for success. When a potential solution is found, develop and present the business case for that solution. Discuss the technical and cultural challenges that come with AI adoption. Discuss the opportunities that AI with ITSM will provide. Discuss how a solution will address SWOT and align with the AI strategy. Discuss the benefits of implementing the solution , how risks will be optimized, and how success will be measured. Discuss the consequences of doing nothing. Most importantly, ask for management commitment.

Cautions

Before moving forward with introducing AI within an ITSM environment, here are some cautions of which to be aware.

Good AI will not fix bad ITSM. The adoption of AI technologies can enable and enhance ITSM capabilities. However, AI is not a “magic wand” that solves issues like poor process design, inadequate service management governance, and ineffective measurement and reporting.
Don’t overlook data quality and governance. Many organizations have data quality and data governance challenges. AI needs data – lots of it – and that data must be accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Data quality and governance is not just a challenge for ITSM, it is an organizational problem.
Is there an ITSM strategy? Many organizations are not achieving the full potential of ITSM adoption. Rather than applying ITSM holistically, many implementations have only focused ITSM implementation on IT operational issues, and not on how ITSM enables business outcomes. Without an overarching ITSM strategy, AI investments risk becoming short-sighted and expensive point solutions that do not address business needs.

Augmenting the ITSM environment with the right AI capabilities can be a huge benefit for the organization, ITSM, and the employees of an organization. But introducing AI within ITSM is not a decision to be taken lightly. Taking a systemic approach to identifying, justifying, and selecting solutions sets the right expectations with stakeholders and helps ensure successful introduction of ITSM with AI.

[i] https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2025/01/innovation-experts-predict-top-tech-trends-for-2025.html , Retrieved January 2024.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/articles/us187540_tech-trends-2025/DI_Tech-trends-2025.pdf , Retrieved January 2024.