IT Service Management (ITSM) Maturity and Cloud Computing: Correlation and Causation

[MichaelDortch]

One of the great things about this modern technology stuff: interesting and unexpected interactions with smart, thoughtful people. Several weeks ago, I had a set of such interactions via Twitter with Matt Beran (@mattberan), Ian Clayton (@ianclayton), William Goddard (@W_Goddard), and Stuart Rance (@StuartRance), people you should be following if you aren't already.

The central topic of our little discussion? The relationship, if any, between the use of cloud computing at enterprises and the ITSM maturity of those enterprises. Herewith, some thoughts from and inspired by that discussion that you might find interesting and inspiring as well.

As you might expect, some of the discussion participants saw no connection between cloud adoption and ITSM maturity, while others argued that the two items are directly related. (One participant opined sagaciously that adoption of cloud-based solutions is not a cause but a result of ITSM maturity.)

After considering the comments on both sides, I concluded that correlation is in fact not causation, generally or in the specific case of this discussion. However, in my experience with ServiceNow customers, I've often seen high levels of maturity (including customer centricity) alongside adoption of cloud-based ITSM.

Now of course, as the other discussion participants and I agreed, there are more and less mature examples of adoption and implementation where cloud-based solutions, including ServiceNow, are concerned. But business technology decision makers and reputable market watchers agree that incumbent IT and ITSM solutions may be more like anchors than sails where increasing maturity are concerned.

Forrester, for example, has said publicly that as much as three-quarters of the typical enterprise IT budget is spent on "MOOSE," or to "maintain and operate the IT organization, systems, and equipment." CIOs and IT leaders brought together by ServiceNow for a roundtable discussion said this estimate of what "keeping the lights on" costs is accurate, if not a bit low. This leaves precious little funding for innovation or maturation where ITSM initiatives are concerned.

The desire to reduce these costs is a major driver of the adoption of cloud-based solutions by enterprise IT decision makers. Gartner surveyed more than 2,000 CIOs late in 2012. Those CIOs reported that their budgets have been flat to negative since 2002, and that they expect their 2013 budgets to decline by a weighted average of 0.5 percent. Those same CIOs told Gartner that their top business priorities for 2013 are, in order, increasing enterprise growth, delivering operational results, and reducing enterprise costs. Their top three technological imperatives are analytics and business intelligence, mobile technologies, and cloud computing.

Is there a direct relationship between adoption of cloud-based solutions and ITSM maturity? I'd argue that cloud computing doesn't make an enterprise more mature where ITSM is concerned. However, I would agree with at least some of my learned industry colleagues, who observe that adoption of cloud-based solutions often accompanies and can sometimes help to accelerate ITSM maturity. I'd add that cloud solutions allow upgrades and enhancements to keep pace with the enterprise's specific rate of maturation. In contrast, premise-based solutions are often out of step with those rates, or require additional investments that don't align with enterprise budget or procurement cycles.

So that's what I think. But what do YOU think? Let me know. contact me on Twitter, send me an e-mail, and/or leave a comment here, and let's see where this discussion goes.