There's no doubt that we in the IT service management (ITSM) community have long-benefitted from ITSM best practice frameworks, standards, and methodologies such as ITIL, ISO 20000, COBIT, USMBOK (Universal Service Management Body Of Knowledge), and others.
While this is often formal "learning" or professional-third-party-driven advice, there is also much to be learned from less-formal industry conferences and networking events such a Pink, SITS, and itSMF conferences — where best (or good) practice is molded into practical "shared practice." This can be via event sessions, but just as likely through our conversations with other like-minded attendees — the power of peer networking.
While our businesses are often unique, many of our issues aren't.
As a "recovering IT industry analyst" I've spoken with hundreds of companies over the last five years and there are many common IT issues. Probably enough for a series of blogs let alone this one. They include being able to:
- Deliver the proverbial "more with less," or just more-for-the-same-cost as IT-dependency increases.
- Better understand the needs and expectations of business colleagues and customers (and to deliver against them).
- Move at a speed-of-change that suits business colleagues rather than the IT organization.
- Finally deliver against the business demands for innovation — that's business innovation not IT innovation — and IT-enabled competitive advantage.
There are of course others, many of which fit into a common CIO challenge — how to improve service quality while at the same time reducing IT costs.
At a more granular level, much of what we do to deliver against the above needs help. Whether it's:
- Improving IT service availability through better incident, problem, and even availability management.
- Being better at dealing with demand and change, throwing more people resource at an issue might not be the best option (plus it's highly unlikely organizational templates can be added to).
- Leveraging the corporate ITSM tool investment and service management process best practices across the organization and not just for IT.
There is so much opportunity to improve the performance and business-value of your IT organization.
So come and learn "the art of the ITSM-possible" from your peers …
… And how they have improved how they manage and deliver IT — come to one (or more if you like) of ServiceNow's European NowForums. Based in-part on content from the ServiceNow Knowledge 13 user conference last May, NowForum adds a local twist with regional customer and partner best practice presentations. In the UK, IT executives from large enterprises like Standard Life, Gatwick Airport, BSkyB, and Home Retail are on the event's speaker list. In France: Saint Gobain, Natixis, and Europcar. In Germany: DHL, CERN, and Zeiss.
NowForum is taking place on October 8, 9, and 10 in Paris, Frankfurt, and London. All events are delivered in local languages, except for the ServiceNow keynotes by ServiceNow CEO Frank Slootman, Founder and Chief Product Officer Fred Luddy, and CTO Arne Josefsberg.
But it's not just the formal sessions. You will also have the opportunity to share your ideas, concerns, and requirements with: us; our partners; and our customers, your peers.
Plus every NowForum location will host the CreateNow Custom Application Hackathon — where in just over 5 hours we challenge you and a team to build a bespoke business app on ServiceNow.
Are you interested?
If so, then it gets better — the events are FREE to attend. And they should be both valuable and fun if previous ServiceNow events are anything to go by. My colleagues and I look forward to hosting you as our guest.
To reserve your place, sign up for NowForum
