An Incident Prioritization Algorithm Based on BDIM

Business-driven IT management (BDIM) aims at ensuring successful alignment of business and IT through thorough understanding of the impact of IT on business processes and business results, and vice versa. This thesis reviews the state of the art of BDIM research and advances it by contributing a comprehensive BDIM solution for the process of IT incident management. The solution can be used as a template for applying the BDIM methodology to other IT service management processes. The work presented in this dissertation resulted in three patent applications and is at the core of the HP IT Analytic™ product (formerly HP DecisionCenter™). This thesis was defended on March 2009.

Cloud-based digital transformation is having a profound impact on new and incumbent information technology service providers. In transitioning from traditional to cloud-based service provision, some IT service providers are experiencing substantial difficulties in realizing effective business models. Taking the perspective of 20 large business model mature and small and medium enterprise born-on-the-cloud multinational IT service providers, this focus group study contributes to the dearth of research examining the broader impact of cloud computing on IT service providers' business model. The study provides two core insights. First, using the STOF business model framework, the paper provides a vivid contextual understanding of the nuanced impact of cloud computing along four core business model domains: service, technological, organisational and financial. Second, the study identifies a number of salient challenges which are impacting IT service providers' efforts to effectively leverage the benefits of cloud-based digital transformation.

Exploring the impact of communication effectiveness on service quality, trust and relationship commitment in IT services

The problems of development and construction of a universal consolidated strategy of interaction of IT services and information security, which is based on the study and in-depth analysis of statistics on the current situation with the interaction of corporate IT services and security in different international companies in different industries and countries, are considered. specialists, experts and analysts. The subject of research in the article is the issue of optimal interaction of IT and security services in ensuring a high level of corporate information security in the EMEA region. The goal is to analyze the issues related to the construction and implementation of consolidated strategies for IT and security management in order to eliminate inconsistencies and increase the efficiency of the relevant services to ensure effective information security of organizations on the example of the EMEA region. Objectives: processing and analysis of the results of an online survey on the interaction of IT and security services of companies and organizations in various industries in different countries and regions of the world, including the EMEA region; research of problems and advantages of building a consolidated strategy of IT management and information security in the EMEA region; development of recommendations for solving existing problems in the development and construction of corporate strategies for effective IT management and information security. The general scientific method of systems analysis is used to determine the features of interaction between IT services and security of companies and organizations of different industries in different regions of the world, as well as to study the problems and benefits of a unified consolidated IT management strategy and information security. The following results were obtained: based on quantitative and qualitative assessment, as well as analysis of the results of the survey of IT and security specialists and experts in the EMEA region, the participation of companies in the development and implementation of information security strategies was determined; the main tasks of IT and security services in the organization of their joint work and coordination of actions among themselves are defined; the main obstacles in the organization of joint work of IT services and security services of companies are investigated, among which significant are tensions and conflicts between employees of services, global and regional shortage of qualified personnel, technical difficulties. Conclusions: it is established that the consolidated strategy of IT management and information security based on advances in security and technology can help solve the main problems of effective interaction of relevant company services; developed a number of recommendations to address existing problems of building corporate strategies for effective IT management and information security, designed to help eliminate inconsistencies and improve the efficiency of relevant services to ensure effective information security of organizations in the EMEA in various organizations and companies, regardless of their field of activity.

Yield management of workforce for IT service providers

Purpose: The rapid pace of digital transformation has significantly impacted the IT services sector, particularly in emerging markets, such as Indonesia. This thesis explores the strategic challenges faced by Indonesian IT service providers as they navigate a competitive landscape characterized by evolving customer demands, technological advancements, and market dynamics. This research aims to prioritize strategic initiatives that align with market needs and enhance the competitive positioning of these providers. Research Methodology: By integrating strategic management frameworks such as Porter’s Five Forces, Value Chain Analysis, and SWOT Analysis with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), this study addresses the issue of stagnant revenue in PT ABC, a leading IT service provider in Indonesia. The findings indicate that AI-based product innovation and the development of low-code solutions are critical strategies for driving sustainable growth and meeting the increasing demand for advanced technological solutions. Conclusions: PT ABC should prioritize AI-based product innovation to meet the growing market demand for advanced and easily integrated technological solutions. The development of low-code platforms is essential to enhance customization capabilities and accelerate delivery times, addressing customer expectations for scalability and efficiency. Market Demand & Growth Potential, along with Operational Efficiency & Scalability, are the key strategic criteria guiding PT ABC’s innovation and service enhancement priorities. Limitations: This study underscores the importance of customer-centric approaches and continuous adaptation to maintain a competitive edge in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. Contributions: This research contributes to the strategic management literature by demonstrating the practical application of AHP in the context of digital transformation within the IT services sector, and provides actionable insights for IT service providers in emerging markets facing similar challenges.

The IT Service Management (ITSM) industry has defined processes as best practices in the widely-accepted IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) framework. However, there are few tools available to provide decision support to IT Service Managers who wish to improve service management processes. It is essential to assess the current capability of processes before process improvements are planned. Our research addressed the problems of the lack of transparency and the need for efficiency in ITSM process assessment. Using the Design Science Research methodology, we developed an innovative Software-mediated Process Assessment (SMPA) approach that automates assessment of ITSM processes and supports the decision-making of IT Service Managers. The SMPA approach includes process selection, an online survey to collect assessment data, measurement of process capability and specific recommendations for managers to commence process improvement. We implemented a decision support system (DSS) to automate the SMPA approach and evaluated it at two IT service providers. The evaluations indicated that the SMPA approach supports decision-making on process improvements. In the future, data analytics performed on the assessment data can help IT managers to analyse and visualise the ‘big data’ of process knowledge.

Continual service improvement within IT service management is an important research topic. Nowadays, IT services should be actively developed and improved in order to increase quality and cost effectiveness. Continual Service Improvement enables identification of bottlenecks and weak areas in the services. The research problem of this study is: what types of challenges exist in the IT service management from IT service provider's perspective? The main contribution of this study is to present ITSM challenges in two IT service provider companies in Finland. In order to categorize results, we used the three core perspectives of ITSM people, process, and technology. These three areas provide inputs to the continual service improvement lifecycle phase which controls and manages the identified improvements. Data for this study were mainly collected through interviews with 21 IT service management specialists.

End users have expectations regarding services and support, and the quality thereof, provided by the supplier. They compare their expectations to the received service to assess the service quality (Coye, 2004). In order to ensure that the service supplied by the service provider meets the expectations of end users, a successful service level agreement (SLA) is required. Quality SLA’s clearly define, amongst many other elements, the commitments and responsibilities of the IT service provider and end users within the service delivery processes (Larson, 1998). One method of measuring the success of SLA’s is by using service metrics with regard to the availability, reliability, serviceability, response, and user satisfaction of the SLA (Larson, 1998). Therefore, the success of the SLA depends on a clear, common understanding of the services and service quality between the service provider and end users. Furthermore commitment, trust, and cooperation between all parties is necessary to achieve success with SLA’s (Hiles, 1994). However, in this paper it is argued that all these soft issues can only form a basis when sound relationships are established and maintained between the IT service provider and end users (Leonard, 2002). This paper aims to determine how the establishment of a sound IT-end user relationship can add value to the SLA for both the IT service provider and the end users, and increase the success of SLA’s.

IT Service Management and Business-Driven IT Management

The perceived comfort zone in a customer relationship between small and medium sized companies and their IT service providers is often deceptive. Organizations risk their competitiveness with deficient IT systems and accept the inherent risks. This business model is still a test bench for IT service providers. More than 500 IT service providers have to give up every year due to inadequate customer loyalty and lack of sustainable customer relationships. ITFLAT.de® provides the opportunity to escape the red ocean and instead become immersed in a blue ocean by adapting the sustainable business model framework providing opportunity for a service-oriented customer relationship.

The main objective of the Service Level Management process is to ensure that an agreed level of IT service is provided for all current IT services and that future services are delivered to agreed achievable targets. The number of agreed SLAs has rapidly increased in the IT industry while more and more IT customers have become aware of Service Level Management best practices. IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is the most widely used IT service management framework that provides best practices for implementing IT service management processes including Service Level Management. The research problem of this study is: how Service Level Agreements can be implemented with an IT service management tool. We use a combination of IT service management and knowledge management approach to study the problem. The main contribution of this paper is to present results of a case study that focused on improving Service Level Management practices in a Finnish IT service provider company Tieto.

Through Continual Service Improvement (CSI), IT service providers aim at identifying, documenting, evaluating and prioritising improvement areas in services and service processes. CSI plays a crucial role in managing service and process quality as well as transforming improvement suggestions and ideas into concrete actions and product features. Unfortunately, many companies lack the systematic CSI approach and tools. This may lead into lost business opportunities, long processing times in implementing customers’ change requests and finally losing key customers. Additionally, digital transformation creates a need for more agile and flexible CSI. Therefore, CSI is an actual and interesting research target from service quality perspective. In this paper, CSI practices of a Finnish IT service provider company are studied. The research problem is: How IT service provider organizations perform Continual Service Improvement methods as part of daily service operation management? The main contribution of this paper is to present findings from a case study with a ISO/IEC 20000 compliant service organization. We focus on exploring how the quality of CSI targets is monitored, how CSI is organized and deployed into practice and how service-related improvements are managed.

IT service providers typically must comply with service level agreements that are part of their usage contracts with customers. Not only IT infrastructure is subject to service level guarantees such as availability or response time but also service management processes as defined by the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) such as change and incident processes and the fulfillment of service requests. SLAs relating to service management processes typically address metrics such as initial response time and fulfillment time. Large service providers have the choice of which internal service delivery team or external service provider they assign to parts of a service process, each provider having different costs or prices associated with it for different turn-around times at different risk. This choice in QoS and cost of different service providers can be used to manage the trade-off between penalty costs and fulfillment cost. This paper proposes a model as a basis for service provider choice at process runtime, taking into account the progress of a process so far and the availability of service capacity at service suppliers. This model can be used to reduce total service costs of IT service providers deciding on alternative delivery teams and external service providers when needed and based on current process performance.

Since IT Outsourcing has been popular, the competition among IT service providers became to be intensified as winning contracts is the critical success factor for them. Thus, this paper identified the factors that influence the selection of IT service providers via the related literature review and in-depth interviews with related experts with more than 10 years of rich experience in the industry. The review and interviews resulted in the establishment of the AHP analysis model consisting of 5 criteria with 17 sub-criteria. Based on the analysis of the data collected from this research, the sub-criteria were weighted and the characteristics of the IT service industry were reflected, indicating that the sub-criteria of high importance were applied strategically depending on various environmental characteristics.