How well are we doing?

It is human nature to over-simplify a problem and IT has been doing this by limiting the ways in which it is measured.  If we don't understand how well we measure up to the needs of the business or market in real terms we can't be sure how to improve.  We look at the range of services required as well as the current service quality. The good news is that we have developed methods of undertaking this assessment quickly in the following way:

• Assessment of the Service Gaps: Assessing the IT services against the business needs using the service excellence model which covers both service planning and service delivery.
• Assessment of the Service Engine: Looking at the detail of the service capability in terms of the skills and the processes deployed and the consequential total business experience.  This will embrace business and sector awareness, marketing and communications, sales and value add, commercial, financial, legal, administrative, people, organisation, governance, IT solution and service definition, IT solution and service delivery, bought-in IT solutions and services, security and the technology platform itself (BPM, SOA, virtualisation, cloud and utility computing, power consumption and environmental issues, unified communications, etc.). It embraces compliance with industry "best practice" and the selective introduction of IT frameworks, methods, and standards. 
• Assessment of Cause and Effect: Identify and understand the reasons for gaps or dissatisfaction and link to service weaknesses.