Lost in Translation: Choosing IT Service Management Solutions

Today managers outside of IT function are becoming more involved with choosing the solution that works for their businesses. Today with SaaS based solutions, vendors are having the opportunity to market and sell directly to the business unit relying less on the IT organization to drive the decision-making process. Driving and deciding has been my role in senior IT management over the last decade until the reality hit me that you cannot prevent the business units from talking with vendors without you. And perhaps most important, you cannot meet every need of the business in a timely manner. There is an incredible amount of change going on in companies these days.

So the question is, how do you as a non-IT manager decide what is important to consider when picking a solution for your department or team? These considerations go beyond the functional requirements and the software features. It is similar to seeing and buying a piece of very nice furniture. You typically ask yourself questions such as:

• Does it fit the design of my interior?
• Is it durable enough?
• Is there enough space for the room I want to put it in?

My favorite is “Does it fit through the front door?” I know some of you may be saying “I know people who do that!” My point is that it has to fit into world of your business and work well with everything else you have going on.

There are similar questions when deciding on IT Service Management solution. Unfortunately, when a manager from IT speaks, it sounds like a foreign language. I speak Spanish fairly well but sometimes when I don’t quite get a word or phrase, I spend cycles trying to remember what it means and then I lose the context of the conversation!

So with that in mind, I like to give you a short translation from IT to business of what to consider when making an ITSM software decision. In this way, if you hear these terms in a meeting, you don’t have to spend time wishing it was a little clearer on what these words mean.

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