Digital transformation is on top of every CIO’s agenda these days. However, the increasing level of complexity that accompanies the fast-paced, cloud-based world of digital requires going back to basics — that is, implementing a solid, modernized IT service management strategy (ITSM), in order to make sure that digital transformation coincides with operational excellence, customer satisfaction and IT agility.

Service management is a collection of capabilities and methodologies an IT organization uses to plan, build, deliver, and ensure the quality of the services they provide to customers both internal and external — in IT, this relates to everything from applications, to networks, to data to connectivity. While the concept existed for years before, it gained momentum in the late 1990s, as a formal practice with standards and frameworks, when the IT Infrastructure Library, or ITIL, was developed. While ITIL remains a popular set of guiding principles and a level-setting framework, the discipline has evolved as digital transformation has emerged and IT service management has become more complex, says KPMG’s Mitch Kenfield.

“A solid ITSM strategy is so important for organizations to succeed at digital transformation because as they ‘build’ their digital engine, how do they make sure customers are happy?” he explains. “As those services change, whether in complexity or just the pace of change in applications and data and access, they can be harder and harder to manage — which requires a significant strategic shift.”

Even organizations that, in the past, were deemed mature in their service management disciplines are now stressed because the services they provide are changing, he adds, with quicker, more agile deployments and higher customer expectations for service. “What customers expected from their technology services 5 years ago is light years away from their expectations today, so the management of those services need to adapt and change,” he says. “But many of our clients haven’t necessarily been able to make that transition.”

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