2014 in (Content) Review

One year ago, at the end of 2013, we were at the cusp of something new with the SysAid Blog. The plan for 2014 was to concentrate on publishing best practices, which would be applicable not only to SysAid customers, but to all IT professionals too. Our aim was to bring true value to the IT service management (ITSM) community on a global level.

So What Did We Deliver in 2014?

With 75 blog posts, we managed to increase our viewership by 100% from last year. I believe that we achieved this by delivering:

• A great mix of basic ITSM guidance, to help people get started with their implementations in their organizations
• Advanced guidance to help more experienced people make improvements, beyond the basic implementation
• Thought-provoking, innovative ideas to help move the industry forward

We’re concerned about what you are reading, not just what we are writing. And the post that you read the most, with over 6500 unique views, was If You Don’t Have an SLA, You’re Delivering Bad Service. This blog points out that customers always want more than they have, and it’s no different in IT services, so you must have a proper SLA (service level agreement) in place with these basics: clarity, agreements, and accurate monitoring of delivery.

Also in the top-read blogs of 2014:

• Defining Metrics for Change Management
  ITSM consultant and ITIL author Stuart Rance enriched our blog this year with his popular series on metrics. In this one, Stuart describes the steps to take in order to answer the question: what are the key performance indicators (KPIs) you need to measure IT change management?
• Clearing Up the Myths of CMDB
  Don’t allow the impenetrable world of Configuration Management Database (CMDB) to slow down your ITSM projects. Most of what you heard is a myth anyhow.  In this blog we clarify the facts against the fiction, and offer advice to ensure improvements.
• How Long Should an ITSM Project Take?
  Stuart Rance gets asked this question a lot, so he wrote this article to tell you that in ITSM, value is achieved with an iterative approach, starting with minimum viable functionality and then incremental improvements. If you haven’t read this one yet, you really should.
• What Does The Word Service Mean To You?
  Seems our CEO Sarah Lahav  struck a nerve with readers when she explains how she sees ITSM and customer service through her own personal point of view. She wants you to really consider whether you think of your end users as your customers and if you care about their service experience. Here’s some excellent advice for those in the IT world who are not sure what “service” truly means.

In 2014, we were striving for an evolution in the SysAid Blog, from being mostly a product-related and technology blog to something more ITSM-centric. Hopefully we succeeded (and will continue) to provide the right combination of everything that the industry (including our customers) is looking for.

And it’s not just the SysAid Blog’s content that we are continually working on and trying to improve – we’re also enhancing our webinar content, roundups from key ITSM conferences, Joe the IT Guy has been blogging away, and our CEO Sarah Lahav has had some very popular bylines this year as well. I’d love to share a few examples:

• Webinar – What Does the Future Look Like for ITSM?
  In September, we were honored to host special guest Glenn O’Donnell, VP and Research Director at Forrester, for a thought-provoking 30 minutes to discuss the truth about Cloud, the reality of Shadow IT, the value of DevOps, and the pitfalls of ITIL. How will the role of ITSM change in the future? If you missed it or just want a refresher, the webinar is currently available on-demand.
• Press Mentions
  TechRepublic interviewed Sarah  about BYON (Bring Your Own Network) – a derivative of the BYOD movement. Sarah describes in this interview, as well as in her byline articles in The Frugal Networker and Mobile Market Portal, that BYON is a serioussecurity risk IT teams should be working proactively to address. Her tips are worth checking out!
• ITSM Conferences
  Attendance at conferences throughout the year gave us the opportunity to meet incredible people and learn so much from the ITSM community at large. Our VP Marketing Sophie Danby made her way around the world; her “paying it forward” was to provide our readers (who may have missed the conferences) with some detailed roundups and key takeaways, such as her latest from the beautiful city of Tallinn – What Can Estonia Teach You about IT Service Management? – about itSMF Estonia’s unique conference with its high-quality, single-session track.
• Joe the IT Guy Blog
  Our lovable, intergalactic superstar Joe the IT Guy has become even more popular this year, probably because he’s writing some really great blogs. In fact, he saw a 160% increase in average monthly visits!One of the most popular articles this year, Are You An IT Help Desk Or An IT Service Desk?, turns out to be a really useful source for clarification to the many people who are fuzzy about the differences between a help desk and a service desk. By the way, Joe has some new plans for his blog in 2015, which may or may not have something to do with celebrity guests.

It’s Not All Homegrown

It would be remiss of me not to mention that we saw in 2014 excellent ITSM content from numerous resources, including analysts, consultants, practitioners, and even other vendors ;). There are way too many to cite them all; here are just a few of my recommendations:

• Have You Forgotten Something – the Service Desk?
  Whilst Barclay Rae fully supports and contributes to new discussions on the customer experience movement in IT and ITSM, it seems there is a big hole when it comes to talk about the ‘service desk’, and the ITSM Goodness guy is not pleased about that.
• Another Year Brings Increasing Business Dissatisfaction But Also Opportunity!
  In a Forrester survey conducted this year (2014), 43% respondents said that the IT department hinders business success….that is NOT a pretty figure; luckily John Rakowski advises on what we should do.
• Misunderstood Metrics, by Roy Atkinson in HDIConnect
  It’s pretty clear that metrics is a top priority in the IT field but are we using them correctly?

Like I said, there has been an enormous amount of thought-invoking ITSM content this year. I hope everyone keeps sharing, and I look forward to seeing what’s coming next year.

What’s Our Plans for 2015?

Nobody has any spare time these days, and we get that, so we are going to make sure that the content we deliver in all the glorious formats available will be worthwhile, i.e. worthy of your time spent taking it in, and effective in bringing you clarity within the ITSM landscape.

We are already working on a series of white papers with the master of ITIL Stuart Rance, for example “8 Tips to Help You Improve Service Level Management” – so stay tuned for that. We guarantee to keep you updated with loads of helpful advice from Stuart in the coming year.

I’m also delighted to announce that Greg Sanker will be publishing a regular monthly blog with us, and with his expertise in ITSM – harmonized with his unique style of fun and intelligent writing – we are all in for a treat.

But let’s be honest – our main goal for 2015 is to get another tweet from Rob England like this one :):

I wish all vendors produced stuff of this quality RT @SophieDanby: What were the key takeaways from #leadit? | http://t.co/WDmfJTjX6n #ITSM

— Rob England (@theitskeptic) August 21, 2014

Happy New Year to everyone – may we all be blessed with renewed inspiration in our personal lives, as well as within our amazing ITSM community!

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