How To Use Service Integration And Management (SIAM) Alongside ITIL

In the last 18 months or so, Service Integration and Management (SIAM) has become a hot and sometimes hyped topic in IT Service Management (ITSM) circles. SIAM is a model for managing, integrating, and co-ordinating the delivery of IT services provided by multiple suppliers. The number of vendors promoting their SIAM services is rapidly increasing, with promises of improving the delivery of IT.

The hype may be new, but the SIAM concept and ways of working have been around for several years. Even more importantly, the base techniques that are used in SIAM models have been around for even longer. If you look into SIAM you will discover that it is mostly an adaptation of the ITIL principles, methods and techniques that have been in use for a long time.

ITIL is commonplace in most organisations that provide IT services. Despite new concepts such as Cloud and DevOps it is still the bedrock for ITSM practitioners worldwide. What we now have to do is consider and discuss how ITIL needs to be adapted and applied to today’s supplier and service landscapes.

SIAM is being promoted as the best model for managing the increasing complexity of the IT value chain and the rise of multi-supplier eco-systems. Rather than focusing on the underlying technologies, SIAM’s focus is on providing the necessary consistent governance, assurance and management of multiple suppliers and services.

Specialist SIAM teams are being established as part of some of the largest strategic sourcing initiatives around the world and across many different sectors. I believe that successful design, implementation, and operation of SIAM rests upon the guidance provided by ITIL and the considered adaption of that guidance to reflect the multi-tenant supplier landscapes.

Why SIAM?

Firstly, it’s worth looking at why organisations are adopting SIAM. The supplier landscapes overseen by many service management functions are subject to significant change. The changes include the move to the use of disaggregated multi-supplier contracts, the increasing use of commodity services such as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (Iaas), and a move from supply chains to supply networks. This necessitates a shift in the way that these services and their suppliers are managed.

The primary business driver for SIAM is the need to deliver high quality user services whilst optimising the costs of delivery. Correctly designed SIAM models will support consolidation, standardisation, and automation across all of the parties. The benefits from this are exactly the same as the outcomes of any other business change which provides a consistent approach for a particular set of activities. That is hardly surprising, as moving to a SIAM model is a significant business change for the organisation and its suppliers, and should be managed as such.

Proven benefits of SIAM include reduced risks to the business, improved quality of service to users and, as a result, enhanced customer satisfaction. In addition, the SIAM, the customer organisation, and the suppliers will all profit from clearly defined roles and responsibilities, the best use of skilled resources, and removed duplication of effort.

It is important to stress that a focus on the processes and technology of SIAM alone will not deliver the expected benefits. Effective SIAM requires consideration of people, processes, partners and products. Out of all of these, people is the most important factor, but one which is often neglected.

Focus on People

As with any business change, people are crucial if SIAM is to be a success. It requires soft skills such as relationship management, persuasion and negotiation. You can’t just expect contracts to define beneficial actions and behaviours. It is also crucial that all the functions in SIAM are seen to work as one, with teams acting as the agents of the business. Furthermore, there must be a consistent focus on business outcomes and benefits – every member of the SIAM function should be able to articulate how they individually support these.

Focus on Process

The key to effective SIAM is to clearly understand the boundaries and dependencies between each of the services. There should be a visual map of the service hierarchy, especially any technical interdependencies between services, as well as services that have no dependencies. When documenting the necessary processes for SIAM, the scope must be constrained to be within the SIAM provider and the interfaces with the suppliers, the business, and the service consumers. Management of these process interfaces is essential.

Focus on Partners

Effective SIAM is dependent on the suppliers of the IT services that it integrates. You need to develop and encourage good working relationships between peers at all levels not just within the SIAM but also with and between the suppliers. Success requires a network of suppliers who will work with and support each other. Because the SIAM has overall accountability for the quality of services, it must recognise the different types of supplier, understand the capabilities and responsibilities of each supplier, apply appropriate levels of management, and where necessary take on more work themselves.

Focus on Products

The primary products for effective SIAM are supportive tools. Particular areas where a SIAM needs the support that tools can provide include service reporting, capacity modelling and workflow management. In the same way that ITIL processes require adaptation for effective SIAM, any selected toolset must also be configurable. The tools used by the SIAM provider and the suppliers require integration to provide effective information exchange. This is an area where knowledge management techniques from ITIL can be used effectively to support the design and development of toolset integration.

The above is just a snapshot of the ways in which ITSM professionals can use SIAM alongside ITIL to produce benefits and add business value. More information can be found in a new whitepaper and a webinar recording, which can be found on the AXELOS website:

https://www.axelos.com/case-studies-and-white-papers/introduction-to-service-integration-management.

Kevin Holland is an experienced service management practitioner with a reputation for practical advice that extends the theory. For the last 10 years, he has been actively involved in designing, implementing, improving, and advising on Service Integration and Management for a wide range of organisations in the public and private sectors. He is also active in developing service management qualifications. He has authored a new whitepaper for AXELOS entitled: ‘An introduction to Service Integration and Management and ITIL®.

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