What Is VeriSM?
"So, what’s the deal with VeriSM?” “Isn’t VeriSM just a replacement for ITIL?” “I don’t get VeriSM.” “VeriSM is just a fad.” If you’ve heard these statements or even asked these questions, this article will give you a bit of insight into VeriSM. Let’s start by defining VeriSM.
VeriSM is a value-driven, evolving, responsive, integrated approach to service management.
VeriSM does not replace ITIL or COBIT or DevOps or Agile, or any other management methodology or standard. Rather, VeriSM enables organizations to leverage the right blend of methodologies and technologies to deliver the right products and services demanded by the consumer.
VeriSM is described as an approach for service management in the digital age. VeriSM elevates service management to an enterprise capability, not just a responsibility of a single department. Approaching service management from an enterprise perspective aligns and prepares the organization for entry into the digital age. It takes all parts of the organization working together to develop and deliver products and services. No single unit within an organization by itself can deliver the value demanded by today’s digital consumer.
Adopting the VeriSM approach means that an organization can first focus its efforts on what needs to be done and why it needs to be done, before worrying about how a solution may fit within a particular management method.
VeriSM helps an organization build its operating model. While this may sound and look trivial, this is an important point. Many organizations attempt to conform to an arbitrarily selected operating model that may or may not facilitate the delivery of value. In fact, organizations often misguidedly follow an operating model that imposes needless barriers to value delivery.
VeriSM helps organizations evolve their operating models based on an integrated set of selected management practices, driven by an organization’s specific needs and market spaces. VeriSM frees an organization from having to follow a single management approach; an organization’s service management approach can flex and shift as the organization evolves and changes.
Doug will be conducting a two-day VeriSM Foundations workshop from October 14-15.
Earn your VeriSM certification at Service Management World!
What Makes VeriSM Different?
Here are four things that differentiate VeriSM.
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Organization as Service Provider – In the digital era, organizations must stop acting as collections of parts and starting acting and executing as an integrated, holistic entities. The organization as the service provider means that service management is everyone’s job, not just the concern of a single department. Making the organization the service provider removes needless artificial barriers within an organization that do not add business value. It focuses the entire organization, and not just a single department, on meeting the consumer need. This is especially critical in the digital era and is the key to providing seamless, frictionless consumer experience.
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Service Management Principles – Service management principles aligns the organization to “doing what’s right” and upholding organizational values. These principles empower an organization’s employees to act. While that may not sound so profound, consider that statement from a digital perspective. In the digital economy where the consumer is “always on, always connected,” issues and decisions cannot wait on senior management action. Having a defined set of service management principles that apply whether an employee works in HR or IT or sales or accounting (or anywhere in the organization) helps employees make good decisions that are grounded in governance and organizational values.
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The Management Mesh – The Management Mesh provides the flexibility and agility needed by organizations in the digital age, enabling them to exploit their capabilities and resources to fit the consumer need while adhering to their enterprise governance and service management principles. It also helps improve decision-making by facilitating an objective and comprehensive evaluation of an organization’s capabilities, resources, environment, and management methods as emerging technologies are considered.
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Community-Developed – More than 70 service management experts from around the globe came together to develop VeriSM, from nearly every continent, private and public sectors, small to large businesses, single-person to large consultancies, practitioners, and software companies.
Why VeriSM?
The need for good service management is only increasing as more companies embrace digital transformation. The ever-changing business and technology landscape needs a different way to think about service management that leverages the right tools for the job.
The fact is that every organization is unique. Often the products and services provided by an organization have unique aspects, or unique needs, but still need to be managed in a reliable, repeatable, measurable fashion. And having only a single department practicing service management is no longer feasible or enough to meet the demands of the digital age.
A “one size fits all” approach is no longer viable for service management. Perhaps it never was.
Doug Tedder is the principal of Tedder Consulting LLC, a service management and process improvement consultancy. Doug is a recognized thought leader whose attention to detail, industry knowledge, emotional intelligence, and the ability to make the “big picture” actionable has enabled him to transform IT organizations into valued business partners. Doug is a contributing author to “VeriSM: A Service Management Approach for the Digital Age” and “VeriSM: Unwrapped and Applied,” as well as the VeriSM pocket guide. Follow Doug on Twitter.