Is your IT team in need of a mindset shift? 3 signs it’s time for a change

The world of IT service management looks very different to how it did five years ago. Times are changing; customer expectations are on the rise and technology is advancing at the speed of light. If your IT department is struggling to keep up with service demands, it doesn’t mean that your way of working is all ‘wrong’. But it does mean it’s probably time to switch things up.

If you’re clinging to an outdated way of working, the first thing that needs to change is your mindset. Here are a few signs your IT team needs a mindset shift:

1. You’re hung up on processes

Have you ever felt like you’re clinging to a process which doesn’t work for your department or organization, simply because it’s part of a framework that you’ve chosen to follow? When using frameworks like ITIL from their processes, organizations tend to focus a little too much on guidelines and not enough on how their organization actually works. If your service desk consisted of a single person, would it make any sense to double that person’s workload for the sake of following an ITIL process? Definitely not. Try to think of frameworks as something flexible, which can be adapted to your needs, rather than a set of rules.

Learn more about flexible frameworks like ITIL in this blog.

2. You’re aiming for perfection

Too many IT departments shy away from making adjustments to their services because they think that, if they make a change, they have to do it all perfectly, right away.

Not only is this not realistic, but it also keeps you stuck in the same, old way of working. Imagine if you took the same approach to learning a new language or picking up a new hobby — you’d just start small and keep improving. The fact is, you can’t do anything perfectly without first having a bit of trial and error. Instead of focusing on the end-goal of perfection, think of service improvement as a series of small steps, in which you make low-effort, high-impact adjustments to your processes.

Getting started with improvements is much less daunting when you take an iterative approach to service management.

3. You’re cut off from the rest of the organization

You’re delivering IT services, so there’s no need to collaborate with departments or teams outside of IT, right?

Wrong. The old image of the IT department stuck in the basement is entirely outdated. In fact, service departments like IT, HR, and Facilities need each other more than ever. Your customers are their customers, and they expect a smooth, B2C-like experience with your services. Think of meeting rooms with intuitive technology that supports Bring Your Own Device and a flawless on- and offboarding process. None of these can be achieved without taking a joint approach and working together to deliver the best services possible. So, get out of the figurative IT basement and start talking to people from other departments!

Discover the benefits of collaborating with other departments.

Service flux: a pragmatic approach to service management

The mindset adjustments that I’ve described so far — taking an iterative approach to service improvement, treating frameworks as flexible, and joining forces with other departments — are all key elements of a pragmatic approach to service management, which we call service flux. In a nutshell, service flux is about embracing change and making small steps to improve your services — rather than focusing on controlling your processes — so you can adapt to a constantly changing world.

Want to learn more about service flux and how it can help your IT department? Check out our glossary page.