ITOM best practices for improving processes in public sector

In the era of digital transformation, governments also need to optimize their internal processes to respond appropriately to the requirements of citizens. Statistics show that an inefficient IT network can cost $ 10,000 per hour. In addition, it slows the interdepartmental procedures and blocks projects' progress. This is why having updated knowledge of IT Operations Management (ITOM) is an essential task in any public administration.

The arrival of the e-governments brought about new organizational approaches. Especially for the IT department. For example, after the US government moved to the cloud, they found out that it is more productive to focus their efforts to update and develop new systems instead of investing in the maintenance of obsolete equipment.

Undoubtedly, the technological progress of the last decade has left essential tools for the IT management in all sectors. Accordingly, we lay out the ITOM best practices to streamline government duties.

ITOM focussed on public administrations

ITOM is necessary in any large company to guarantee the functioning of each technological resource. However, in the public sector, it plays a vital role. The reason is that IT Operations Management can affect or enhance critical internal operations, which, at the same time, are responsible for executing national projects.

In this way, ITOM for governments must be understood from a holistic perspective, mostly because IT team employs it to ensure cross-department productivity.  Therefore, you can only leverage these best practices by taking into account ITOM’s usages for government offices.

The main objectives of ITOM for governments are:

• It must facilitate teamwork and improve interdepartmental cooperation with competent IT.
• ITOM must help to achieve the highest usability performance. Front-end or back-end.
• It must manage technological resources to optimize all the operational processes. Generally, these processes focus on the execution of projects that have an impact on the economy and development of the nation, as well as the quality of life and communication with citizens.
• ITOM team must monitor and collect data about system status, as well as integrate the most useful software solutions.
• It must offer technical support 24 hours a day.
• IT Operations Management must adapt the governmental interfaces to the needs of the departments and citizens.
• These tech resources must facilitate the reception, distribution and storage of Big Data for further processing.

With these objectives in mind and ITOM best practices, the IT department can make the most of its systems and networks.

5 IT Operations Management best practices for governments

ITOM have greater relevance in government offices due to its correlation with welfare public labors. Whether it is the processing of documents, census records, project management of infrastructure or health, all must go through the corporate network in one way or another.

Emails, archives, databases or workflows. Each element constitutes an essential piece in the governmental machinery. And it is precisely the IT team responsible for maintaining and developing the necessary platforms to carry out each task.

On the other hand, a well-performed ITOM is essential for the correct digital transformation of the public sector. It is the IT team that facilitates the communication processes between the individual and the administrative division.

# 1 Citizen-centric processes

Even though corporate software must be used by employees, the final beneficiary is the citizen and stakeholders. That is why it is recommended to implement automatic workflows to improve timing between one communication and another.

Similarly, when the IT team manages front-end processes, it is necessary to have fast, responsive and easy-to-use interfaces capable of processing SSO. As well as centralized administrative procedures and with a reduced load cycle.

In this regard, front-end platforms should maintain user privacy and secure data storage. ACL VLANs are highly recommended.

# 2 Modularity and standardization

When it comes to improving interoperability, modular software is one of the most effective solutions. The modularity allows technicians and other employees to have an overview of  projects, their stages and workflows.

These solutions help IT Managers to control the performance of the platforms and continuously provide new operational dynamics according to the needs between departments.

At the same time, technological resources must comply with quality protocols such as: ISO, CMMI, SPICE and so on. With the correct implementation of the CMMI certificate, the IT department can develop Agile and Scrum programming tasks according to international quality standards.

# 3 Move to the cloud

The cloud has multiple benefits for government technology departments. With cloud integrations, you can reach greater reliability in processes such as: communications inputs and outputs, as well as a greater protection and structuring of sensitive data.

In the same way, the cloud can release hardware from slowness and promote cost reduction in physical infrastructure by migrating data.

This data also helps teams to obtain real-time information of the entire corporate network as systems errors, performance status and other analytics.

# 4 Panoramic visibility of IT resources

Mapping is one of the most recommended ITOM practices. It helps you to obtain full visibility of networks, servers, SaaS, databases and virtual machines.

Along with CMDB integrations, records management and mapping automation, you can reduce the Mean Time to Repair (MTTR). Besides, the topological information from mapping gives you a deep understanding of the deficiencies and performance of the entire government network. With this control center, you can make smarter decisions to avoid emergencies or dangerous activities that risk cybersecurity.

# 5 Implement predictive intelligence

You can add predictive intelligence to the monitoring of IT services with specialized ITOM software. The predictive intelligence or operational intelligence uses automatic flows for detection, prevention and solution of errors in any of the corporate platforms.

This Intelligent data comes from analytics in real time, so that IT team can delegate tasks related to technical support services.

When it comes to ITOM solutions, at GB Advisors we recommend ServiceNOW Operations Management.

In our company, we can offer you specialized consulting to leverage your IT resources, contact us for more information.