The implementation of ITIL-based IT service management requires the effective coordination of many elements to ensure successful implementation. However, when approaching ITSM, many organizations tend to usually focus only on certain factors they consider relevant, such as the use of appropriate technology or the establishment of efficient processes. As a result, the importance of the human component, i.e. the stakeholders, is often subtracted.
This element represents a vital element in achieving the success of any project of your company. Learn more about its value to the business and learn some strategies to manage them efficiently with the following article.
Stakeholders is a term commonly used in the ITIL world and refers to all those people who are interested in an organization, a project or IT services and who affect them directly or indirectly. These individuals are vital to achieving the company's objectives because they are the ones who carry out the main processes and who provide the resources to ensure business continuity.
Stakeholders can be classified into two main groups:
No organization can do without its stakeholders simply because they are directly and indirectly responsible for the delivery of services. Some vital functions that stakeholders perform in organizations include:
Satisfactory stakeholder engagement management must include stakeholder identification, which is efficiently achieved through an analysis.
A stakeholder analysis is a strategy that is closely linked to change management and risk management; and whose objective is to identify the organization's stakeholders in order to understand their roles and expectations; and to establish their degree of importance to the company. We recommend you to do this analysis at the beginning of the ITIL implementation; so that all required risks and communications can be included in the project plan.
Once you identify the stakeholders, it is advisable to make a plan in which you define strategies related to those stakeholders that have the greatest impact on the organization. This strategy should promote the acceptance of the cultural change that ITIL brings and showing the benefits that implementation will bring to the business.
It is important that you take into account that stakeholders belong to different areas of the organization and therefore may not understand your message in the same way. Your job then is to convey the information clearly; always trying to show the benefits of ITIL for each specific department. Ideally, you should establish channels of communication that are truly effective; as well as a schedule that defines a regular exchange of information.
Normally companies establish hierarchical relationships in their role assignments. Although it is true that this strategy allows a better management of the functions that each individual fulfills in the organization; it is also true that it contributes to create silos that obstruct communication above all thanks to the distance to power.
This term refers to the separation that exists at the communicational level, between power figures and their subordinates. The shorter it is in your organization, the easier it will be to improve the flow of information and work. It is not a question of diminishing the authority of the company's leaders; but of creating an environment in which everyone can express their concerns and ideas freely.
Finally, to successfully convince stakeholders of the benefits of implementing ITIL; we recommend that you apply a sequence that will allow you to persuade them effectively. We can divide this sequence into the following stages:
Never forget that your company's human potential represents the most valuable resource; try to provide them with the right tools, so they can offer the best of themselves.
Trust GB Advisors to provide you with those tools. More than software solutions we have for you an integral service; focused to help you reach all the goals of your business. Contact us for more information about the best ITSM tools based on ITIL.