Why does IT miss getting IT right?

Sally Sue has put in five requests (3 emails, 1 phone call and 1 request passing the IT Manager in the hall) over a 3 week period to fix her desktop that crashes each time she opens her accounting application. Her issue is not a lack of response or attention from IT. Each time she has submitted a request the help desk has responded and fixed her desktop using a variety of methods such as a reinstall of the application or a reboot of her machine. Her issue is the reoccurrence of the incidents, because no one has fixed the problem.

Overview

 IT misses getting it right because they focus heavily on technical support, that is responding to the incident and addressing the incident, but fail to fix the problem. So how does IT get IT right? Through the implementation of programs that help achieve operational excellence. Operational excellence can only be achieved when the IT department executes across all three pillars of an IT environment, People, Process & Technology. Let's examine how IT typically misses within each of these 3 pillars.

People

The strength of the IT department is demonstrated in the technical knowledge of its people. Most frontline support staff and backend engineers are technically advanced individuals who have a passion for their trade. But where IT misses getting it right is an overdependence on these technical skills to address incidents, and a lack of fundamental data analysis and management techniques to fix problems.

Process

While technical knowledge is the strength of the IT department, process is their Achilles heel. Where IT misses getting it right is depending first on their technical knowledge, second on technical solutions and lastly on process development or reengineering to resolve a problem. Unfortunately leading with technology before process is typically a more costly route, and often treats only the outlying symptoms instead of resolving the problem.

Technology

IT's strength is in their ability to identify, design and implement the technologies required to support the organization's applications and IT services. Where IT misses getting it right is focusing only on technology solutions for the rest of the organization, and neglecting technology solutions to benefit their own department to elevate effectiveness and efficiency. The result is leveraging email for an incident management system (aka - help desk ticketing system) or an Excel spreadsheet for an asset management system.

Conclusion

This takes us back to the story of Sally Sue. If IT implemented an incident management system they would have the necessary tools to capture the data of Sally's problematic trend (Technology). IT management would then analyze the data from the incident management system on a regular basis to spot abnormal trends, and work with their technical team(s) to identify potential solutions (People).  The advanced solutions could range from escalating to the application vendor's support team, a reimage* of Sally Sue's desktop, or monitoring the desktop using advanced logging tools, depending on the internal procedures the IT department has in place (Process).

Many IT departments have achieved operational excellence, but for everyone that has there are several more who fall short of this standard. This is especially true in the small to midsized markets where IT strategic leadership is in short supply. While some of these IT departments do have an incident management system implemented, it may not be fully or properly implemented, and in extreme cases purchased and not used. And while some of these IT departments eventually reach the point of leveraging the types of advanced solutions outlined above, it's often a result of escalation by the user (or the user's supervisor) and not attributed to IT's use of technology, data analysis and proactive management techniques.

If you are an end user who has experienced too much "fire fighting" and not enough problem solving, I'd like to hear about your experience. If you are a member of an IT department that has gone from missing getting IT right to achieving operational excellence, I'd like to hear about your positive experience.

*Technique of capturing a single file image of the operating system, applications and all configuration settings on a master system and then deploying the standardized file image (or using a build sequence) to all other systems with similar profile requirements.