IT management is 'going backwards'

A failure to apply mature management processes to cloud computing is damaging IT service management maturity, with 84% of CIOs stating that cloud is reducing their organisations’ control over IT, according to an independent survey of CIOs commissioned by Fruition Partners. The survey found that a significant 89% of CIOs do not apply the same comprehensive IT service management (ITSM) processes to public cloud-based services as they do for in-house IT services. Based on these findings, the lack of maturity when it comes to cloud represents a ticking time bomb in the majority of UK organisations; 89% of CIOs stated that the unsanctioned use of cloud computing has created long term security risks for the business and 78% think that cloud procurement without IT’s insight is resulting in significant financial waste.

“CIOs need to remember that while the availability of public cloud services may mean they need to provide fewer IT services themselves, it doesn’t reduce the need for the management of those services. In fact, it’s arguable that the need for rigorous management actually increases. Of course you should expect public cloud services to work faultlessly, however you’d be crazy to blindly trust that they will, without managing and monitoring how those services are delivered to the business,” commented Paul Cash, MD, Fruition Partners UK. “Regardless of the type of cloud services in place, IT departments should still be managing them internally rather than handing over all responsibility to cloud providers. By failing to apply the established ITSM principles to cloud that they use to manage in-house IT services, CIOs are losing control of IT and increasing the risks and costs to the business.”

The survey revealed that on average, in-house IT services are managed by a combination of six established ITSM processes. In comparison, public cloud-based services are on average subject to only three ITSM processes, demonstrating a 50% reduction in the maturity of IT service management. As a direct result of the failure to apply mature ITSM principles to cloud, 83% of CIOs felt that managing IT is becoming even harder because of cloud computing. The unsanctioned procurement and use of public cloud services is causing further headaches for CIOs; 60% said there was an increasing culture of ‘Shadow IT’ in their organisations and 79% believe that there are cloud applications in use that IT does now know about. It’s therefore not surprising, that over three quarters (78%) of CIOs stated that the rest of the business frequently does not seek their advice when it comes to the procurement of public cloud services.

“By failing to take control of how cloud services are purchased and implemented across the business, CIOs are storing up problems for the business down the line, not to mention leaving themselves open to the clear security risks that Shadow IT is renowned for. To wrest back control, CIOs must make it easier for employees in other lines of business to work with the IT department to source the cloud services they want,” added Paul Cash. “There are simple initial steps they can take to do this, such as creating and publishing a comprehensive service catalogue which is exposed to the entire business. A service catalogue that lists sanctioned public cloud services will reduce the impact of shadow IT and make it far easier for employees throughout the organisation to buy cloud services from the IT department – while ensuring that IT can control and manage the services that are implemented.”

Supporting and managing public cloud-based services after they are deployed is causing further complications for CIOs. The research found that 1 in 2 organisations are leaving themselves open to the cloud ‘blame game’ by not managing cloud application support. This is commonly found when users have problems with applications such as Salesforce or Dropbox; rather than approaching their own IT team, users will go directly to the cloud provider's support team. This often results in the cloud provider pointing the finger at the customer’s IT environment – as a result, the blame games begin. By keeping control of the support function, IT departments can mitigate the risk of this happening as they have the skills and knowledge to pinpoint the root causes of user issues. In addition, almost two thirds (66%) of CIOs are risking cloud problems by delegating change management responsibility to cloud vendors, when changes to their software need to be implemented.

Furthermore, 72% of businesses are failing to maximise the investments already made in ITSM, by not using their existing ITSM tools to orchestrate cloud services and platforms. This is not surprising, given the misconception amongst many CIOs that orchestrating cloud platforms is difficult to do. However, contemporary ITSM tools can enable orchestration; organisations just need to ensure they have the skills to ensure it happens smoothly.