IT faces extinction

Technology think-tank the IT Services Management Forum warns that the future of the corporate IT department is under threat unless it restructures to adopt a new service-led culture, hand-in-hand with business.

Forum chief executive Aidan Lawes said that IT service management has become too important to leave to the IT department alone. "There are some awkward questions flying around today," he said. "If everyone has a major stake in IT then should the IT department even exist? Shouldn't it be run instead by a management team consisting of interested parties across the business? After all, when IT screws up, these people are at the sharp end and have to face the music."

Lawes said there is growing conflict between IT and business managers. "Frustration from the business flares up against the barricades of the IT department."

On the positive side, Lawes said the corporate IT department would survive if it was prepared to adapt. "The IT department needs to embrace a new service-led culture within business," he said. "Over the years many IT organisations have been split into two camps ­ development and operations. Development has often been viewed as the sexy part of the business, while operations has been the poor relation. This needs to change."

Lawes' comments came as Hewlett-Packard launched an enhanced service management tool to help managers quickly identify and solve business problems.

Service Desk 4.0 is HP's latest addition to its OpenView suite of management software and allows a more modular approach to managing systems, with more useful forms that enable better incident analysis, HP said.

"The IT departments are under threat and they increasingly have to justify themselves or face getting outsourced," said Paul Hodgetts, general manager for HP's software business. "This tool is aimed at being able to identify and fix issues before they become problems from a customer perspective."

The tool can compile statistics on a variety of incidents as well as help to identify weaknesses in certain areas using simple graphical displays. For example, the system could help to determine whether the CPU load on a Web server is too high. The tool also enables managers to work out what the knock-on effects for customers would be if key systems went down.

HP marketing manager George Bathhurst said problems are solved by the IT department talking to the business. "This tool makes it slightly easier," he said.