ServiceCamp Topics

Some frameworks list 50 roles! What are the key and minimum number of roles required to operate and sustain a service provider organization?

Standing still is not an option in today's business environment. How can IT organizations and service organizations at large ensure management and staff commitment to 'continuous improvement'? What are the elements of a continuous improvement program?

How should the development of a 'service catalog' describing the services on offer and how to request, be approached. What are the methods, timescales, skills, and risks involved?

Knowing a problem exists, and describing its impact, is a skill often missing from many IT organizations, yet necessary to promote change. How is a problem defined, and how best can the impact of a problem be described?

What role does/should service portfolio management play in any service provider organization? How different is it, if at all, from traditional product development methodologies? Where do you begin?

Given the refreshed ISO20000 standard emphasizes the requirement for a 'service management system', what are the constituent parts, and where do you begin the development?

A business impact analysis (BIA) is emphasized as a key method in some best practice frameworks. What is a BIA and how is one formulated and completed?

Service support is sometimes more closely associated with break-fix activities. What is the true role and scope of operation of service support, and what are the elements of a service support system (set of methods)

The change schedule is a fundamental element of a change management system, yet limited guidance is available on its format and operational use. How is one formatted and how best can it be integrated to related maintenance, service and release schedules?

Given the economic climate and management imperatives, an (IT) Service management project seems like a huge investment and resource intensive undertaking. How should you approach justifying such an effort?

What are the latest trends in service support - by this I mean the concepts, methods and skill sets in use across all service industries to support products, services, and their customers.

How should you assess the risk of a change request? Who should be involved and to what extent should the change manager role inherit any of the risk?

Service management is a must do for many organizations. Where should an organization start such an effort, assuming limited authorization from management with respect to the availability of resources and funding?

Increasingly, service contracts (also termed service level agreements) are being recognized and used as legal documents. Influenced by cloud computing and customer malcontent, It organizations are being asked to offer, and be held accountable through these contracts. How should their development be approached, and what formats and structures are 'best practice'?

What are the likely impacts of cloud computing and virtualization options on a service management initiative, system, and provider organization skills?

What is the role and level of importance of a configuration management system and database (CMDB)? It seems a huge undertaking, what approaches are recommended, scope of operation, risks involved?

There are numerous standards and standards organizations (ISO, IEEE, National [ANSI, BSI, etc.], frameworks (ITIL, COBIT, etc.), reference models (OSI 7 layer, CMMI, etc.) and methods (Lean, Six Sigma, etc.). How does an organization sort through all of those to identify what/where best practices are? Which should they implement and why? How does one resolve conflicting/contradictory guidance?