It goes without saying that without incident management, everything would essentially be in chaos. In fact, you could argue that it would be nearly impossible to run a business in today’s modern world without having it to restore operations in the event that services are down. After all, almost everything is run by computers and networks these days and even a minor hiccup in the system can easily create significantly undesirable effects for a business. By having the right incident management process in place, the impact can be minimized if not mitigated completely.
Before opting for its implementation at your company however, there are a few things that will require your careful consideration in order to better reap the benefits of incident management while avoiding any potential issues along the way. Here are some dos and don’ts that you should keep in mind.
Do: Keep the infancy or maturity of your company in mind
In infancy management, knowing exactly where your company is essential. The level of infancy or maturity can often indicate exactly what your business is capable of accomplishing after all. Aiming high and being ambitious does have its perks, but it also demands a greater degree of competency and responsibility too. To this end, it’s vital to be realistic of what can be reasonably achieved and work from there. This way, you can better match the degree of incident management processes to your business rather than taking all of it at once.
Don’t: Try to focus on ITIL compliance too much over the value of the business
While it’s essential to adhere to ITIL compliance and its best practices, it’s equally important to avoid obsessing too much on it over your company’s core values and objectives. At the end of the day, it’s a tool utilized to better enhance and improve the business to better serve the needs of both your end users and affiliates, and not the other way around.
Do: Make it simple and choose the right technology
Always be smarter when making decisions on the technology your company needs to acquire and utilize. Tools that may have a lot of features like ITIL Incident Management may be a better investment in the long run, but they can oftentimes be much more complicated to use and require a deeper level of understanding and expertise than what the company is currently capable of. Instead, obtain tools that are simpler and can help achieve both the desired performance levels as well as ITIL goals better.
Don’t: Confuse problem management with incident management
When implementing incident management processes, it’s important not to confuse it with problem management. Apart from having different definitions, the ITIL processes between the two are vastly different. Keep in mind that incident management is a reactive process that exists to respond to issues one at a time. Problem management on the other hand is more proactive, and usually takes a lot longer to resolve because of the amount of investigative work that it requires.
It’s not difficult to overlook important things when implementing incident management processes. While it does primarily function to ensure quick and swift resolution to unforeseen and unexpected issues, the results it delivers are oftentimes determined by how well the business understands itself and what it’s capable of. By taking the time to assess exactly where the company is, making informed decisions on what technology to procure and keep sight of the core and values of the business, you’ll not only be better integrating incident management processes, but you’ll be enhancing and improving the business as a whole.
