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61% of Public Sector Organisations Use or Starting to Implement IT Best
Practice Guidelines - But There Is Still A Long Way To Go
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Public sector still taking a reactive approach to IT and unable to measure performance accurately
London, 6th October, 2004 - Research commissioned by Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ: CPWR), the software and services company, has today indicated that in the face of ongoing IT delivery problems within the public sector, 61% of such organisations have started to implement the ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) best practice framework. Whilst it is encouraging to see that so many are looking to apply best practice to their IT operations, 85% of respondents are still relying on end users to discover and report IT problems - indicating a reactive approach to IT management.
The research also found that 71% of organisations are using uptime and utilisation statistics to measure IT performance - metrics which provide little insight into how IT is performing for the organisation. A further 17% do not measure the performance of their IT infrastructure at all. Only 12% of public sector IT departments are able to gain an accurate understanding of IT performance because they are using end user response times as a benchmark. This indicates that public sector organisations still have long way to go in improving IT delivery.
"ITIL is a process-oriented framework that looks to promote best practice in the support and delivery of IT, so it is great that so many public sector organisations are taking on board the processes that ITIL advocates. However, it is clear that the public sector now needs help in changing their working practices in order to make the jump from implementing the ITIL processes to adding measurable value," commented Michael Allen, Performance Solutions Director, Compuware. "If public sector organisations are to get away from this reactive approach and drive forward their IT delivery, they need to start monitoring their IT infrastructure so that they are aware of and are resolving problems before they impact end users."
Rather than taking a reactive approach, ITIL advises companies to be more proactive and strategic in their approach to IT, both day-to-day and in the long term. This requires greater integration and co-operation between the different teams and functions that make up the IT department. ITIL can help as it suggests processes to do this, which in turn facilitates proactive problem management. These processes involve the implementation of service monitoring activities, which measure the performance on IT from both a technical and end user perspective. ITIL also suggests that capacity and availability management information should be brought together with performance metrics in one central view. By following this type of process, public sector organisations will be able to become more proactive in identifying and managing problems. They will be able to spot potential and recurring problems and find ways to resolve the problems before they impact end users.
"If public sector organisations are to make a success of implementing ITIL, they must start to look at the IT department as an ecosystem of interdependent parts that together provide a service to the end user. The service they provide will only improve if they all work together and use performance metrics that actually measure and take into account the performance levels end users are getting," continued Allen. "With initiatives like e-government and regulations such as the Freedom of Information Act placing extra pressure on the resources of public sector IT departments, it is more important than ever that processes are implemented to ensure IT performance is managed proactively so that potential problems are fixed before they impact the delivery of the public services these bodies provide."
The survey was conducted by independent research company Vanson & Bourne, who surveyed 100 IT directors within public sector organisations.
About Compuware
Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ: CPWR) maximises the value IT brings to the business by helping CIOs more effectively manage the business of IT. Compuware solutions accelerate the development, improve the quality and enhance the performance of critical business systems while enabling CIOs to align and govern the entire IT portfolio, increasing efficiency, cost control and employee productivity throughout the IT organisation. Founded in 1973, Compuware serves the world's leading IT organisations, including more than 90 per cent of the Fortune 100 companies.
For more information visit: www.compuware.co.uk
Compuware is a registered trademark of Compuware Corporation. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Compuware is a member of The Prince's Trust Technology Leadership Group (TLG), a premier industry-networking forum for leaders within the IT industry, established in May 2002.
For Compuware Press Inquiries Contact:
Sophie Jarvis/Mark Walden
Spark Communications
020 7357 8612
mark@sparkcomms.co.uk
sophie@sparkcomms.co.uk
