SysAid-author-Greg Sanker

Greg Sanker

ABOUT

Greg is an IT Service Management blogger, speaker, and practitioner with decades of global IT experience ranging from Fortune 10 tech giant to public sector. He lives in the Pacific Northwest (USA), where stunning natural beauty and high tech form a unique lifestyle. In his spare time, Greg hikes, bikes, and plays a bit of blues guitar. He blogs about Excellence in IT Service Management at ITSMTransition.com.

2826 Views

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July 20th, 2022

Prioritizing ITSM Improvements Based on Employee Experience Impact

Traditionally, efforts to improve IT service management (ITSM) practices was tied primarily to either objective maturity models, or where there’s desire or opportunity to improve. In this article I’ll describe why all improvement efforts must support employee experience (EX) and then introduce the concept of mapping specific EX points to the ITSM practice(s) that most...

Prioritizing ITSM Work for Employee Experience

1226 Views

|

August 22nd, 2017

Why I Love Unreasonable Customers

Call it human nature, politeness, or political correctness. Maybe it’s just easier, but we humans, generally speaking, are kind when dealing with people. When the waiter asks how the meal was, we tend to say it was “good”, or “fine”, or some other polite, vague generality. It makes for pleasant interactions, but, from a continual...

Unreasonable customers

1527 Views

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July 12th, 2016

ITSM Capabilities: It’s Not About the Processes!

Ever hear that ITSM (and ITIL) are not about the processes? If that’s true, then why are the ITIL volumes full of processes? Incident management, change management, release, and so on. Twenty-six of them, at last count. What am I missing? Processes Are Great, But… If you look at IT from the perspective of the...

1461 Views

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March 9th, 2016

A Practical Approach to Getting Started with Service Catalog

Recently I presented a webinar on getting started with service catalog. It’s a topic that comes up often because getting started can be harder than it looks – especially without the support of a full IT service management (ITSM) program. If you know you need a service catalog but aren’t sure where to get started,...

997 Views

|

December 16th, 2015

The First Call Resolution Paradox

You’ve no doubt heard the saying “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Therefore, naturally, we try to measure things so we can effectively manage them. Makes sense, as far as that goes, but there’s a lesser-known saying  – “be careful what you measure, it just might improve.” Be Careful What You Measure...

1166 Views

|

August 26th, 2015

The Secret Life of Incidents

Everyone knows that incident management is designed to manage the overall life of an incident. Start to finish. Cradle to grave. But what does that really mean? The standard, accepted practice is that (most) incidents are started at the service desk/help desk – aka “Level 1 support”. In fact, the service desk is generally synonymous...

990 Views

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May 27th, 2015

We Need to Talk…About Change Management

You know those awkward conversations that start with “we need to talk”? Well, it’s time. We need to talk. About ‘change management’. Ever see someone endorsed for ‘change management’ on professional networking sites, and wondered what kind of change management?  Ever thought, “wait, they don’t know anything about IT Service Management”? There seems to be...

1406 Views

|

April 29th, 2015

Change Evaluation: The Seven R’s Revisited

The 2011 version of ITIL introduced the lesser known change evaluation process. It’s a great addition, and I haven’t seen a lot written about it. The first thing to know is not every change requires a formal change evaluation. It’s intended to be used primarily for major changes, where the complexity and scope of the...

909 Views

|

March 31st, 2015

Workshop as a Blog: How to Mature a Service Management Process

. I recently attended itSMF Norway 15 Conference. What an incredible experience with some of the most dedicated people in IT service management! I had the privilege of being one of the Service Bazaar workshop leaders. My session was How to Mature a Basic Change Management Process. The format was groups of up to 8...

1131 Views

|

February 24th, 2015

Information Technology: What Business Are You In?

Think Nike is in the athletic shoes and apparel business? Not on your life. “Nike sells shoes but it’s not in the shoe-selling business. It’s in the business of selling emotion and aspiration. Nike sells achievement, Nike sells perseverance and Nike sells Victory.“ (Brandstories.net) If you ask most IT people what business they’re in, their...

1192 Views

|

January 20th, 2015

The Service Desk and Relationship Management: All You Need Is Love

“Hi, just calling to say everything is working great today!” said no Service Desk caller. Ever. Like it or not, your customers have a relationship with IT. Sometimes good; sometimes bad.  They are built over time, one interaction at a time. The truth is, every call to the Service Desk either builds it up or...

2826 Views

|

July 20th, 2022

Prioritizing ITSM Improvements Based on Employee Experience Impact

Traditionally, efforts to improve IT service management (ITSM) practices was tied primarily to either objective maturity models, or where there’s desire or opportunity to improve. In this article I’ll describe why all improvement efforts must support employee experience (EX) and then introduce the concept of mapping specific EX points to the ITSM practice(s) that most...

Prioritizing ITSM Work for Employee Experience

1527 Views

|

July 12th, 2016

ITSM Capabilities: It’s Not About the Processes!

Ever hear that ITSM (and ITIL) are not about the processes? If that’s true, then why are the ITIL volumes full of processes? Incident management, change management, release, and so on. Twenty-six of them, at last count. What am I missing? Processes Are Great, But… If you look at IT from the perspective of the...

1461 Views

|

March 9th, 2016

A Practical Approach to Getting Started with Service Catalog

Recently I presented a webinar on getting started with service catalog. It’s a topic that comes up often because getting started can be harder than it looks – especially without the support of a full IT service management (ITSM) program. If you know you need a service catalog but aren’t sure where to get started,...

1406 Views

|

April 29th, 2015

Change Evaluation: The Seven R’s Revisited

The 2011 version of ITIL introduced the lesser known change evaluation process. It’s a great addition, and I haven’t seen a lot written about it. The first thing to know is not every change requires a formal change evaluation. It’s intended to be used primarily for major changes, where the complexity and scope of the...

1226 Views

|

August 22nd, 2017

Why I Love Unreasonable Customers

Call it human nature, politeness, or political correctness. Maybe it’s just easier, but we humans, generally speaking, are kind when dealing with people. When the waiter asks how the meal was, we tend to say it was “good”, or “fine”, or some other polite, vague generality. It makes for pleasant interactions, but, from a continual...

Unreasonable customers

1192 Views

|

January 20th, 2015

The Service Desk and Relationship Management: All You Need Is Love

“Hi, just calling to say everything is working great today!” said no Service Desk caller. Ever. Like it or not, your customers have a relationship with IT. Sometimes good; sometimes bad.  They are built over time, one interaction at a time. The truth is, every call to the Service Desk either builds it up or...

1166 Views

|

August 26th, 2015

The Secret Life of Incidents

Everyone knows that incident management is designed to manage the overall life of an incident. Start to finish. Cradle to grave. But what does that really mean? The standard, accepted practice is that (most) incidents are started at the service desk/help desk – aka “Level 1 support”. In fact, the service desk is generally synonymous...

1131 Views

|

February 24th, 2015

Information Technology: What Business Are You In?

Think Nike is in the athletic shoes and apparel business? Not on your life. “Nike sells shoes but it’s not in the shoe-selling business. It’s in the business of selling emotion and aspiration. Nike sells achievement, Nike sells perseverance and Nike sells Victory.“ (Brandstories.net) If you ask most IT people what business they’re in, their...

997 Views

|

December 16th, 2015

The First Call Resolution Paradox

You’ve no doubt heard the saying “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Therefore, naturally, we try to measure things so we can effectively manage them. Makes sense, as far as that goes, but there’s a lesser-known saying  – “be careful what you measure, it just might improve.” Be Careful What You Measure...

990 Views

|

May 27th, 2015

We Need to Talk…About Change Management

You know those awkward conversations that start with “we need to talk”? Well, it’s time. We need to talk. About ‘change management’. Ever see someone endorsed for ‘change management’ on professional networking sites, and wondered what kind of change management?  Ever thought, “wait, they don’t know anything about IT Service Management”? There seems to be...

909 Views

|

March 31st, 2015

Workshop as a Blog: How to Mature a Service Management Process

. I recently attended itSMF Norway 15 Conference. What an incredible experience with some of the most dedicated people in IT service management! I had the privilege of being one of the Service Bazaar workshop leaders. My session was How to Mature a Basic Change Management Process. The format was groups of up to 8...

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