 |
|
| CURRENT SECTION :: News |
The No. 1 Resource for UK IT Contractors: Comprehensive guides - Daily news IT contract jobs - Market rates - Forums - IT contractor network - Calculators |
|
 |
Research by Liken, a technology efficiency and IT Audit consultancy, suggests that certain standards could be falling victim to unanticipated pressures. Take ISO19770, for software asset management. Results from within the company's own client base of senior IT asset managers, compliance officers and financial directors, led Liken to question whether the standard was what the market needed or had expected. This standard comes in for particular attention because it is founded on onerous ITIL best practice, says James Rowlands, Liken CEO. “By basing some of these IT standards on what was a rigorous and thorough best practice framework means they are really, really challenging to the point of being extremely difficult to achieve,” he adds. Standards based on best practice rather than just “good practice” are likely to give companies a “hiding to nothing” says Rowlands. In times of recession good practice is what is needed. The company said, initial polling also suggested management focus, in general, was on the effective use of existing IT investment to meet altered business goals designed to survive a recession. Those contacted signalled an increasing pressure on management to justify its decisions and demonstrate efficiency. Rowlands points out the importance of compliance, however, he wonders why two years after ISO 19770’s publication, there are still no publicised cases of businesses having achieved full accreditation. “Why is this? Is it corporate reluctance to let others know about their business practices or is it rather that business is struggling to get to grips with the standard; especially given the current economic climate?” “You might argue that it is inevitable standards fall during a recession,” says Mike Lees, contract software designer and team leader. “When costs are cut, doesn't that inevitably mean there is less money available to pursue 'nice to have' procedures?” he muses. “But the fact is,” he explains, “it is during periods of boom that the greatest dangers lie, particularly when there are new techniques and technologies for contractors to cut their teeth on.” He recalls the dot com bubble when everybody called themselves a web designer or java programmer, but very few actually had the experience required to create quality software, let alone manage cutting-edge architectures. “Standards for the new paradigms simply did not exist and yet the industry was awash with money. Anybody able to spell HTML could get a contract,” he says. “Everybody wanted to be a dot com millionaire, not worry about a small detail like quality.” It seems, therefore, that there is a balance to find. Both too much money and too little can cause standards to be circumvented, and when there are competing or similar standards enterprises will choose the most cost effective. Regarding Liken's survey, Rowlands says, “We were impressed by the strength of support for ISO/IEC: 38500. Against the unfolding economic panorama, could it be that this is a more suitable measure of corporate IT governance and a catalyst for sound asset management? “Cost savings and efficient usage seem now to be the primary drivers as organisations place a greater emphasis on controlling software and hardware usage rather than managing inventory and licensing.” “ISO38500 is a catch-all IT governance standard and it's much more attainable for a lot of businesses and it will give the directors of those businesses a sense that they are doing things the right way.” Reflecting the role of industry-wide standards during the recession, Rowlands adds, “In the service management arena, more and more businesses will set their own internal standards, using internal measures that suite and meet their own business requirements.” William Knight Dec 12, 2008 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
|
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All content © Contractor UK Limited | [Register for News Letter] | [Privacy Statement] | [Terms of Use] | [Top of Page] |