The document discusses developing an IT service strategy and dealing with customer-introduced variability. It identifies 5 categories of variability: arrival, request, capability, effort, and subjective preference. For each category, it describes the classic IT approach, the challenge for IT, and the resulting impact. It notes that customers expect value when outsourcing and that dealing with variability requires addressing customer value expectations to avoid dramatic shifts that compound issues.

1. Developing an IT Service Strategy Part 1: Describing the Challenge Jerry Bishop Blog.TheHigherEdCIO.com Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License .

6. ARRIVAL VARIABILITY

7. Customers do not want service at the same times which is not always convenient for the company.

8. Arrival Variability Classic IT Approach: Require appointments or reservations The IT Challenge: Users cannot predict or plan for when they will need support and they often cannot wait for assistance. The Result: Inefficiencies and queuing

9. REQUEST VARIABILITY

10. Customers’ wants and needs are not the same.

11. Request Variability Classic IT Approach: No substitutions, set expectations, service catalogues The IT Challenge: Customers want custom, personalized computing experiences The Result: Needs aren’t being met

12. CAPABILITY VARIABILITY

13. Some customers are more capable of assisting in the service while others require hand-holding.

14. Capability Variability Classic IT Approach: User Training, mentors for executives, help desk The IT Challenge: More important when customers are active participants in the delivery of a service and support is remote The Result: Frustration, slow response times

15. EFFORT VARIABILITY

16. When customers must perform a role in a service interaction, it’s up to them how much effort they apply to the task.

17. Effort Variability Classic IT Approach: Create incentives The IT Challenge: Few incentives to offer of any value, attitudes towards self-support The Result: Impact on service quality and cost, either directly for the engagement at hand or indirectly for other customers

18. SUBJECTIVE PREFERENCE VARIABILITY

19. Customers’ opinions vary widely on what it means to get good service

20. Subjective Preference Variability Classic IT Approach: Set expectations, tiered services The IT Challenge: Culture of customer is always right, difficult to manage expectations down The Result: Makes it that much harder to serve a broad base of customers