I’d like to describe to you how software products and best practice are used in the modern business world by telling you a bit about the Mongolian bow.
Made from laminated layers of boiled horn, sinew and wood the Mongolian bow was the tool of war that allowed the Mongolians to create an empire that stretched from Europe to the Sea of Japan. Historians suggest that the bow evolved out of necessity as the Mongols of Genghis Khan’s era lived in an environment where survival skills were of the utmost importance. The Mongolian bow could shoot up to 500 meters and was far stronger than other bows of that time, this combined with the ability to shoot while horsed gave the Mongolians a significant advantage over their enemies.
Although we are not at war, in fact quite the opposite we are trying to make our customers love us, the modern day Service Management department also has tools that have evolved out of necessity. Our tools mainly come in the form of Service Management applications and some of the common ones that are found in the South African market are BMC Remedy, Cherwell , HEAT and ServiceNOW.  Much like the Mongolian bow which was continually improved on so have these tools evolved.  We’ve selected the best of these products to offer to our customers as a tool to help them win their war against bad service delivery.  Our troops constantly train and practice with these tools until they become the best at using the tool.
The Mongolians were a great fighting force and they dominated not just because their tools of war were better but also because they used them in the most effective manner. From Genghis Khan’s writings we learn that they had a passion for bows and horses and trained every day in these disciplines. Genghis Khan used these advantages and superior military tactics to smash his enemies on the battlefields often defeating foes several times his size.
Our tactics are known to us as frameworks and best practices. Service Management generals have many best practices available such as ITIL, COBIT, Lean IT, Six Sigma, CMMI, Agile and USMBOK. ITIL is probably the best known of these and most suitable for the IT Service Management environment. ITIL is a set of best practices that gives us guidelines and terminology for how to deliver IT services.  Just as everyone in the Mongolian military would have known the difference between a Mingghan and a Tumen so it would be expected that ITIL practitioners would know the difference between an Incident and a Service Request.
As Genghis Khan’s generals would adapt to the battlefield and employ the best tactic to meet the threat of the enemy so must Service Management generals adapt to business requirements and deploy the correct strategy in order to meet the requirements. Â It is often a combination of these products and frameworks that is required to win the war.
At Think Tank Software Solutions we have many troops and generals ready to help you on your Service Management journey. Let us help you pick the correct tool and strategies.
