TITLE:
Improving Information Technology Infrastructure Library Service Delivery Using an Integrated Lean Six Sigma Framework: A Case Study in a Software Application Support Scenario
AUTHORS:
Anil Kumar Raghavan Pillai, Ashok Kumar Pundir, L. Ganapathy
KEYWORDS:
Information Technology Infrastructure Library, Change Management, Configuration Management, Software Application Support, Lean Six Sigma
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Software Engineering and Applications,
Vol.7 No.6,
May
28,
2014
ABSTRACT:
Increasing
competition in service businesses (eg: Information Technology, Healthcare, Education,
Logistics, Distribution, Hospitality Financial and other services) is
compelling corporates to adopt business improvement philosophies and
methodologies for addressing customer demands for better quality service and
organizational demands for improving the profit margins through cost reduction.
Many companies around the world have already implemented Information Technology
Infrastructure Library (ITIL) as a way to manage and control their Information
Technology (IT) Departments more effectively. These companies are now willing
to improve their ITIL processes in order to become even more efficient. Lean
Six Sigma is a methodology that has been suggested as a means to resolve these
problems, reducing costs and improving quality. Its application in the IT
Services area is becoming increasingly popular among researchers and
academicians and can be used to conduct these improvements. Despite the
application of lean six sigma approaches to different contexts in the service
sector, the application of Lean Six Sigma approaches in service delivery
specific to Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) remains largely
untested. The purpose of this paper is to implement Integrated Lean Six Sigma
for Software application support services and evaluate the benefits of
continual service improvement over ITIL.