While ‘agile’ may have become something of a buzzword over the last few years, there is no denying the value of Agile-style management. Incorporating the flexibility, adaptability, and speed of the Agile manifesto can offer major benefits across numerous areas of a business, and service management is no different.
‘Certified Agile Service Manager’ or ‘CASM’ is a certification built around applying Agile to IT service management (ITSM). It demonstrates how an organization can ‘be’ Agile in its approach, adapting practices and goals when necessary rather than simply following a methodology.
But does CASM deliver successful Agile service management? Does it stand out among other Agile frameworks on the market? Here are the biggest business benefits of investing in CASM training and how to sell them to the stakeholders in your organization.
A Comprehensive Agile Approach
Agile has long been used for software development, as well as project and program management. All of these areas are relevant to modern ITSM, which is heavily linked not only to value-generating processes but also business strategy.
To succeed in ITSM, Agile’s speed and flexibility are essential. This is covered extensively within the CASM syllabus, which focuses on applying adaptive Agile processes, tools, and practices alongside solid governance. With this, organizations can enjoy the full benefits of Agile across ITSM.
Faster Time to Market
CASM utilizes Agile Process Improvement (API) and Agile Process Design (APD). Team members gain a higher degree of autonomy and focus on short-term goals to create value-generating results far more quickly. Combined with the speed that comes from DevOps-style collaboration, the efficiency of Lean, and additional practices from world-class frameworks, this allows CASM teams to deploy products and services at a much faster rate.
At the same time, CASM does not sacrifice quality. Automated testing and constant feedback from clientele paint a clear picture of how to optimize the value of IT services. Not only do CASM services hit the market quickly, but they also set a high standard!
Customer and Stakeholder Satisfaction
CASM practitioners frequently collect feedback from clients and stakeholders. This drives not only quality but also suitability. Requirements and priorities can evolve over time, and CASM practitioners are more than capable of changing their targets to match.
This is a distinct advantage over waterfall-style ITSM frameworks like ITIL v3. A lack of adaptability can lead to services that poorly fit user requirements, leading to both dissatisfaction and potential disadvantages in the wider market.
Continuous Improvement
Like ITIL, CASM has a strong focus on continual service improvement. Existing services, both internal and external, play a crucial role in generating value. There is little sense in constantly rebuilding from the ground up. With CASM’s best practices, businesses can make sure that services are constantly optimized.
This is also linked to Agile Process Improvement. CASM teams regularly reassess successes and problems in active pipelines. This enables them to improve general practices as well as specific processes.
NOT a Methodology
One of the most important things worth learning about CASM is that it is not a methodology. That is to say, it is not a set-in-stone process that must be followed to the letter. Rather than teaching organizations how to ‘do’ Agile as if it were a single method, it instead teaches them how to ‘be’ Agile.
CASM demonstrates how to combine the principles of the Agile manifesto with solid IT governance in a way that maximizes the benefits of ITSM for both customers and stakeholders. This focus on knowing ‘how’ to apply the framework is essential, as a one-size-fits-all methodology simply would not be viable for dynamic environments.
