An International Analysis of IT Service Management Benefits and Performance Measurement

It is widely accepted by Information Technology service managers that frameworks such as the IT Infrastructure Library can deliver real operational efficiencies but there are few empirical studies that investigate the benefits realised and performance metrics gathered. The objective of this paper is to provide an international analysis of IT service management benefits and performance measurement by comparing the findings from a recent Australian survey with results from a similar survey conducted in the United Kingdom and United States of America. International literature on Information Systems (IS) effectiveness and performance measurement specifically related to ITSM is reviewed and used to guide the development of the Australian survey. Both surveys report rapid uptake of ITIL (R) Version 3. There are many reported benefits supported by metrics at the process level. However, the comparative analysis of the Australian and UK/USA studies reveals that there is limited awareness of performance measurement frameworks.