SIAM. Another item added to a seemingly long list of tech jargon? Or, something that can help add value and save your organisation time and money? Let’s find out.
So, what is SIAM?
First things first, SIAM stands for Service Integration and Management. It’s a management methodology born during the shift towards the outsourcing of resources and skills that are more specialised.
To break that down further, what we mean is that businesses of any shape, size, and structure often bring in external suppliers to manage certain processes on their behalf. This can be for many reasons, the key ones being lack of human resources, lack of internal expertise, and not enough budget to warrant having certain skills, resources, or expertise in-house full time. And so, this is where outsourcing is a great answer to meeting the needs of an organisation that might not otherwise be met.
Now, if it gets to the stage where a business is outsourcing quite a few different capabilities, the challenge then lies in effectively managing the multitude of different suppliers and ensuring that the business or organisation is getting the right bang for its buck. So, in order to get the most value from each supplier, the most logical thing to do is integrate them and have a service integrator manage that day-to-day provision. The job of the service integrator is to add a layer between both the organisation and service provider or providers.
Why is SIAM useful?
In adopting a SIAM model, an organisation can benefit from consistency – and we all know that consistency is key. Like most things, having 3-5 service providers means 3-5 different ways of working and 3-5 different approaches to governance, coordination, management, and integration.
SIAM makes it possible to create an end-to-end service even when parts of the service are supplied by different providers. When applied consistently, SIAM makes sure that everyone within an organisation and the different suppliers are kept on the same page. In addition, governance is unified on strategic, tactical, and operational levels to help achieve compliance and accomplish common goals.
It also means that when multiple providers are working on a project where skills or responsibilities may overlap, there can be communication to help them coordinate that – something unlikely to exist in the absence of a SIAM model.
Other benefits include:
- Avoiding vendor lock-in
- Supporting the deployment of specialist solutions from niche providers that can rapidly transform delivery
- Ensuring efficient service management orchestration and delivery underpinned by strong governance
- Integrated processes and tooling solutions, which in turn help enable cost reductions and improved service performance
- Removing fragmentation in the IT supply chain
- Having the ability to choose the best combination of specialist suppliers with flexible, variable length contracts
- Having the flexibility to move many services to commodity-based ‘pay as you go’ provision
- Allowing for greater transparency as costs are not hidden within a large end-to-end service charge
What to look for in a SIAM supplier
Having the right SIAM supplier in place is, of course, critical to the success of a SIAM model, and this means it is important to put the time into ensuring that the culture of any chosen supplier marries well with your organisation and supports a strong, collaborative approach. Key things to look out for are how issues are handled, as well as any potential conflicts and how they escalate matters when required. Most importantly, a supplier should be able to demonstrate relevant experience in SIAM deployments of equivalent scale and scope, a good understanding of your key IT delivery towers and be able to pass any stress test (handling pressure is key.) Above all else, as with most things, a good attitude will help preserve relationships even when handling disputes or failures.
Why Daisy for SIAM?
Daisy’s managed service specialists have vast knowledge with years of experience in interpreting and designing robust service models. Between them, they deliver complex SIAM models of up to 10,000 users to corporate, healthcare, and regulatory organisations.
Daisy’s most common role is a SIAM Service Guardian where we not only carefully manage, govern and report on your behalf but also provide support functions.
Our embedded service management practices provide the management, control, and ownership that is essential in the successful delivery of IT services within shared delivery models. We pride ourselves on our attention to detail and strong service management principles combined with our agility to adapt to changing landscapes – all while seeking continual improvement in every corner of the SIAM service model.