The Initial Challenge 

A major manufacturing and distribution company approached Lean Tree with a challenge that resonates across countless organisations: its IT teams were trapped in an endless cycle of firefighting incidents rather than focusing on long-term stability and strategic initiatives. 

Despite having dedicated teams and established processes, the organisation recognised that its IT Service Management practices and were no longer fit for purpose. The company faced the classic symptoms of ITSM inefficiency, reactive support consuming valuable resources, inconsistent communications damaging stakeholder confidence, and a long-term incumbent vendor relationship lacking proper oversight and governance. 

Unlike many organisations that stumble into ITSM assessments reactively, this manufacturing and retail leader demonstrated proactivity by commissioning a comprehensive Service Management Assessment to enable their incoming Service Director to “hit the ground running”. 

Assessment Findings 

Our comprehensive eight-week assessment, involving over 25 hours of stakeholder interviews across the business including IT, distribution and manufacturing teams, revealed a picture that exemplified the warning signs outlined in our assessment framework. 

Incident Management Inefficiencies

The organisation’s incident management process suffered from fundamental flaws including unclear incident classifications with “too much ambiguity for some users”, inconsistent communication flows between the external managed service provider and internal teams, and a Teams channel with over 100 members causing communication chaos. Most critically, there was no global reporting or KPIs for company IT applications and services.

Change Management Bureaucracy

The existing Change Advisory Board (CAB) process was described as “clunky, bureaucratic and takes an excessive use of time to collate and manage with limited benefit”. The process served IT rather than the business, with very little risk assessment undertaken and all changes managed via spreadsheets despite having ServiceNow tickets. CAB calls were often taking up to an hour a fortnight with over 40 items on the agenda to discuss.

Vendor Relationship Challenges

The 14-year relationship with their managed service provider lacked proper governance, with a “piecemeal” contract featuring numerous variations that left both parties uncertain about responsibilities. 

Technology Limitations

The current ServiceNow instance was deemed “not fit for purpose,” and providing limited functionality due to licensing constraints. Internal support teams couldn’t view complete incident histories, and only approximately 25% of users had logged in to use self-service functionality.

Overwhelming Ticketing Burden

One surprising finding was that roughly 75% of all tickets were from one specific support team. The team, previously criticised for lack of productivity, had adopted a counterproductive approach of raising tickets for every minor task. Whilst this provided statistics, it created significant inefficiency and an administrative burden while also muddying the waters relating to volume of work completed by each team.

Strategic Recommendations 

Following our assessment, we presented comprehensive recommendations addressing both immediate pain points and long-term strategic objectives through a structured ITSM transformation programme. 

Quick Wins for Immediate Impact:

• Risk register process improvements with consistent scoring matrix and formal governance. 

• Incident process redefinition including clear P1-P4 categorisation and improved communication templates. 

• Change calendar creation using SharePoint to provide transparency and clash management. 

• Communication refresh with standard templates and unified messaging approach. 

Strategic Transformation Elements 

• Complete ITSM relaunch positioning service management at the heart of company operations. 

• Enhanced ITSM capacity by hiring an additional Service Manager and adding defined Change Manager roles. 

• A new streamlined Change Enablement process aligned to ITIL framework with Emergency, Standard, and Normal change types. 

• Problem Management process implementation to break recurring incident cycles. 

Technology and Process Modernisation 

• Migration to fit-for-purpose ticketing system. 

• Knowledge database establishment. 

• Enhanced business continuity planning with comprehensive disaster recovery testing. 

• Vendor management improvements including contract renegotiation and performance governance. 

Remarkable Results Expected 

Based on our proven methodology, this manufacturing leader can anticipate significant improvements across key performance indicators. Our previous client transformations have delivered: 

• 73% reduction in P1/P2 incidents comparing pre and post-implementation periods 

• 43% reduction in service requests through process optimisation 

• Substantial cost savings through improved efficiency and vendor management 

For this client specifically, the assessment identified immediate opportunities including reducing the 75% application support ticket burden through better process design, improving the 25% self-service adoption rate, and eliminating manual spreadsheet management across critical ITSM processes. 

The Consulting Advantage 

This case study demonstrates our comprehensive approach extending far beyond traditional consulting. Rather than simply delivering an assessment report, we partner with organisations to ensure recommendations translate into measurable business value. 

Our modular assessment methodology, implementation support for those organisations who need it, ensure that an ITSM transformation can deliver sustainable change. By addressing organisational culture alongside process and technology improvements, we help clients achieve the goal of positioning IT as a strategic business enabler rather than a reactive cost centre. 

Conclusion 

This client’s journey from firefighting culture to strategic ITSM maturity illustrates the transformative power a professional assessment can have when combined with structured implementation support. What began as recognition of service management inefficiencies evolved into a comprehensive transformation programme positioning the organisation for long-term stability and growth. 

For organisations experiencing similar challenges – whether recurring incidents, vendor management issues, or lack of dedicated ITSM resources – this case study demonstrates that transformation is achievable through systematic approach and expert partnership. 

Ready to discover your ITSM improvement potential? Our proven methodology has helped organisations across sectors unlock significant operational savings whilst dramatically improving service quality.  Our experts are readily available to assess your systems, to book in your FREE up to 2-hour call with our ITSM experts, click here.