The Struggle With Service Disruptions

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Let us start by explaining what service disruptions are in the context of the hotdog stand and IT operations.

A service disruption is when a service experiences an unplanned interruption or experiences degraded performance.

So, if you look at a hotdog stand, a service disruption could be if the refrigeration unit has failed, and the meat and pop can no longer be kept cold. It could also be if the cash register stopped working. Another example could be if the generator has run out and there is no additional electricity to the hotdog stand.

If you look at service disruptions froman IT operations perspective, this could be when there is a global email outage, and no one can access their emails. Another example could be the slow Internet, resulting in longer wait times for customers to download their information. Another example could be an application that is no longer available for the customers to log into and perform their work. Such as thesales tool.

So, when service disruptions do takes place within an organization, what do the organizations typically do in response?

Rather than focus on the actual root cause of the service disruptions, which would mean a lot of time and effort into getting to the bottom of things, the organizations typically look to replace the underlying technology. Let’s replace the battery, let’s replace the cash register, let’s replace the email servers; it’s much easier to focus on the technology than to look into the actual root cause.

What else do organizations do in response to service disruptions? 

They will look at replacing the service provider or the vendor of the failing service;

they may outsource the failing service deciding that they do not have internal skills to manage the service.

They may also look to enforce the failing service, thinking they can do the job better than the service provider or vendor.

They may even go so far as to hire high-priced consulting firms to come and audit the failing service,

and in a final act of desperation, to show that real action is being taken, they may embark on a costly enterprise transformation.

They undertake all these costly and time-consuming initiatives even before understanding the actual root cause of the problems. They do this because they are under tremendous pressure to show that action is being taken.

It's Much easier to replace a piece of technology than to sit down with your employees and understand their thoughts and feelings and how those thoughts and feelings result in behaviours and actions that could directly or indirectly affect the service disruptions.