ITIL 4 and Bimodal IT – High Velocity IT with Management

How ubiquitous is Bimodal IT seven years after Gartner’s definition, and has it established itself as a concept?

Bimodal IT, as defined by the research company in 2014, is the discipline of managing two independent but consistent styles of work: one focused on predictability in key business systems and the other on exploration utilizing Agile and DevOps methodologies, both of which play a part in digital transformation.

Although bimodal IT is not widely used, businesses see it as a means to catch up.

Former industry leaders may desire to shift gears with digital transformation but lack the necessary capabilities. As a result, the bimodal strategy is achieved by either outsourcing traditional IT to a third party or allowing another within the department to construct customer engagement systems.

While some recognized industry professionals argue that bimodal IT encourages opposing cultures and conflict, it is apparent that legacy IT is failing many businesses.

The Problems with Bimodal IT

In certain cases, working with bimodal IT results in the outsourcing of traditional IT and a larger internal concentration on high velocity IT. However, most businesses will still require employees to administer major systems of record, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and human resources (HR), as well as individuals to undertake Agile/DevOps development, and the skills required for this are distinct.

One well-known and industry-leading organization that knows went through acquisitions that included the incorporation of legacy IT.

Recognizing the need for digital transformation, it outsourced this component in order to make headway in developing engagement systems. While it made progress, the drawback was cultural, with limited interaction between the transformation team and internal IT.

There are, it suppose, three difficulties at the heart of the bimodal IT challenge:

• Culture: attempting to bring together persons with vastly different ideas and mindsets.  And accepting that neither approach is complete in and of itself.
• Governance: who is in charge of information technology? Is the CIO in charge of traditional IT and someone else in charge of high-velocity IT? Does having a chief digital officer simply create another silo?
• Budget: How is money allocated for each mode? Is the budget for mode 2 provided by another department?

Today, many organizations appreciate the importance of understanding Agile and DevOps, realizing that simply “running the engine room” is enough. The issue is “fake” Agile and DevOps, or adopting the terms but not truly embracing new ways of working.

And those who take it seriously rarely try to combine the two modes and outsource in a way that increases the risk level.

So, what type of help can corporations get to overcome many challenges?

ITIL 4 and Bimodal IT

The emphasis of ITIL 4’s guidelines is on traditional IT learning more about business-facing capabilities and customer needs – and a willingness to be open to new methods of working.

Companies that use high velocity IT, for example, demonstrate that they understand the needs of modern business by being quick to market and leveraging velocity to change swiftly without much ahead planning. Although some people fear that high-velocity approaches sacrifice quality for speed, the ITIL 4 Specialist: High-velocity IT (HVIT) module explains how, if done correctly, this creates higher quality by bringing employees closer to customers and making smaller, incremental changes to a product or service.

The HVIT course also goes deep into the cultural components of bimodal IT, such as encouraging experimentation rather than punishing people for making mistakes.

This principle should be applied to mode 1 IT as well, by building a culture of questioning, making mistakes, learning from them, and doing smaller, less risky experiments.

ITIL 4 HVIT has effectively created a non-prescriptive set of best practices with references from which anyone can choose.

Is bimodal IT the way of the future?

Bimodal IT may be a transitional condition from traditional to contemporary modes of working; after that, everything may become mode 2. Both styles, though, can learn from one another.

Working in smaller self-organizing teams is a beneficial concept for both modes, and decisions in mode 1 may certainly be made lower down the organization, however repeatable processes and stage gate reviews remain important.

However, for proponents of only HVIT settings, the lack of “guardrails” in Agile/DevOps software development with no process or change management might lead to a lot of unneeded failures.

Here at CourseMonster, we know how hard it may be to find the right time and funds for training. We provide effective training programs that enable you to select the training option that best meets the demands of your company.

For more information, please get in touch with one of our course advisers today or contact us at training@coursemonster.com