Housing association to implement ITIL processes

Chessington, 15 December 2009. Incommunities, one of the largest housing associations in the North of England, has purchased web based IT service management software Sostenuto to support its implementation of the ITIL framework.

Farhat Mahmood, Director of Incommunities - ICT said: “Incommunities is responsible for managing around 22,300 homes across the Bradford District and is adopting ITIL in a drive to introduce its quality standards, increase transparency and improve efficiencies in its IT processes and operation.”

Ejaz Munir, Incommunities’ ICT Manager Development and Support, led the project to select the service management software best suited to helping the association achieve its goals. He and his team evaluated a number of different products before deciding to adopt Sostenuto by ITSM software provider Sunrise. “Sostenuto scored highest in the evaluation because the software makes ITIL very straightforward to implement,” said Ejaz. “Some packages used up to six different screens to manage an incident. Sostenuto’s interface was easy to understand straight away, whilst also offering a very configurable environment. All in all Sostenuto came across as a much cleaner product.”

“As well as providing all of the ITIL services in an easy to manage package, Sostenuto is based on newer technology than some of its competitors, being completely web based and easy to maintain.”

Incommunities plans to use Sostenuto’s Chameleon self service interface to provide end-users with their own portal for IT service calls. The software’s reporting capabilities, coupled with the ability to export data easily, were also favoured in order to help the department better manage its services.

“Since the beginning of the project,” said Ejaz, “We have developed an excellent relationship with Sunrise, which I would describe more as a partnership than a simple commercial process.”

Once Sostenuto is up and running in the ICT department, Incommunities is planning to roll out the software to its marketing department, where it will help staff manage their activities, before being considered for use in further departments within the association.