Service Integration and Management (SIAM) is an approach to managing multiple suppliers of services (business services as well as information technology services) and integrating them to provide a single business-facing IT organization. It aims at seamlessly integrating interdependent services from various internal and external service providers into end-to-end services in order to meet business requirements.
Background
Sourcing information technology capabilities and capacity from multiple external suppliers is becoming a dominant operating model for many large IT organisations. This model is commonly known as multisourcing.
Sourcing from multiple suppliers allows an organization to maintain in-house technical teams or large single source suppliers, and become more adaptable by taking advantage of competitive marketplace behaviors which incentivise cost reduction and leverage innovation. The use of multiple suppliers can incur large management overhead costs and lead to difficulty in managing end to end (E2E) services. SIAM thinking has developed to aid that management challenge. It has expanded beyond IT services to be used for many different types of business service.
The term SIAM was predated by the term Service Integration which has been in use since at least 2009. It should not be confused with the term System integration.
In UK government it is seen as a way for large governmental IT organisations to better manage and control multi-sourced operations, by compiling (and then sharing between themselves) their best practices and their most successful management methods.
According to the SIAM Body of Knowledge, the term ‘service integration and management’ or SIAM, and the concept of SIAM as a management methodology originated in around 2005 from within the UK public sector, which was also the source of other best practice methodologies such as ITIL®.
The methodology was initially designed for the Department of Work and Pensions to obtain better value for money from services delivered by multiple service providers, and specifically to separate service integration capabilities from systems integration and IT service provision.
This new approach reduced the duplication of activities in the service providers, and introduced the concept of a ‘service integrator’. This new service integration capability provided governance and coordination to encourage service providers to work together to drive down costs and improve service quality.
SIAM is a rapidly developing area of service management, and one that is closely associated with multiple disciplines including IT service management, enterprise architecture, organisational change management, quality management and risk management.
In 2016, Scopism, a management consultancy, worked with a team of experts from companies and independents including Atos, TCS and Sopra Steria to create the SIAM Foundation Body of Knowledge. This BoK is available for free download from the Scopism website. It is linked to the global SIAM training and certification scheme launched by EXIN, a Dutch certification organisation and Scopism. The SIAM Foundation BoK was then followed by the SIAM Professional BoK in 2017 and the associated SIAM Professional certification. In 2019, the SIAM Foundation and Professional BoKs were revised to reflect changes in the SIAM and IT management landscape, including the publication of COBIT 2019 and ITIL 4.
Key concepts
The SIAM Foundation Body of Knowledge (BoK) from Scopism Ltd defines SIAM as ″a management methodology that can be applied in an environment that includes services sourced from a number of service providers″.
The SIAM Foundation Body of Knowledge also introduces the four most common SIAM structures:
Internal service integrator
External service integrator
Hybrid service integrator
Lead supplier as service integrator
The SIAM Foundation BoK also introduces other SIAM key concepts:
SIAM ecosystem: made of up three layers – the customer organization, the service integrator, and service providers SIAM practices: addressing people, process, measurement and technology SIAM structural elements: including boards, process forums and working groups