Investment bank Mitsubishi Securities International has
used a software tool to help it slash the number of requests for
system changes made by IT staff.
The London-based investment bank installed software from Serena to
help it track changes to its IT systems and comply with financial
regulations.
But the immediate benefit was in showing which departments were
driving change requests to the bank's 200-plus applications. The
software revealed that almost 75% of the 150 requests to change its
IT systems each month were coming from IT staff rather than
end-users.
This made it difficult to distinguish which changes were being
driven by a real business need. It also made it difficult to
calculate the cost of IT staff's time in responding to requests
from users.
After educating users about procedures for changing IT systems, 75%
of requests now come directly from a business unit. Just 25% come
from IT personnel, and these are limited to upgrades and minor
maintenance.
The Serena Change Management software automatically captures
changes made to IT systems. Before its introduction IT staff had to
spend time recording changes to IT systems, distracting them from
more important work.
The software also includes controls to ensure that only authorised
staff are allowed to make changes to IT systems.
This will help Mitsubishi comply with corporate governance
regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, which require companies to show
that they have adequate control over changes made to IT
systems.
Companies also have to give auditors easy access to reams of
corporate data for compliance.
"The increased emphasis on regulation will require auditors to be
more intrusive," said Mitsubishi associate director Mike Collins.
"While this is important, it can be very time-consuming to support.
With Serena's change management system we expect to significantly
reduce the amount of time required for the IT staff to support an
audit."