Who We Are
Fifth Step was formed in 2009 by a small team of senior information technologists and IT management professionals to meet the increasing demand for high quality IT management support, change management and IT governance services. We focus principally on the insurance, reinsurance and financial services sectors.
Fifth Step works with clients globally from our offices in London, Bermuda and New York. We hold appropriate accreditations and qualifications for a wide range of technologies and skills including IT Governance, change management, infrastructure, security, networking and systems development. Our senior team has extensive experience with market leading organisations in a range of industries including financial services (retail banking and insurance), IT, E-business, media, retail and manufacturing.
Why ‘Fifth Step’?
The term ‘fifth step’ describes a key component of an IT ‘best practices’ framework, ITIL® - the Information Technology Infrastructure Library. Put simply, the ITIL framework aims to help you create a better IT operation next month than you had this month. ITIL is divided into a series of five steps, with the fifth being Continual Service Improvement, or CSI.
From the birth of our company, the philosophy of Continual Service Improvement is very much at the heart of our business, underpinning and driving all we do. So it was a natural, appropriate decision for us to call our business Fifth Step.
Understanding Continual Service Improvement
CSI is an approach that recognises that the best place to start from is where you are now, and that the best time to start is right now, improving upon what is in place currently. The alternative is very often a large project to start from scratch, which isn’t usually considered the most efficient or cost effective approach.
CSI is considered a best practice approach, and although the names of the stages and things sometimes vary, it is at the heart of many modern frameworks and approaches including COBIT (CSI is called Continual Improvement Life Cycle) and ITIL (CSI), and is based upon the Deming Cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act).
The CSI Lifecycle
Strategy sits at the heart of the Fifth Step CSI Lifecycle. It is by understanding and embracing your strategy that we are able to start the process of IT and business strategy alignment. This then enables the Design, Transition and Operation stages to come into play.
All of these stages and processes are underpinned by the Continual Service Improvement approach, this ensures improvements are collated, and prioritised in accordance with the Strategy.
The Design stage is when the specific projects required to implement the strategic alignment are defined.
The Transition stage is self-explanatory – it is the transition of the overall plan and the component projects from the Design stage into regular operational use.
The Operation stage is the point at which the changes come into regular use as intended.
