![]()
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCING SERVICE MANAGEMENT
We’re going to start this book by taking a look at what service management actually means. ‘Service’ and ‘service management’ are commonly used terms in the modern IT organisation, so it’s worth spending some time analysing what they refer to and why they are important.
Why IT service management?
In today’s world, information technology (IT) is a fully integrated part of everyone’s life. Whether using a smartphone, withdrawing cash from an ATM, paying bills, or booking tickets on the Internet, IT is there in everything we do. It often plays a supporting role, so we don’t even think about what we are using until it stops working.
In the modern business organisation, we see the same reliance on IT and IT services. Every department in the business, from finance and human resources through to logistics, relies on IT to carry out its role efficiently and effectively.
Effectiveness refers to whether IT is able to achieve its objectives. Efficiency refers to whether IT uses an appropriate amount of resources. An efficient IT service provider will use optimal amounts of time, money, staff, etc.
Now, more than ever, organisations need IT to survive. IT supports critical business processes that generate revenue, serve business customers and allow business goals to be achieved.
At the same time, the IT department or IT service provider is under more and more pressure to deliver better services, often at a reduced cost. There is a balance to find between supply and demand, service cost and service quality.
To make sure that IT can meet business objectives, organisations need service management. Service management makes sure that the IT services delivered do what the business needs, when the business needs it.
With effective support and good IT quality services, organisations can adopt bold strategies, including expansion of existing services and movement into new markets. With poor IT services, organisations will struggle to deliver what they do now, let alone expand and offer anything new or exciting.
In this chapter, we’re going to take a look at some of the key concepts related to service management. Every IT organisation that wants to survive must understand and embrace these concepts.
Service
The dictionary definition of a service is related to helping someone. To do someone a service means that you have offered help or assistance.
This maps easily onto the IT services we use every day. Services should make our lives easier – if they don’t, there is no reason to use them, or spend money providing and maintaining them.
You can see the ITIL definitions for a service and an IT service in Table 1, below:
Service | ‘A service is a means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks.’ |
IT service | ‘A service provided by an IT service provider. An IT service is made up of a combination of information technology, people and processes. A customer-facing IT service directly supports the business processes of one or more customers, and its service level targets should be defined in a Service Level Agreement. Other IT services, called supporting services, are not directly used by the business, but are required by the service provider to deliver customer-facing services.’ |
Table 1: Service definitions
ITIL recommends the development of outcome-based definitions of services. This means that we need to look at the customer outcome that the service delivers, not the technology the IT service provider is offering to the customer.
For example, a customer may pay to have access to a cloud-based hosting service for their company website. The service provider might think of the service in terms of server space, back-up schedules, connectivity and power management. The customer thinks of the service in terms of their website being available and accessible to customers who are buying from them. These are the outcomes that matter.
An outcome is: ‘the result of carrying out an activity, following a process or delivering an IT service. Outcome can refer to intended or actual results.’
Not all IT services work as hoped when they first go live, but we need to be able to quantify the outcome they were supposed to deliver to assess whether it’s worth keeping the service.
Customers need to trust their service provider, and believe that the service will continue to meet their needs in the future. If they don’t trust the service provider, the relationship between customer and service provider will probably be quite brief.
Customer expectations will not stay the same. They will change over time. Service providers must track and understand their customer’s expectations and update services to make sure they are still delivering value.
It is very important for a service provider to understand the services they are offering and what they mean to customers. This includes looking at how services relate to each other, and which customers use which services.
If a service is performing poorly and doesn’t have many customers, it may be retired. A service that is performing well and attracting many customers may receive more investment.
Service classification
Services can be broken down into classifications to make them easier to understand and manage. You can see the three main service classifications in Table 2, overleaf:
Core services | ‘Core services deliver the basic outcomes desired by one or more customers. These services represent the value the customer wants and will pay for.’ These attract the customer in the first place. Customers must be satisfied with the core services. E-mail, for example, could be a core service that allows the customer to access messaging functionality. |
Enabling services | ‘Enabling services need to be in place for the core service to be delivered.’ The customer may not even know the enabling service exists, but it is essential. Customers will not see enabling services as being services that they use. They are basic factors that make sure the core services can be delivered. The network might be an enabling service for the e-mail service offered to customers. It must be in place and working for e-mail to be accessible. |
Enhancing services | Enhancing services are non-essential services that are added to the core service to tempt or excite the customer. There is always a danger that customers will get used to having access to enhancing services, and see them as being part of the core service. Service providers need to make sure they review their enhancing services regularly and update them if necessary. The e-mail service might be enhanced by offering calendar functionality, or mobile e-mail. |
Table 2: Service classifications
Service packages
Service providers can use service packages to help them offer their services to customers in a more attractive and meaningful way. Service packages are made up of combinations of core, enabling and enhancing services. The package contains two or more services that have been bundled together to meet the customer’s needs. For example, when you enter into a mobile phone contract, you might be offered a special rate for international calls, if you are a frequent traveller. The core service can have different options added to it to make it more attractive to you, the customer.
Customers will want different levels of service as part of their service package. These different levels are documented in a Service Level Package, which is then delivered with the service package. The Service Level Package allows customers to choose service targets that are appropriate for their needs. For example, they might choose a bronze, silver or gold service with different service hours and support options.
Creating a service package with just the right combination of services and service levels will make sure that customers are kept happy. They will be able to pay for what they want, and shouldn’t be forced to pay for any extras they don’t want access to.
Internal and external services
Internal services are delivered to departments or business units in the same organisation as the service provider. For example, th...
