Skip to main content

Why are IT Services So Hard to Define? (Part 1)

A Service Catalog is one of the first assets that an organization should build when initiating their Service Management program.  After all, how can you manage services if you do not have a clear understanding what services your IT organization provides?

Unfortunately, many organizations struggle with obtaining agreement on the scope and definition of end-to-end, business enabling services.  If left unchecked, these struggles can turn political and widen the divide between IT and the business as well as cause conflict between internal IT units. 

To avoid some of the potential challenges in service definition exercises, here are some helpful suggestions:
  • Set the stage by providing IT staff with a chart of business processes and begin integrating business vocabulary into service parameters ("Order Processing" not "Ecommerce").   Have business stakeholders conduct "lunch and learn" presentations that educate IT on how each unit uses IT Services.  Start your service definitions with a business outcome and work the technology backwards  ("Claims" instead of "XYZ application")
  • Stop equating applications with services - one service is likely going to be built upon multiple applications.  This is a big culture change and requires constant reinforcement.
  • Watch for political minefields that imply that an application, individual or team is less important if not designated an official "service".  Just because the network may not independently qualify as a business service, it is still critical to the delivery of other services.
  • Avoid making definitions too technical or so business centric that business and/or IT staff can't relate to or envision the service.
  • Speak in terms of value to the business ("What value does this service provide?  What business process does it enable?  How does it affect the bottom line?").  Avoid discussing the underlying technical infrastructure with customers.
These are all good first steps to creating a common understanding of outcome-based service.



Comments

I agree with you. In reality though, I have seen many more IT organizations focusing on incident and change management and never going beyond that.

I think it is safe to assume, that having a service desk is pretty much given in most larger companies. The difference between IT of the past and IT of the future is strong orientation on business processes and the services enabling them. All of us, ITSM professionals, have a role to play in driving this change.

Piotr Chec
ITSM Perfection Blog
Joseph said…
Have business stakeholders conduct "lunch and learn" presentations that educate IT on how each unit uses IT Services.

www.itatonce.com

Popular posts from this blog

The Four Ps of Service Design - It’s not all about Technology

People ask me why I think that many designs and projects often fail. The most common answer is from a lack of preparation and management. Many IT organizations just think about the technology (product) implementation and fail to understand the risks of not planning for the effective and efficient use of the four Ps: People, Process, Products (services, technology and tools) and Partners (suppliers, manufacturers and vendors). A holistic approach should be adopted for all Service Design aspects and areas to ensure consistency and integration within all activities and processes across the entire IT environment, providing end to end business-related functionality and quality. (SD 2.4.2) People:   Have to have proper skills and possess the necessary competencies in order to get involved in the provision of IT services. The right skills, the right knowledge, the right level of experience must be kept current and aligned to the business needs. Products:   These are the technology managem

What Is A Service Offering?

The ITIL4 Best Practice Guidance defines a “Service Offering” as a description of one or more services designed to address the needs of a target customer or group .   As a service provider, we can’t stop there!   We must know what the contracts of our service offering are and be able to put them into context as required by the customer.     Let’s explore the three elements that comprise a Service Offering. A “Service Offering” may include:     Goods, Access to Resources, and Service Actions Goods – When we think of “Goods” within a service offering these are the items where ownership is transferred to the consumer and the consumer takes responsibility for the future use of these goods.   Example of goods that are being provided in the offering – If this is a hotel service than toiletries or chocolates are yours to take with you.   You the consumer own these and they are yours to take with you.               Note: Goods may not always be provided for every Service

What is the difference between Process Owner, Process Manager and Process Practitioner?

I was recently asked to clarify the roles of the Process Owner, Process Manager and Process Practitioner and wanted to share this with you. Roles and Responsibilities: Process Owner – this individual is “Accountable” for the process. They are the goto person and represent this process across the entire organization. They will ensure that the process is clearly defined, designed and documented. They will ensure that the process has a set of Policies for governance. Example: The process owner for Incident management will ensure that all of the activities to Identify, Record, Categorize, Investigate, … all the way to closing the incident are defined and documented with clearly defined roles, responsibilities, handoffs, and deliverables.  An example of a policy in could be… “All Incidents must be logged”. Policies are rules that govern the process. Process Owner ensures that all Process activities, (what to do), Procedures (details on how to perform the activity) and th