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Service Strategy and the Service Portfolio

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Service Portfolio Management is a process that ensures that an organization has the right mix of services to meet business and customer requirements.  Strategists can use the service portfolio to evaluate offerings that are under consideration for investment and also to determine which services should be retired!  A complete history of people, process, technology and information from concept to end of life could be tracked via the service portfolio.  This investment framework is a valuable asset to every service provider.  The Service Portfolio and the activities performed in service portfolio management process serve as an overall basis for making strategic decisions regarding service offerings.  Major changes (those requiring executive approval) will be processed through the service portfolio management pipeline.  It is here that a proposal is defined, analyzed, approved and chartered before moving into service design and more importantly before moving to project management.  

Project Management and the Service Portfolio
A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.  Project management applies resources to project activities to meet the project timelines, deliverables and budget requirements.  One could say that portfolio management sets the priority of the projects and ensures business alignment while project management oversees the individual project.  A project has a starting point and a stopping point.  A service on the other hand is ongoing and must be monitored and analyzed to ensure ongoing value and relevance.  Without executive analysis and prioritization and without the detailed tracking of information and knowledge via the service portfolio, businesses are at risk and projects could miss the mark when it comes alignment with strategic initiatives and business outcomes.

The Value of Service Portfolio Management
  • Ability to fuse IT provisions with strategic business initiatives and business outcomes.
  • Strategic insight into the impact that IT services have on the performance of the business
  • Improved productivity from staff and IT resources, through increased focus on services that offer the most value.
  • Lower cost (dear to the heart of business) can be achieved through the consolidation of duplicate services, enhancement of inefficient services, and retirement of services that no longer deliver value.
  • Relevant decisions are made relating to the creation, improvement, delivery, and retirement of services.
  • An enhanced ability to meet the dynamic business requirements and service demands.
  • Increased customer confidence (branding)  and reputation in the industry.
To learn more about creating and integrating your service portfolio and service catalog:
ttp://www.itsmacademy.com/Detail.bok?no=117

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