Business Relationship Management (BRM) is the process and role that allows us, as a service provider, to establish a strategic and tactical relationship with our customers. This will be based on ensuring we understand the customer and the business outcomes they are trying to create and how and what services are engaged by the business to meet those defined goals and objectives. A key activity of the BRM process is to ensure that as business needs change over time, we as a service provider, are able to translate these needs into requirements through the use of a Service Level Requirements document (SLR) which then manifests itself into the portfolio in the form of defined services.  The BRM will assist the business in articulating these requirements and the value of these services that the business places on them. In this way the BRM process is executing one of its critical success factors, which is to safeguard that the customer’s expectations do not exceed what they ...

This blog was written in 2015. The OSA class was sunsetted along with all of ITILv3.  For a more recent perspective, visit our latest article on the importance of modern operational practices and the ITIL Practice Manager path on How to Align ITSM with Organizational Goals: A Step-by-Step Guide What if we did not build an operational support system to meet current business requirements?  That might sound a bit outrageous and contradictory to everything we have learned.  If you are a service provider, then you are aware that what we consider premium service support today could be accepted as the norm and sometimes can be outdated before it becomes a reality. The key to sustaining underpinning operations for any industry is in the constructs of the system. If we build a system to provide what the customer and business outcomes require now, then that is what we will have. The likelihood is that we will have a system that provides for a service that will ren...

Although these terms are frequently used synonymously, “Training” is not “Education”.   This is not to say that training is not important because without training, education would be incomplete.  When investing your capital to increase performance and change behavior it could be beneficial to understand the distinction. Education When we are educated we learn facts, theory or required details about the who, what, where, when and why of a particular subject.  Sometimes education will build on a foundation of knowledge so that you may become more expert in that area.  A simple example is given with the idea of a language.  You may know how to speak it.  When you go to school and are educated you learn what a verb is, and how adjectives are used.  We learn the syntax and constructs of the language.  Some move on to be expert linguist. They become educated and highly skilled in the subject of language. When you are attending a Service ...

🔄 Update Note (ITIL 4): Since the publication of this post, ITIL has evolved significantly. In ITIL 4 , the framework has shifted from the traditional service lifecycle to the Service Value System (SVS) , emphasizing a more holistic and flexible approach to service management. Additionally, ITIL 4 integrates practices from Agile, DevOps, and Lean, promoting adaptability and continuous value co-creation. The introduction of value streams offers a comprehensive view of value delivery, integrating various activities beyond traditional project boundaries. While the core distinctions between services and projects discussed in this post remain relevant, we recommend consulting updated ITIL 4 guidance for the most current best practices. A question arose recently concerning the relationship between Service Management and Project Management. This is a topic of interest to many people since on the surface both approaches seem to be fighting for some of the same work space in organiz...

Many organizations that I meet with often are struggling to implement best practice processes into their environments.   They sound completely overwhelmed and often I hear “Where do we begin?”   I smile and usually respond with “At the beginning of course”.   The beginning of good process implementation of course is “defining and analyzing your customer’s requirements”.   I once read that to provide good services a service provider must have good customers.   I think this statement also holds true for processes as well.   Good customers / employees must: Understand the process Understand the expected results of the process Know where they fit into the process Understand how they and others contribute to produce the expected results When your employees understand the processes within your environment they can easily identify new customer requirements and positively respond to rapidly changing customer needs.   This is the basis for making it part...

One of the most important tools in the toolbox for implementing Service Management is “ The Question ”. Effective questioning can help make both a new and existing implementation more successful. Good questioning techniques take practice and knowledge like many other skills. It can take years to move questioning from a skill to a talent. But learning how to ask and answer questions is a valuable instrument. Questions go beyond just the closed (specific answer) and open (subjective or broad answer). Questions can fall into several other categories and each should be approached in different ways: INDUCTIVE : there are designed to aggregate information and will be used effectively in Incident Management; Problem Management and Change Management. How do a set of Incidents correlate? DEDUCTIVE : these are designed to break down or decompose information and will be used effectively in Problem Management and Service Level Management. What are the elements that make up an existing service? ABD...

Allow me to introduce myself - I am Professor Wise, the ITSM Professor. I have committed my academic research to IT Service Management including ITIL, ISO/IEC 20000, Microsoft Operations Framework, and other resources. As I discover interesting and relevant concepts within best practices frameworks and standards, I will highlight them with you through this blog. I will also share insight and practical applications from organizations and individuals who are implementing and improving their Service Management processes. And I also encourage you to join in the conversation. I want this to be a positive place for sharing IT Service Management tips, tricks, challenges, and successes. Please email me at itsmprofessor@itsmacademy.com . I will add your question to the blog. Happy Reading!