IT service
management (ITSM) refers to the entirety of activities – directed by policies,
organized and structured in processes and supporting procedures – that are
performed by an organization to design, plan, deliver, operate and control
information technology (IT) services offered to customers.
IT service
management (ITSM) is a concept that enables an organization to maximize
business value from the use of information technology.
ITSM positions
IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an
internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the
same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works
across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through
design, transition and into live operation.
To ensure
sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or
processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial,
national and international standards for IT service management, setting up
requirements and good practices for the management system.
ITSM is based
on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It
is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the
desired outcome for the business is achieved. It incorporates principles and
practices from various management approaches, such as lean manufacturing,
organizational change management, system analysis and risk management.
Differing from
more technology-oriented IT management approaches like network management and
IT systems management, IT service management is characterized by adopting a
process approach towards management, focusing on customer needs and IT services
for customers rather than IT systems, and stressing continual
improvement.
As a discipline, ITSM has ties
and common interests with other IT and general management approaches, e.g.
quality management, information security management and software engineering.
Consequently, IT service management frameworks have been influenced by other
standards and adopted concepts from them, e.g. CMMI, ISO 9000 or ISO/IEC 27000.
If your business has more than
a handful of employees, and if even one of you is the designated “IT guyâ€,
you’re already doing ITSM in a small way. But as your business grows, you might
need to bring in more mature processes to get the most benefits out of your
ITSM investment.
Here are the most
common benefits of ITSM.
· Reduce
IT costs
· Improve
the quality of service
· Improve
customer satisfaction
· Improve
governance and reduce risk
· Increase
competitive advantage
· Improve
flexibility
· Increase
agility for new IT services
· Increasing
IT efficiency
· Increasing
business efficiency
· Reducing
IT wastage
User questions & answers