Tilda Publishing
Service Management
What is a Service and How Do We Understand Its Value?
It’s hard to imagine our daily lives without services. We order food, hail a taxi, watch our favorite series—this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many of us are also involved in creating or delivering services at work. But when something is so integral to our lives, it can be surprisingly challenging to remember its basic definition.
According to ITIL 4, a service is:
“A means of enabling value co-creation by facilitating outcomes that customers want to achieve, without the customer having to manage specific costs and risks.”
In simpler terms, this means achieving desired outcomes without taking on the associated risks and maintenance costs. In this article, I’ll elaborate on the key components that make ITIL essential for service management and explore the “secret sauce” behind the service mindset.
“A means of enabling value co-creation by facilitating outcomes that customers want to achieve, without the customer having to manage specific costs and risks.”
In simpler terms, this means achieving desired outcomes without taking on the associated risks and maintenance costs. In this article, I’ll elaborate on the key components that make ITIL essential for service management and explore the “secret sauce” behind the service mindset.
A Simple Example of Service Value
Let’s start with a very basic example of a desired outcome from a customer’s perspective:
Every morning, I want to enjoy a perfectly green and well-maintained lawn as I sip my coffee. While I appreciate the beauty of a pristine lawn, I have no desire to handle the maintenance myself. This includes tasks like selecting the right seeds, planting, fertilizing, watering, mowing, and managing the equipment. I don’t want to invest in tools or store them, and I certainly don’t want to worry about lawn care when I’m sick, on vacation, or traveling for work.
What I want is simple: a service provider who ensures my lawn looks perfect every day, in exchange for a specific fee. I don’t need to know the technical details of how it’s done. For me, this makes perfect sense—just as I pay for water or electricity without trying to manage those utilities myself.
Every morning, I want to enjoy a perfectly green and well-maintained lawn as I sip my coffee. While I appreciate the beauty of a pristine lawn, I have no desire to handle the maintenance myself. This includes tasks like selecting the right seeds, planting, fertilizing, watering, mowing, and managing the equipment. I don’t want to invest in tools or store them, and I certainly don’t want to worry about lawn care when I’m sick, on vacation, or traveling for work.
What I want is simple: a service provider who ensures my lawn looks perfect every day, in exchange for a specific fee. I don’t need to know the technical details of how it’s done. For me, this makes perfect sense—just as I pay for water or electricity without trying to manage those utilities myself.
The Four Dimensions of Service Management
Now let’s view the same example from the perspective of a service provider. Imagine I decide to turn my love of lawn care into a business. I’m now the service provider for “Green Lawn Services,” and I want to apply ITIL’s principles of service management to design and deliver this service effectively. ITIL identifies four dimensions of service management that I must consider:
Organizations and People
Information and Technology
Partners and Suppliers
Value Streams and Processes
Organizations and People
- First, I need to define the culture of my organization and the values my customers should experience—let’s call it a seamless experience. My customers should enjoy their lawns without being distracted by me working in front of their windows.
- Next, I must establish systems of authority and roles. For example, if I have business partners, we’ll need to agree on the division of duties: who manages inventory (seeds, soil, fertilizers), who maintains the lawnmowers, and who sharpens their blades?
- Once roles are defined, I need to identify the skills and competencies required to deliver high-quality services consistently.
Information and Technology
- This dimension includes the tools and systems needed to deliver and manage services, such as ITSM tools, knowledge bases, and records of customer agreements.
- Practically speaking, I need a system to track my clients, the services they’ve purchased, and the schedules for lawn care. As my business grows and I hire more employees, I’ll need to ensure we clearly understand who is doing what and when.
Partners and Suppliers
- Service delivery often relies on other organizations. For example, I’ll need reliable suppliers for soil, seeds, and lawnmower parts. If they miss deadlines, it could affect my schedule and the quality of my service.
- Selecting and managing suppliers is a critical part of this dimension. Building strong, reliable relationships with partners can become a competitive advantage and help ensure consistent, high-quality service.
Value Streams and Processes
- As my business grows, it will develop internal processes to keep operations running smoothly. I need to define standards for all activities, workflows, controls, and procedures to ensure success.
- This includes everything from scheduling lawn care visits to handling customer complaints efficiently.
The Service Mindset and Guiding Principles
ITIL emphasizes the importance of developing a service mindset based on its guiding principles. These principles provide practical guidance and should be considered collectively when making decisions. Let’s apply them to our lawn care example:
Focus on Value
The main value for my customers is enjoying a perfect lawn. Every decision I make should enhance that value. For instance, signing a long-term contract with a supplier might not seem directly related to the lawn’s appearance, but it ensures uninterrupted service and consistent quality.
Start Where You Are
If I realize I’m making mistakes in my service, I shouldn’t halt operations. Instead, I can implement small, immediate improvements during the next lawn care visit and assess the results. This way, I continue delivering value while iterating toward a better service.
Progress Iteratively with Feedback
These principles go hand in hand. For example, if I test a new lawn-cutting technique, I shouldn’t compromise the customer experience by delivering incomplete service. Customers expect their entire lawn to be perfect, not half-finished while I experiment.
Collaborate and Promote Visibility
Transparency is essential. If something goes wrong and I can’t deliver the service, I should communicate the issue to the client, explain the corrective actions being taken, and provide an estimated resolution time. This principle applies internally as well—fostering collaboration with employees and suppliers builds trust and long-term success.
Think and Work Holistically
Customers view my entire team as a single organization. They don’t care who is responsible for mowing, watering, or planting—if one aspect fails, the entire service fails. A holistic approach ensures all parts of the service work together seamlessly.
Keep It Simple and Practical
Use the fewest steps necessary to achieve the desired outcome. Eliminate processes that don’t contribute to value creation, and focus on practical, outcome-based solutions.
Optimize and Automate
Before automating processes, optimize them to remove inefficiencies. Then use technology to enhance service delivery, reserving human intervention for areas that truly add value.
Focus on Value
The main value for my customers is enjoying a perfect lawn. Every decision I make should enhance that value. For instance, signing a long-term contract with a supplier might not seem directly related to the lawn’s appearance, but it ensures uninterrupted service and consistent quality.
Start Where You Are
If I realize I’m making mistakes in my service, I shouldn’t halt operations. Instead, I can implement small, immediate improvements during the next lawn care visit and assess the results. This way, I continue delivering value while iterating toward a better service.
Progress Iteratively with Feedback
These principles go hand in hand. For example, if I test a new lawn-cutting technique, I shouldn’t compromise the customer experience by delivering incomplete service. Customers expect their entire lawn to be perfect, not half-finished while I experiment.
Collaborate and Promote Visibility
Transparency is essential. If something goes wrong and I can’t deliver the service, I should communicate the issue to the client, explain the corrective actions being taken, and provide an estimated resolution time. This principle applies internally as well—fostering collaboration with employees and suppliers builds trust and long-term success.
Think and Work Holistically
Customers view my entire team as a single organization. They don’t care who is responsible for mowing, watering, or planting—if one aspect fails, the entire service fails. A holistic approach ensures all parts of the service work together seamlessly.
Keep It Simple and Practical
Use the fewest steps necessary to achieve the desired outcome. Eliminate processes that don’t contribute to value creation, and focus on practical, outcome-based solutions.
Optimize and Automate
Before automating processes, optimize them to remove inefficiencies. Then use technology to enhance service delivery, reserving human intervention for areas that truly add value.
Conclusion
As we’ve seen, IT service management—and ITIL in particular—isn’t rocket science. When applied to real-life scenarios, it often feels like common sense.
My advice is to treat ITIL’s guidance as you would advice from a trusted friend: practical, grounded, and aimed at helping you succeed.
My advice is to treat ITIL’s guidance as you would advice from a trusted friend: practical, grounded, and aimed at helping you succeed.
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