The real value of IT Service Management

IT Service Management (ITSM) has become increasingly relevant in recent years. There is an extensive list of materials and content that deal with the subject.

Guidelines such as ISO/IEC 20000 (a standard that addresses the mandatory requirements that an IT service provider must comply with), ITIL best practices, and frameworks such as the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) are implemented in organizations with the aim of delivering value to their customers.

However, the real value of implementing IT Service Management is not always fully understood or perceived. So why is it so important nowadays?

Why do we need IT Service Management?

To understand the value of IT Service Management, we need to take a step back and see why we need it.

Firstly, services have existed forever. Thus, it is possible to say that there are hundreds of them, and all of them somehow impact people’s daily lives.

Regarding IT services, we are referring to a type that has gained a fundamental role with digital transformation. That is why ITSM impacts almost all types of services, even those that do not have technology as the central factor of their business.

So, ITSM and its principles are applied in other services beyond IT. The reason is simple: almost all current services have some IT component, whether it is a payment method or a website.

In this sense, thinking about ITSM is thinking about service management in general, as it is involved in various sectors.

IT Service Management improves all parts involved in a business

So, we come to the main point of this discussion: what is the real value of service management?

Its value lies in its ability to allow a provisioning structure that adapts to any organization’s culture.

For people who work in this structure, ITSM makes them aware of the level of flexibility and autonomy that is necessary to make decisions independently.

In the case of customers, they will be aware that they can expect a solid and concrete value from the services they acquire. Something that is essential since a service is the means that an organization delivers value to the customer, facilitating the results the customer wants to achieve.

ITSM allows a complete focus on the customer, and the service aims to satisfy and meet the needs with the service offering.

Finally, we can remember the top management, which will have an efficient structure that reduces costs and increases customer satisfaction.

IT Service Management in the real world

It becomes even easier to see the benefits of IT Service Management if we look at its application in the real world. In this sense, a very interesting case is found in “The Many Faces of ITSM-Driven Business Improvement,” an e-book by ManageEngine. This material listed some examples of service management applied in real life.

Duncan Watkins, Senior Consultant at Forrester Research, presented the case in question. Watkins cites the case where a train operation company decided to implement the Internet of Things (IoT) in the machines; the main objective was to reduce maintenance costs.

However, throughout the project, the company realized that the real metric of the service would not be the reduction of costs but customer satisfaction.

With service management, the company was able to perceive that predictive maintenance originated by IoT reduced train failures. Consequently, this increased passenger satisfaction, who received a better service.

In other words, with the implementation of the ITSM structure, it was possible to visualize this benefit. ITSM made the organization realize that, in addition to cost reduction, a quality service was being delivered.

IT Service Management is more than a trend

With all that has been said, it is clear that ITSM is more than a trend: it is a success factor for organizations nowadays.

So, answering the question from the first part of this article, we can say that IT Service Management is important because it provides a way for the company to see what is being delivered to the customer as a service, and how it can be improved. 

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