IT service management

Information technology service management (ITSM) is the set of activities performed by an organization to design, build, deliver, operate, and control IT services offered to customers.

Unlike more technology-oriented IT management approaches like network management and IT systems management, IT service management is characterized by a process approach toward management, focusing on customer needs and IT services for customers rather than IT systems, and stressing continual improvement. The CIO WaterCooler's 2017 ITSM report states that business uses ITSM "mostly in support of customer experience (35%) and service quality (48%)."

Process

Organizational ITSM process execution, especially for workflows, can benefit significantly from being supported with specialized software tools.

Service desk

A service desk is a primary IT function within the discipline of IT service management (ITSM) as defined by ITIL. It is intended to provide a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) to meet the communication needs of both users and IT staff, and to satisfy both customer and IT provider objectives. User refers to the actual user of the service, while customer refers to the entity that is paying for the service. ITSM tools are frequently applied to other aspects of business; this practice is often called enterprise service management (ESM). A key initiative in ITSM is the automation of routine tasks, enabling personnel to focus on higher-priority responsibilities; this is known as IT process automation.

The ITIL approach considers the service desk to be the central point of contact between service providers and users/customers on a day-to-day basis. It is also a focal point for reporting incidents (disruptions or potential disruptions in service availability or quality) and for submitting service requests (routine requests for services).

ITIL regards a call center or help desk as similar kinds of tech support which provide only a portion of what a service desk can offer. A service desk has a broader and user-centered approach which is designed to provide the user with an informed single point of contact for all IT activities. A service desk facilitates the integration of business processes into the service management infrastructure. In addition to actively monitoring and owning incidents and user questions, and providing the communications channel for other service management disciplines with the user community, a service desk also provides an interface for other activities such as customer change requests, third parties (e.g. maintenance contracts), and software licensing. Computer emergency response teams (CERT) are specifically dedicated to computer security incidents.

Frameworks

Relationships between ITSM frameworks and other management standards

ITSM is similar to other IT and general management approaches, especially 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.

Various frameworks for ITSM and overlapping disciplines include:

Professional organizations

There are international, chapter-based professional associations, such as the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF), and HDI. These organizations' main goal is to foster the exchange of experiences and ideas between ITSM users. To this end, national and local itSMF and HDI chapters (LIGs or local interest groups for itSMF) organize conferences and workshops. Some of them also contribute to the translation of ITSM framework documents into their respective languages or publish their own ITSM guides. There are several service management certifications that include, but are not limited to, ITILv4, TOGAF or COBIT.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "FitSM Part 0: Overview and vocabulary". Itemo. 24 August 2016. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  2. 1 2 Brenner, Michael; Garschhammer, Markus; Hegering, Heinz-Gerd (15 August 2006). "When Infrastructure Management Just Won't Do - The Trend Towards Organizational IT Service Management". In Eva-Maria Kern; Heinz-Gerd Hegering; Bernd Brügge (eds.). Managing Development and Application of Digital Technologies: Research Insights in the Munich Center for Digital Technology & Management. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 131–146. ISBN 978-3-540-34129-1.
  3. ↑ "The IT Service Management Survey 2017". Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  4. ↑ "Brenner, M. Classifying ITIL Processes - A Taxonomy under Tool Support Aspects" (PDF). IEEE. 2006..
  5. ↑ ITIL Service Design (2011), p. 22.
  6. ↑ "Enterprise Service Management". Gartner. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  7. 1 2 ITIL Service Design. The Stationery Office. 2011. ISBN 9780113313051. ITIL Service Operation. The Stationery Office. 2011. ISBN 978-0113313075.
  8. ↑ "FitSM Foundation slides handout". Itemo.org. 1 May 2015. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "(crowdsourced list of) Alternatives to ITIL". list.ly, Jan van Bon. 3 February 2016. Archived from the original on 27 December 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  10. ↑ "FitSM". Itemo. Archived from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  11. ↑ "USM Wiki". SURVUZfoundation. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  12. ↑ "USM en het Dienstverleningsconcept". NORA. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  13. ↑ "Microsoft Operations Framework". Microsoft.com. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  14. ↑ "itSMF International".
  15. ↑ Shiff, Laura. "Popular IT Service Management (ITSM) Frameworks". BMC Blogs. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.