IT Service Management

IT Service Management (ITSM) is the implementation and management of IT services and processes that help align IT with broader organisational goals to deliver services for the end user.

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What is IT Service Management?

IT Service Management (ITSM) deals with how to define and deliver guidance and support for businesses through their IT infrastructure. The service concept views IT from an end-user perspective (i.e. IT service is what the customer or consumer receives). The IT service itself can be made up of hardware, software and communication facilities, but is generally perceived by the customer/consumer as a self-contained, coherent entity.

Although IT Service Management is based largely around ITIL, there is more to it than that; it also incorporates the international standard for IT Service Management, ISO 20000.

To achieve business benefits from IT at an agreed and controlled cost, it is essential to adopt good IT service management (ITSM). This often means the difference between ROI on your IT investment and your projects going over budget or even failing.

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IT Service Management Resources

IT Governance EU has a comprehensive range of books and distance learning resources to help aid you in your journey through IT Service Management.

• Ten Steps to ITSM Success provides guidance on implementing ITSM best practices in an organisation based on the authors’ real-world experiences.
• Practical IT Service Management: A Concise Guide for Busy Executives is a clear and concise guide to implementing IT service management using ITIL.
• A Guide to the Universal Service Management Body of Knowledge (USMBOK) provides a comprehensive guide to the body of knowledge for service management organisations.

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Making IT Service Management Implementation Easier

The ITSM, ITIL^® & ISO/IEC 20000 Implementation Toolkit contains pre-written documentation to aid you implement fit-for-purpose policies, procedures, templates and guidelines. This toolkit uses ITIL 2011 and ISO 20000:2011 best practices to make ITSM implementation less time-consuming and costly. 

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IT Service Management and Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is the cornerstone of an effective IT Service Management environment. It is fundamentally dependent on gathering and using meaningful measurements.

We recommend the following books to help you tackle these metrics:

• The Definitive Guide to IT Service Metrics provides details of the attributes of each metric, enabling you to make the right choices for your business.
• Integrated Measurement – KPIs and metrics for ITSM, a narrative account explains, at an operational level, how to implement new processes within an organisation, and how to facilitate the necessary changes to people’s behaviour to make that implementation a success.

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IT Service Management and ISO 20000

Companies of any size need effective ITSM. ITSM needs to be reliable, cost effective, consistent and efficient. This can be achieved with ISO 20000, the international service management standard against which organisations can be certified. For more information about ISO 20000 we recommend:

• ISO 20000 (ISO 20000) IT Service Management (Both Main Parts), which contains the main parts of the standard, and useful guides to planning, implementing and managing an ISO 20000 SMS.
• ISO/IEC 20000: An Introduction provides a useful introductory text to the standard.
• Implementing Service Quality based on ISO/IEC 20000: A Management Guide will guide you through ISO/IEC 20000 implementation and certification.
• ITSM, ITIL^® & ISO/IEC 20000 Implementation Toolkit makes IT Service Management and ISO 20000 easier to implement and improve.

Click here for more ISO 20000 resources >>

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