Information technology service management also known as IT service management is the management activities that are done by an enterprise to design, develop, deploy, operate and manage information technology services provided to clients. IT service management also involves the identification, measurement, assessment and correction of risks. This process is done through the identification and evaluation of the risks, the selection of solutions to protect them and the provisioning of controls to ensure these risks are not made worse. IT service management is required in all organizations today. Today, the demands for reliable IT services are increasing and this has lead to the popularity of IT service management.
Practices
IT service management includes four key practices that are designed to improve IT lifecycle. These practices include identifying, measuring, improving and controlling. All the processes involved in it deal with these four important aspects in information technology. The following are some of the other practices that are commonly associated with it.
Identification of the risks is a key aspect of IT service management. The identification of the risks enables providers to proactively handle and solve the issues that come up in an unpredictable manner. The best practice framework for IT service providers identifies five important areas.
This area addresses the process of identifying the right customer. Different IT environments have different needs and requirements. The service managers therefore consider the technical, cultural, geographical, regulatory and other factors when deciding on the right customers for an organization. The frameworks for IT service management deal with the problems that come with choosing the right customers. The service manager must therefore carefully choose the customers on which he bases his strategies and must make sure that he implements the strategies consistently.
This is the first area in IT service management that deals with processes. The framework for processes focuses on identifying the entire business processes that go on throughout the life cycle of a product or a service. IT service management frameworks for processes identify four key processes that include application development, systems, network and software lifecycle. They also identify the system’s life cycle and identify the risk factors that affect these processes. This framework for processes helps providers reduce cost and schedule the processes in a way that ensures minimal disruptions to business activities.
This is the second area in IT service management that focuses on improving processes and improving service quality through the use of best practices. It includes guidelines, recommendations, and test methods that form the basis for testing software applications. IT service providers use the guidelines, tests and methods recommended by this framework for improving the quality of their services.