“I’m a Service Management Consultant”
When I am introduced to someone new and tell them my job title – IT Service Management Consultant – people often nod sagely and then wait for me to explain more. Clearly this is a job title that means little to most people outside the relatively small world of Information Technology service provision. Even without including ‘IT’ it appears that the concept of Service Management is not commonly known.
I used to find this quite surprising but after asking a number of people about their understanding of service businesses I have come to realise it is really just the term that is not familiar. Most people are able to recognises services and can see that they need to be managed after the concept is explained to them.
So what is a Service and why should it need to be managed?
At its simplest a Service is just the action of helping, or doing work for, someone else. The IT Service Management Standard ITIL© defines a Service as ” a means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks.”
Although Service Management is commonly spoken about in terms of Information Technology, in fact in can be applied to any business type.
When we carry out a task for someone else that gives them something they want or provides them with value, then that means that we are providing them with a Service. When somebody wants to obtain the benefits of a particular activity but does not want to undertake the work themselves then they will look for someone to do this for them as a Service.
Service Management is about building the organisational capability to provide Services to customers with the goal of delivering these Services in an efficient and effective manner by ensuring that the right processes, people and technology are put in place. The capabilities can be developed by having strategic approach to designing, delivering, managing and improving the way the Services are provided.
My new project
Look out for my new site that I will be launching soon – SoloITSM – where I will be writing and providing resources on the subject of Service Management. My aim is to bring the practices of service management, traditionally followed by large companies, to solopreneurs, podcasters, small businesses and start-ups.
