Modern service management and ITIL 4

Previously, it was designed more for on-premise waterfall development, design and testing and was sufficient at that time, as were the best practices in IT service management (ITSM).

However, as technology and services have evolved, it’s become imperative that service management best practices do so too – hence the shift to modern service management.

But what do we mean by this? Where service management was historically focused on IT, it now has to permeate throughout an entire enterprise to all business functions and be more business centric. The principles of and value derived from service management are no longer limited to the IT organization.

Consequently, the movement to cloud/hybrid platforms and to Agile delivery/DevOps methods has required a framework such as ITIL to help enterprises evolve towards modern service management.

Looking at this from the perspective of India, I believe that regional boundaries have dissolved, and it’s become critical for companies to enter new markets and reconfigure their existing product portfolio to operate seamlessly in a VUCA world.

The sheer velocity of change has pushed the technology landscape to demand a more scalable and reliable model based on cloud. This enables organizations pursuing digital transformation to focus on transforming their business while embracing cloud services to deliver value more rapidly.

To manage these challenges, organizations need to develop their ITSM best practices which need new knowledge and skills.

Modern service management approaches are more applicable to how organizations today plan, deliver, operate and control applications and IT infrastructures, both on-premises and in a cloud environment.

ITIL 4, as a service management framework, has recognized the importance of cloud and the nuances of managing cloud services across a customer journey. So, its core Service Value System and 34 management practices provide a more flexible approach to managing services from an end-to-end business value perspective.

How does it do this?

There is an increased, external dimension to modern service management as reflected in ITIL 4: focused on how to co-create maximum customer value through service offerings. This means tailoring value streams, principles and governance mechanisms to what customers really want and how they define value.

In addition, modern service management practices are now more design-led and automated rather than operations-driven. ITIL 4 supports this move to greater automation and optimization of services.

Meanwhile, the strong collaboration between infrastructure and application development functions now needed in organizations comprises new product teams that have customer value in mind; and using best practices for a more coherent approach to value co-creation. Encouraging this integrated approach and breaking down previously-siloed functions is equally covered in ITIL 4.

In turn, whatever blind spots may exist in an organization’s traditional service management approach are addressed through adoption of ITIL 4’s seven guiding principles, while the framework’s four dimensions of service management is more holistic than process-heavy; ensuring digital services are well run, supported and delivered.

Where IT and ITSM were once driven by the need for stability in businesses, the concept of “keeping the lights on” is today more of a basic, hygiene factor.

Instead, because of the technology landscape and business transformation, there is a greater focus on innovation, agility and achieving optimal costs. This is a different orbit altogether for organizations.

Therefore, to keep pace through adopting digital technologies, organizations must embrace a more integrated approach to ITSM with a dedicated focus on value for the business and customer.

In the quest for enterprises to “up their game” and modernize how they deliver and manage services, ITIL 4 is the logical next step.