Book Image

A Practical Guide to Service Management

By : Keith D. Sutherland, Lawrence J. "Butch" Sheets
4 (1)
Book Image

A Practical Guide to Service Management

4 (1)
By: Keith D. Sutherland, Lawrence J. "Butch" Sheets

Overview of this book

Many organizations struggle to find practical guidance that can help them to not only understand but also apply service management best practices. Packed with expert guidance and comprehensive coverage of the essential frameworks, methods, and techniques, this book will enable you to elevate your organization’s service management capability. You’ll start by exploring the fundamentals of service management and the role of a service provider. As you progress, you’ll get to grips with the different service management frameworks used by IT and enterprises. You'll use system thinking and design thinking approaches to learn to design, implement, and optimize services catering to diverse customer needs. This book will familiarize you with the essential process capabilities required for an efficient service management practice, followed by the elements key to its practical implementation, customized to the organization’s business needs in a sustainable and repeatable manner. You’ll also discover the critical success factors that will enhance your organization’s ability to successfully implement and sustain a service management practice. By the end of this handy guide, you’ll have a solid grasp of service management concepts, making this a valuable resource for on-the-job reference.
Table of Contents (28 chapters)
1
Part 1: The Importance of Service Management
6
Part 2: Essential Process Capabilities for Effective Service Management
18
Part 3: How to Apply a Pragmatic, Customized Service Management Capability
Appendix B: SLR Template

Examining rinse and repeat, or do it again and again...

Now that the service management program iteration is nearing its end of term, what happens next? You should begin planning for the next cycle of improvements.

It is key for any organization starting the formal service management journey to understand it is never over; it is a continual improvement path. As we come to the end of one cycle, we prepare for the next cycle by repeating the activities of continual improvement. Just as Rome was not built in a day, a formal service management capability does not happen in 1 or 2 years. In one instance, the journey continued for 10 years and was still ongoing beyond that. As you have seen in previous chapters, there are several practices in service management. It will take time and resources to gain competency in all these practices. Most organizations implementing a service management capability will be able to do 3-4 practices in a 6-12-month time frame. With that in mind, a long...