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

Summary

In this chapter, you saw some key definitions for service management, including value, a service, process, and others. There were descriptions of what a management system was and that service management is about managing services, no matter the level of formality, it is in play at all times, and it is all around us in many different scenarios. We also reviewed the various management systems where best practices and guidance can be leveraged to gain knowledge and understanding about how to apply them to your specific needs. There was also a discussion about the common elements of the various service management systems that can be leveraged and adapted to your specific needs and culture. Another area of discussion was how business and IT continue to converge, one relying on the other for overall success. This chapter wrapped up with a review of some key accelerators that can be applied to improve the speed with which you implement service management capabilities.

In the coming...