Service approach

## How the service approach is good for business

The service approach plays a key role in improving business operations in several ways. First and foremost, it facilitates effective communication and collaboration between IT and other business units by fostering a shared understanding of goals and priorities, fostering cross-functional teamwork, sharing knowledge and creating clear lines of communication. Fostering collaboration ensures quick resolution of incidents, smooth change management and better coordination between different business units.

Consistent and reliable IT service delivery leads to higher customer satisfaction and improved service quality, the company identifies and resolves problems more quickly, and downtime and outages are minimized.

The service model fosters a culture of continuous service improvement (CSI) in organizations. It involves regular performance evaluation, identifying opportunities for improvement and improving service quality. CSI enables companies to adapt to changing business needs, emerging technologies and evolving customer expectations.

The service approach also helps manage risk, control costs and optimize resource utilization, thereby contributing to overall business efficiency.

## The role of the service model in business processes

A service approach ensures that IT services are effectively designed, delivered, managed and improved. Effective governance helps align IT operations with business objectives and overall strategy, providing organizations with assurance that IT investments support business goals.

The IT as a Service methodology establishes standardized processes for managing service requests, incidents, changes, problems and other aspects of IT operations. As a result, the company improves service quality and reduces response and resolution times.

The service approach emphasizes proactive problem management, which involves identifying and addressing the root causes of incidents to prevent their recurrence. Implementing preventive measures, analyzing incident data and trends allows companies to minimize disruptions to business operations.

The service model incorporates service level management techniques to create and manage service level agreements. SLAs define expected service levels, response times and availability targets, providing transparency and accountability. The methodology helps monitor service performance against agreed levels.

By implementing a service-based approach to business processes, organizations can establish controls and policies to ensure compliance, mitigate risk and protect sensitive information. A systematic approach to managing IT assets, configurations and changes reduces the likelihood of unauthorized access or disruption.

## Industries in which it is profitable to use the service approach

The service approach is applicable in a variety of industries. A few examples:

- Banks and financial institutions are streamlining their IT processes and enhancing security measures to ensure regulatory compliance; - Healthcare organizations effectively manage critical patient data, ensure privacy compliance and improve quality of care; - retailers manage e-commerce platforms, supply chain systems and inventory to ensure a seamless customer experience; - educational institutions deliver reliable and efficient IT services to students, faculty and staff, ensuring seamless operations.

## The difference between the service approach and DevOps

The service approach shares commonalities with other IT management methodologies such as DevOps, but it also has distinctive characteristics. The service model focuses on managing the entire service lifecycle, including design, transition, operation and improvement, while DevOps focuses on specific areas of IT service management.

The IT management as a service methodology emphasizes service quality and customer satisfaction. DevOps aims to foster a culture of shared responsibility, rapid software delivery, feedback-driven improvement, continuous integration and deployment. DevOps aims to increase the speed, flexibility and innovation of software development and deployment processes.

While the service model emphasizes the stability and reliability of IT operations, DevOps emphasizes speed and flexibility. DevOps aims to optimize and automate software development, testing and deployment processes. The methodology promotes continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) and the use of automation tools to accelerate release cycles and respond quickly to changing business requirements.

## The difference between the service approach and ITIL

Two closely related terms in IT service management have their own distinctive characteristics. The service model provides a holistic approach to IT service management, including processes, people, technology and governance. IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) provides a specific framework in this area.

ITIL offers a set of best practices for IT service management focused on five main areas:

- service strategy; - service design; - transition to new services; - service operation; - continuous improvement of services.

The service approach is a high-level framework and management guide. The methodology offers a conceptual understanding of the key components and processes involved in effective service delivery.

ITIL is a concrete framework that provides detailed and prescriptive guidance for implementing IT service management. It offers a comprehensive set of processes, roles and actions that organizations can follow to create a structured and standardized approach to IT service delivery.

## Other methodologies close to the service model

Apart from ITSM, ITIL and DevOps, there are other methodologies and frameworks that are related to the principles of service approach.

COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies) is a system that provides guidance for IT governance and management. It aims to align IT activities with business objectives, ensure effective risk management and optimize resource utilization. COBIT covers various areas of IT, including strategic alignment, value creation, risk management, resource management and performance measurement.

ISO/IEC 20000 is an international standard for IT service management, which is a formal specification of IT service management processes. It defines the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving an IT service management system. ISO/IEC 20000 helps organizations meet industry best practices and provides a framework for continuous improvement of management processes.

Lean IT is an approach that applies Lean principles and practices to IT service management. It aims to optimize processes and improve the efficiency of IT operations. Lean IT aims to create value for customers by identifying and eliminating non-value-added activities and maximizing productivity. It fosters a culture of continuous improvement and emphasizes the importance of customer focus.

Agile ITSM combines the principles of Agile software development with ITSM practices. It emphasizes flexibility, adaptability, and collaboration in the delivery of IT services. Agile ITSM encourages iterative and incremental management approaches, enabling organizations to respond quickly to changing business needs.

## How a company can move to a service model

If your company has appreciated all the benefits of a service approach, then the following steps are necessary to transform your business:

1. Assessing current IT processes and identifying areas for improvement; 2. setting clear goals and defining the scope of implementation; 3. Developing a comprehensive strategy and roadmap; 4. development and documentation of work processes; 5. training and educating employees on the principles and practices of the service approach; 6. deployment of suitable tools and technologies; 7. continuous monitoring, measurement and improvement of processes.

## IT service management system

A company that has moved to a service model uses ITSM solutions. These tools offer functionality such as incident, change, problem, service catalog and service level management.

Among the popular systems are ServiceNow, Jira and HPSM. In 2022, many vendors left the Russian market, including the above companies. To support the work or transition to the service model of an organization, it is worth paying attention to Russian software developers.

[ITSM system SimpleOne ](</>)

\- solution from the register of Russian software of the Ministry of Digitalization. The platform developed in Russia helps automate the process of service delivery in the company's service divisions (IT, HR, ACS, legal department) in accordance with the best practices of service delivery.

The Russian platform is suitable for corporate and government customers, medium and large businesses. SimpleOne has already been successfully implemented by clients from different industries: retail, IT, logistics, financial sector, industry and public sector.

## Conclusion

A service-based approach to IT service management helps optimize IT processes, improve service quality, reduce downtime and increase overall operational efficiency. Regardless of the industry, adopting a service approach enables companies to leverage technology, remain competitive and meet customer expectations.