Dimensions Of Service Management: Understanding The Pathway For Customers

Adeniyi Salau

2 years ago

In my previous article, I have looked at all that we need to know about Utility and Warranty in ITIL 4. In this article, I want to look at the four major dimensions of service management. Follow me as we will look at it together in this article.

Now the dimensions …

#1 Organisations and people

This covers organisations and people that are part of service management. The organisation covers structure and system of authority.

They are not by themselves, sufficient to improve organisational effectiveness. The organisation needs to come up with a culture that supports its objectives.

Talking about people in the organisation, we need to consider the following :

Management and leadership styles
Updating skills and competencies
Communication and collaboration
Broad knowledge plus deep specialization
Facilitating value creation
Breaking down silos ( A situation where a team member prefer to work alone).

For many services, information management is one of the primary sources of enabling value creation for customers.

In enabling information management, there are certain conditions for good information management. They include:

Availability
Reliability
Accessibility
Timeliness
Accuracy
Relevance

The challenges of information management such as security and regulatory compliance requirements are also featured when it comes to service management.

Also, organisational culture and the nature of the business environment will also have an impact on which technology to choose from.

#2 Information and technology

Information and technology have become part of service management. Gone are the days that you have to wait for customers to come to you. Besides, nowadays you need data from customers in order to serve them better.

Some of the major components of information and technology include :

Technology supporting service management

Workflow management
Knowledge bases
Communication systems
Analytical tools
Inventory systems
Remote collaboration
Mobile platforms
Artificial intelligence
Cloud solutions
Machine learning

We also have the second part of, which is Technology Supporting IT services:

IT architecture
Applications
Database
Communication systems
Blockchain
Artificial Intelligence
Cognitive computing
Cloud computing
Mobile applications.

#3 Partners and Suppliers

This is used to handle:

Service provider and service consumer relationship.
Organisational partner and supplier strategy
Factors that influence supplier strategy
Service integration and management.

We also have service partnerships that helped on guiding how common goals and risks are being shared between service providers and their partners.

We also have goods and services supply which covers how formal contracts are established as well as show clear separation of functions and responsibilities will be maintained.

Please note that every organisation depends on some sort of services provided by an organisation. We now have the introduction of service integration and management.

This involved the use of a specially established integrator to ensure that service relationships are properly integrated. This service integrated can be committed to a separate department in the organisation or a department in the Organisation.

An Organisation’s strategy when it comes to the use of a partner in its service integration should be based on its goal, culture and business environment.

#4 Value Stream and Processes

Value Stream and Processes define the activities, workflow and control and procedures needed to achieve project objectives.

It includes the activities the organisation undertakes, how activities are undertaken, as well as how value creation is undertaken efficiently and effectively.

A value stream is series of steps and activities an organisation undertakes to create and deliver products and services to consumers. It combines the organisation value chain activities.

Value Stream optimization might include process automation or adoption of emerging technologies and ways of work to gain efficiencies or enhance user experience.

A process is a set of interrelated or interacting activities that transforms inputs to outputs. Processes are designed to achieve specific objectives.

Value streams and processes for products and services answer three questions

What is the generic delivery model for the product and services? How does the service work?
What are the value streams involved in the delivery of the outputs of the service?
Who or what performs the required service actions?

Action Point

PS: I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you could drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

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