itSMFI 2016 Forum Focus - September Forum Focus ITSMFI Sept 2016 | Page 4

What is ITSM
SysAid
By Stephen Alexander
Getting to grips with IT service management (ITSM) can
be tricky, not just in terms of changing people’s mindsets
and ways of working, but also in getting to grips with
what ITSM is really all about. There’s a lot of information
out there, plus there are many terms and acronyms that
might not be as immediately understandable as they
could be. ITIL also defines service management as:
The cynical amongst you might also argue that what
ITSM is and isn’t will depend on who is trying to use it,
ranging from: a set of processes – such as incident
management and problem management (definitions to
follow below) – through to a fundamentally different way
of delivering IT, based on services and serving the
customers of those services. “A discipline for managing information technology (IT)
systems, philosophically centered on the customer's
perspective of IT's contribution to the business. ITSM
stands in deliberate contrast to technology-centered
approaches to IT management and business interaction.”
Original source: Wikipedia
“A set of specialized organizational capabilities for
providing value to customers in the form of services.”
A more customer-focused definition of ITSM was
previously listed on Wikipedia, but is now no longer
available:
ITSM has a number of definitions, available from a variety
of sources. Let’s start with the ITIL (the ITSM best
practice framework formerly known as the IT Infrastruc-
ture Library – more on this later) definition: A completely different definition – and this time of
“service management applied to IT” – is from The
Universal Service Management Body of Knowledge
(USMBOK) – a series of publications and references for
professionals working in service provider organizations
that supplements existing resources, such as ITIL, on
both strategic and operational levels:
“The implementation and management of quality IT
services that meet the needs of the business. IT service
management is performed by IT service providers through
an appropriate mix of people, process and information
technology. See also service management.”
Source: ITIL 2011 Glossary “Also termed service management thinking, service
management is a systematic method for managing the
offering, contracting and provisioning of services to
customers, at a known quality, cost and designed
experience. Service management ensures the desired
results and customer satisfaction levels are achieved cost
Defining ITSM
4 itSMFI Forum Focus—September 2016