SS

Process mapping

Service monitoring

Managing user forums e.g. Joint Application Development, Conference Room Pilot

Best practice identification, capture and rollout

Business representatives

Primary service recipient on behalf of each business unit who define business requirement s, monitor service, raise service request s and own budget s

Knowledge of specific business functions

Requirement s gathering, definition and prioritization

Service monitoring

Managing user forums

Table 6.3 Sourcing roles and responsibilities

7 Strategy, tactics and operations

7.1 Implementation through the lifecycle

Strategic positions are converted into plans with goals and objective s for execution through the Service Lifecycle . The positions are driven by the need to serve specific customers and market space s and influenced by strategic perspectives as a service provider (Figure 7.1). Plan s are a means of achieving those positions. They include the Service Catalogue , Service Pipeline , Contract Portfolio , financial budgets, delivery schedules, and improvement programme s.

Figure 7.1 Strategic planning and control process21

Plan s ensure that each phase in the Service Lifecycle has the capabilities and resources necessary to reach strategic positions. The Service Lifecycle provides clarity and context for the development of the necessary capabilities and resources.

Plans translate the intent of strategy into action through Service Design , Service Transition , Service Operation and Service Improvement. Service Strategy provides input to each phase of the Service Lifecycle (Figure 7.2). Continual Service Improvement provides the feedback and learning mechanism by which the execution of strategy is controlled throughout the Lifecycle .

Figure 7.2 Strategy executed through the Service Lifecycle

7.1.1 Top-down

For any given market space, service strategy defines the portfolio of services to be offered and the customers to be supported (Figure 7.3). This in turn determines the Contract Portfolio that needs to be supported with design , transition and operation capabilities. Lifecycle capabilities are defined in terms of the system s, processes, knowledge, skills and experience required at each phase to effectively support the Contract Portfolios. Interactions between service management capabilities are clearly defined and managed for an integrated and systematic approach to service management. Service design and operation capabilities determine the type of transition capabilities required. They determine the portfolio of service designs and the operating range of the service provider in terms of models and capacities.

Figure 7.3 Service management capabilities driven by strategy

Transition capabilities determine the costs and risk s managed by a service provider . How quickly a service is transitioned from design to operations depends on the capabilities of the service transition phase. Transition capabilities reduce the costs and risks for customers and service providers throughout the lifecycle by maintaining visibility and control over all service management system s and processes. In this manner, transition capabilities not only act as filters but also as amplifiers that increase the effectiveness of design and operation . They interact with service design s to provide new and improved service model s. They interact with operation models and capacity to increase the operational effectiveness of plans and schedules. The net effect is the service level s delivered to customers in fulfilment of contract s.

Customers and service providers both face strategic risks from uncertainties. It is impossible to either control or predict all the factors in a business environment . The risks may translate into challenges or into opportunities depending on alignment between service management capabilities and the emergent needs of customers. Service Strategy requires Continual Service Improvement to drive feedback through the Lifecycle elements to ensure that challenges and opportunities are not mismanaged (Figure 7.4).

Figure 7.4 Feedback and learning driven by Continual Service Improvement

New strategic positions are adopted based on patterns that emerge from executing the Service Lifecycle. This bottom-up development of service strategy is combined with the traditional top-down approach to form a closed-loop planning and control system for service strategies (Figure 7.5). Such feedback and learning is a critical success factor for service management to drive changes and innovation.

Figure 7.5 Closed-loop planning and control system for strategy

7.2 Strategy and design

Service strategies are executed by delivering and supporting the Contract Portfolio in a given market space. Contract s specify the terms and conditions under which value is delivered to customer s through services. From an operational point of view this translates into specific levels of utility and warranty for every service. Since every service is mapped to one or more market space s, it follows that the design of a service is related to categories of customer asset s and the service models. These are the basic inputs for service design. For example, the design for managed storage services must have input into how customer assets such as business applications utilize the storage, how storage adds value to the applications, and what costs and risks the customer would like to avoid. The service model is managed services . Therefore the input to service design includes a service archetype in which the service provider takes responsibility for operating and maintaining the customer’s storage systems at specified levels of availability , capacity, continuity and security. Customer s provide input into the demand that needs to be supported and requirement s for technical support , and indicate their willingness to pay for the services. These represent high-level inputs for service design.

7.2.1 Service models

Service model s codify the service strategy for a market space. They are blueprints for service management processes and function s to communicate and collaborate on value creation. Service Models describe how service asset s interact with customer assets and create value for a given portfolio of contract s (Figure 7.6). Interaction means demand connects with the capacity to serve. Service agreement s specify the terms and conditions in which such interaction occurs with commitments and expectations on each side. The outcomes define the value to be created for the customer , which itself rests on the utility provided to customers and the warranty .