The official definition of a Service is “a means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs or risks”.
Example:
While I do enjoy cooking, there are often
times when I wish to enjoy quality food without the time and effort required
to prepare a meal. If I was to cook, I would need to go to a grocery store, buy
the ingredients, take these ingredients home, prepare and cook the meat, set
the table, and of course clean up the kitchen afterward. The alternative, of
course, can go to a restaurant that delivers a service that provides me with the same outcome (a nice meal)
without the time, effort, and general fuss if I was to cook it myself.
Now consider how I would identify the quality
and value of that service being provided. It isn’t just the quality of the food
itself that will influence my perceptions but also:
·
The cleanliness of the restaurant.
·
The friendliness and customer service skills
of the waiters and other staff.
·
The ambiance of the restaurant (lighting,
music, decorations, etc.).
·
The time is taken to receive my meal (and was it
what I asked for?).
·
Did they offer water as well as normal drinks
and beverages?
If just one of these factors doesn’t meet my
expectations then ultimately the perceived quality and value being delivered to
me as a customer are negatively impacted. Now relate this to our role in
providing an IT Service. If we as IT staff focus on the application or hardware
elements being provided and forget or ignore the importance of the surrounding
elements that make up the end-to-end service, just like in the example of the
restaurant, the customer experience, and perceived quality and value will be
negatively impacted.
But if we take a Service-oriented
perspective, we also ensure that:
• Communication with customers and end-users is effectively maintained.
• Appropriate resolution times are maintained for end-user and customer
inquiries.
• Transparency and visibility of the IT organization and where money is
being spent are maintained.
• The IT organization works proactively to identify potential problems
that should be rectified or
• improvement actions that could be made.
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