IT service management (ITSM)

IT service management (ITSM) 

IT service management (ITSM) refers to the entirety of activities – directed by policies, organized and structured in processes and supporting procedures – that are performed by an organization or part of an organization to plan, deliver, operate and control IT services offered to customers. It is thus concerned with the implementation of quality IT services that meet the needs of customers, and is performed by the IT service provider through an appropriate mix of people, process and information technology.

Differing from more technology-oriented IT management approaches like network management and IT systems management, IT service management is characterized by

1.    adopting a process approach towards management
2.    focusing on customer needs and IT services for customers rather than IT systems
3.    stressing continual improvement

There is an international, chapter-based professional association, the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF). The main goal of the itSMF is to foster the exchange of experiences and ideas between users of ITSM frameworks. To this end, national itSMF chapters organize conferences and workshops. Some of them also contribute to the translations of ITSM framework documents into their respective languages or publish own ITSM guides.

IT service management (ITSM)