A post by our guest editor, John Worthington.
Understanding the history of service management can help us understand why misunderstandings persist. A unified approach is critically needed, since in today’s world service management is everyone's business across the enterprise.
As we navigate the complexities of the modern enterprise, it becomes evident that a comprehensive understanding of service management's history is long overdue. Misunderstandings and misapplications of management systems have become commonplace, necessitating a unified approach to service management.
In this blog post, I’ll dip into the historical roots, current challenges, and the critical need for a cohesive strategy that recognizes service management as everyone's business across all facets of the enterprise.
Where Are We Now (and how did we get here?)
Service management, in its various forms, has existed for centuries, adapting to the changing needs of societies and economies. From the guilds of medieval Europe to the industrial revolution's focus on production efficiency, the concept of managing services has evolved significantly.
There’s little doubt that we’re in a service-oriented world today. Today’s economy is dominated by services and they’re really the fundamental basis for value exchange. So, managing services is critical for success.
But before we chart a path forward, sometimes it’s good to look back at where we’ve been. It reminds us of the mistakes we’ve made and re-enforces the things that worked well.
The 1980’s were largely an era of goods-dominant logic, where value was based on the exchange of goods; ’service’ was after the sale. This was the mainframe computing days.
We really wouldn’t see service-dominant logic for 2 more decades.
In 1984 Richard Normann wrote a business book on service management that emphasized a streamlined service management system and culture as a management instrument. The 1990’s ushered in client-server computing. The first version of ITIL was published in 1989 and had over 40 books, and by 1996 the second version of ITIL was released and had 12 processes.
The 1990’s ushered in an era of process reengineering and corporate downsizing. It also was when we adopted TQM or total quality management, a follow-up to six sigma. We had flow charts and control charts everywhere and would eventually create Business Process Model Notation early in the next decade.
By the turn of the century we were well on our way to a services orientation; you’d see books like the Customer Expectation Management method and Jobs to be Done Theory; and the agile manifesto was created in 2001.
But the ITIL service management guidance was still heavily IT and process oriented. In fact, the ITIL books increased the number of processes ultimately to 34 (which we corrected to Practice Areas).
By the next decade rapid advances in technology and emerging practices such as DevOps significantly impacted service management, resulting in an explosion of complexity, and more practice frameworks emerged.
Digital Disruption
A few things are clear. First, at this point we are all service providers. The shift from good-dominant logic to service-dominant logic is largely complete. In fact, the focus on customer experience suggests we’re concentrating on experience-dominant logic (regardless of whether we’ve been successful at goods-dominant or service-dominant thinking).
Second, change continues at an ever-increasing pace. Emerging technical developments such as AI and RPA will accelerate things even faster. This is why we hear about things like high velocity IT. Our management system must adapt to a VUCA world.
And third, there’s an explosion of both knowledge and complexity. New practices and practice frameworks are emerging as experimentation accelerates, new technologies are being developed faster than ever, and traditional organizational structures are changing with new concepts such as radical enterprises.
The world is now VUCA – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. At the same time, the enterprise seeks full control over their end-to-end services.
This digital transformation has brought about a paradigm shift, with technology playing a pivotal role in reshaping service delivery models. Unfortunately, the historical context of service management often gets overlooked, leading to a fragmented understanding of its principles and practices.
The Problem
A persistent challenge facing service management today is the prevalence of misconceptions and misapplications of management systems. Organizations often view service management as a siloed responsibility, confining it to specific departments or teams. This narrow perspective can hinder the holistic integration of service management into the entire enterprise.
Misconceptions about the scope and purpose of service management also contribute to the fragmented implementation of various frameworks and methodologies. Whether it be ITIL, Agile, or DevOps, these approaches are frequently misunderstood and misapplied, resulting in suboptimal outcomes.
The pervasive attachment to ITIL and IT-centric perspectives often contributes to the problem, reinforcing silos and hindering the broader, collaborative vision required for effective service management across the enterprise.
A Unified Approach is Needed
In the face of these challenges, a unified approach to service management emerges as the need of the hour. It is essential to recognize that service management is no longer the exclusive domain of IT departments. Instead, it has become a collaborative effort that permeates all aspects of the enterprise.
A unified approach entails breaking down traditional silos and fostering cross-functional collaboration. It involves aligning business objectives with service delivery goals and integrating management systems seamlessly across departments. This approach acknowledges that service management is not confined to a specific framework but rather a set of principles that can be tailored to suit the unique needs of each organization.
Service Management is Everyone’s Business
In the modern enterprise, service management is undeniably everyone's business. From customer support to human resources, finance, and beyond, every department contributes to the overall service delivery ecosystem. Recognizing this interconnectedness is crucial for building a resilient and responsive service management system.
When every employee understands their role in service delivery, a culture of continuous improvement can flourish. This collective responsibility fosters innovation, agility, and adaptability – essential attributes for thriving in today's fast-paced business environment.
Now is the time to re-think service management. Embracing service management as everyone's business is not just a strategic imperative; it is the key to unlocking the full potential of an organization in the 21st century.
This evolution transcends IT, demanding a comprehensive approach that embraces the interconnected roles of every department, as service management becomes a collective responsibility shaping the success of the entire enterprise.
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