By Macehiter Ward-Dutton Advisors

In the context of IT-business alignment, IT service management needs to focus on ensuring the correct services are provided by IT, in an appropriate manner to meet changing business requirements. To do so, IT service management should enable and support an ongoing dialogue between IT and the business, starting from the inception of a service, through deployment to its operation. This report is the first in a set of two, which explains how organizations can frame their thinking about their requirements for IT service management. (The second report, "Assessing IT Service Management," explains the criteria behind assessments of vendors' offerings in this area.)

1. IT service management needs visibility across the service lifecycle.
   IT exists to provide services to the business, and therefore IT service management needs a full understanding of such services, from their inception through development to deployment and operations. While this is a far broader remit than traditional IT management, this does not mean IT service management needs to be in charge across the service lifecycle; just that it needs a full understanding of what is going on.
   
   
2. IT service management architecture needs to reflect the dialogue between IT and the business.
   IT service management can’t happen in a vacuum: to deliver business value it has to take business priorities and other business-oriented criteria into account. To do so, IT service management tools need to enable, and be responsive to a proactive dialogue between IT and the business. This involves not only integrating service management information and processes with other IT architecture and governance information and management processes; it also involves a formalized approach to service definition and monitoring based on business-meaningful service contracts and policies (see Figure 1).

3. Organizations need to grow into IT service management.
   IT service management is nothing new; rather, it’s an evaluation, rationalization and augmentation of what already exists for IT management, within a broader architectural framework. To enable an actionable approach that takes into account their current capability, organizations should consider themselves in terms of maturity, and scope any IT service management initiatives accordingly.
    
4. Technology deployments for IT service management need to involve a best of breed approach that offers sustainability.
   No vendor can currently provide a comprehensive toolset for IT service management. Therefore, an effective IT service management solution will depend on combinations of best-of-breed technologies from multiple vendors, making optimal use of prior technology acquisitions and updating with appropriate additional tools. By considering IT service management architecturally, organizations can provide a sustainable foundation for IT management.