Preface
‘In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.’ Miyamoto Musashi
This is the first book in the series of five ITIL core publications containing advice and guidance around the activities and processes associated with the five stages of the service lifecycle. The primary purpose of the service strategy stage of the service lifecycle is to set and manage the correct overall strategy for IT, based upon the organization’s overall business strategy, so that appropriate IT services can be provided to meet the current and future needs of the business. Therefore strategic thinking must be applied to service management and service management must itself be regarded as a strategic asset of an IT organization.
Service strategy agrees and defines the service portfolio and any new additions to it, and provides the input to service design so that the appropriate IT services can be designed and delivered to meet required business outcomes. Establishing a viable strategy is the first step but it is also essential to successfully communicate, market and sell that strategy to all customers, internal staff and suppliers to ensure that the design, transition and operation of IT services consistently meet required business outcomes. This involves close collaboration with continual service improvement to set up the appropriate monitoring, measurement, analysis, reporting and implementation of corrective actions. In this way the IT services being provided; the processes, tools and suppliers that deliver and operate them; and the overall strategy itself will remain fit for purpose (or will be updated as required).
Strategy requires academic thinking, but should not remain as an academic exercise – it must be applied to the real business world in order to influence and drive successful business outcomes. ITIL Service Strategy provides practical guidance on how service strategy should be formulated and applied to provide business value.
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