VeriSM – A service management approach for the digital
age
Inhoud
VeriSM – A service management approach for the digital age...............................................................1
Preface............................................................................................................................................2
1 Introducing VeriSM......................................................................................................................2
Part 1 Services and Service Management...........................................................................................3
2 Organizatonal context.................................................................................................................3
3 Operatng in a world of digital transformaton............................................................................6
4 Service culture.............................................................................................................................7
5 People: roles, competences and teams.......................................................................................8
6 Common service provider challenges........................................................................................10
Part 2 The VeriSM Model..................................................................................................................14
7 The VeriSM Model.....................................................................................................................14
8 The VeriSM model: governance.................................................................................................15
9 The VeriSM model: Service Management Principles.................................................................15
10 The VeriSM model: Management Mesh..................................................................................16
11 The VeriSM model: Defne.......................................................................................................18
12 The VeriSM model: produce....................................................................................................19
13 The VeriSM model: Provide.....................................................................................................20
14 The VeriSM model: Respond....................................................................................................21
15 Adaptng the VeriSM Model....................................................................................................22
Part 3 Management practces and emerging technologies..............................................................23
16 Progressive management practces.........................................................................................23
17 Agile.........................................................................................................................................23
18 DevOps....................................................................................................................................25
19 Service integraton and management (SIAM)..........................................................................26
20 Lean.........................................................................................................................................27
21 Shif lef...................................................................................................................................28
22 Customer and User Experience................................................................................................30
23 Contnuous Deliver8.................................................................................................................32
24 Other practces and techniques...............................................................................................33
25 Emerging technologies and service management...................................................................34
26 Getng started.........................................................................................................................37
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,Preface
VeriSM is commissioned b8 the Internatonal Foundaton for Digital Competences (IFDC) and meant
as an open, communit8-based model. It is not a new model but combines and uses existng practces
as building blocks that can be used. VeriSM also tries to align service management with practces like
agile, lean and DevOps. Finall8, it strives to ofer an end-to-end view from an organizatonal level,
instead of having a focus on a single department.
1 Introducing VeriSM
The world is changing, and consumers consume more and more services, that are enabled b8, or onl8
possible because of advances in technolog8; thus, being digital services.
For these digital services to be successful, there must be a beneft for both the provider and
consumer, meaning that the value propositon must be understood b8 the consumer and the
provider of the service. But the needs of the consumer and the capabilites of the provider change
over tme, thus the service provider must able to adapt and maintain and on-going interacton with
the consumer to make sure that the service keeps providing value.
Nowada8s ever8 organizaton is a service provider, therefore organizatons need to adopt an overall
service management approach that delivers what their consumers need. Service management is the
management approach adopted b8 an organizaton to deliver value to consumers through qualit8
products and services. The VeriSM approach is based on the assumpton that service management
can no longer be confned to a single department like IT but is a responsibilit8 of the entre
organizaton.
VeriSM stands for:
Value-driven: focuses on providing value
Evolving: an up-to-date approach which will contnuall8 evolve
Responsive: facilitates a tailored approach depending on the business situaton
Integrated: helps 8ou ft all the diferent practces together
Service
Management
VeriSM helps organizatons to defne their service management principles and to evolve their
operatng model based on a selecton of management practces ofering fexibilit8 and
responsiveness.
What are the ke8 success factors of VeriSM? These are acceptng that:
Service management is part of ever8one’s role and an essental organizatonal capabilit8
Technolog8 has a huge impact on products and services (digital transformaton)
Emplo8ees of an organizaton are all in it together, cooperatng to create valuable services
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,Part 1 Services and Service Management
2 Organizational context
An organization is defned as an ofcial group of people, for example a politcal part8, a business, a
charit8 or a club. The8 can be divided into 5 categories:
Private sector, which are not owned b8 a government and aim to make proft
Public sector, providing government services
Voluntar8 sector, which serve the public interest or have a charitable cause
Non-proft organizaton, using the proft the8 generate to support its goals
Third sector, non-proft and non-government organizatons or associatons
A consumer is a person wh8 bu8s things or uses services. The focus of an organizaton should be on
meetng consumer needs. An asset is an8thing that is useful or valuable within a product or service.
Man8 organizatons diferentate between a customer (who pa8s for a service and provides
requirements) and a user (who received a service and has litle infuence over the requirements).
Client can refer to either a customer or a user. In this book consumer is used, referring to the
recipients of a service, which can include customers, users and clients.
A capability is the abilit8 or the qualites that are necessar8 to do something. Capabilites are made
up of people, knowledge, processes etc. Organizatons come to realize that digital transformatons
are not an ‘IT’ thing and need all organizatons capabilites.
An outcome is the result of a consumer interactng with a product or service. An outcome is more
than just the output, it refers to the consumer’s overall experience. A good service provider
understands the outcomes it needs to deliver, and the organizatonal capabilites needed to deliver
them. Therefore, it needs to understand its positon in its own environment and context:
Consumers: Where are m8 consumers? Which demographic groups do I target?
Competton: Who are m8 compettors? What is m8 compettve advantage over them?
Structure: Does m8 organizaton operate local or natonal?
Consumer culture: what behaviours afect the wa8 I have to operate m8 business?
Laws and regulatons: Do laws afect m8 organizaton? Do I have to compl8 to standards?
Challenges: What challenges is m8 organizaton facing? Does demand exceed capacit8?
Organizatons also deliver8 services to other departments. The traditonal mindset is to treat these
departments as customers then. However, this creates a distance between the department
delivering and receiving the service and usuall8 results in extra la8ers of bureaucrac8 to manage the
interactons between the departments. VeriSM supports a view where staf within an organizaton
sees other staf as their partners, to make sure ever8one is working together to deliver outcomes and
value to the consumers of the organizaton. This requires a culture of communicaton and
cooperaton.
Shadow behaviour describes s8stems, processes, solutons and decisions implemented and used
inside organizatons without explicit organizatonal approval or service deliver8 consideraton.
VeriSM promotes communicaton, collaboraton and a shared mindset of qualit8 service provisioning
between organizaton capabilites to overcome shadow behaviour.
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, Seven steps that can help build success when creatng sofware:
1. Build champions and evangelists
2. Communicate regularl8 and widel8
3. Confgure, don’t customize
4. Agree on success criteria and demonstrate progress
5. Implement efectve change control
6. Train locall8
7. Go live
Culture is the collecton of writen and unwriten rules, guidelines and practces that shape the
behaviours of the people in the organizaton. Culture becomes visible through behaviour: what
people do and what people sa8. Culture should be aligned with the t8pe or organizaton a service
provider wants to be. Man8 organizatons fail when tr8ing to change their culture, ofen b8 a lack of
leadership and the realizaton that evolutonar8 change is more efectve than revolutonar8 change.
Having a no-blame culture is helpful, especiall8 when organizatons want to become more agile. A
retrospective is a meetng held afer an iteraton where the team refects on what went well, what
didn’t and what can be done beter. The team also takes joint responsibilit8 for addressing problems.
An entrepreneurial culture is also important to be successful in the era of digital services. It means
that these organizatons welcome change and are learning organizatons. The8 have 5 traits:
Informaton fow, means that informaton fows freel8 and is shared with ever8one
Empowerment, means that decision making and accountabilit8 is transferred to emplo8ees
as much as possible
Inclusion means staf is involved in planning and decision making
Feedback is an on-going process and is mult directonal
Learning means contnuousl8 receiving feedback and making changes and improvements
A governance is a s8stem of directng and controlling. It represents the views of the owners and
provides a vision and translates that into policies. Management makes the decisions that implement
these policies and is bound b8 the directon defned b8 the governance. Therefore, governance
controls the organizaton b8:
Directng – creatng and deplo8ing strategies and policies to ensure objectves are met
Monitoring – ensuring that policies are followed
Evaluatng – looking at the current and future situaton and come up with improvements
T8pical governance practces and principles include:
Create and maintain the governance framework
Defne responsibilites
Ensure the value propositon
Optmize risks
Ensure conformance
Create stakeholder transparenc8
Ensure sustainabilit8 for the organizaton
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