Why does IT Service Management matter?

ITSM is not an all-or-nothing proposition. In any IT provider organisation, some ITSM activity must be in place; conversely, no organisation can claim to have “complete” ITSM. There are always benefits to be gained from continual improvement of IT Service Management.

The benefits that can be obtained from improving ITSM include many that lead to greater end-user productivity:

• Reduced downtime
• Better understanding of IT services
• Better integration of IT services into business processes
• Reduced cycle time of business processes depending on IT

Other major benefits include:

• Improved business flexibility through prompter and more effective changes to IT services
• Lower cost of providing elements of the service
• Reduced cost of doing business, leading to greater profits or increased market share
• More effective allocation of IT resources
• More meaningful budgeting for IT and better control of actual costs
• Reduced business risk from loss of data or interruption of IT services
• Better communication and relationships between IT providers and IT clients