How does agile service management work?

What is agile service management?

In order to be able to master the challenges mentioned, approaches for continuous improvement and streamlining combined with proven management methods are used. Here, Agile and Service Management approaches in their combination offer solid added value.

The term "agile service management" refers to a philosophy that uses resources carefully and according to plan, while at the same time increasing the quality of services and products and motivating employees through approaches such as self-controlling and team-oriented working methods. Core elements from DevOps and Scrum are incorporated into the design of central basic principles. The focus is on adding value to customer-related products and service processes through standardization and automation of internal processes with ever shorter requirement and implementation cycles. The aim is to achieve consistent service quality. Agile service management presents itself as a hybrid approach in which project work, development and operation are viewed integratively for the joint achievement of objectives. The goal is to incorporate fast-moving customer requirements, implement them, and operate them in the form of services.

Service Management only in IT?

The use of standards and best practice frameworks such as ITIL^®is part of the daily business for most service organizations. The empirical values with ITIL within service organizations speak for the fact that the ITIL Best Practice approach is now also increasingly interesting for service organizations of all kinds, because many of the building blocks and process elements can be viewed and used generically and as non-IT-specific. In addition, the fast-moving present and the associated challenges of digitalization as well as Industry 4.0 or IoT demand an expanded view. Thus, it becomes necessary to think about possibilities for dynamization and flexibilization in service management as well as in the interaction between customers and service organizations using established management methods and frameworks.

Based on existing experience with agile methods in the project management and software development environment, there are concrete approaches to integrating these into the corresponding organizational and method structures within the framework of agile service management.

How does agile service management work?

Service management has long been an integral part of many service organizations and is therefore no longer a fashionable topic as such. As part of the ongoing optimization and efficiency enhancement measures within service organizations, IT service management (ITSM) has become increasingly prevalent in companies and organizations in recent years. But what about agile service management? And how can standardization and automation contribute to a successful value chain?

Change in the service culture

Value-creating activities are ostensibly those that are also seen as such by the customer. They must involve a transformation of the product or a service, be free of defects and malfunctions, and provide a direct value contribution to the companies' core businesses. Thus, the customer defines the desired quality and the associated value creation from his perspective. This increases the need for standardization and automation.

Agile service management brings about a change in the service culture in service organizations and in direct interaction with customers. This can increase efficiency and productivity.

This is done by

• organizational approaches to employee self-direction are improved,
• agile working within heterogeneous teams and their cooperation promotes interdepartmental exchange
• "hierarchical silos" are broken down
• required service processes are continuously improved from the point of view of standardization
• agile processes deliver consistent quality of results through a high degree of automation and
• a central and continuous change process (change management) actively manages and qualitatively improves the increase in efficiency with the involvement of employees.

This requires the central role of the Agile Service Manager, who combines classic service management principles with the core elements of agile ways of working. Active, motivated, and enthusiastic employees and managers are committed to ensuring that three important principles guide all business actions: a high level of customer focus, process efficiency by avoiding waste, and team building.

This also means omitting unnecessary tasks and work steps, standardizing core processes, and optimizing their efficiency through automation in order to draw energy from them for increasing the company's success. In this way, Agile Service Management leads to a clear increase in value creation within the business processes in this dynamic world, which is characterized by short-term changes. A holistic approach to Continuous Design and Delivery contributes significantly to this.

Agile service management - what added value does standardization bring?

Agile services management means the implementation and provision of services under flexible and dynamic framework conditions. Supporting principles, methods and practices are used for this purpose. In agile service management, it must be ensured that the agile approaches and principles are applied in every process required for the development and control of the services - from the design of the processes to their implementation and continuous improvement. To do this, the service organization must improve its capabilities.

Standardization has several goals:

• Accelerate processes
• Streamline processes
• Improve process and service quality (risk minimization)
• Reduce efforts and costs for development and operation
• Increase customer satisfaction through target- and result-oriented service processes

In the context of agile service management, standardization finds its concretization in the direct application of agile core elements (from approaches such as DevOps and Scrum) and in anchoring with known service processes.

You will learn the knowledge and skills required for application in targeted training courses on the topics of DevOps, Scrum or Agile Service Manager.

Agile service management - what added value does automation bring?

Automation identifies and minimizes waste of resources. "Speed is the absence of waste," Mary Poppendieck once summarized. Acceleration is therefore achieved by avoiding the waste of resources. This is achieved through sensible automation.

Processes can be accelerated considerably in the context of agile service management with a focus on DevOps principles, among other things, through suitable automation. The possibilities for automation can include all activities within the development and operation cycle. For example, it is possible to significantly accelerate and standardize integration, test or deployment processes ("continuous delivery"). The automation of regular, recurring tasks is particularly suitable for implementing and testing customer requirements more quickly and making them available to the business.

Targeted tool selection thanks to SERVIEW Certifiedtool

In addition to the positive effects on speed and efficiency, automation also offers qualitative advantages, since manual activities always involve the potential risk of error influences. Suitable tools in the context of agile service management must therefore deliver high standardization and automation potential for service processes of modern service organizations. Within the framework of SERVIEW CERTIFIEDTOOL, tool manufacturers have the opportunity to have their software solution checked and certified with regard to established management and framework standards. The aspect of "Agile Service Management" is also of particular importance. In this way, interested parties can find reliable information on award-winning solutions with regard to required functions and possibilities of tool-supported automation. Ask us, we will be happy to support you!