ITIL Service (Version 5) – a mindset shift in product and service management
Krzysztof Bona – BizDevOps Manager, Bayer
In my organization, the new role of BizDevOps Manager acts as a connector or glue that ensures all practices supporting the product and service lifecycle are applied.
With responsibility across internal and external business stakeholders, development and operations, this means observing where we are now, whether we are delivering outcomes, what the pain points are, and when I need to step in.
That's why ITIL, particularly the ITIL Service (Version 5) module, with its holistic service management approach, remains relevant to my role.
Beta testing the ITIL Service module
As a beta tester for this latest, advanced module, I found the content completely digestible, with each topic making total sense and easily reflecting how my organization works and where it’s heading at a time of change.
As I would expect from ITIL, everything is holistic across the entire module. And I see ITIL Service as a natural evolution of ITIL 4.
Real-life application of concepts
The concepts I’ve now learned in ITIL Service closely align with how my organization runs today and has given me an additional advantage: understanding what the future will look like.
In my new role as BizDevOps Manager, I’ve joined our platform teams, which manage more than 1,000 digital applications. Therefore, ITIL Service approaches are very valuable to help platform teams think from a service management standpoint.
Also, since the organization has become more product-focused over the past two years, I had a “lightning bolt moment”, recognizing the close relationship between products and services and how they can be managed in parallel.
The focus on the end-to-end lifecycle of products and services, as outlined in ITIL Service, requires a proper understanding of the client and co-creating value with them. Take, for example, the 'acquire' stage of the lifecycle: this differs from one application to another, with some licenses bought by the business and others paid for by specific teams.
The mindset shift in ITIL Service is about service managers taking responsibility for developing and managing the applications, acknowledging the need for their involvement and accountability from end to end to ensure the service matches the service level agreement.
As a result, customer experience changes. Being closer to customers and co-creating value with them rather than for them leads to better products and services.
Practical approaches
The guidance contained within the ITIL Service module is immediately applicable in a product and service environment.
It helps ensure you define proper expectations together with the customer: service design, acquisitions, ensuring quality of delivery, and knowing what a service will look like. For example, in the case of my organization’s customers in the farming industry, we can build a service relevant to their environment, which reflects the experience they expect. And, following service delivery, it’s about measuring satisfaction and how to improve continually.
In addition, the guidance allows management of a commodity service by loosening service level agreements and liberating teams to focus on other work.
And with the knowledge of value stream management available in ITIL Service, it’s possible to see where to apply and how to track the implementation of AI tools. This works across any application or system within the company.
ITIL Service – a deeper dive and another level of professionalism
With every update to the ITIL framework, the ITIL Foundation certification enables practitioners to better understand the language and the basic concepts.
Advanced modules like ITIL Service enable you to reach another level of professionalism by taking a deep dive into the concepts, what they can do for you and your organization, and how.
At this level, you become even more inspired to apply the concepts and change existing approaches in your organization.
By combining this advanced knowledge with your organizational background and insights, you’re able to critically assess what will work and what you’d like to try out, and find creative solutions in a way that AI can’t replicate.