Information Technology Service Standard (ITSS) defines the core elements of IT services consist of personnel, processes, technologies and resources. And standardize the components of these IT services, as shown in the figure below.
In addition, in terms of IT services, it is usually the case that personnel with matching knowledge, skills and experience use resources reasonably and provide IT services to customers through prescribed processes.
1. Personnel
Personnel refers to the general term for various types of talents that meet the requirements in the IT service life cycle . ITSS stipulates the knowledge, experience and skills requirements that all types of personnel who provide IT services should have, with the purpose of guiding IT service providers to "select people correctly" according to job responsibilities and management requirements.
Generally speaking, for typical IT services such as consulting design, integration implementation, operation and maintenance, and operations, the personnel required include project managers (for example, system integration project managers, IT service project managers), system analysts, architecture designers, system integration engineers, information security engineers, , system evaluation engineers, IT service engineers, service pricing engineers, account managers and daily IT service personnel, etc.
Challenges faced by personnel elements
For IT service personnel, due to the fact that a unified occupational classification and widely recognized knowledge, skills and experience requirements have not yet been formed, IT service providers face the following challenges:
1. It is difficult to evaluate personnel knowledge, skills and experience;
2. The quality of different personnel delivering the same IT service is inconsistent;
3. The talent turnover rate is high, and it is difficult to build a stable service team;
4. It is difficult to recruit talents and it is difficult to form a reasonable human resources pool.
Necessity for professional personnel
1. It helps to establish a talent team that is compatible with business development and ensure business continuity and stability;
2. It helps to improve and improve the talent training model and improve the quality of talent training;
3. It helps to optimize human resource management, improve management efficiency and reduce management costs.
2. Process
Process is a set of interrelated and structured activities that convert input into output by rationally utilizing necessary resources. It is a key element in improving management level and ensuring service quality.
ITSS stipulates the processes that should be established and the key performance indicators (KPIs) that each process should be realized based on various types of IT services such as consulting design, integrated implementation, operation and maintenance, to ensure that IT service providers can "do things correctly".
can effectively connect personnel, technology and resource elements by establishing a simple, efficient and coordinated process in accordance with ITSS requirements, and guide service personnel to do things correctly in the prescribed ways and methods.
The process, as one of the core elements of IT services, is mainly composed of input, output, activities and the interrelationship between activities. It has clear goals, repeatable and measurable.
Challenges faced by process elements:
1. The process is not clearly defined and is completely executed in accordance with the personal habits of the operator;
2. The process definition is not clear and does not have the value of execution according to the process management idea;
3. The process definition is too complex, and the execution efficiency is seriously reduced or even affects business operations;
4. There is no clear process goal, and the operator is not clear about what each activity should be done;
4. There is no supervision of the process and the stability of the process is not clear;
5. There is no assessment of the process and cannot be continuously improved.
Necessity for process standardization
1. Ensure that the process is repeatable and measurable;
2. Effectively control potential risks caused by undefined definitions;
3. By evaluating and measuring the process, the efficiency of the process can be continuously improved;
4. Through the process, standardized management can be achieved to continuously improve the quality of IT services;
5. Through standardized process management, efficiency can be improved and investment in personnel and costs can be reduced.
3. Technology
technology refers to the technology that should be used or technical capabilities that should be possessed for delivery of IT services that meet quality requirements, as well as the analysis methods, architecture and steps necessary to provide IT services.
Technical elements ensure that IT service providers can "do things efficiently" are key considerations in improving the quality of IT services. They mainly focus on discovering and solving problems in the process of providing IT services through the research and development of their own core technologies and learning and reference of non-owned core technologies.
In the process of providing IT services, it may face various problems, risks, and new requirements put forward by the application of new technologies and cutting-edge technologies. The service provider should have the ability to discover and solve problems, risk control, technical reserves, and research and development and application of new technologies and cutting-edge technologies according to the requirements of the demanders or technological development trends.
For IT services such as consulting design, integrated implementation, operation and maintenance,
Challenges faced by technical elements
1. In order to meet the goals and business needs of enterprises, the organization's dependence on IT technology is becoming increasingly high;
2. Fierce market competition has also made the organization's requirements for technology higher and higher;
3. Low-cost and high-efficiency service demands put forward higher requirements for the organization's technological research and development and use capabilities.
Necessity of technology systemization
1. Improve the quality of IT services and reduce IT service costs;
2. Reduce the losses caused by personnel loss;
3. Timely apply and promote mature technologies;
4. Do a good job in the research and development and reserve of new technologies;
5. Use consistent technical standards in providing IT services.
4. Resources
Resources refer to the tangible and intangible assets dependent on and generated by providing IT services. For example, the knowledge, experience and tools that the consulting service provider must have in providing consulting services to meet the needs of the demanders.
resource elements ensure that IT service providers can "guaranteed to do things", which is mainly transformed by solidified results and capabilities in personnel, processes and technical elements, and at the same time provides strong support and guarantee for personnel, processes and technical elements. Depending on the type of IT services provided, the resources required are also different, but they can be summarized. For example, the resources used for consulting design services and operating and maintenance services include knowledge bases, tool bases, expert bases, spare parts bases, and service desks.
Challenges faced by resource elements
1. Ignoring the value of resources and insufficient investment leads to insufficient resources;
2. Ignoring the use of resources, and repeated investment is serious;
3. Lack of unified planning for utilizing resources, and the utilization rate of resources is not high;
4. The resource update is not timely, which is out of touch with market demand and technological research and development.
Necessity for resource systemization
1. Coordinate resource development and utilization to ensure coordination and consistency with business operations and technology research and development;
2. Ensure the provision of IT services that meet quality and cost requirements;
3. Clarify the key points of various resource management to improve resource utilization;
4. Combined with market and business development needs, ensure timely updates of resources and improve resource utilization and usage quality.
