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VeriSM™ - A Pocket Guide

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VeriSM™
A Pocket Guide
A Publication of the IFDC
(International Foundation of Digital Competences)
Doug Tedder
Michelle Major-Goldsmith
Simon Dorst

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Colophon
Title: VeriSM™ - A Pocket Guide
A publication of: IFDC (International Foundation of Digital
Competences)
Content Authors: Doug Tedder, Michelle Major-Goldsmith, Simon Dorst
Cover illustration: Frank van Driel, www.frankvandriel.com
Publisher: Van Haren Publishing, Zaltbommel, www.vanharen.net
Design and Layout: Coco Bookmedia, Amersfoort – NL
NUR code: 981 / 123
ISBN Hard copy: 978 94 018 0272 7
ISBN eBook (pdf): 978 94 018 0271 0
Edition: First edition, first impression, March 2018
Copyright: © Van Haren Publishing, 2018
Trademark notices:
NPS® and Net Promoter Score ® are registered trademarks of Net Promoter
Network.
SAFe ® and Scaled Agile Framework ® are registered trademarks of Scaled
Agile Inc.
SIAM ® is a registered trademark of EXIN.
VeriSM™ is a registered trademark of IFDC.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any

form by print, photo print, microfilm or any other means without written
permission by the publisher.
Although this publication has been composed with much care, neither
author, nor editor, nor publisher can accept any liability for damage
caused by possible errors and/or incompleteness in this publication.

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Preface
The field of service management is changing rapidly as the industry

shifts towards digital transformation, the evolution of new management
practices and the ‘commoditization of IT’. Organizations of every
type require a flexible approach to service management in which all
service provider capabilities work together.
It is for this reason that the International Foundation for Digital

Competences (IFDC) took the initiative to create VeriSM™. VeriSM
has been developed in cooperation with an international team of
over 70 professionals. It has been written by the service management
community for the service management community.
VeriSM is an approach that offers value-driven, evolving, responsive,

and integrated Service Management. VeriSM is designed to enable
organizations and professionals understand how to create a flexible
operating model using Governance, Service Management Principles
and a Management Mesh to define, produce, provide and respond
to consumer requirements for service.

6 1BuN9bhSpTvVhkU VeriSM™ - A Pocket Guide
VeriSM is essential reading for anyone who works within a service

organization. It will be of particular interest to:
■ Managers - who want to understand how to leverage evolving
management practices;
■ Service owners and service managers - who need to bring their

skills up to date and understand how service management has
changed;
■ Executives - who are accountable for effective service delivery;
■ Graduates and undergraduates - who will be joining organizations
and who need to understand the principles of service
management.
We were delighted to have been contributing authors of the

first VeriSM book and to have been commissioned by Van Haren
Publishing to create this pocket guide, which provides a condensed
version of the VeriSM ’handbook’.
The authors hope you find this to be a practical reference tool which
captures the elements of the VeriSM model, its key concepts and main
principles and the spirit and intent of VeriSM - A service management
approach for the digital age.
Doug Tedder - Tedder Consulting,

Michelle Major-Goldsmith - Kinetic IT,
Simon Dorst - Kinetic IT.

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About the IFDC
IFDC - the International Foundation for Digital Competences - was

established in 2017. The goal of the IFDC is to develop, own, maintain
and promote (open) standards for the development of professionals
in the digital era. IFDC is a non-profit organization, whose aim is
to develop and evolve Service Management together with the
community.
IFDC took the initiative to create the VeriSM™ approach and

developed it in cooperation with an international team of experts
led by Claire Agutter (winner of the itSMF UK Thought Leadership
Award 2017). Partners of the IFDC are APMG, BCS, EXIN, Van Haren
Publishing, The Open Group, Innovation Value Institute, ITSM Zone and
itSMF International among others.

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Structure of this pocket guide
This publication will introduce you to VeriSM key concepts and the
VeriSM model and help you to understand how they can apply in your
organization.
The contents of this book will show you how to establish your service
management principles and then adapt your operating models to
leverage the management practices that have evolved to support
digital services:
■ Part 1, Chapters 2-6 introduce services, service management and
their significance in today’s rapidly changing environment.
■ Part 2, Chapters 7-15 cover the VeriSM model in detail.
■ Part 3, Chapters 16-25 cover progressive management practices
and emerging technologies.
■ Chapter 26 then helps you get started.

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Contents
Structure of this pocket guide 8
1 Introducing VeriSM 11
PART 1 Services and service management

2 Organizational context 17
3 Operating in a world of digital transformation 27
4 Service culture 31
5 People: roles, competences and teams 35
6 Common service provider challenges 41
PART 2 The VeriSM model

7 The VeriSM model 63
8 The VeriSM model: Governance 67
9 The VeriSM model: Service Management Principles 69
10 The VeriSM model: Management Mesh 73
11 The VeriSM model: Define 87
12 The VeriSM model: Produce 93
13 The VeriSM model: Provide 99
14 The VeriSM model: Respond 105
15 Adapting the VeriSM model 111

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PART 3 Management practices and emerging technologies

16 Progressive management practices 119
17 Agile 121
18 DevOps 127
19 Service Integration and Management (SIAM ®)133

20 Lean 137
21 Shift Left 143
22 Customer and user experience 149
23 Continuous delivery 155
24 Other practices and techniques 159
25 Emerging technologies and service management 161
26 Getting started with VeriSM 169
Definitions171

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1 Introducing VeriSM
1.1 EVERYTHING IS A SERVICE

People consume services, products and functionality at an astonishing
rate. Products and services have become more connected to deliver
ever-increasing functionality and intelligence. Products and services
provide assistance, advice, help and support. Many of these services
and products are enabled by or only possible because of advances
in technology.
1.2 CONSUMERS CONSUME

Consumers consume. They provide the demand for products and
services. There is a need, articulated as requirements, and the
consumer is willing to invest in and pay for that functionality, directly
or indirectly. Additionally, consumers receiving services from a service
provider might also be a service provider to other consumers, as part
of a broader network.
1.3 PROVIDERS PROVIDE

If there is a consumer, there is also a provider. Providers provide.
The principle of providing, relies on understanding the consumer.
For success, there must be a benefit for both the provider and

consumer. The providers will only invest in products and services

if they see ongoing demand, while the consumers want to receive
value by having their needs met and feel they are getting a return
on investment.
Requirements
Investment
Value
P ROVID ER CO N SU M ER
( SU PPLY ) ( DE M A N D)
Services
ROI
Figure 1 Consumers and providers
The service provider needs to monitor this consumer and provider

cycle. Over time, the needs of the consumer and the capabilities of
the service provider will change. The ongoing interaction between
the consumer (who confirms their requirements) and the service
provider (who confirms their capability to provide) are the dynamics
of service provision. Value is the outcome.
Managing those dynamics drives the development of service

management and a service culture.
1.4 THE VERISM APPROACH

Service management is the approach adopted by an organization
to deliver value to consumers through quality products and services.
Everyone is now in the service market. Even organizations that focus

on selling products (for example, retailers) need to provide services

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attached to those products to be successful (for example, customer

service, shipping, returns).
Services are just as important in public sector environments, where

good service can deliver a better experience for consumers or

citizens. Value still needs to be delivered, whether financial or non-
financial.
The most important part of the VeriSM approach is accepting that

service management is part of everyone’s role and an essential
organizational capability. It can no longer be confined to a single
department like the IT department or customer services. There isn’t a
VeriSM team, or a department.
The other key success factor is to accept the impact of technology on

products and services. Business projects and processes are enabled
by technology. We need to think in terms of technology-enabled
services, rather than ‘IT projects’.
Finally, we need to accept that it’s not solely the responsibility of an

IT department to assess how technology can improve services, just as
it’s not solely the responsibility of the customer service team to interact
with customers. Every employee of the organization works together
to create products and services that will support the organizational
goals.


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PART 1
Services and service
management
In Part 1, we explore the essentials of service management in the
digital age. We introduce the VeriSM approach and the need
for service management in an organization. And we consider
the service culture, the skills and competences required, and the
challenges a service provider may face.

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2 Organizational context
2.1 WHAT IS AN ORGANIZATION?

An organization is an official group of people and encompasses
businesses (large and small), companies, charities or government
departments.
2.2 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

A service provider organization offers products and services to
consumers. Consumers may pay for these products and services
directly (for example, ordering and paying for a takeaway meal
via a website) or indirectly (for example, receiving regular garbage
collection as a taxpayer).
For an organization to be efficient and effective, it needs to focus its

assets and resources towards meeting the needs of its consumers. An
asset is anything that is useful or valuable within a product or service.

Consumer, Within service management, many organizations

customer, client, or differentiate between a customer (who pays for a
user? service and provides their requirements) and a user
(who receives the service and has little influence
over requirements). ‘Client’ is also used and can

refer to customers or users, or both.
Consumer is a term that can include customers,

clients and users. Within VeriSM we refer to
consumers to describe the recipients of products
and services.
2.2.1 Organizational capabilities

To meet consumer needs, an organization uses its capabilities.
Capability is the ability or the qualities that are necessary to do

something. Capabilities represent how an organization delivers
actions and outcomes that meet consumer needs. Capability areas
are made up of people, knowledge, processes etc. and could
include human resources, sales or IT for example.
Effective service provider organizations focus on acquiring or

developing the capabilities they need and structuring them in the
most efficient way.
2.2.2 Outcomes and outputs

An outcome is the end result of a consumer interacting with a product
or service. In this publication, ‘outcomes’ rather than ‘outputs’ are
discussed. An output focuses on a physical deliverable; for example,
was the takeaway pizza cooked on time? Outcomes focus on the
consumer’s overall experience. In this case, perhaps the outcome
was for the family to enjoy a stress-free meal.

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2.2.3 What does a ‘good’ service provider organization

look like?
A ‘good’ service provider organization is one that understands the
outcomes it needs to deliver and how to organize its capabilities
to deliver those outcomes effectively. This includes being able to

recognize when the consumers’ needs are changing and then
reacting appropriately.
2.3 OPTIMIZING ORGANIZATIONAL INTERACTIONS

So far, the organization has been defined as a service provider,
delivering products and services to consumers. Some services are
only used inside the organization (for example, the IT department has
developed a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for
the sales team).
The point to emphasize is that within any organization, there are

hundreds of interactions, hand-offs, conversations and approvals
taking place between staff, teams and departments every day.
The traditional approach is to try and optimize these interactions

by introducing a customer-provider mindset between departments
within the organization. For example, the IT department might be
encouraged to treat the rest of the organization like a ‘customer’
and work to meet their desired outcomes. The result has not been
as successful as hoped in many instances, resulting in a polarized
organization where the IT department and the rest of the business
seem to be ‘separate’ entities. Asking IT to treat the organization like
a customer has created a distance between them, with extra layers
of bureaucracy introduced to try to improve the interactions (for
example, internal account managers).

VeriSM encourages service providers to see their capabilities as

part of an overall organization, not as a web of internal providers
and internal consumers. People, departments and teams will work
together as part of this, but as colleagues.
2.4 ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Culture is the collection of written and unwritten rules, guidelines
and practices that shape the behaviors of people. Culture becomes
visible through behavior: what people do and what people say.
It is essential the culture is understood, especially in periods of change.

Understanding how a change will impact an organization requires an
understanding of the organizational culture so that appropriate ways
of encouraging people to embrace the change can be devised.
The relevance of culture is discussed in Chapter 4 ‘Service culture’.

In successful organizations, staff have shared values and beliefs that
reflect the organization’s mission.
2.4.1 How to change organizational culture

Many organizations set out to change their culture and many
fail. Often, these failures can be attributed to leadership’s lack of
realization that evolutionary change (a series of small changes) is
more effective than revolutionary change (one, enormous change).
2.4.2 No-blame culture

A no-blame culture is one in which staff know that if they have
behaved in the right way and something goes wrong, they will not
be blamed. Instead, the focus is on getting to the cause of the issue,
ensuring that it does not happen again.

2.4.3 Entrepreneurial culture

To succeed in the era of digital services, organizations must establish
an entrepreneurial culture.
Welcoming change is central to this. Entrepreneurial organizations

empower staff, include them in decision making and provide for a
learning organization which monitors and measures solicited and
unsolicited employee and consumer feedback into improvement
actions.
2.5 ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE

To manage products and services, operating activities occur within
a set of parameters. These parameters will differ by organization and
are the governing principles and practices that all decisions should
be based on.
Governance is a system of directing and controlling. Governing

principles cascade through all organizational capabilities. Each
capability defines how they operate within those principles through
their own management practices and activities.
Every organization has a system of governance and management.

These two terms are often, incorrectly, used interchangeably.
Governance represents the views of the owners or those who
represent an organization. Governance provides the vision and then
translates that vision into policy. Management makes the decisions
that implement those policies and are bound to the direction defined
by the governing body.

Governance controls the organization through a series of activities:

evaluate, direct and monitor.1
Proposals M ANAGE ME NT
Plans
G OV E RNANCE
EVALUAT E
DI R ECT M O NI TO R
Strategies Performance
Policies Conformance
Figure 2 Governance: evaluate, direct and monitor
■ Evaluate: look at the current and future situation based on

approved plans and proposals, respectively;
■ Direct: create and deploy strategies and policies that ensure
objectives are met;
■ Monitor: ensure policies are followed (conformance) and
performance against the strategies is at an acceptable level.
Governance activities are influenced by stakeholder and

organizational needs, and legal or regulatory requirements. The
governance process is supported by policies, plans and metrics.
One key governance activity is the creation of a well-documented

(and communicated) strategy and plan that is subject to ongoing
1 This information is based on ISO/IEC 38500:2015.

maintenance. The strategic plan reflects the organizational strategy

and would answer questions such as:
■ What products and services could provide a competitive
advantage?
■ What capabilities (human, technology, organizational) are

required to enable and excel at these products and services?
Each practice and principle have implications within the governance

activities of evaluate, direct and monitor.
2.5.1 Policy
A policy is a set of ideas or plans that is used as a basis for making
decisions. Practices and principles are used to define organizational
governance. Policies will define the “rules” of the practices and
principles.
A policy is based on the purpose of the organization and provides a

structure for setting objectives. Generic governing principles, such as
conformance, responsibility and performance, will give rise to related
policies.
Policies should be developed to address areas including:

■ Continual improvement
■ Quality
■ Risk
■ Knowledge
■ Measurement and reporting.
As a policy is a means of fulfilling strategic direction, it will address

the strategic “what” and “why” questions but not “how it is done.”
The “how” is up to management and organizational capabilities and
defined in individual processes and procedures.

2.5.2 Cascading governance through the organization

The basic governance structure of an organization is shown in Figure 3.
O R G AN I Z ATI ON
OWNERS / STAKEHOLDERS
(Mission, Vision, Objectives)
Accountable Delegate
GOVERNING BODY
(Steering Committee)
Report Authorize
& Direct
ORGANIZATIONAL CAPABILITIES
(Define, Produce, Provide, Respond)
Figure 3 Governance flows
The owners and stakeholders of an organization are accountable for

the success or failure of the organization. Their role is to set the mission
and vision as well as the expectations of performance. Once set, they
delegate authority to a governing body.
The governing body consists of representatives from all organizational

capabilities, typically including senior level staff. This group will
provide direction and approval of activities.

Note the strategic requirements (mission, vision, objectives) cascade

down from the owners to a governing body (often a steering
committee) and then to the organizational capabilities. There is a
return stream representing accountability between the groups.
Once authorization has been granted, actions to create, deploy,

support and improve products and services are assigned to
appropriate groups or teams created using representatives from
the various organizational capabilities. These teams will carry out
the necessary activities to create the requested functionality and
eventually report on their activities.
Within the VeriSM model, a service provider’s organizational

capabilities use Service Management Principles, which are based
on organizational governance, and the Management Mesh to guide
their activities to meet consumer needs.
2.5.3 Values, mission, vision

The operating model used to arrange the organization’s capabilities
is a result of the mission and vision of the organization.
Values represent an organization’s foundational principles or

standards of behavior.
The organization’s mission or mission statement articulates the

purpose of the organization. For example, Google’s mission is to “to
organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible
and useful.”
A vision statement describes the ‘to be’ state. It is aspirational,

intended to provide inspiration.

2.5.4 Governance and management planning

Once the governing principles are set, they trigger various planning
activities. Typically these take place on an annual basis, but if the
organization is in a dynamic industry, then they may be more frequent.
Collectively, the three levels of management planning are:

■ Strategic planning: undertaken by the higher levels of an
organization. It begins with the mission and looks to the future (in
years). The purpose of strategic planning is to direct the actions of
an organization - with the end goal being to stay within a defined
scope and achieve the organizational goals and objectives.
■ Tactical planning: asks the questions “Where and how?”. Tactical
plans include the actions that bridge from the day-to-day
operational activities to the strategic plan. Tactical plans are more
specific plans with the goal of directing the lower-levels within an
organization to fulfil their part of the strategic plan. These plans
tend to address a period of 9-18 months.
■ Operational planning: asks the question “What?”. Operational
plans include the activities that are performed by front-line
managers with very specific and defined results. These activities
typically maintain overall functionality and viability of an
organization. Operational plans can be ongoing plans (rules,
procedures) or single-use plans (for example, a one-time sales
campaign, a specific marketing or recruitment plan).

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3 Operating in a world of
digital transformation
This chapter looks at the impact of digital transformation on services

and service providers.
3.1 THE SERVICE PROVIDER’S WORLD IS CHANGING

New ways of interacting with customers and innovative technology
solutions are rapidly changing the way how organizations operate.
These opportunities create new competitive and commercial

challenges. Failing to change can lead to poor customer experience
and a reduced level of competitiveness.
3.2 WHAT IS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION?

Digital transformation refers to the changes associated with the
application of digital technologies across an organization.
Using technology can help organizations enter new markets and to

deliver products and services faster or more profitably. These benefits
are sometimes referred to as digital disruptions.

Optimization or disruption?
In many cases, organizations use innovative technologies and
methods to augment existing services. This is sometimes referred to
as ‘digital optimization’ and is not to be confused with true digital
disruption. Digital disruption is used to describe an industry, a way

of doing business or an ecosystem that is significantly challenged
by technology companies, newcomers or incumbents who have
mastered digital skillsets. These challengers produce solutions,
business models and approaches that cause a significant shift in
customer behavior and market context, requiring existing players to
change their strategies in reaction.
3.3 DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND

ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY
Digital transformation touches the entire organization. This includes
the strategic plans for all capabilities: marketing, operations, finance,
human resources, etc. The impact of digital transformation on
strategic plans can include:
■ How organizational processes are optimized and automated;
■ Go-to-market strategy;
■ Empowering the organization to seek new ways of operating,
accepting they may fail;
■ Governance and Service Management Principles structured to
focus on customer-centricity;
■ Supply chains and networks might be more tightly integrated and
operated in real-time. Business intelligence, data and analytics
can become key assets for business decision making or serving
customers.

1BuN9bhSpTvVhkU 3 Operating in a world of digital transformation 29
3.4 THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ON

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Digital transformation is causing organizations to rethink how they
leverage and exploit technology, based on an outside-in, ‘digital
first’ approach. This demand-side economy leverages technology

that help networks expand.
A ‘network effect’ is when a product or service gains value as more

people use it. More participants lead to better matches between
supply and demand and more data which can be used to find other
matches between supply and demand. The scale attracts more
consumers, who create more value, which attracts more consumers.
Organizations like Uber and Airbnb are good examples of this.
3.5 THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ON

SERVICE MANAGEMENT
With digital transformation, service management can no longer be
the sole property of the IT capability (see Section 3.2 ‘What is digital
transformation?’). Since technology is everywhere and services can
come from anywhere, digital capabilities and the decision to use
them exist in almost every department of the organization.
IT capabilities are still important but these capabilities need to blend

in with those of other capability areas like human resources, sales,
marketing, or finance. Service management at the enterprise level is
needed to coordinate these capabilities. Service management can
help shift the mindset from ‘inside-out’ to ‘outside-in’ by developing
effective, transparent principles that help deliver services that are
valuable to the customer.

3.6 DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGES

Digital transformation revolutionizes many traditional ways of
operating and thinking. The challenges associated with digital
transformation can include:
■ Organization structure: it requires a means of integrating

capabilities across the organization.
■ Culture: organizations need to communicate innovative ways
of working and break down resistance with a focus on the end
consumer.
■ Business processes: what may have worked well in the non-digital
world does not work in a digital one.
■ Understanding value: everyone needs to understand their role in
value delivery and achieving organizational outcomes.
■ Control models: a model of ‘just-enough’ (or essential) control is
needed. The old models of ‘control everything’ are inhibitors.
3.7 THE IMPACT OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

Technologies considered to be ‘emerging’ and innovative today
soon become commonplace as they are absorbed into business
as usual (BAU). Service providers must plan strategically and review
how technology can be leveraged (see Chapter 25 ‘Emerging
technologies and service management’).
For instance, the impact of cloud technologies is putting advanced

technology within the reach of smaller, flexible organizations and
means they can compete with larger, less flexible organizations.

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4 Service culture
Every service delivery is a story with a beginning, middle and end. A

service provider with an effective service culture can deliver at the
beginning, the middle and the end.
4.1 WHAT IS A SERVICE CULTURE?

A service culture exists when an organization’s staff, products,
services and business processes are developed with a focus on the
end consumer.
A service culture encompasses every interaction a service provider

has with its consumers, such as ordering, payments, complaints,
and more. To create an effective service culture, each organization
needs to understand what makes a good service experience for its
consumers.
4.2 WHY IS A SERVICE CULTURE IMPORTANT?

An effective service culture provides:
■ For the consumer: ease of interaction with the service provider
(feedback listened to, needs met).

■ For the service provider: staff are clear how they should interact
with consumers and morale is improved through empowerment
and by dealing with happier consumers.
An effective service culture can lead to happy consumers and

repeat business. Happy consumers will often carry out marketing
on behalf of the organization, for example by sharing feedback via
social media and through their own personal networks. This can be
an effective (and low cost) way of marketing.
For public sector and non-profit seeking organizations, there are also
benefits to an effective service culture. Happy consumers will interact
with their service provider and share their feedback, allowing the
service provider to make ongoing improvements.
W HAT DO W E WA N T ? HOW DO WE ACHIE VE IT ?
ORGANIZATIONAL LOYAL
GROWTH STAFF
Delivers Results in Provides INVESTMENT

Engenders Enables
IN SERVICE
CUSTOMER CUSTOMER GOOD SATISFIED SERVICE MONEY,
RETENTION SATISFACTION SERVICE STAFF CULTURE TIME,
TRAINING
ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVE
PROFIT STAFF
Figure 4 Service culture drives growth
4.3 WHAT DOES ‘GOOD’ LOOK LIKE?

In a service culture, ‘good’ needs to be assessed from the perspective
of the consumer and the service provider.
4.3.1 What does ‘good’ look like for consumers?

From a consumer’s perspective, ‘good’ could mean:
■ They feel their needs are understood.

1BuN9bhSpTvVhkU 4 Service culture 33
■ The service provider checks the service has been delivered

satisfactorily.
Measures like Net Promoter Score ® can help to assess consumer

satisfaction. See Section 22.2.4 ‘Net Promoter Score ® (NPS®)’ for more
information.
4.3.2 What does ‘good’ look like for service providers?

From the service provider’s perspective, ‘good’ could mean:
■ All staff understand what their tasks are, why they are necessary
and how they relate to a good consumer experience.
■ Staff feel engaged and empowered to act with supportive
management and a ‘no-blame’ culture (see Section 2.4.2
‘No-blame culture’).
4.4 HOW TO CREATE A SERVICE CULTURE

Developing a service culture requires changes to behavior and
working practices across the organization. To develop this an
organization’s senior management is actively engaged in these
areas:
■ Empowerment: Staff need to be able to feel empowered to take
responsibility for their actions.
■ Motivation: Empowerment can lead to greater motivation. This
is linked to higher morale and productivity and reduced staff
turnover, leading to a better experience for consumers.
■ Behavior: Positive people radiate that feeling and encourage
it in others. Organizations should focus on defining ‘desired
behavior’ reinforced via recognition and rewards (see Section
6.8 ‘Organizational behavior management (OBM)’ for more
information).

■ Management responsibility: Senior management are responsible

for confronting undesired behaviors and encouraging and
rewarding desired behaviors.
■ Contribution: All the staff within the service provider organization
should understand their input towards delivering outcomes and

their impact on the consumer.
■ Measuring culture: It is often easier to measure quantity than it is to
measure quality. The service provider needs to measure outcomes
and customer satisfaction, not just what happened and when.
■ Reward and recognition: Good staff behavior needs to be
rewarded. Simple reward structures can be effective. Everyone
should be recognized for their contribution to the overall outcome
and reward is not just a financial concept.
4.5 CULTURAL ENABLERS

There are many things that can be a cultural enabler:
■ Technology: A service culture will use technology to support
its aims. Always provide a human contact element. Choice is a
differentiator from the consumer perspective, so multiple channels
may be required, for example, to allow consumer contact via
face-to-face, phone or social media.
■ Processes: Every consumer interaction is dependent on an
organization’s internal processes. Any process should be either
delivering the service or supporting the delivery of the service.
All aspects of the organization must function effectively and
efficiently for the service to be successful. This includes all
capabilities. See Section 10.1.4 ‘Environment’ for more information
about processes.
■ Leadership: Leaders must articulate the type of culture they desire
and cascade this down through the organization through their
words and deeds. They should reward appropriate behaviors and
take action against inappropriate behavior.

1BuN9bhSpTvVhkU
People: roles,
5 competences
and teams
There are many roles to understand within service management.
5.1 LEADERS AND MANAGERS

Within any organization, there are leaders and managers. Leaders
are characterized by ‘doing the right things’ while managers ‘do
things right.’
Leaders:
■ manipulate and/or exploit organizational capabilities to deliver
a product or service that not only meets requirements, but also
differentiates the service provider from competitors where
relevant;
■ can be found outside the organizational hierarchy - for example
staff who inspire and motivate their colleagues.
Managers:
■ oversee the activities that produce and support the services;
■ ensure that all activities stay within the boundaries set by the
organization’s Governance and Service Management Principles.

Frequently, staff have both leadership and management

responsibilities and their ability to balance those activities creates a
successful environment. A service provider needs both leaders and
managers. The impact of leaders and managers is shown in Figure 5.
++
Transformation efforts can All highly successful

be successful for a while, transformation efforts
but often fail after short- combine good leadership
“Do ing the rig ht thing s”
term results become erratic with good management

LEA DERSH IP
+
Short-term results are
possible, but real
transformation programs
Transformation efforts go
have trouble getting started
nowhere
and major, long-term
change is rarely achieved
0 + ++
M ANAG EM ENT
“Doing things right”
Figure 5 The relationship of leadership and management (Source: John P.

Kotter, Leading change (Boston: Harvard Business School, 1996), 129)
5.2 WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR A SERVICE PROVIDER?

A service provider needs leaders and managers. At the leadership
level, a service provider needs leaders who can use the organization’s
capabilities. As leaders, they are knowledgeable in manipulating
and/or exploiting organizational capabilities to deliver a product or
service that not only meets requirements, but also differentiates the
service provider from competitors where relevant. There are leaders
both throughout the organization and outside the organizational
hierarchy who inspire and motivate their colleagues and peers.

1BuN9bhSpTvVhkU 5 People: roles, competences and teams 37
Managers are necessary to oversee the activities that produce

and support the services. They ensure that all activities stay within
the boundaries set by the organization’s Governance and Service
Management Principles (for example, legal, regulatory, contractual,
organizational). The service manager’s activities help to keep the

provider solvent and the service delivered at the agreed levels.
Today’s leaders and managers also need to manage people

effectively. Not only are managers expected to manage systems
and processes, they need to coach, facilitate and handle the
complexities of human emotion. Effective organizations now actively
seek staff with the ability to recognize and respond appropriately
to emotions - their own and others. The skill that is to the forefront is
emotional intelligence.
5.3 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

High emotional intelligence is a key attribute for people working in
today’s environment. Emotional intelligence (expressed as Emotional
Quotient or EQ), as developed by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves,
defines four skills divided by two main competences:
■ Personal competence
o Self-awareness: ability to perceive one’s own emotions and
tendencies;
o Self-management: based on self-awareness, self-management
is what you do when you act (or don’t act).
■ Social competence
o Social awareness: the ability to detect the emotions of others
and understand them;
o Relationship management: the ability to use one’s awareness
of one’s own emotions and those of others to manage
interactions successfully.

5.4 GENERIC COMPETENCES FOR SERVICE

MANAGEMENT
Competence is a cluster of related abilities, commitments, knowledge
and skills that enable a person to act effectively in a job or situation.
Leaders and managers within each organizational capability must

develop the appropriate competencies to interface with each other.
There are several internationally recognized competence

frameworks which identify specific competences required in IT, such
as the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) or the European
e-Competence Framework (e-CF).
Desirable skills for today’s organization include:

■ Critical thinking: the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue
to form a judgement.
■ Reflective practice: the process of retrospectively examining one’s
own professional performance to clarify the reasons for one’s
actions and decisions, and to learn from them.
5.5 LEARNING PATHS AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT

As staff develop their skills, being active in their community as a
professional is also important. It’s about perpetuating the knowledge
and continuing to develop professionally and personally.
Professionals are advised to develop an attitude of lifelong learning.

This is the provision or use of both formal and informal learning
opportunities to foster the continuous development and improvement
of the knowledge and skills needed for employment and personal
fulfilment. There are various ways in which to learn, from formal,
instructor-led to self-paced online learning.

1BuN9bhSpTvVhkU 5 People: roles, competences and teams 39
The breadth and depth of knowledge required within service

management is substantial. However, not every staff member requires
expert skills across all capabilities.
T-shaped professionals have deep knowledge in at least one area of

a service system (stem of the T) and generalist knowledge across the
organization (and organizational vertical), technology, people and
shared information (crossbar of the T).
5.6 TEAMS
Organizations need individual competences, but rarely is service
management work singularly focused on the skills or outcomes
produced by an individual.
5.6.1 Team development

A team is a small number of people with complementary skills,
committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and
approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.
To be successfully a cohesive team is necessary. While each member

of the team has their area of expertise, the ability to work together is
critical.
5.6.2 Building a team

There is a difference between having a sense of teamwork and
building an effective team formed to accomplish a specific goal.
When building a team, consider these points2: Clarity, Context,
2 Susan M. Heathfield, (2017). 12 tips for team building in the workplace.

Available at: www.thebalance.com/tips-for-team-building-1918512
[2017, August].

Competence, Charter, Control, Collaboration, Communication,

Creativity, Consequences, Coordination, and Culture.
Think about the characteristics of a team and what motivators they

will respond to. Two concepts critical to the development of a team’s

focus are failure and risk. Risk tolerance or appetite of an organization
will impact the team. Understanding and exploiting risk is powerful - it
allows teams to push limits and be innovative. Define the boundaries
of the team to allow for acceptable risk-taking and view failures as
learning opportunities.
5.6.3 Characteristics of successful teams

Successful teams have great relationships, know how to interact and
can execute tasks effectively. Successful teams share, cooperate,
collaborate, and apply consensus decision making. A consensus is
reached when team members either agree with a decision or feel
their point of view on a matter has been heard and understood, even
if it has not been accepted.
Well-functioning teams are created when chartered with a specific

problem to solve and given clearly defined expectations and
accountabilities.

1BuN9bhSpTvVhkU
6 Common service
provider challenges
Service management professionals need to be aware of challenges

they might experience.
6.1 RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

The people aspects of service management can be more difficult to
manage than tools and technology. The specific areas to consider for
relationship management are:
Internal relationship management

■ Silos and tribalism
■ Virtual teams.
External relationship management

■ Consumers
■ Suppliers.
6.1.1 Silos and tribalism

Teams have a shared identity, built on common skills (see Section
5.6 ‘Teams’). They will develop a perceived status within the overall
organization. There is a potential risk that a team withdraws into itself

and forms a silo. A team like this may do great work, but only to the
benefit of the team and its status.
Another name for this behavior is tribalism. Tribalism refers to the

loyalties that people feel towards particular social groups and to the
way these loyalties affect their behavior and their attitudes towards
others.
To overcome this challenge, leadership needs to take responsibility

for defining and supporting effective behaviors, such as clearly
defined roles and goals, prioritized activities and empowered
decision making.
6.1.2 Virtual teams

Many teams are now virtual and can be spread around the globe,
spanning time zones, languages and cultures. The communication
and collaboration tools available mean that virtual teams can be just
as effective as physically located teams, when managed correctly.
Managing the virtual team poses additional challenges, but there

are many opportunities to support effective virtual teams, such as:
■ Meet face-to-face early in team development;
■ Clarify and simplify the tasks and how to complete them, not just
the goals;
■ Define communication behaviors;
■ Agree a shared language;
■ Track and clarify commitments;
■ Share leadership and create autonomy;
■ Regular one-on-one interactions strengthen team dynamics - use
these interactions to check status, provide feedback and keep the
members connected to the purpose of the team.

1BuN9bhSpTvVhkU 6 Common service provider challenges 43
6.1.3 Consumer relationships

Service provider organizations need to build effective relationships
with their consumers.
Service providers need to consider their consumer’s experience

when interfacing with digital technologies. For digital services, there
might be little interaction with the consumer in person; for example, a
service could be sold via a website and consumed via an app.
6.1.4 Supplier relationships

Supplier relationship management is a process that systemizes an
approach to effectively manage suppliers and the services that they
deliver, to ensure that services being delivered meet the targets and
expectations of the consumer.
Supplier relationship management includes measuring and

monitoring the performance of suppliers against targets defined in
their contracts and agreements (so contract management applies),
ensuring actions to improve services are implemented where
appropriate, and managing any disputes that may arise.
6.2 EXPECTATION MANAGEMENT

Expectation management is a formal process to continuously capture,
document, and maintain the content, dependencies, commitments
and expectations for persons participating in an interaction.
The key elements of expectation management are clarity, not making

assumptions and having an alternative plan (contingency).

6.3 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Knowledge management is essential in the digital enterprise. Digital
services bring more data. Information gets processed and delivered
faster.
Knowledge management is about creating, finding, curating and

codifying knowledge so that it can be located when needed.
6.3.1 Types of knowledge

There are three types of knowledge:
■ Tacit knowledge: This is the knowledge that comes from personal
experience and intuition and is held within an individuals’ brain. It
is the hardest type of knowledge to capture.
■ Explicit knowledge: This knowledge has been documented and
categorized in some way that makes it easy to find. The challenge
is making sure that it is up-to-date and relevant. The staff handbook
is an example of explicit knowledge.
■ Implicit knowledge: This is knowledge that is not documented but
could be; it’s often embedded in the culture and operation of the
organization. For example, everyone ‘knows’ you must press the
green button to exit the building.
6.3.2 Knowledge management skills

Staff need to learn how to capture and share knowledge continuously
and not perceive it as something that is done when time permits. They
need to make use of knowledge capture systems and to measure how
knowledge management has (or has not) contributed to increased
productivity.
A good formula for effective knowledge management is to apply the

concept of Create - Curate - Organize - Share - Utilize - Measure.

6.4 COMMUNICATION
Communication is a critical skill. Good communication depends on
understanding requirements and the people who are commu
n i
cating.
When delivering a message, consider the sender, the message

context (for example, sender emotions, non-verbal communication),
the receiver, the delivery mechanism (for example, verbal, email,
text, posters, video) and the message content.
There is no magic formula for communication but it will be based

on the defined needs of the stakeholder(s). Have a defined
communication plan, which includes:
■ Scope;
■ Roles;
■ Tasks and responsibilities;
■ Timeframes;
■ Types of communication;
■ Expected and actual results of communication;
■ How to escalate and who to escalate to.
This plan should be reviewed and updated throughout its life.

Stakeholders change as do communication preferences.
Bear in mind that listening is a key part of communication. This

extends beyond hearing what the customer says. It includes trying to
understand what they want and how they feel.
Develop a communication framework to support the plan, which

includes:
■ The ability to ask questions . . . and listen to responses;
■ Creating shared to-do lists so the whole team knows who is doing
what and when;
■ Hold status meetings.

Stakeholder meetings (for example with an executive board, sponsors

or consumers) are a bit more formal and could include reports on:
■ What was done since the last update;
■ What is being done currently;
■ Any open action items;

■ Timeline and budget updates;
■ Potential risks.
Finally, a service provider needs to be able to deliver ‘bad’ news.

Communicating bad news is never easy, but it’s better to deliver it
when there is the expectation that something may be going wrong,
rather than waiting until something has really gone wrong!
6.5 MANAGING ACROSS THE GENERATIONS

Managing, motivating and retaining employees is a challenge for
any organization. Leaders and managers must recognize the unique
characteristics of each generation. Table 1 provides a high-level
overview of the main characteristics of the generations.
It is important to understand that in this table, the traits attributed

to each generation are generalized. As time passes and the
various generations are exposed to the developments of the next
generations, ‘new’ behaviors are embedded. For example, people
in their 50s and 60s learn to be comfortable texting and using social
media. In other words, differences between the generations fade as
each generation ages. Additionally, each generation benefits from
the innovation of previous generations. For example, while technical
savviness is a common trait of the millennial, it was the baby boomers
and GenX that created these technologies.

Table 1 Characteristics of generations (based on US time spans)
Baby boomers Generation X Generation Y Generation Z

“Lost generation” “Millennials” “Digital Natives”
Date of birth 1945-1964 1965-1981 1975-1995 1995-
Generalized • Ambitious • I ndividualistic • I ntelligent • I nstant

traits • Optimistic • I ndependent • Creative satisfaction
• Loyal • Resourceful • Hopeful • H ighly
• Skeptical of • Achievement- energetic and
authority oriented enthusiastic
• Self-reliant • Tech-savvy (lack social
skills)
• Multi-tasking
Motto “Live to work” • “Work to live” • “Work for fun” • “Always ‘on’”
• “Slackers” • “What’s in it for
me?” (WIIFM)
Work focus • I nformation, • Focus on rights • Flexible • Online research
knowledge and skills, workplace • Technical
and logic rule relationships • H igh- savants
leadership and outcomes performance • E ntrepreneur
• Little regard • Passionate and high- and innovation
for authority or maintenance
experts • Team-oriented
• Family focus
Work needs • More traditional • Flexible hours • Flexibility, • Invest in training
communication • Challenging telecommuting, (boost people
mediums individual ability to go skills)
• Strong work assignments part-time • Provide lots of
ethic (deadlines • Variety • Fast-pace rewards
and authority • Learning • Good
structure) opportunities communication
• Manage and support
and provide • Offer the dream
immediate position
feedback • Opportunity
to make an
impact on
society

6.6 ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT

(OCM)
To achieve organizational change, be aware of and accept these
concepts:
■ Change almost always takes longer and costs more than

expected.
■ Stakeholder management is critical (see Section 6.6.2 ‘Stakeholder
management’).
■ People who are engaged with the change process and change
decisions are far more likely to accept the change.
It’s a good idea to introduce some organizational change

management (OCM) practices to provide structure, preparation and
motivation to give people the education they need to embrace and
support change. These practices could include:
■ Kotter’s 8-Step Process;
■ Stakeholder management;
■ Sponsorship;
■ Supporting plans.
Without effective OCM practices, any organizational change is at

much greater risk of failure.
6.6.1 Kotter’s 8-Step Process

John Kotter’s 8-Step Process of Creating Change3 has been used
successfully in organizational transformation since it was published in
the early 1990’s. In 2014, Kotter updated the steps (Accelerate4) to
reflect today’s faster moving world. Both models still support situations
3 Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading Change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School

Press.
4 Kotter, J. P. (2014). Accelerate. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

where strategies are being altered, processes are being reengineered

or quality is being improved.
Both models address common transformation errors including:

■ Complacency;
■ Lack of leadership;
■ Lack of vision;
■ Poor communication;
■ Lack of short-term wins;
■ Ending the effort too soon;
■ Lack of ongoing measurement.
The consequences of not addressing these errors include wasted

resources from re-engineering, failed strategies, projected results
that don’t materialize, quality that doesn’t improve etc. Developing
the management skills to deal with change is crucial for any service
leader.
6.6.2 Stakeholder management

A stakeholder is anyone with an interest or concern in something.
Within any change initiative, it is important to determine who the
stakeholders are. Stakeholders can be internal or external to the
organization. Examples of stakeholders include: staff/employees,
shareholders, suppliers, customers, media and government agencies.
It is important to understand each group’s interest and influence

on the change. A tool such as a stakeholder analysis is useful in
understanding interest and power of stakeholders so they can be
managed effectively, see Figure 6. Complete this mapping initially
with the project or change team and then review it throughout the
life of the project or change - these stakeholders can change.

KEEP MANAGE
SATISFIED CLOSELY
Power
KEEP
MONITOR
INFORMED
Interest
Figure 6 Stakeholder analysis
6.6.3 Sponsorship
Any change requires a sponsor - someone (or some group) to not only
champion the change, but to also to be a ‘buffer’ between the team
responsible for the change and those impacted. While the sponsor is
one of the stakeholders, their role is more actively involved.
6.6.4 Supporting plans

To manage OCM activities, there are several supporting plans that
are useful. One has already been discussed: the communication plan
(see Section 6.4 Communication). The other two are a training plan
and a resistance management plan.
■ Training Plan: Documents the skills that are necessary to support
the change and cross-references to the skills that are currently
available to allow the creation of a suitable plan to procure the
needed skills.
■ Resistance Management Plan: Use stakeholder analysis and
proactively identify potential resistive actions. Once identified,
create mitigations.

6.7 WHY DO CHANGES FAIL?

Several reasons can contribute to a failed change, these are detailed
below.
6.7.1 Ineffective communication

Communicating a change helps to prepare those who will be
affected by it. To avoid ineffective communication, set expectations
up front; define in the communication plan when communication will
occur and then have an ‘open door’ policy for questions.
Understanding the environment and the people involved can help

to mitigate, but never eliminate, communication complaints. In
any environment, complaints of either not enough information or
information overload will continue to be heard.
6.7.2 Change stalls

Imagine a situation where lots of energy and resource is expended
to gain acceptance for the change and the resulting enthusiasm
creates quick wins. But what happens when the ‘shiny object’ begins
to dull? The change ‘stalls’. A stall usually occurs within 2-3 months of
the change starting. Leaders and managers should maintain clear
and consistent messages, spend time with the teams who are most
affected, deal with complaints and address resistance directly, or
change efforts will stall.
6.7.3 Too much change

One reason for a failed change is too many change initiatives
occurring simultaneously. Think of the demand on the organization
to not only embrace the change, create the change, embed the
change but also manage day-to-day operations!

6.7.4 Change fatigue

Change fatigue is an organizational culture that has low energy for
change due to a history of failed or problematic changes. Change
fatigue can mean staff or consumers feel cut off from the organization
and can’t commit to accepting a change. They need to understand

“What’s in it for me?” - the WIIFM factor.
To help overcome this, accept that some level of resistance is normal

and try not to attempt too much change too quickly.
6.7.5 Lack of ownership and involvement

To help stakeholders feel comfortable with change, they need to be
involved and feel a sense of ownership. Change that is being ‘forced’
onto someone can often lead to resistance.
Regular feedback and working across the organization’s capabilities

can also help to ensure that no one feels left out.
6.8 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT

(OBM)
6.8.1 What is OBM?

Organizational behavioral management (OBM) is a proven, scientific
approach for increasing and improving individual and team
performance in an organizational context. Based on the scientific
discoveries made by B.F. Skinner5 and others, OBM shows what can
be done to increase performance, whilst maintaining and even
improving quality and morale. It enables a sustainable change in
‘attitude’ and culture.
5 https://www.appliedbehavioranalysisedu.org/organizational-behavior
-management/

6.8.2 Why is OBM important?

All business results - good, bad, desired, undesired, expected and
unexpected - are the result of human behavior.
Delivering effective service means that staff must act appropriately

when delivering or supporting products and services. These actions
are often ‘structured’ using processes. The management practices
and processes used within an organization need to adapt to
changing circumstances and needs; ultimately changing the way
that staff behave.
6.8.3 When should OBM be used?

OBM focuses on performance issues and addresses these issues
by managing behavioral change. Changing from a current state
to any future state for an organization means that some behaviors
must stop, some must change, and new behaviors must be learned.
When we look at adopting new management practices as part
of the Management Mesh (see Chapter 10 ‘The VeriSM model:
Management Mesh’), it’s important to consider the impact these will
have on behavior.
6.8.4 Performance
Understanding the concept of performance is key. Defining ‘the
desired performance’ helps to identify critical outcomes. Specifically,
the performers understand what the desired performance is; what
it means and how the desired performance supports results and
outcomes. All organizational performance must be linked to critical
outcomes and results.
Theoretically, every organizational change should be beneficial.

Beneficial changes lead to better organizational performance.
That’s why the concept of performance plays a big role in any
organizational change.

Behavior leads to results. So, performance has two measures: the

actual results and the behaviors that produced these results. Both
can and should be measured appropriately. Organizations need to
measure results and link them to customer value, critical outcomes
and the management of costs and risks.
To be able to make such a link, results must be defined. Then, the

organization can be clear about the behavior that will produce the
results. Defining the right performance is a management responsi
bility (see Figure 7).
Once the desired performance has been pinpointed, the ABC model
(described below) supports analysis of current performance levels.
This means performing a baseline measurement, which allows us to
compare current and desired performance so we understand what
needs to change to generate the desired performance. Then, the
OBM-protocol helps to change the organization, leading to higher,
or better, performance levels by systematically applying the proper
consequences to performance.
6.8.5 The ABC model

In behavioral science, the ABC model is commonly used (see Figure 7):
■ The A stands for Antecedent, which is everything that comes
before the behavior of interest.
■ The B stands for Behavior: the behavior of interest, which produces
the results we have defined when pinpointing or measuring
performance
■ The C stands for Consequence, which is everything that follows the
behavior of interest.
Note the dotted line going from C back to A. That represents the
learning process. What we have learned from our past behaviors
becomes an antecedent for future occurrences of these behaviors.

A B C- MODEL: OV E RVIE W
A NTECEDENT S B E HAVIO R CON S EQ UE NCE S

(Before Behavi o r) (Ac t i o ns) (Ef fec t s O f B e h av i or)
Anything that prompts What a person does What happens to the

a person to act What a person says person as a result of
the behavior
Figure 7 The ABC model
Operant versus internal behaviors

Operant behavior is a specific type of behavior, in such that it
is observable by others and it operates on the environment of the
performer. We interact with our environment via operant behavior.
For instance: selecting a phone number on your cell phone and then
talking to somebody are examples of operant behavior. The ABC
model can be used to explain operant behavior.
All non-observable forms of behavior, such as thinking or

contemplating are not considered to be operant behavior, because
they do not interact with the environment and therefore do not
produce results that others can observe. These behaviors are also
referred to as internal behaviors. Internal behaviors are not value-
adding activities until they are acted upon. For example, if someone
has thought very hard and has come up with a brilliant plan, there is
no immediate result that others can work with or give feedback on.
Operant behavior should produce something of value for either the

performer, their colleagues, or the consumer. To produce something
of value, you either do something (observable physical behavior)
or say something (observable verbal behavior). If you keep your
thoughts to yourself, this might be valuable for you, but the question

is: how is your co-worker or customer going to benefit from that? The
answer: when you transform these thoughts into actions and words.
Using antecedents to change behavior

The most common approach to realizing behavioral change is to

focus on the antecedents. Antecedents are anything that comes
before the behavior of interest.
Examples of using antecedents to change behavior and motivate

other people include motivational speeches, video clips which
explain values, posters stating that we must put the customer first,
policies, procedures and processes etc.
The core assumption is that staff will change their behavior if it

is explained to them why it must change. This type of approach is
often quite ineffective and may not produce viable results, such as
sustainably changed behavior, or improved performance.
The reason these activities are often ineffective is that there is no

causal relationship between antecedents and behavior. Antecedents
can easily be ignored. When people have learned it is safe to ignore
certain antecedents, these antecedents will lose effect immediately.
Using consequences to change behavior

Behavior is a function of its consequences, people do things because
of the results (consequences). So, to change behavior, one possible
approach is to change the consequences of the behavior.
A consequence is anything that follows a behavior. There are four

types of consequences to behavior. Two types will increase the
occurrences of the behaviors that produced these consequences,
two types will decrease the occurrences of the behaviors that

produced these consequences. Table 2 shows the four types of

consequences.
Table 2 Consequences of behavior

Consequence Detail
You get something The operant behavior produced a consequence
that you want. (an object, a result, an emotion) that you wanted
to be produced by this behavior. For example, you
exercised more (behavior) to get fitter and lose
weight (desired result).
You don’t get what The operant behavior lets you avoid or escape
you don’t want. consequences you don’t like. For example, the
traffic light turns red, so you brake to stop the car
and avoid accidents.
You get something The operant behavior produced something that
you don’t want. you didn’t like. For example, you accidentally put
your hand on a hot stove and get burned.
You don’t get The operant behavior costs time, money,
something you do effort, energy and the expected and desired
want. consequences are not produced. For example,
you call your friend because you urgently want
to discuss something and every time you call you
get voice mail. The consequence will lead you to
adjust your behavior. Instead of calling - which in
this case obviously did not produce the result you
wanted - you might send a text message.
People learn from consequences and adjust behavior based on

them. People can learn from the consequences of their own actions,
or from watching the consequences that others experience. For
example, if you see a driver pulled over by the police for speeding,
you might slow your own vehicle down.

From the organizational perspective, we can extend this from the

personal to the team - teams can also learn from the results of their
actions.
6.8.6 Linking consequences to performance

Delivering products or services can require complex chains of
behavior. There is often more than one way to produce a certain
result - like resolving a customer’s issue. Sometimes, ‘wrong’ behavior
produces the right results and ‘right’ behavior produces the wrong
results.
When you observe people at work in organizations you will notice

that their behavioral patterns are a mix of ‘good’, ‘not so good’ and
maybe also ‘undesired/bad’ behaviors. Remember that staff will
typically behave as they are trained to behave and will learn good
behavior from the organizational culture.
Difficulties arise when ‘wrong, bad or undesired’ behaviors become

a habit, or part of the organizational culture. Behaviors cause
consequences and organizations can use that knowledge to adjust
the environment, so people want to produce the desired results, in
the right way.
That means identifying what the right performance is and then adding
positive consequences when people display the desired behaviors.
Similarly, we can add negative consequences to undesired behavior,
or we can remove positive consequences from undesired behavior.
To effectively do that, the organization must:

■ Identify desired results;

■ Identify desired behaviors;
■ Identify appropriate consequences.
6.8.7 The OBM protocol

To guide the learning process for learning and unlearning behaviors
OBM offers a seven-step protocol. The steps are explained in Table 3.
Table 3 OBM 7 Steps
OBM Step Description

1. Pinpoint Pinpointing performance is done in two steps:
performance • Results;
• Behavior that produces the results
Results first, then behaviors; this might seem counter-

intuitive, but without clearly defining desired
results linked to business outcomes, the necessary
behaviors can’t be identified.
2. Measure After pinpointing, collect performance data (for
performance instance, how many of the pinpointed results are
produced in a given time frame?). Once the data is
collected, a baseline is created.
3. Analyze There are two techniques to analyze performance:
performance • The ABC-analysis;
• The consequence analysis.
4. Provide The feedback is very specific. It’s linked to
feedback on performance levels in such a way that the
performance performers will understand what they must do
differently to increase performance. For a more
autonomous team environment, the feedback will
allow team members to see what needs to be done,
without explicit direction.

OBM Step Description

5. Set (sub) goals Improvements are best achieved incrementally. To
understand what levels the pinpointed performance
has to improve, we need to set end-goals and
sub-goals. Setting the end-goals is a management
responsibility. The function of sub-goals is to create

as many possibilities for celebrations and moments
of achievement (quick wins). Every time a sub-goal
has been achieved, this needs to be celebrated.
6. Reinforce To let the pinpointed behavior become a habit, it
desired behavior needs to be reinforced frequently. Reinforcement
increases the frequency of the pinpointed behavior
and thus increases performance. Be aware of these
risks when reinforcing behavior for individuals or
teams:
• ‘Perception error’: the valuable/positive
consequence put in place is not perceived
as positive or valuable by the performer.
Performance does not increase, leading to the
perception that rewarding does not work.
• ‘Contingency error’: where there is no
relationship between performance and reward/
reinforcement. There is a risk here of reinforcing
the wrong behaviors and compromising
performance levels.
7. Evaluate, Every OBM-intervention needs evaluation. When
conclude and the intervention was successful, we can analyze
adjust and explain why it worked. When the desired results
(increased performance, right behaviors) are not
produced we need to check what happened. Was
the pinpoint correct? Was measurement reliable
and accurate? Did we use enough reinforcement
of the proper type? Fixing these issues requires
leadership, strong communication skills and reliable
data.

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PART 2
The VeriSM model
In Part 2 we explore the VeriSM model, and introduce some of the
concepts associated to management of the model.

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7 The VeriSM model
The VeriSM model is a service management operating model for an

organization, which includes (see Figure 8):
■ Governance;
■ Service Management Principles;
■ The Management Mesh.
PROV I DE
CONSUMER DEFI NE PRODUCE

CON S U M E R
Verify Review Improve
RESPOND
MANAGEMENT
MESH
SERVICE
MANAGEMENT
PRINCIPLES
GOVERNANCE
Figure 8 The VeriSM model
The use of an operating model helps organizations optimize processes

and resources, reduce cost, increase value, ensure consistency,
compliance and conformity, and improve decision making. The

design of an operating model is derived from strategy. Conversely,

the organization’s strategy may be influenced by operating model
improvements and changes.
Organizational culture, consumer needs, products and services, and

organizational aspects will influence the design and implementation
of the operating model. Consequently, each organization should
regularly review its operating model to confirm it continues to meet
requirements.
The VeriSM model provides a high-level description of how products

and services are defined, produced and provided within an
organization, without being prescriptive about the low-level activities
carried out or the management practices used.
To support value delivery, the VeriSM model defines several key areas:
■ Governance: the underpinning system of directing and controlling
the activities of an organization.
■ Consumer: provides the requirements for products and services,
receives products and services, gives feedback, and participates
in verify/review/improve activities.
■ Service Management Principles: based on the organizational
governing principles, provides the ‘guardrails’ for the products
and services delivered, addressing areas such as quality and risk.
■ Management Mesh: how an organization combines its resources,
environment and emerging technologies with different
management practices to create and deliver products and
services.
■ Define: design of a solution (product or service) using agreed
requirements.
■ Produce: the creation of the solution (build, test, deploy) ensuring
the outcome meets the needs of the consumer.
■ Provide: the new/changed solution is available for use.

1BuN9bhSpTvVhkU 7 The VeriSM model 65
■ Respond: support the consumer during performance issues,

unexpected occurrences, questions or any other requests.
Within the VeriSM model, Governance and Service Management

Principles will be stable elements, only changing when the needs of

the organization change. The Management Mesh is flexible and can
be adjusted as required for products and services.
Central to the VeriSM model is the relationship with the consumer. The
consumer:
■ Provides the requirements that drive the Define, Produce, Provide
and Respond stages;
■ Receives and consumes the product or service;
■ Provides feedback and potentially updated requirements for
products and services;
■ Identifies improvements for products and services.
Good communication is critical between the provider and consumer.

Without an understanding of what the consumer requires, the service
provider cannot act effectively.


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8 The VeriSM model:

Governance
Governance sets direction, and is an essential component of the

VeriSM model. Within the VeriSM model, the principles of governance
and management are fulfilled via Service Management Principles
and the deployment of the Management Mesh, see Figure 9.
PROVIDE
CO N S U ME R DEFIN E PRO DU C E
CON SU MER
RESPO N D
MANAGEMENT
MESH
SERVICE
MANAGEMENT
PRINCIPLES
GOVERNANCE
Figure 9 The VeriSM model: Governance
From a service management perspective, Governance commu-

nicates the organization’s strategic requirements. Governance
t ranslates requirements into objectives and goals (the ‘Direct’

activity) and then provides a framework of reporting and audits to

assess progress (the ‘Evaluate’ and ‘Monitor’ activities). See Section

2.5 ‘Organizational governance’ and Figure 2 for more information.
Service management incorporates the strategic requirements and

expresses them as Service Management Principles which shape the

Management Mesh and the stages of the VeriSM model. Governance
also cascades through the capability areas that are involved in
product and service development, production and provision.

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The VeriSM model:
9 Service Management
Principles
In the VeriSM model, Service Management Principles are defined at

the organizational, not departmental, level. These principles establish
the boundaries within which product and service teams can work
using progressive management practices.
Management is a set of policies, processes and procedures, that direct

an organization to fulfil the tasks necessary to achieve its objectives,
within the boundaries set by Governance. Within the VeriSM model,
management activities to meet governance objectives are defined
via the Service Management Principles. These principles apply
across all products and services. They act as ‘guardrails’ for the
Management Mesh, which is tailored as required, during the life of a
product or service, see Figure 10.
9.1 BENEFITS OF SERVICE MANAGEMENT

Some benefits of service management include:
■ A consumer focus: needs are known and addressed;
■ A managed set of efficient, effective and economical services
that meet organizational strategy;
■ Repeatable and scalable processes;
■ Consistent results that are measurable and outcome-driven;

P R OV I D E
CO NSU MER DEFINE PRODUCE

CO NS U M E R
RESPOND
MANAGEMENT
MESH
SERVICE
MANAGEMENT
PRINCIPLES
GOVERNANCE
Figure 10 The VeriSM model: Service Management Principles
■ Continual improvement;
■ Defined roles.
Historically, service management principles and practices were

adopted and adapted by the IT department within an organization.
This approach resulted in limited organizational benefits.
VeriSM looks at the entire organization as the service provider -

all parts or capabilities - of the organization working together,
embracing the same service management principles, to deliver
products and services. The IT capability is only one of many
organizational capabilities (for example, HR, finance, sales, marketing,
manufacturing) that must work together and synchronize their efforts
to deliver products and services. All capabilities must partner within
the organizational structure and actively participate in organizational
strategy and planning to achieve the organizational mission and
vision. This benefits both the organization and the consumer. Services
are delivered at the right time, with the right functionality, and at the
right cost.

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9 The VeriSM model: Service Management Principles 71
9.2 EVOLVING SERVICE MANAGEMENT

Looking at products and services from the VeriSM perspective,
limiting service management within an organization to just IT (i.e. IT
Service Management) is too narrow and not productive. All parts of
the organization have a role to play in the delivery of products and

services.
In VeriSM, the IT capability is only one of many organizational

capabilities that must work together to deliver products and services.
The organization, rather than an individual department, is the service
provider and its total capabilities define the ‘quality’ of the services
provided.
Looking at organizational capabilities rather than ‘departments’ also

helps to support sourcing decisions. Some internal capabilities might
be better sourced from an external service provider who specializes
in that area.
9.3 SERVICE MANAGEMENT AND THE VERISM

MODEL
Within the VeriSM model, Service Management Principles apply to
all products and services. These principles provide ‘guardrails’ for
products and services and are based on governance objectives. A
new or changed product or service will meet those objectives. Service
Management Principles are communicated in the organization
through policies.
Each organization will develop its own service management

principles based on its governing principles. These principles define
how the organization wants to perform and indicates what it values.

These principles influence the structure of the Management Mesh.

The Service Management Principles provide the boundaries;
the Management Mesh provides the design, development and
operational options available to the organization. The Management
Mesh allows product and service teams to work in whatever way is

most effective, as long as they remain within the Service Management
Principles.
Some typical areas these principles and associated policies cover

include:
■ Security
■ Regulatory requirements
■ Change
■ Quality
■ Risk
■ Financial
■ Knowledge
■ Continuity.
The Service Management Principles provide the boundaries;

the Management Mesh provides the design, development and
operational options available to the organization. Some principles will
relate to other principles: care must be taken so those interrelationships
are captured within the individual polices.

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10 The VeriSM model:

Management Mesh
Once Governance requirements and Service Management Principles

are defined, organizations can start to build their Management
Mesh. The Management Mesh allows organizations to take a
flexible approach to products and services, using their resources,
management practices, existing environment and emerging (and
current) technologies.
The Management Mesh concept provides the flexibility that is unique

to VeriSM. It provides a method to manage and use the multitude of
frameworks, standards, methodologies, management principles and
philosophies that are present in today’s service management world,
see Figure 11.
The Management Mesh includes the resources, environment,

management practices and emerging technologies available to a
service provider organization as it develops and provides products
and services. Each strand (strain) of the mesh represents one element
and when these elements combine, they create a strong fabric the
provider can use to meet requirements.
Figure 12 shows examples of some of the elements an organization

could consider as part of its Management Mesh. It’s important to

P R OV I D E

CO NS U M E R
RESPOND
MANAGEMENT
MESH
SERVICE
MANAGEMENT
PRINCIPLES
GOVERNANCE
Figure 11 The VeriSM model: Management Mesh
note this figure shows examples of elements that could be part of the
mesh - it’s not an exhaustive list. Not every option shown in the figure
should or even could be used at once.
RESOURCES
People Budget Assets Time Knowledge Others
Others
Containers
Organizational
Culture
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
IoT
Competition
ENVIRONMENT
Big Data
Legislation
Cloud
(processes, metrics, tools)
Service Stabilizers
Automation
Others
ITIL® ISO/IEC 20000 DevOps Project & SIAM Others

COBIT® 5 ISO/IEC 27000 Agile Portfolio
CMMI-SVC® Lean Management
IT4IT
MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
Figure 12 Management Mesh: possible elements

1BuN9bhSpTvVhkU 10 The VeriSM model: Management Mesh 75
Using the Management Mesh supports a focus on providing value to

the consumer as well as provider. Every organization will have their
own Management Mesh, based on their culture and capabilities.
Elements of the Management Mesh

Elements of the Management Mesh are grouped into resources,
emerging technologies, environment and management practices.
Understanding each element of the mesh offers benefit to the
provider and in turn, benefit to the consumer. Each decision within
the mesh will be made, based on requirements and not based on a
technology or management practice.
10.1 RESOURCES
Resources are the elements an organization draws on to create
products and services. Resources may be internal or external to the
organization and can include items such as budget, assets, people
and time.
10.2 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

Technical components like servers, mainframes, or routers, are
resources used to deliver products and services. The emerging
technologies area of the Management Mesh looks at a different,
more strategic area (see Chapter 25 ‘Emerging technologies
and service management’). It focuses on the advances in overall
technologies. As an organization builds its Management Mesh, it
will need to consider the impact of emerging technologies and the
opportunities they create.

10.3 MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

The ability to analyze, evaluate and adopt a combination of
management practices is what makes VeriSM unique and effective.
Traditionally, service provider organizations have adopted a single
methodology or management product, which gives them little

flexibility in their approach. Using VeriSM, organizations can select
and apply a range of management practices to get the outcomes
they need for a product or service, like selecting tools from a toolbox.
The combination of management practices can flex for different

products and services and easily adapt as new management
practices emerge.
10.4 ENVIRONMENT
Organizations need to consider their environment as part of their
Management Mesh. Environmental factors include the competition,
regulations, organizational culture, and service stabilizers (explained
below).
There are several methods that can be used to analyze the

environment as part of an organizational strategic assessment,
including a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) or
a PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technical, Environmental, Legal)
analysis.
10.4.1 Service stabilizers

Service stabilizers are the parts of a service provider environment that
apply to most (if not all) products and services. The service stabilizers
are:
■ Tools, such as service management tools;
■ Processes;
■ Measurements.

As each product or service is built and each time the Management

Mesh is adjusted, the stabilizers are considered as part of the
environment. For example, processes may need to be adjusted,
developed, or retired. Measures may need to be defined or tools
reconfigured.
10.4.2 Processes
Most business activities involve repeated tasks which are executed
with a process. Documenting a process for a repeated task, results
in consistency of execution, enables measurement and assessment,
and provides a baseline for improvement, among other benefits.
A process takes one or more inputs, performs activities on them and

transforms them into one or more outputs. Processes are typically
defined by a process description document, which will normally
include topics such as:
■ The purpose and objectives of the process;
■ The trigger (event) for starting the process;
■ Process activities or steps;
■ Roles and responsibilities;
■ Metrics for the process.
Every process should have an owner. The owner is the single,

accountable role that ensures the process is correctly defined,
executed and reviewed. In larger organizations, process manager
roles might also be part of the organizational structure; these roles
are responsible for the execution of process activities.
Process design
Processes should be documented so they can be shared and used
throughout an organization. A process model is a way of designing
and mapping a process and is very effective when developing a new
process or updating an existing one.

In most organizations, it’s hard to get an end-to-end view of a process.

So, it is important that employees of all levels are involved in process
design and execution. A practical approach is a walkthrough, which
checks if the information collected in the process model represents
what occurs in the workplace.
Process improvement
To promote continuous improvement of processes, they must be
measured through a system of metrics. Metrics should be chosen to
look at the process from various perspectives.
Process analysis identifies improvement points. Processes should have

a clear definition of their scope and the objective to be reached,
depending on the perspective in which the analysis is done: strategic,
tactical or operational. It is essential to have a holistic view of the
process, considering important aspects ranging from efficiency to
compliance and governance.
Process analysis helps organizations understand what a process

is and how it is being performed. The analysis also broadens
the understanding of improvement needs. Process analysis is
fundamental to building and improving process models. It allows
sharing of employees’ perspectives on the process and identifies
points of improvement.
10.4.3 Tools
Good processes need the support of appropriate tools. Tools execute
processes faster than humans and support accurate, consistent and
repeatable execution.
To choose the best tool, the best approach is to design the process first,
so to procure the best ‘matching’ tool. Organizations that purchase

‘boxed’ solutions may not achieve the expected benefits because

they have not properly planned what use is to be made of the tool.
Service management tools

Service management tools are used to control and manage

the service management processes. Core elements of service
management tools include workflow management, managing
change, reporting and dashboards.
Modern advancements in service management tools include better

integration between functions through linking and transferring of
records, automation and user self-help portals.
Automation
Advancement in service management tools allow the automation
of process elements or complete processes. Workflow automation
can be applied to the management of change, issues or requests,
allowing for records and tasks to be automatically assigned, based
on business rules.
Automation highlights the criticality of good process design. Applying

automation to poor process design results in actions that adversely
impact the organization, such as increased cost, rework, loss of
customers, and poor morale.
Reporting and dashboards

Many tools have an integrated reporting capability providing simple
dashboards, process-specific reports or query functionality with out-
of-the-box exporting options available.
In situations where there are multiple tools and sources of data, a

platform- and technology-agnostic reporting and analytics tool

may be required to produce the necessary reports in a consistent,

accurate, reliable and timely fashion.
Selecting a toolset
Selecting a service management toolset should be treated as a

significant decision. It needs to be given the appropriate level of
consideration to ensure the right choice is made and the chosen
toolset will support and underpin the objectives of the organization.
Selecting a toolset can be organized into four stages:

1. Tooling strategy: The strategy should outline the objectives
to be achieved, the processes to be supported, the required
capabilities, and the deployment approach.
2. Requirements definition: The requirements definition depicts what
the final toolset needs to deliver, as well as deployment options
and other costs. The requirements definition should be determined
prior to any tool selection.
3. Vendor assessment: A shortlist of vendors and products to be
assessed are identified based on the tooling strategy. These
vendors should be sent a request for proposal (RFP) to capture
how their product fulfils the stated functionality requirements. A
criterion should be developed to score the responses across these
elements.
4. Selection process: Apply the developed criterion to each element
of the RFP to arrive at an overall score for each vendor/product.
Each element is weighted (considering what is most important to
the organization), scored, and then combined. Using this score,
the most appropriate tool(s) can be identified.
Core functionality for service management tools

■ Managing failure: Service management tools will have a
ticketing and workflow management feature. Ticketing enables
issue recording, capturing mandatory information to support

investigation and resolution. Workflow functionality will be used to

assign the record to the appropriate resource to investigate and
resolve.
■ Managing change: A service management toolset will have the
ability to record and manage change workflows. This feature

ensures the same mandatory information is captured for each type
of change, allowing changes to be categorized according to the
associated risk and impact assessments. Workflow management
enables the approval process as well as the assignment and
management of tasks associated with implementing the approved
change.
■ Self-service: Most service management tools will have a basic
capability for self-service. Many organizations will create self-
service functionality to support the reporting of issues, requests for
information, requests for business items and the support of general
organizational processes.
Benefits of an integrated toolset

A key benefit of an integrated service management toolset is that
as data is entered in one module of the toolset, common data is
immediately populated and the appropriate links are established so
that data is usable by other modules within the toolset. This facilitates
efficient event management, investigation activities, data analytics
and reporting.
10.4.4 Measurement
Why measure?
Service measurement must be about quantifying and qualifying the
outcomes provided by a service, which influences the perception
of value. While measuring the underpinning service elements,
technology or applications are important for the provider managing

a service, such measures alone do not reflect a holistic view of service

measurement.
The value of a service must be viewed from two perspectives (see

Figure 13):
■ The consumer: based on their assessment that the service delivers
the desired outcomes, and is worth the investment to receive that
outcome.
■ The service provider: based on providing consumer value at a cost
and effort that is appropriate for both the consumer and provider.
P ROVID E R
P EO P L E
S ERV I C E P R O C ES S PROCEDURES
T EC H NO LO GY
CO N SU M ER
Figure 13 Measure value for the consumer and the service provider
The following four service measurement considerations help influence

the perception of value, and enable the management of the service:
■ Consumer: What does the service deliver to the consumer? Does
the service meet the requirements of the consumer?
■ Organization: What does the service deliver that enables the
organization to meet its goals?

■ Provider: How does the value from providing the service compare
to the cost of providing the service? Does the service provider
have the sufficient resources? Are supporting processes effective
and efficient?
■ Compliance: What and how does the service ensure that

the organization complies with applicable regulations and
contractual commitments?
Service measurement must be applied to each of these consider-

ations.
The cost of quality

Quality is an essential facet of service measurement, as perceived
quality has considerable bearing on the perceived value. The
provider should define and provide a stated level of quality.
Decisions regarding quality requirements cannot be taken lightly.

Both the consumer and provider must consider the cost of quality
compared to the overall outcomes and value of a service. Higher
levels of quality typically come with increased costs.
Using measurements
Good service measurement provides the following benefits:
■ Enables fact-based decision making;
■ Identifies improvement opportunities;
■ Confirms the performance and value of a service;
■ Brings transparency into service delivery.
What to measure
Service measures should be focused on the outcomes or results from
the delivery of the service.

Many organizations make the mistake of measuring a component of

a service, such as a process or a technology component, and using
that result as a measure of the overall service. While many service
component measures provide useful information, such individual
measures do not necessarily reflect the performance of the service

overall.
Determining what to measure requires the service provider to consider

all perspectives: the consumer, the organization, the provider and
compliance requirements. By considering all perspectives, the service
provider can define and capture an adequate set of measures that
quantify outcomes for each stakeholder.
Specific decisions regarding what to measure must be integrated into

business planning and the subsequent service design and be focused
on goals and objectives. Measurements must be cost-effective,
balanced, adaptable and up-to-date.
Reporting
Good reporting helps both the consumer and the provider determine
if a service is delivering value. Reporting must be relevant, timely and
in the proper context.
The context of the report is primarily determined by the audience

of the report. The specific needs of the target audience must be
considered when producing a report, as the same measurement
information may be reported differently depending upon the
audience.
Reporting requires a purposeful approach to convey service

performance information and an understanding of value. The
following questions help determine what and how to report service
measures:

■ Who is the report for?

■ What is the purpose of the report?
■ What actions will be taken as a result of reviewing the report?
■ Who is accountable for taking such actions?
■ What data is needed?

■ How frequently should the report be generated?
■ What is the media or format of the report?
If these questions cannot be answered, the report may not be

needed.
When to report
For reporting to be effective, it must be timely and done on a regular,
periodic basis. Having the right information, at the right time and
appropriate for use is critical for informed decision making. Table 4
depicts a suggested approach for when and how to report.
Table 4 When and how to report
Report use Frequency Media/Format

Operational Daily/Real time Dashboard
Tactical Monthly Trend report
Strategic Quarterly/Annually Scorecard
Exception reporting can also be triggered at any point by

organizational circumstances.
10.5 BUILDING THE MANAGEMENT MESH

Each organization builds its own Management Mesh, based on the
resources, environment, emerging technologies and management
practices available. The Management Mesh can be simple or
complex depending on the organization or the complexity of the

products and services. Over time, the mesh for an organization will
change as the business evolves to include new ways of working and
add elements as required to fulfil organizational outcomes.
The Management Mesh can only be built once the organizational

governance and Service Management Principles - the boundaries for
the service provider - are understood. Working within those defined
boundaries, the service provider can develop strategic plans to
address consumer requirements. Once the requirements and the
strategic plan are agreed, the Management Mesh is used to organize
and exploit organizational resources, environment factors, emerging
technologies and available management practices. The service
provider will select the best elements based on the requirements to
create tactical and operational plan, see Figure 14.
SERVICE
GOVERNANCE MANAGEMENT
PRINCIPLES
STRATEGIC PLAN &

REQUIREMENTS
MANAGEMENT MESH
TACTICAL PLANS
OPERATIONAL PLANS
Figure 14 Building the Management Mesh
As organizational strategies or consumer requirements change, the

Management Mesh can easily adjust to meet updated strategies and
requirements.

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Define
The Define stage details the requirements for a product or service,

based on an identified and agreed need.
11.1 OBJECTIVE
The Define stage addresses the activities and supporting outcomes
that relate to the design of a product or service, see Figure 15.
Organizational governance and Service Management Principles will
provide ‘guardrails’, ensuring the product or service not only meets
performance requirements but also the requirements for quality,
compliance, security and risk.
P R OV I D E

CO NS U M E R
RESPOND
MANAGEMENT
MESH
SERVICE
MANAGEMENT
PRINCIPLES
GOVERNANCE
Figure 15 The VeriSM model: Define

11.2 ACTIVITIES
The Define stage progresses through these activities:
■ Present proposal / consumer need to the organization;
■ Initial review:
o Identify reuse or repurpose of current services or products;

o Alignment with organizational strategy;
■ Approve or reject proposal;
■ Gather requirements;
■ Create a solution;
■ Produce the Service Blueprint.
CONSUMER REQUIRED SERVICE

SOLUTION
NEED OUTCOME BLUEPRINT
Business case Requirement Components:

approval gathering / Performance Service solution
endorsement engineering specifications design
from Steering
Committee
Sourcing Procurement
Testing Build instructions

requirements Performance
requirements
Prepare plans
(training,
communication,
marketing...)
Figure 16 Define stage activities
The Service Blueprint (see Section 11.6 ‘The Service Blueprint’) will
direct the activities of the Produce stage. The solution design may be
an iterative activity.
11.3 CONSUMER NEED

A consumer need begins as a concept, often defined within a business
case. Approval triggers a set of activities to clarify requirements which

1BuN9bhSpTvVhkU 11 The VeriSM model: Define 89
will be used to eventually create the Service Blueprint. Regardless of

how a concept is presented, decisions and approval for investment
need to be visible and transparent, aligned with governance
requirements.
Over time, consumer needs will change. A key element within the
consumer-provider dynamic is communication. To establish good
working relationships, develop clear two-way communication.
Consumers must define and communicate their needs; the provider
must maintain transparency around their actions to support the
consumer needs.
11.4 REQUIREMENTS GATHERING

There are many methods of gathering requirements that include both
the non-technical and technical aspects of a product or service. The
following requirements and information are typically gathered:
■ Functional and performance requirements;
■ Regulatory and contractual requirements;
■ Information from previous designs;
■ Organizational standards;
■ Potential consequences of failure;
■ Requirements related to Service Management Principles.
Requirements are gathered and refined with stakeholders and

eventually agreed. Before solution creation begins, the cost-value
relationship of the new functionality to the consumer should be
understood.
Any new functionality delivered to the consumer has direct impact to

business value; higher business value typically means higher service
costs.

11.5 CREATE A SOLUTION

Once the requirements have reached a level of understanding and
consensus, plans and policies for the operational aspects of the
new functionality are created. Key elements in the design include
performance and security. These elements are interrelated and they

will play a critical role in the product or service, well beyond the
Design stage. These elements need to meet the organization’s overall
Service Management Principles and could include:
■ Availability
■ Capacity
■ Continuity
■ Security.
These elements collaborate to create a solution design for the new

or changed product or service within the boundaries defined by
Governance and Service Management Principles.
Based on organizational constraints, the Management Mesh used

to develop or improve a service will differ between organizations
and between products and services. The Management Mesh may
differ on a service-by-service basis within the same organization
because of the requirements. There is no one-size-fits-all solution
- the solution and how it is developed and delivered will always be
based on the organizational capabilities, environment, technologies,
management practices and service management principles.
A full design will consider and address areas including:

■ Risk;
■ People;
■ Supply chain or network;
■ Facilities, infrastructure and technology;
■ How transactions occur and the resulting outcome (deliverable);
■ Metrics;

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■ Knowledge capture;
■ Support processes and procedures.
These details form the Service Blueprint. Depending on the structure

of the Management Mesh and the management practices selected,

the design may range from incremental improvements to delivery of
full functionality.
All areas addressed in the design will be monitored following

deployment:
■ To ensure the agreed performance parameters are met;
■ To improve, if necessary, the techniques used to create the design.
This data becomes the foundation for measurement and reporting

and creates transparency for well-informed service delivery.
11.6 THE SERVICE BLUEPRINT

The Service Blueprint is the result of the provider’s efforts to plan
for a product or service to fulfil the needs of the consumer, as
defined by the requirements. This product or service should meet
the agreed requirements and the Service Management Principles
for quality, security, risk mitigation and compliance. The blueprint
details design specifications including service components, testing
requirements, performance requirements, implementation strategy,
communication plan, training requirements, and early life support
specifications/support services.
The Service Blueprint becomes the guiding document for the Produce
stage, as well as a historical record of the service.


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Produce
The activities of the Produce stage results in a new or updated

product or service.
12.1 OBJECTIVE
The Produce stage takes the Service Blueprint and performs build,
test, and implement and review activities, under the management of
change control, see Figure 17.
PROVIDE
CON SU MER
RESPO N D
MANAGEMENT
MESH
SERVICE
MANAGEMENT
PRINCIPLES
GOVERNANCE
Figure 17 The VeriSM model: Produce

12.2 ACTIVITIES
Key outcomes of the Produce stage are:
■ Transformation of the Service Blueprint created during the Define
stage into physical products and services;
■ Assurance that the agreed levels of functionality and performance

are achieved;
■ Necessary security controls are in place;
■ Risk is understood and mitigated.
These outcomes are managed and coordinated through change

control and the activities of build, test, implement & validate, see
Figure 18.
C H A N G E CONTROL
IMPLEMENT
BUILD TEST
& VALIDATE
Blueprint Test Release

requirements models
performance
Assemble the parameters
service Implement
Test results deployment
& sign off plan
Figure 18 Produce stage activities
12.3 CHANGE CONTROL

The underpinning management activity of this stage is controlling
change. Change, defined as adding, moving, modifying or removing
all or part of a product or service, is inevitable in a service organization.
Change has inherent risks. How well the service provider understands

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risk and controls the change impacts the initial and ongoing success
of that change.
There are a variety of change management practices in use today.

Regardless of the management practices in use, fundamental

change control principles are still valid. Not all approaches are
appropriate for all situations. Service Management Principles, the
Management Mesh and consumer requirements will guide the
change control activities.
At the most basic level, consider these activities for controlling

change:
■ Record changes - considerations:
o What is being changed;
o Impact to other in-place elements;
■ Plan changes - considerations:
o Business calendar;
o Resource availability;
o Communications;
■ Approve changes - considerations:
o Include appropriate stakeholders;
o Use appropriate approval mechanisms;
■ Review changes - considerations:
o Was the change successful?
o Were objectives achieved?
o Lessons to be learned?
As part of change control, organizations should consider these areas:

■ Understand risks;
■ Have the ability to reverse or repair changes;
■ Prior to deploying a change, require a defined level of readiness.

12.4 BUILD
Using the specifications from the Service Blueprint, the new service
or product and supporting systems are physically created. Most
services will require some sort of supply chain for the procurement
and delivery of components - from specific pieces of technology to

entire services provided by other agencies. The managing service
provider will need to coordinate the acquisition of those elements
and potentially act as a service integrator (see Chapter 19 ‘Service
Integration and Management (SIAM)’). Service providers may find
that having checklists and structured plans are useful.
Build activities should include:

■ Procure and receive necessary components;
o Capture the component details for tracking and asset control;
■ Ensure the readiness of all affected organizational capabilities;
■ Build the service based on the Service Blueprint.
12.5 TEST
During test activity, the product or service is evaluated according to
the Service Blueprint. Tests should cover a variety of circumstances
and will be based on organizational governance.
Each organizational capability should provide input to what tests are

developed and how tests are developed and executed, along with
expected results.
A primary outcome from testing is understanding risk - what risks are

evident and whether the design has effectively mitigated the risks.
Before the changed product or service is deployed for use, these
results are reviewed and either deemed acceptable or rejected.
Rejected changes may go back for re-design, undergo investigation

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for the cause of the failed test or be abandoned. This decision will
require consumer agreement.
12.6 IMPLEMENT AND REVIEW

Once testing requirements have been met, the change to or the
complete product or service will be implemented according to the
agreed timeframes, requirements, impact and other factors.
Following implementation, a review is conducted. The purpose of the

review is to:
■ Confirm functionality and performance of the service or product.
■ Identify and implement improvements to Produce activities or
controls.


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Provide
The Provide stage includes the day-to-day activities that keep the
product or service running, as well as the marketing a service provider
carries out.
13.1 OBJECTIVE
In the Provide stage, the product or service is available for consump-
tion. The service provider needs to regularly and periodically measure
performance to ensure the product or service meets the agreed
performance and conformance requirements. After reviewing the
measurements, the provider will continue with ongoing activities to
promote, protect, maintain and, if needed, improve the service.
The Produce stage applies the Service Management Principles of

security, availability, capacity, and continuity. During the Provide
stage, the service provider ensures the product or service remains
protected and available for consumption as agreed.

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100 VeriSM™ - A Pocket Guide
P ROV I D E
CO N SU MER DEFINE P RO D U C E
CON S U M E R
RE S P O N D
MANAGEMENT
MESH
SERVICE
MANAGEMENT
PRINCIPLES
GOVERNANCE
Figure 19 The VeriSM model: Provide
13.2 ACTIVITIES
The Provide stage includes these activities:
■ Protect: activities that address security needs, risk mitigation,
continuity planning.
■ Measure and maintain: activities which ensure availability and
performance remain within agreed thresholds and targets.
■ Improve: maintenance and improvement activities.
M AR KET ING
Measure
Protect Improve
& Maintain
Policies:
Stakeholder New
Security, Risk,
reports requirements
Continuity
Figure 20 Provide stage activities

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13.3 MARKETING AND PROMOTION

Marketing and promotion underpins the Provide activities. Service
providers must ensure that both the organization’s capabilities and
service consumers are well-informed about products and services.
VeriSM is built on the relationships between capabilities. Good

communication, internal marketing and promotion are critical for
success.
13.3.1 Marketing
Marketing includes activities to determine consumer needs and
communicating the organization’s services and products that meet
those needs. Marketing is not just advertising campaigns, but includes
market research, analysis, planning, promotion and branding.
Successful marketing should result in increased revenue (or demand)
for the service provider organization.
Market research
Market research involves the activities associated with gathering and
recording data associated with consumer demand for products and
services, providing support for marketing decisions.
Market research activities involve analysis of:

■ The competition:
o Products, services, and market spaces where the organization
competes;
o Pricing strategies;
■ The service provider:
o Obtain feedback on products and services;
o Gauge consumer reaction to proposed products and services.

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Market planning
Using information gathered from market research, market planning
determines the marketing objectives, market segments, key messages
and key communication channels that might be exploited.
The market plan should assess the current state from market research
results, define future state marketing objectives, and develop
strategies for how those objectives will be achieved. Plans should
be detailed enough to describe the resources to be used, channel
preparation activities, locations and timing for marketing events. The
plan is a living document and is updated as needed.
13.3.2 Promotion
Promotion includes how consumers will be informed about the
organization’s products and services. The objectives of promotion
include:
■ Attracting consumers who will create demand for the products
and services;
■ Getting existing consumers to use more products and services;
■ Educating consumers and changing their perceptions where
necessary.
Promotional plans
Promotional plans are developed after the marketing plan is
developed. These plans should include:
■ Descriptions of the products and services;
■ Market segments and target audiences;
■ Marketing campaign details, such as methods, channels and
measures.
Communication channels
Consumer messaging can utilize many channels, ranging from
brochures, posters, internet, social media, trade shows and others.

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When developing a promotion strategy, plan for which commu-

nication channels will be most effective in which circumstances.
Promotion costs must be balanced against expected benefits.
Promotional event process

The approach shown in Figure 21 provides some guidelines to consider
as promotional events are developed.
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4
ATTRACT DEVELOP CULTIVATE ENCOURAGE

ATTENTION INTEREST DESIRE ACTION
Figure 21 Steps in promotional development
1. Attract attention: Messaging that quickly grabs the attention of

the consumer.
2. Develop interest: Transform consumer attention into genuine
interest, focusing on how consumers will benefit from products or
services.
3. Cultivate desire: Consumers perceive the value of the product or
service, and need it now.
4. Encourage action: Invite the consumer to take actions to obtain
the product or service.
13.3.3 Branding
Branding is a common and consistent image for the organization and
its products and services. Once created, a brand should be used on
all promotions and campaigns so that a positive perception of the
organization’s products and services is triggered immediately.
13.4 PROTECT
Protect activities include the management of risk as well as the
measures taken to ensure continued delivery of services. Protect

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tasks are mostly invisible to the consumer. However, the consumer

is responsible for complying with the organizational security policy
when consuming products and services.
13.5 MAINTAIN
Day-to-day operational activities of any organizational capability
have a focus on maintaining continual, as-agreed performance.
The focus areas of Maintain include:

■ Infrastructure;
■ Information;
■ Staff;
■ Physical and logical assets used to deliver services;
■ Improvement opportunities.

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Respond
Respond activities manage direct interactions between the service

provider and their consumers.
14.1 OBJECTIVE
As part of service provision, the service provider will have regular
interactions with its consumers. In the Respond stage, the provider
reacts to service issues, inquiries and requests from the consumer;
PROVIDE
CON SU MER
RESPO N D
MANAGEMENT
MESH
SERVICE
MANAGEMENT
PRINCIPLES
GOVERNANCE
Figure 22 The VeriSM model: Respond

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and sometimes interacts with people who are not consumers (for
example, interactions with people via social media), see Figure 22.
Consistency is an important part of the Respond activities. Consumers

should know what to expect; the experience should not vary widely
from contact to contact.
14.2 ACTIVITIES
The most critical Respond activity is recording interactions, see
Figure 23. To enable efficient actions, keep Respond activities simple:
■ Define a single point of contact with multiple entry channels for
use by both internal staff and consumers for accessing help.
■ Record means keep a record. This is an integral part of capturing
information for quality service provisioning. It is a reminder to
respond to the inquiry, complaint or other issue.
■ Manage the response and record how it was handled while
keeping the consumer informed.
S E RV I CE CULT URE
RECORD MANAGE
Single POC Resolve

owner the issue
CUS TO M E R SAT I S FACT I O N
Figure 23 Respond stage activities
The Respond stage is underpinned by good customer service and

a service culture. The ability of the service provider to respond to

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different events will affect the consumer’s ability to use products and
services. The events to consider include:
■ Requests: inquiries for information, help, complaints or other
queries;
■ Issues: when something is not working as expected, or the

consumer cannot successfully use the service;
■ Source events: understanding “why” an issue is happening.
14.3 REQUESTS
The service provider needs to be prepared to answer consumer
q uestions about the services they receive or requests for new services
or additional functionality. The customer experience must be kept
in mind, regardless whether these requests are handled by an auto-
mated mechanism or person-to-person contact.
Consider these concepts:

■ Is the system to document requests simple and clear?
■ Are all requests reviewed/evaluated for entitlement?
■ Are requests fulfilled within agreed timeframes with status updates
communicated?
■ Are required workflows and authorization points defined?
■ Is requestor consent required to close or escalate the request?
Some examples of requests include:

■ Information request;
■ Request for routine work or standard items;
■ Access to services;
■ Complaints;
■ Compliments;
■ General comments.

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Too often, organizations handle requests and failures (see ‘issues’

below) in the same manner. While this might seem expedient, these
two events need to be distinguishable from each other, as they have
different impacts to both the consumer and the service provider.
Issues result in unplanned effort within the service provider, while

requests provide an indication of demand on the service provider.
14.4 ISSUES
When something doesn’t perform as expected or as agreed, or when
it is perceived by the consumer that performance isn’t as expected or
agreed, it’s considered to be an issue. Issues can originate anywhere
- a consumer or a colleague can report an issue or monitoring may
produce a warning about the performance of some component.
All issues should be recorded and handled with an appropriate

priority (based on criticality), with the focus on allowing the consumer
to use the product or service. The type of record will depend on the
needs of the organization.
When issues are linked to the same source event, then the
corresponding records should also be linked.
14.5 SOURCE EVENTS

A source event can be defined as the underlying cause or potential
cause of some issue. Finding a source event answers the question of
why an issue has occurred or may occur.
An issue and its source event are two different things: the same issue
may occur repeatedly, with each occurrence resulting in a restoration
of the service.

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Based on some defined criteria, an investigation is performed as to

the cause (or causes) of the issue. This cause is the ‘source event’.
With issues, the focus is on speedy resolution for the consumer. With
a series of linked issues, the focus switches to finding the cause(s),

identifying mitigating actions to prevent the issue from reoccurring,
and determining whether it is justified to resolve it.
A record regarding a source event might be opened when:

■ The cause of the issue is known but can’t be fixed immediately;
■ The cause of the issue is unknown;
■ Something is clearly broken;
■ There is a suspicion something is wrong.
Mature organizations will proactively seek out potential issues and

resolve them before they impact service delivery.
14.6 RECORD
Each occurrence of a contact should be recorded. Upon becoming
aware of an event - a request, issue, or source event - the provider
should capture a set of information. The details captured are the basis
for measurements and reporting, historical records, trend analysis,
improvements and decision making. Information could include:
■ Contact details of the person reporting the event;
■ Description of the event;
■ Actions to investigate and resolve the event.
Only capture information that will be used. All information has a

defined value to the provider and the consumer. Information is not
free - there is a cost to collect and maintain it and there may be data
protection or regulatory considerations.

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Each record should have an owner. Ownership ensures it is managed

as agreed and establishes a point of contact for any questions.
Organizations need to define an approach to ownership that provides
the consumer with confidence, but also reflects staffing levels and
work schedules of the service provider.
14.7 MANAGE
Interactions can be managed directly or indirectly by the provider -
depending on the organization. Most will provide a service desk to
allow consumers to contact service provider staff for assistance.
With the immediacy of information and evolving consumer

expectations, support structures are adapting to include self-service,
self-healing, peer-to-peer support, and others. For most service
providers, the need to provide live support may never go away, due
to consumer preference, or cost.
An important component of the manage activity is transparency. To

ensure transparency, communicate to the consumer:
■ Timeframe: expected resolution time;
■ Status: update the consumer about the ongoing activities and
when the issue is considered resolved.
Once the event is resolved, it is always good to go back to the

consumer and confirm satisfaction with the resolution, as well as
the actions taken to resolve the issue. This is a critical activity for the
provider.
Satisfaction measurements often come via surveys or interviews.

Unless properly written, surveys can be biased. A method to avoid
bias is to capture satisfaction information with a single open-ended
question, like “Did we meet your expectation today?” and then
follow-up as quickly as possible.

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15 Adapting
the VeriSM model
VeriSM offers a way for organizations to exploit a variety of

management practices, emerging technologies, and their
environment and resources to create the most value for themselves
and their consumers. VeriSM is not a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
15.1 SELECTING MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

A service provider organization will typically have existing
management practices in place. Any new management practices
that are adopted need to be integrated into its operating model, and
not adopted in isolation.
Selecting which management practices to use as part of the

Management Mesh should be based on the overall organizational
strategy and requirements and after identifying which practices best
serve them.
Figure 24 shows the high-level process for adapting the VeriSM model.
The approach for selection should examine the organization’s

current state to determine if existing practices and capabilities will
meet desired outcomes. If not, then identify the situational issues or

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ESTABLISH
SELECT AND CREATE A
GOVERNANCE
INTEGRATE A SET RESPONSIVE
AND SERVICE
OF MANAGEMENT OPERATING
MANAGEMENT
PRACTICES MODEL
PRINCIPLES
Figure 24 Adapting the VeriSM model
capability gaps and select an appropriate management practice.

Each of the management practices will address one or more key
objectives.
15.1.1 Integrating management practices

A single management practice will not solve all the needs of the
provider organization. A provider organization may choose different
management practices to meet the demands of the organization.
Usually, there will be several practices chosen to address different
areas. It is critical to ensure that all selected practices work together
and complement each other.
Some guiding principles for integrating progressive practices:

■ Ensure that any specialist staff are part of a capability area, and
not independent silos that report to different sets of management.
■ Set a clear scope for each practice that identifies how it interfaces
to other practices.
■ Make work visible across all practice areas.
■ Employ cross-skilling across the different practices chosen.
■ Use the Management Mesh as a means for managing all the
practices, resources, environments and emerging technologies
that are in place.

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15.1.2 Escaping silos

Service management represents the ability of a service provider to
integrate its capabilities to deliver value and outcomes in the form
of services. Progressive organizations have come to realize that to
be effective as a service provider, the capabilities and practices of

the entire organization must be considered holistically to provide
outcomes that create value.
Each value stream within an organization is enabled or supported by

one or more services delivered and supported by the organization’s
capabilities. The various capabilities within an organization must work
seamlessly together so that services deliver the outcomes required
by a value stream. Management practices enable a consistent
and repeatable approach to the delivery and support of services
produced by an organization.
A service provider must shift from viewing itself (and acting) as a

collection of siloed capabilities into an organization of integrated
capabilities and practices that work together as part of service
management. For many organizations, this represents a significant
change in how the organization conducts itself, and requires a
thoughtful approach to organizing as a service provider.
15.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL OPERATING

MODELS
Getting any organization to adopt and use a new model will always
present special challenges. Staff within organizational capabilities
have their own perceptions, ideas and values. These can lead to
resistance, slow adoption or simply being stuck and unable to move.

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Listed below are some common success factors for transitioning to

new operating models:
■ Organizational change management: use a formal program to
expose stakeholders to preferred (future) operating states and
break down resistance to change.

■ Executive sponsorship: senior executives need to be seen leading
and championing a common vision of the future state.
■ Engagement: provide many opportunities for people to engage
and buy-in.
■ Enablement: ensure all related systems support the new operating
state.
■ Measurements: ensure clear success measures and reporting are
in place.
15.3 MEASURING THE PERFORMANCE OF AN

OPERATING MODEL
Measuring performance is key to understanding how an operating
model is working. Organizations and operating models are complex
and cannot be designed perfectly. Even if perfection is reached,
the world in which the organization or model operates will change,
creating a need for adjustment.
To understand how the operating model is doing, the model’s

performance must be measured. When measuring performance,
there are two types of measurement to observe:
■ Lagging indicators: measure the result of an activity and are
‘output’ oriented. Lagging indicators are usually easy to measure,
but can be hard to influence and improve.
■ Leading indicators: are ‘input’ oriented. They can be hard to
measure, but are easier to influence. Leading indicators are
focused on future performance.

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Those measuring performance must have a good definition of both

types of indicators. Understanding how leading indicators impact
lagging indicators is particularly important.
Visualization is an effective means of making measurements part of

daily work. Making the measurements visible to the team lets them
understand and contribute to their definition, as well as react to
unsatisfactory performance. Teams should meet at least weekly to
discuss the indicators for their team. All team members should take
part in the analysis of and decision about any corrective actions.
The indicators to measure in an operating model need to be

determined so that they cover the entire model. The indicators can
be broken down from the top of the organization to the team and
individual level. This will ensure that everybody has the same idea
of how things are going. Visualizing and sharing measurement
information can lead to enhanced employee ownership and
empowerment. Information can flow up the organization’s hierarchy
from department and team level discussions of aggregated
indicators, and flow down from senior management and strategy
meetings. The level of detail or measurement aggregation needs to
be appropriate for the audience.
15.4 CONTINUAL ADAPTATION

Over time, current practices will become obsolete and new practices
will emerge. An effective service provider organization will review the
management practice landscape regularly to identify any relevant
changes. If new practices emerge that will benefit the service
provider organization, the Management Mesh will be updated.

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PART 3
Management practices and
emerging technologies
In this Part 3 we introduce some of the newer management
practices. VeriSM enables a cohesive approach to their use. We
also consider the emerging technologies that an organization
might assess as part of its Management Mesh.
Each service provider will need to update its knowledge as new

management practices and technologies enter their market.

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16 Progressive
management practices
Recent years have seen new management practices arise, in

response to emerging technologies, digital transformation and
increased expectations from consumers. Service providers often feel
they are being asked to do more, faster and for less investment.
In the following chapters, some progressive management practices

are introduced that have recently emerged, been widely adopted,
or have originated in another sector (for instance, manufacturing).
This list is not meant to be exhaustive. Not every practice will be

relevant for every organization and consideration should be given
to any practice added to an organization’s Management Mesh. Just
because others are doing it, doesn’t mean your organization should!

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17 Agile
Agile isn’t a single framework or standard and it’s not just for software
development any more. Agile is more about perspective, rather than
prescription; think about Agile as a mindset.
17.1 WHAT IS AGILE?

Agile includes the ability to move quickly and be well-coordinated. An
agile organization would be fast moving, flexible and robust, capable
of rapid responses to challenges, events and opportunities. Agile is
a powerful tool for product and service development. Dealing with
many common development issues, Agile reorganizes the activities
involved in development, achieving the same objectives in a leaner
and more business-focused way.
Close collaboration between capability areas makes sure that the

product or service delivers what is wanted - which is not necessarily
what was first asked for. The use of small, self-organizing teams ensures
the message doesn’t get lost and value can be delivered quickly.
Teams adopt an ‘inspect and adapt’ attitude, incorporating learning
into their work.

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Frequent delivery of products and services in small increments means

that changes to requirements can easily be incorporated and the
solution adapted based on feedback. Central to an Agile mindset is
the acceptance that change is inevitable - and even embracing it is
an opportunity to better meet customer needs.
17.2 KEY CONCEPTS
17.2.1 Agile Manifesto

Figure 25 shows the core message of the Agile Manifesto.
WE VALU E
Individuals Processes
and interactions and tools
Working Comprehensive
software documentation
OVER
Customer Contract
collaboration negotiations
Responding Following
to change a plan
Figure 25 The Agile Manifesto
It’s important to look at the wording of the manifesto. It says that there
is value in the items on the right, but emphasizes the value of the items
on the left more. The manifesto encourages organizations to find a
balance between these, valuing results more than artifacts; in other
words, outcomes, rather than outputs.

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17.2.2 Agile values and principles

As shown in Figure 26, there are four values and 12 principles
documented in the Agile Manifesto. These form the core foundation
for how Agile works and operates.
INDIVIDUALS AND INTERACTIONS

Satisfy the customer
Changing requirements
PROCESSES AND TOOLS
Deliver frequently
Work together daily

WORKING SOFTWARE
Motivated individuals
COMPREHENSIVE DOCUMENTATION Face-to-face communication
CUSTOMER COLLABORATION
Progress measured by working software
Sustainable activities, consistent pace
CONTRACT NEGOTIATION
Continuous attention
Simplicity
RESPONDING TO CHANGE
Self-organizing teams
FOLLOWING A PLAN
Regular team reflection
Figure 26 Agile values and principles
17.2.3 Agile mindset

Agile values and principles are used to develop the Agile mindset,
also referred to as a growth mindset. This is different from a fixed
mindset, and focusses on:
■ Failing fast;
■ Embracing challenges;
■ Continual improvement;
■ Evolving the plan based on continual feedback.
17.2.4 Sprints
A sprint is a time-boxed iteration of work during which an increment of
functionality is developed and implemented. Sprints are typically two
to four weeks long, but can be as short as one week.

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17.2.5 Product backlog

A product backlog is a list of all requirements, documented as
backlog items. The product owner is responsible for prioritizing the
items in the list, moving them from the backlog into a sprint.
17.3 AGILE BENEFITS

Agile attempts to reduce delays caused by changing requirements,
by producing solutions in cycles of small increments, quickly getting
feedback and evolving the solution in response.
17.4 AGILE CHALLENGES

Organizations may find some challenges when adopting and using
Agile as a management practice. These can include keeping teams
focused and ensuring that planned backlog tasks do not drift into
out-of-scope work, or maintaining the commitment and participation
of stakeholders.
17.5 AGILE AND SERVICE MANAGEMENT

The relationship between Agile and effective service management
includes:
■ Use of Agile practices to build products and services iteratively,
delivering greater consumer satisfaction and increasing
transparency between consumer and provider;
■ Use of Agile practices to continually improve services by
maintaining a backlog of improvements and implementing these
in sprints;
■ Use of Agile to develop practices, processes and ways of
working iteratively and incrementally, so the organization has just
enough control and structure - often referred to as Agile Service
Management;

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■ Using an Agile mindset to create a service management structure

of cross-functional teams, replacing siloed processes or provider
teams.
Agile Service Management (Agile SM) ensures that service

management processes reflect Agile values and are designed so that
they provide ‘just enough’ control and structure to effectively and
efficiently deliver services that facilitate customer outcomes when
and how they are needed6.
17.6 AGILE VARIANT PRACTICES

■ Scrum: Scrum is an iterative and incremental Agile framework for
completing complex projects. Scrum is the most prominent of the
Agile frameworks but Agile thinking goes beyond Scrum practices.
■ Scaled Agile Framework ® (SAFe ®): The Scaled Agile Framework
is a publicly available framework that integrates Lean and Agile
thinking and focuses on iterative and incremental development,
product development flow and Lean thinking at an enterprise
scale.
■ DAD (Disciplined Agile Delivery): DAD is a process decision
framework which provides a more comprehensive approach
to Agile solution delivery. The goal of DAD is to provide a single
framework that takes the best of many practices and protects
solution teams from the efforts of having to use these individually
and combine themselves.
■ Extreme Programming (XP): Extreme programming is best
considered as Agile specifically for software development.
6 Jayne Groll, (2015, March 17). The Agile Service Management Guide
[Online]. Available: www.itsmacademy.com/content/Agile%20
Service%20Management%20Guide%20V1%20031715.pdf [2017, August].

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18 DevOps
DevOps is a culture and practice that emphasizes the collaboration

of software developers (Dev) and IT Operations (Ops) to allow for
rapid, frequent and safe build, test and release of reliable solutions.
18.1 WHAT IS DEVOPS?

The main objective of DevOps is to release software much faster and
accomplish this with fewer errors and disruption. DevOps introduces
the concept of cross-functional teams who ‘own’ a product or service
throughout all stages.
Within the VeriSM model, DevOps works within the Produce area to
increase velocity across build, test, deploy and provide activities.
Feedback from the Provide and Respond stages will be an input into
the iterations and improvements of the deployed software.
Traditionally, Operations’ need for stability and control clashes with

Development’s desire to get a product out quickly and adapt to
rapid business changes. All of this creates unplanned delays, re-work
and unexpected costs. DevOps introduces an approach to this
through collaboration between development, quality assurance and

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operational teams. Through this approach, delays are minimal since

all three teams work on releases together.
To make this all work even more effectively, DevOps promotes the use
of other progressive practices:

■ Continuous testing;
■ Continuous delivery;
■ Automation for velocity;
■ Agile.
These practices are described in more detail in other chapters in this

pocket guide.
18.2 KEY CONCEPTS
18.2.1 DevOps values

The DevOps values help build a common culture. These values have
an acronym, CALMS: Culture, Automation, Lean, Measurement and
Sharing.
18.2.2 The three ways of DevOps

The three ways of DevOps describe the core philosophies of DevOps.
They are:
■ The First Way: Flow and Systems Thinking
Organizations need to understand and increase the flow of
work. The First Way describes the flow of work from idea through
production.
■ The Second Way: Feedback
Organizations need to create shorter feedback loops that enable
continuous improvement.

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■ The Third Way: Continuous Experimentation and Learning

Organizations need to create a culture that fosters experimentation,
with a willingness to take risks and learn from failure.
18.2.3 Continuous testing

With continuous testing, an automated test facility is available in
which changes are made at any time. If the test fails, the change
gets passed back for remediation. If it succeeds, then it automatically
gets promoted for release.
18.2.4 Continuous delivery

DevOps aims to use automation to perform deployment tasks.
These can include managing versions, acceptance tests, creating
code deployment packages, scheduling and distributing software
packages.
With continuous release and delivery, these functions are automated.

See Chapter 23 ‘Continuous delivery’ for more information.
18.2.5 Automation for velocity

A key practice for DevOps is to automate the flow of deployment
activities to the greatest extent possible. Automation eliminates
human error; it operates much faster and it enforces deployment
processes and working standards.
Areas of automation are continually being addressed by suppliers.

Many of the available tools are evolving into development suites that
integrate to support DevOps initiatives - also referred to as Application
Lifecycle Management (ALM) tools.
18.2.6 Infrastructure as Code

Using Infrastructure as Code (sometimes called Declarative
Configuration Management), configuration information is compiled

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and executed like code to automate the build and provisioning of

the environment.
18.3 DEVOPS BENEFITS

A key objective of DevOps is to increase value by developing solutions
in an Agile manner, to continuously deliver products that satisfy
consumer needs, in a timely way. Key benefits inherent with the use of
DevOps practices can include:
■ Shorter development cycles;
■ Shorter release cycles;
■ Reduction in failures;
■ Reduced deployment failures;
■ Improved innovation;
■ Lower operating costs.
18.4 DEVOPS CHALLENGES

DevOps stresses a focus on culture. A key DevOps challenge is getting
the organization to recognize adopting a DevOps culture is more
important than implementing tools and automation capabilities.
Another is overcoming the mistaken belief DevOps can be used to
eliminate IT operations (sometimes referred to as NoOps).
18.5 DEVOPS VARIANT PRACTICES
18.5.1 Rugged DevOps

Rugged DevOps’ main goal is to include security in DevOps practices
and solutions. Security vulnerabilities are viewed as defects affecting
the stability of the product or service.

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18.5.2 DevSecOps
DevSecOps combines traditional DevOps approaches with an
integrated approach to security that spans the entire security
lifecycle. While Rugged DevOps has a primary focus on the software
development aspects, DevSecOps focuses on the entire production

pipeline and focuses on a more comprehensive set of security checks
and controls.
Secure service delivery starts at the earliest point and it is based on

the principle that everyone is responsible for security. DevSecOps
uses ‘Shift Left’ thinking (see Chapter 21 ‘Shift Left’); identifying and
resolving issues early in the delivery pipeline.
18.5.3 ChatOps
ChatOps is a communication approach that supports collaboration
and helps teams work together in a single, often virtual, chat room.
It supports conversation-driven development, delivery and support
and helps to shorten feedback loops.
18.6 DEVOPS AND SERVICE MANAGEMENT

DevOps can advance service management practices by shifting
them left, making them leaner and automating service management
tasks and activities.
Service management in general can benefit from applying DevOps

concepts and approaches. A widespread problem for operations
teams is integrating with development teams. The operational
focus is often on checklist items required before deployment, while
development teams may be engaged in design, build, test or
other tasks and could view those items as distractions, that are not
addressed until deployment.

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Development and operations need to integrate all their activities

so the full lifecycle set of activities can be done together. DevOps
practices, principles and tools are then used with Lean and
automated approaches wherever possible.

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19 Service Integration and

Management (SIAM ®)
Service Integration and Management (SIAM) has developed as

a management practice to lower costs and increase value when
working with multiple service providers.
19.1 WHAT IS SERVICE INTEGRATION AND

MANAGEMENT (SIAM)?
SIAM is a management methodology defining a set of principles,
practices and approaches used to manage, integrate, govern, and
coordinate the delivery of services from multiple service providers.
SIAM introduces the concept of a service integrator, to provide a

single, impartial point of contact to manage the use, performance
and delivery of services.
There are three layers in a SIAM ecosystem, see Figure 27:

1. Customer organization (including retained capabilities);
2. Service integrator;
3. Service provider(s).

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BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS

UNIT UNIT UNIT UNIT UNIT
service service service service service

consumer 1 consumer 2 consumer 3 consumer 4 consumer 5
Retained
C US TO M E R O R G ANIZ ATIO N
capabilities
S E RV IC E INT EG RATO R
INTERNAL INTERNAL EXTERNAL EXTERNAL EXTERNAL
service service service service service

provider 1 provider 2 provider 1 provider 2 provider 3
Figure 27 A SIAM ecosystem
The service integrator layer focuses on implementing a cross-service

provider organization, making sure that all service providers are
contributing to the end-to-end service.
The service integrator layer can be provided by one or more

organizations, including the customer organization. If the service
integrator layer is provided by more than one organization, it still acts
as a single logical service integrator.
19.2 KEY CONCEPTS
19.2.1 Service broker

A service broker gives its clients access to different products and
services via a single point of contact. For example, a training broker
can work with an organization to give them access to many different

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training courses. The training broker doesn’t deliver any of the courses,
but it sources them, offers advice, undertakes research and manages
logistics on their client’s behalf.
In the future, the role of IT may be that of service broker. IT will not
have hundreds of pieces of technology equipment, have large
teams of technical staff, or even staff the service desk, but it will be
able to manage asynchronous, loosely coupled services in which
components work together.
Service brokers play a crucial role in helping an organization deliver

its business outcomes as the challenges of successful delivery are
greater when there are multiple service providers.
19.2.2 Outsourcing
Outsourcing allows organizations to focus on their core business while
taking advantage of specialist services from others. Outsourcing can
deliver many benefits for the customer organization, including lower
costs, savings in time and access to higher levels of skill/experience
leading to increased efficiency and productivity in non-core business
processes.
However, there are also some challenges and disadvantages,

including getting locked into contracts that don’t meet the needs or
the potential threat to security and confidentiality through sharing
business information.
19.3 SIAM VARIANT PRACTICES

Some organizations enter a purchasing agreement referred to as
‘prime vendor’. This is an agreement in which the organization agrees
to purchase certain products and services only via the prime vendor.
The prime vendor acts as a broker on behalf of the commissioning

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organization, sourcing services from multiple, sub-contracted

suppliers.
19.4 SIAM BENEFITS

Key benefits for SIAM are the single point of integration - having a
single source for contract management, delivery and execution
across many service providers. This allows organizations to quickly
build capabilities, decreases time to market and lower costs for
services.
19.5 SIAM CHALLENGES

Some of the challenges with using SIAM are recognizing that the
commissioning organization isn’t delegating all its responsibilities, but
needs to maintain an active role. Another is with regards to potential
loss of knowledge about, and control of, services.
19.6 SIAM AND SERVICE MANAGEMENT

SIAM is underpinned by many service management processes and
practices. Adopting SIAM can allow organizations to benefit from
using multiple suppliers. The commissioning organization needs to
consider if it will be able to manage the performance of suppliers and
understand the overhead of doing so (this being the sourcing effort
as well as the ongoing knowledge and capabilities required to do so).

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20 Lean
Lean refocuses organizational management by optimizing disparate

technologies, productivity of employees, assets and functional silos.
20.1 WHAT IS LEAN?

The goal of Lean management is to maximize consumer value while
minimizing waste. Lean practices and concepts can apply to all
areas of the VeriSM model. Organizations that adopt Lean practices
must transform how they lead, operate and work to create value.
Lean thinking has its roots in Lean manufacturing or production, which

is an assembly-line methodology developed originally for Toyota.
20.2 KEY CONCEPTS
20.2.1 Lean principles

Lean applies five principles to each process or service that will
undergo a Lean transformation:
1. Identify value;
2. Map the value stream;
3. Create flow;

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4. Establish pull;
5. Continually improve.
20.2.2 Flow
Flow describes how products and services move through a process. A

good flow is where work moves predictably and steadily. Bad flow is
where work unpredictably stops, incurs waiting time, re-work, or more
handovers and controls than necessary.
20.2.3 Pull
Lean considers waiting for batches inefficient as it produces delays
between steps. With Pull, all of this gets eliminated, as processes
operate with ‘single piece flow’. The next step starts as soon as work
is handed from the previous step. This creates continuous flow in the
work process and reduces waste.
20.2.4 Waste
Waste occurs when time is spent on activities that provide no value,
or produce defects which can result in waste of materials and
processing time dealing with them.
Necessary waste is needed by the producing organization, but brings

no value to the customer, such as registration and documentation.
Unnecessary waste brings no value to anyone. Defects, double
controls and waiting time are examples of unnecessary waste.
20.2.5 Cascading waste

Cascading waste occurs when one form of waste causes another.
Understanding the cascading effects of waste may lead to better
upfront investment choices.

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20.2.6 Takt time

The customer demand rate for products determines the process takt
time or the frequency with which a unit or outcome needs to be
completed.
20.2.7 Cycle time

Cycle time represents the total time to receive a product or service
from initial request to delivery. Cycle time includes both process time
and delay time.
20.2.8 Value stream mapping and analysis

Value stream mapping is used to visualize and understand how value
flows in and through a process and how information facilitates the
flow. Value stream analysis can be used to identify waste in a process
or to characterize the physical flow of work, information and materials.
20.3 LEAN VARIANT PRACTICES
20.3.1 Lean Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma is a combination of Lean and Six Sigma approaches
that target process improvement, applying statistical analysis to the
root cause(s) of unwanted variance.
A key goal of the Six Sigma approach is to reduce the probability that
defects will happen. To achieve a goal of a variance of 6∑ (sigma; the
statistical term for variance), a process or service must not produce
more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities or a 99.99966% success
rate.
20.3.2 Business Process Management (BPM)

A business process is an activity or set of activities that will accomplish
a specific business goal. Business Process Management (BPM) is an

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approach to making the workflows that underpin those processes

efficient and adaptable to change. The goal of BPM is like Lean: to
reduce human error and focus on making those processes more
efficient.
20.3.3 Total Quality Management (TQM)

TQM is a general management approach for quality improvement.
While many variations of this exist throughout the industry, most
center on continual service improvement driven by customer needs,
expectations and perception of value.
A core centerpiece of TQM is the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle of

activities for improvements. It is an iterative approach for the control
and continual improvement of processes and products. Known as
the Deming cycle, each iteration brings the organization closer to a
quality goal, for example, achieving certification.
20.4 LEAN BENEFITS

Deploying Lean practices reduces waste which, in turn, results in lower
operating costs and maximizing the value of staff labor by focusing
on value activities versus non-value activities (waste) and rework.
20.5 LEAN CHALLENGES

While Lean has the potential to deliver many benefits, a number of
challenges also exist, including keeping the right focus - Lean is a
thinking system that includes tools, not a system of tools.
Another challenge can be an organizational tendency to blame

individuals rather than focus on process deficiencies.

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20.6 LEAN AND SERVICE MANAGEMENT

Applying Lean concepts to service management is about securing
an uninterrupted flow of services by eliminating waste throughout the
organization. Lean objectives can be accomplished by looking at the
process from the view of the common, typical wastes and identifying
opportunities for improvement.
20.6.1 Improving flow in service management

Improving flow requires management focus, support and
reinforcement to last.
An example of specific tools and techniques that may be applied

is ‘frontloading for quality’ - ensuring tasks that will lessen or remove
Table 5 Types of waste
T YP E O F WAS T E DE S C R I P T I O N
Inventory Excess products and materials that are not being used
Talent Improper or inefficient use of people skills and knowledge
Waiting Wasted time waiting for the next step in a process
Motion Unnecessary movement of people
Defects Efforts to fix data errors, program bugs or other types of failures
Transportation Unnecessary movement of data or outputs
Overprocessing Producing at levels of quality more than required by the customer
Overproduction Creating more output than what is needed or before it is needed

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misunderstanding and defects are identified and placed in the

beginning of the process.
20.6.2 Working with waste in service management

The types of waste listed in Table 5 are typical of most Lean programs
and apply easily to service management.

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21 Shift Left
Shift Left looks at how decisions and information can be brought

closer to the consumer.
21.1 WHAT IS SHIFT LEFT?

Shift Left is an approach in which solution development lifecycle
activities are pushed to earlier stages (moved to the left on the
timeline). The objective is to gain efficiencies as activities move closer
towards the consumer. It’s a strategy that requires change to people,
process and technology with knowledge management, self-service
and automation playing significant roles.
Testing is a commonly used example for Shift Left. Testing activities are
pushed to design or build stages to uncover defects early. Shift Left
practices and concepts are embedded within DevOps, Agile, Lean
and other progressive practices and can be applied to any area
within the VeriSM model.
By pushing activities to the left, the consumer receives solutions faster,

solution component defects are found earlier and solution changes
are implemented more rapidly.

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21.1.1 Shift Left and the VeriSM model

During the Define and Produce stages, Shift Left can create a focus
on service quality, availability and problem prevention.
During the Provide stage of the VeriSM model, Shift Left can include
building and automating areas including release packaging, image
building and software deployment. Templates can be constructed
for these items and aggregated through automation so that these
items can be triggered directly from earlier development lifecycle
activities.
Shift Left can be used as part of ongoing service improvement. This

should be examined with a Shift Left mindset to see what opportunities
might exist to increase customer satisfaction and lower operating
and delivery costs.
21.2 KEY CONCEPTS
21.2.1 What kinds of activities shift?

Typical activities that are Shift Left include support, testing and
deployment activities. Deployment activities for solution components
could be pushed into the Define activities. Once the component
specifications are laid out, the component can be auto-configured
and moved to a deployment environment.
For support activities, assistance is moved closer to the operational

frontline and the consumer, reducing overall wait time and cost-per-
resolution, see Figure 28. For example, issues currently handled by the
service desk are “deflected” to a self-service (Level Zero) capability.

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SERV ICE
SELF HELP 2 ND LINE 3 RD L I N E
DESK / TIER 1
Decreasing support costs and impact

Figure 28 Shift Left for support7
21.2.2 Employing Shift Left for non-IT activities

Shift Left is often perceived to be an IT concept, but it applies more
broadly in the world of digital services. For example, processes such
as ordering products can Shift Left directly to the customer.
21.2.3 Shift Left key capabilities

Shift Left success is reliant on three key capabilities:
■ Knowledge management
■ Self-service
■ Automation.
21.2.4 Self-service
Self-service allows consumers to directly access and receive a service
without the intervention of others (for example, without calling a
service desk).
Self-service can be more productive than traditional human

interaction. However, there are challenges in adopting self-service,
when consumers feel more comfortable calling someone versus
using self-service functions. For this reason, an adoption strategy may
be needed to encourage consumers to use self-service functions and
discourage them from calling.
7 Karen Ferris, (2015). Service Desk: Shift Left! And then Again! [Online].
www.itchronicles.com/opinion/shift-left-and-then-again [2017, July].

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21.3 SHIFT LEFT BENEFITS

Shift Left is at the core of many progressive practices. Agile, Lean and
DevOps, for example, all use Shift Left practices. Typical benefits from
Shift Left are reduced support costs as more issues are handled, as far
to the left as possible, in less time using less-skilled resources.
A Shift Left strategy also offers ‘softer’ benefits, such as support staff
that can concentrate on more value-adding work.
21.4 SHIFT LEFT CHALLENGES

When adopting Shift Left, challenges may exist in all areas, not just
with technology. The importance of knowledge management to Shift
Left success should not be underestimated.
21.5 SHIFT LEFT VARIANT PRACTICES
21.5.1 Test driven development

Test driven development is an Agile practice for translating
requirements into test cases and then implementing solutions for these
cases in short development iterations. The idea is to incrementally
build larger and larger solutions through small iterations that grow
gradually. With test driven development testing shifts left and only
solution elements that pass the tests are built.
21.5.2 Shift Left testing

With Shift Left testing, testing activities are shifted closer to the build
process so that defects are revealed early on, where they can be
more easily remedied. By adopting Shift Left testing practices, the
service provider is better prepared to handle rapid change and
can get more releases into production quickly. Operating risks and

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costs are lower because defects are discovered earlier where it is less
expensive to address them.
21.5.3 Shift Left support

Shift Left practices can be applied to traditional support activities.

By moving the capability and delivery of resolution work to the
immediate front line, waiting time for customers and support costs
are reduced.
21.6 SHIFT LEFT AND SERVICE MANAGEMENT

Shift Left is a strategy for service management that seeks to improve
satisfaction and reduce costs by moving issue resolution to the front
line. Other areas such as the Define, Produce, Provide and Respond
stages can also benefit.
The easier it is for consumers to directly access services, such as self-

service, automation or other means, the more satisfied they are likely
to be.

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22 Customer and user

experience
This chapter looks at customer and user experience (CX and UX,
respectively) and the impact employee experience (EX) can have
on CX/UX.
22.1 WHAT IS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE?

Customer or consumer experience (CX) is the relationship between
the consumers of products and services and the organization that
produces them.
User experience (UX) is a tactical component of CX. Addressing UX

ensures the digital experience being offered is providing value. As an
example, the organization’s website or applications would form part
of the UX. This is also sometimes referred to as digital experience (DX).
Within the VeriSM model, CX and UX is embedded in all the stages. UX

activities will primarily take place within the Produce stage and are
then confirmed via consumer feedback once the service is provided.
CX works across all stages to ensure that the overall consumer
experience of service delivery is a positive one.

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CX has always been important; yet it has gained momentum in

recent years due to increased customer empowerment. Customers
can share their views - good and bad - online, instantly and
globally, immediately influencing potential future business and the
reputation of the service provider. The consequence of poor reviews

or dissatisfaction can have immediate impact across the provider
organization in the form of reduced sales, decreasing stock values
and lost customers.
Customer experience is not just about a rational experience. More

than 50% of a customer experience is subconscious or how a customer
feels. A key factor for CX is that it is never static; what constitutes a
good customer experience today is very different to what was a
good customer experience a few years ago.
All of an organization’s capabilities need to recognize the importance

of CX and understand how their activities will potentially impact the
consumer. It takes a focus on CX for all capability areas to consistently
contribute to the larger customer experience.
The customer is always right…. or are they?
“The customer is always right” is a common expression, but is it correct?
Consider this. The customer isn’t always right, but the customer is always
the customer. If the customer in a situation doesn’t leave feeling happy,
future sales and retention are likely to be affected.
Customer experience involves designing for and reacting to consumer

interactions. The objective is to meet the needs and expectations of
consumers so that there is a positive overall experience. Providing
great CX can result in increased revenue and sales and increase the
organization’s competitive advantage.

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22.2 KEY CONCEPTS
22.2.1 Employee experience

Employee experience (EX) is an essential component of CX.
Organizations need happy employees who understand, believe

in and embody the organizational strategy. Happy employees are
loyal employees. Historical knowledge and developed, specialized
skills create an efficient and effective organization that can invest in
further developing the CX/UX/EX capabilities.
22.2.2 User experience

User experience (UX) is important for any digital product or service.
No matter how beautifully the solution is designed, if users don’t know
how to use it, they simply won’t come back. UX is vital, it takes only
seconds for users to decide whether a solution is worth their time.
22.2.3 Digital experience

Also known as digital customer experience, digital experience (DX) is
about meeting and exceeding changing customer expectations via
digital channels, platforms and touchpoints.
22.2.4 Net Promoter Score ® (NPS ®)

CX uses techniques like NPS to measure consumer satisfaction and
to test assumptions. NPS measures the willingness of consumers to
recommend an organization’s products or services. NPS gauges the
consumer’s overall satisfaction with a company’s product or service
and their loyalty to the brand.
22.2.5 User experience design

User experience design enhances user satisfaction by improving the
usability, accessibility and general fulfilment of a product or service.

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22.2.6 Customer experience design

Customer experience design is the practice of designing products
and services with the focus on quality and the experience of the
customer.
Customers often recall minute details about the product or service

they purchased. These details can make them feel good about the
purchase and contribute to repeat purchases.
22.2.7 CX versus UX
While UX and CX are very similar concepts, the terms are not
interchangeable. CX includes every touchpoint (support, service
delivery, web interface, mobile, sales) and interaction (purchase,
complaint, inquiry) a consumer has with the organization. UX is a
component within CX that is specifically concerned with the usability
of the product or service. It is possible to have the best UX and deliver
horrible CX. A balance is necessary.
22.2.8 Success drivers

There are various steps organizations can take to better meet
employee expectations and to deliver a superior customer or
employee experience. These include:
■ Creating a customer-centric or customer-first culture across
employees;
■ Having an organizational commitment to improve employee
expectations;
■ Making no assumptions around needs and expectations.
22.3 CX/UX BENEFITS

A strong focus on CX/UX has many benefits for the service provider,
including willing consumers who return to the service provider for the

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same or new services and an increased competitiveness and market

share.
22.4 CX/UX CHALLENGES

Typical challenges with using CX/UX include lack of a cohesive
organization-wide CX strategy to ensure a consistent approach and
values and a lack of CX/UX skills and capabilities.
22.5 CX/UX VARIANT PRACTICES
22.5.1 Customer journey mapping

A customer journey describes all the interactions and touchpoints a
consumer has with an organization. Each touchpoint is a ‘moment
of truth’; a point when the customer and the organization come into
contact, giving the customer an opportunity to either form or change
their impression of the organization.
Journey maps identify and visualize the customer experience, from

the customer point of view, not the provider’s internal processes and
methods.
22.5.2 Design thinking

Design thinking is a hands-on, consumer-centric approach to
problem solving. It provides a path to innovation which can lead
to market differentiation and a competitive advantage. The design
thinking process has six distinct phases:
1. Empathize
2. Define
3. Ideate
4. Prototype

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5. Test
6. Implement.
22.5.3 Persona analysis

Persona analysis has been growing in popularity as an effective way

to identify consumer needs. With personas, fictional users are created
to direct the vision and design of a new product or service.
Personas identify behaviors, typical activities, roles, motivation,

expectations and feelings. A name is provided as well as a personality
and picture to bring the persona to life.
22.6 CX/UX AND SERVICE MANAGEMENT

Service management organizations need to understand what CX
and UX are, considering both consumerization and the growing
power of CX.
CX and customer satisfaction are two different things. CX is built

up over time through many transactions or interactions, whereas
customer satisfaction is usually based on a single snapshot in time.
Several considerations apply for service management when using

CX/UX practices. For instance, poor quality employee experiences
will adversely affect employee abilities to efficiently and effectively
discharge their responsibilities and meet desired business outcomes.
EX can have an impact on staff turnover, staff productivity and staff
morale.

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23 Continuous delivery
Continuous delivery focuses on ensuring software is always in a

releasable state throughout the lifecycle.
23.1 WHAT IS CONTINUOUS DELIVERY?

Continuous delivery is achieved by continuously integrating software
completed by the development team, building executables and
running automated tests. The executables are put into increasingly
production-like staging environments. Automated tests assure the
code and environments operate as designed and are always in a
deployable state.
Doing this throughout the development project removes the need for
a testing and integration phase at the end of the project. The benefits
of continuous delivery include reduced risk, demonstrable progress
and quicker access to feedback.
Continuous delivery is not the same as continuous deployment.

The terms are often confused. Continuous delivery means that an
organization can perform frequent deployments, if it wishes. While
the software is ready in a staging environment, the organization might
not deploy for a variety of reasons.

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23.2 KEY CONCEPTS
23.2.1 Continuous integration

Continuous integration is a development practice that requires
developers to integrate code into a shared repository daily. Multiple

code branches are integrated into the trunk or master code, so that
testing can be carried out and issues can be identified at an early
stage. The checked-in code is often referred to as a “commit”.
Continuous integration helps to identify if a change will break a

system at the earliest possible point. It also identifies what caused the
break, allowing remediation to take place as quickly as possible.
23.2.2 Continuous deployment

Continuous deployment is defined as the set of practices that enable
every change that passes automated tests to be automatically
deployed, creating a situation where there could be many
deployments every day.
Before code is made visible to consumers, it is often deployed into the

live environment, but in a way that means it is only visible to staff who
are carrying out testing. Even when the new feature is live, it doesn’t
have to be available to all consumers at once. New features can be
switched on in a controlled way, phasing through the organization to
minimize risk.
23.2.3 Continuous testing

With continuous testing, a test facility is in operation all the time. As a
release enters the facility it goes through a series of automated test
cycles. If the release gets through the entire test run successfully, then
it proceeds on to the continuous deployment function.

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23.3 CONTINUOUS DELIVERY BENEFITS

The use of continuous delivery provides many benefits which underpin
Agile, Lean, Shift Left and DevOps practices. Such as the support for
independent teams of developers to maximize their time and efforts
on valuable development activities and minimize time spent on

integration and testing.
23.4 CONTINUOUS DELIVERY CHALLENGES

Although continuous delivery practices can provide many benefits,
key challenges in its operation and use exist. For instance, integrating
and automating the activities of development with those of testing
and deployment into a seamless build-to-deploy mechanism.
23.5 CONTINUOUS DELIVERY VARIANT PRACTICES
23.5.1 Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) refers to the entire
development process from planning to deployment. With ALM,
toolsets integrate the entire lifecycle end-to-end. The entire workflow
is monitored, controlled and tracked.
23.5.2 Automated testing

With automated testing, traditional testing tasks are set into code
or scripts, backed up with test data and testing scenarios. Testing
activities are performed without human intervention, other than
scheduling and triggering the activities.

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23.6 CONTINUOUS DELIVERY AND SERVICE

MANAGEMENT
Continuous delivery can have an impact on several activities from the
VeriSM model, including change control, and the Define activities.
23.6.1 Change control

Change control and release and deployment processes and tools will
be affected by continuous delivery.
Change control
Changes still need to be logged and recorded. Automation of the
integration and testing process means failures are identified without
human intervention, reducing errors associated with manual reviews.
Testing and deployment

Rather than assembling test teams, testing will be automated.
Changes should be able to be introduced at any time, automatically
tested, moved on if successful or rejected if they fail.
Release management
Traditional release practices will be automated. Automated
continuous integration underpins introduction of code into continuous
testing and delivery facilities.
23.6.2 Define activities

Activities in the Define stage of the VeriSM model will also need to
be integrated as part of continuous delivery. While developers are
focused on code, other streams or services need to be in place to
support:
■ Availability, capacity and continuity;
■ Security;
■ External suppliers;
■ Service desk and support staff.

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24 Other practices and

techniques
This chapter looks at a few other management practices and

techniques that are gaining in popularity or being used as part of
service management.
24.1 KANBAN
In Japanese, Kan means “visual” and Ban means “card”. Visual cards
are used to trigger action: Kanban pulls the flow of work through a
process at a manageable pace while reducing work in progress.
Teams ‘pull’ work in only when they are ready for it - reducing
overburden. Kanban is a Lean tool, designed to reduce idle time in
production processes.
24.2 THEORY OF CONSTRAINTS

The Theory of Constraints (TOC) recognizes every process has a point
where there is the potential to become a bottleneck. To function more
efficiently, organizations need to identify constraints and reduce the
impact of the bottleneck or remove it completely.

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24.3 IMPROVEMENT KATA/KAIZEN

Kaizen is a Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement
of working practices, personal efficiency and other areas. A Kata is
a structured way of thinking and acting that is practiced until the
pattern becomes a habit. To make the improvement Kata pattern a

habit, managers should teach and coach the routines daily.
24.4 SWOT ANALYSIS

A SWOT analysis reviews the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats of a situation. These four areas cover internal and external
conditions from a positive and negative perspective. A SWOT meeting
allows participants to creatively collaborate, identify obstacles and
create a strategy based on possible solutions to the obstacles.

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Emerging
25 technologies and
service management
This chapter examines the service management implications of

emerging technologies, and some of the current technologies. An
organization needs to assess technical changes and whether they
have any relevance for their services.
25.1 SERVICE MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS

Changes in technology have implications for products, services
and entire industries. There are some generic service management
implications that organizations need to consider.
25.1.1 What, where, when and how?

An implication for service management and service providers is
knowing which emerging technologies to exploit and when, where
and how to integrate them into strategic plans.
25.1.2 More complexity, less visibility

Emerging technologies and access to new technology can make the
service provider’s environment more complex. The more emerging
technologies that are considered when building the Management
Mesh, the more knowledge is needed to make the right decision.

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Anything procured ‘as a service’ transfers a lot of complexity away

from the sourcing organization and makes it less visible.
25.1.3 Clear principles and requirements

Without clear service management principles and consumer

requirements it becomes more difficult to make the correct decision
about the technology and resources required.
25.1.4 Understanding the impact on competences

All staff who are involved in products and services managed via the
VeriSM model need to have an awareness of emerging technologies,
to fulfil their role and keep their knowledge up to date.
25.1.5 Matching expectations to reality

It’s important when assessing emerging technologies to match
expectation to reality and the current maturity level of the
organization.
25.2 CLOUD
Cloud computing is using new technologies, employed at a massive
scale. This provides the ability to handle many customers at once.
Cloud computing levels the playing field for start-ups compared to
the large, established companies they are trying to disrupt. Today’s
cloud-consuming organizations use a continuous integration pipeline
deploying infrastructure as code, coordinated by cloud services.
Cloud computing changes the focus of IT; shifting from traditional

delivery to the integration of services from many vendors, producing
a holistic service that can be easily consumed by the organization.

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25.2.1 Cloud service offerings

Cloud services are not tangible products. Instead, they are a means
to deliver services managed by an external supplier called a cloud
service provider (CSP).
As a service is architected, review the cloud options and decide if

the required architecture needs to be within the organization or to
leverage a cloud solution.
25.2.2 Cloud deployment models

As previously stated, the cloud is essentially a service delivery
mechanism:
■ Private cloud: With this model, the organization builds and
maintains their own cloud infrastructure. Cloud infrastructure
that is located in an organization’s own buildings is referred to as
‘on-premises’.
■ Public cloud: With this model, cloud services are delivered over
a public network (usually the internet) to many customers. The
provider is not tied to any one customer or business entity.
■ Hybrid cloud: With this model, the private cloud infrastructure on
premises is bound with a public cloud. Each side is owned and
operated distinctly, but the hybrid cloud integrates and extends
their services across all clouds.
■ Community cloud: With this model, multiple cloud providers share
infrastructure to target a specific set of capabilities or support
services, for example collaboration across universities, schools
and medical research.
25.2.3 Cloud security and privacy

Security has always been a concern related to the use of public,
hybrid and community clouds. When addressing security concerns,
it should be recognized that ultimately, security is the responsibility
of the organization that is using cloud services, not the cloud vendor.

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25.3 VIRTUALIZATION
25.3.1 What is virtualization?

Virtualization separates specific technology items from their physical
components (for example, a physical server might host multiple virtual

servers). Consumers of virtualized components are often unaware the
items have been virtualized. Understanding how virtualization works is
key to determining which workloads work best with virtualization and
which may not.
25.3.2 Virtualization and change control

Virtualization requires an adjustment in how changes are managed.
Major changes to virtualized devices can occur at much lower levels
of risk, and so require less control. Small simple changes to physical
hardware that supports many virtualized devices could pose high
risks, and so these changes need more control.
25.4 AUTOMATION
Automation eliminates or reduces human interaction and intervention
through the execution of code and scripts. Automation makes it easy
for people to do the right thing and do it right - rather than taking
short cuts.
It’s important to recognize that automation is not mandatory. Just

because something can be automated, doesn’t mean it should be.
Some tasks will never be suitable for automation, if only due to their
unique nature or their level of complexity. With automation, a good
rule is to focus on repetitive tasks. Every time a task is automated, it
frees up time to be invested in automating other tasks.

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25.5 BIG DATA

Business organizations operate with many silos of data stored within
a variety of systems. Big Data is about access to a single source for
ongoing discovery and analysis of data across the enterprise.
Big Data consists of an integrated architecture that supports a

comprehensive system of data storage, analysis and management
functions rolled together into a seamless solution. A key with Big
Data is the use of innovative technologies to store, access, correlate,
analyze, present, and maintain very large stores of data.
25.6 INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT)

With the Internet of Things (IoT), access to the internet has now
exploded to almost any device. Examples include household
appliances and medical devices. Others have used the term Internet
of Everywhere (IoE) because of the plethora of uses and innovations
that are being developed.
A key requirement is that computing devices are sophisticated

enough to access the internet and transfer data without requiring
human intervention. A management system exists that collects data
from the device and may even send data back.
25.7 ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION (RPA)

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a blend of Business Process
Automation (BPM), task automation and Artificial Intelligence with
some Machine Learning. More advanced RPA solutions integrate
continuous integration and testing functions.

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The main use for RPA is to automate common operating tasks that are
manually intensive. RPA works best with known processes; BPM works
best when trying to determine process activities and flow.
Those who have implemented RPA have seen a noticeable reduction

in manual labor. There are additional benefits in processing speed,
accuracy and enforcement of consistency in task execution. RPA is
not about reducing headcount. Staffing benefits are realized through
redeployment of resources to more valuable activities.
25.8 MACHINE LEARNING

Machine Learning technologies allow systems to learn and improve
without human intervention or programming. Machine Learning
systems automatically iterate through analytical algorithms to find
the best predictive model. Machine Learning uses newly discovered
data to trigger changes in logic and decisions.
25.9 MOBILE COMPUTING TECHNOLOGIES

Mobile computing technologies have moved computing out of the
traditional data center and put it directly into people’s hands. Mobile
computing technologies transmit data, voice and video via various
types of portable devices without the need for physical connections
to the source of their services.
25.10 BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE (BYOD)

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) originated when employees could
use their own laptops, which later expanded to phones and tablets,
at and for work. Now, BYOD includes a variety of devices such as
smartglasses, smartwatches, virtual reality devices and more.

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IT capabilities are taking a new look at how to control assets they do

not provision or control. A growing set of management practices and
tools have been evolving in Mobile Device Management (MDM).
It is critical for any business organization using BYOD to establish a

comprehensive BYOD policy. Such a policy should communicate the
guidelines that covers support, security, liability and device usage. It
is recommended that the BYOD policy is integrated with the company
security policy.
25.11 CONTAINERIZATION
With containerization, applications are broken into smaller functional
components, packaged individually with all their dependencies and
deployed as a single unit. Containers can be deployed to almost any
platform without having to change application code. Scaling and
updating applications to meet different demands is then simplified:
just deploy more containers.
Maintenance, patching and versioning of applications is simpler.

These activities are contained within the container. Configurations of
containers may be baselined and versioned for easier management.
25.12 SERVERLESS COMPUTING

Serverless computing refers to a cloud-based utility model that hides
back-end functions such as capacity management, provisioning and
demand management. With serverless computing, developers can
focus on just the functions they are creating leaving the back-end
details to the provider. The utility nature of serverless computing can
be used to lower operating costs (on demand versus always on).

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25.13 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the capture of human intelligence
within computing systems. Captured in the form of logic systems,
decision making systems, speech recognition and language
translation, a key objective is to have the computing systems solve

problems and make decisions as well as humans.

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26 Getting started with

VeriSM
VeriSM is based on the simple concept that the entire organization

is the service provider. All capabilities must work in partnership
effectively.
Here’s a list of things to consider:

■ What services are currently being provided?
■ Review the organizational mission/vision:
o Is there a strategy?
o Is the strategy for service delivery aligned to the organizational
mission/vision?
■ How do the organizational capabilities contribute?
■ Make a case for the organizational leadership to adopt the
concept that VeriSM is an organizational philosophy, not just one
based in IT
o Perform a SWOT analysis;
o Create an army of volunteers (guiding coalition).
■ Examine your current Management Mesh elements (see Chapter
10 ’The VeriSM model: Management Mesh’).
■ Based on the assessment of the Management Mesh, devise a plan
to fill any gaps.
■ Read the full VeriSM handbook (a publication of the IFDC) for more
information and practical advice.

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26.1 GOING FROM REACTIVE TO PROACTIVE

One way to get started for many organizations is to become more
proactive. The service provider must shift focus to proactive processes
and activities, such as making sure services are meeting consumer
needs both now and in the future. The focus is on the Define and
Produce activities.
26.2 PLAN FOR THE LONG TERM

One final thought; make sure you plan for the long term. Short term
fixes provide immediate pain relief, but lead to problems in the future.

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Definitions
Term Definition
Agile Service A management approach that ensures that
Management service management processes reflect Agile
values and are designed with “just enough”
control and structure to effectively and efficiently
deliver services that facilitate customer outcomes
when and how they are needed
Asset Anything that is useful or valuable within a
product or service
Behavior Any observable activity of a living creature. Also
referred to as operant behavior, because this
type of behavior interacts with (operates on) the
environment
Business model The plan for how a business will operate
Capability The ability or the qualities that are necessary to
do something
Change Adding, moving, modifying or removing all or part
of a product or service
Change fatigue An organizational culture that has low energy for
change due to a history of failed or problematic
changes. It is a type of low morale that may lead
to resistance to change

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Term Definition
Competence Competence is a cluster of related abilities,
commitments, knowledge, and skills that
enable a person…to act effectively in a job or
situation. Competence indicates sufficiency of
knowledge and skills that enable someone to

act in a wide variety of situations. Because each
level of responsibility has its own requirements,
competence can occur in any period of a
person’s life or at any stage of his or her career
Consumer A person who buys things or uses services
Consequence A technique that lists the consequences of a
analysis behavior in order of power from the performers
perspective (the person showing the behavior).
A single behavior usually has more than
one consequence , but not all behavioral
consequences have an equally strong effect on
future behavior. Parameters that most affect the
power of a consequence are immediacy and
certainty.
Consumer experience See “Customer experience”
Continuous delivery A methodology that focuses on making sure
that software is always in a releasable state
throughout the lifecycle
Continuous The set of practices that enable every change
deployment that passes automated tests to be automatically
deployed to production
Continuous A development practice that requires developers
integration to integrate code into a shared repository on a
daily basis
Contract The management of the contractual relationship
management between an organization and its suppliers (see
“Relationship management” and “Supplier
management”)
Critical thinking The objective analysis and evaluation of an issue
in order for form a judgement

1BuN9bhSpTvVhkU Definitions 173
Term Definition
Culture The collection of written and unwritten rules,
guidelines and practices that shape the
behaviors of the people in the organization.
Culture becomes visible through behavior: what
people do and what people say

Customer A type of consumer; often defined as the role that
pays for or funds a product or service
Customer experience The relationship between the consumers of
(CX) products and services and the organization that
produces them
Data protection The legal aspects of how information (data)
should be used
Define Part of the VeriSM model; the activities and
supporting outcomes that relate to the design of
a product or service
DevOps A management approach that represents a
change in IT culture, focusing on rapid IT service
delivery through the adoption of agile, lean
practices in the context of a system-oriented
approach. DevOps emphasizes people (and
culture), and seeks to improve collaboration
between operations and development teams
Digital disruption The impact of digital technologies on
organizations, sectors, and markets. A way
of doing business or ecosystem is significantly
challenged by technology companies,
newcomers or incumbents who have mastered
digital skillsets
Digital native Someone who has grown up during the age of
digital technology
Digital optimization How organizations use innovative technologies to
augment existing products and services
Digital service A service (or product) that is enabled by or only
possible because of advances in technology
Digital transformation The changes associated with the application
of digital technologies across all areas of an
organization, from sales to marketing, products,
services and new business models

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Term Definition
Expectation A formal process to continuously capture,
management document, and maintain the content,
dependencies and sureness of the expectations
for persons participating in an interaction, and
to apply the information to make the interaction

successful
Explicit knowledge Knowledge that has been documented and
categorized or tagged in some way that makes it
easy to find
Governance The overarching system of directing and
controlling the activities of an organization
Implicit knowledge Knowledge that is not documented but could be;
it’s often embedded in the culture and operation
of the organization
Issue A product or service that isn’t performing as
agreed (incident), or the customer perceives
the product or service to not be performing as
agreed
Journey map A tool for service design especially for visualizing
intangible services. A customer journey map
shows the story of the customer’s experience.
It not only identifies key interactions that the
customer has with the organization, but it also
brings user’s feelings, motivations and questions
for each of the touchpoints
Knowledge The process of creating, finding, curating and
management codifying knowledge so that it can be located
when needed
Lifelong learning The provision or use of both formal and informal
learning opportunities throughout people’s lives in
order to foster the continuous development and
improvement of the knowledge and skills needed
for employment and personal fulfilment
Management The group of persons in the organization that
make the decisions that implement the policies
of the organization and are bound to the
direction defined by the governing body of the
organization (e.g. the Board)

Term Definition
Management Mesh Part of the VeriSM model; a flexible way
to combine an organization’s resources,
environment, emerging technologies and
management practices as part of product and
service creation and delivery

Management Standards, frameworks, philosophies that can
practices be applied to product and service creation.
Examples include DevOps, Lean and Agile (see
also “Best practice”)
Mission Articulates why the organization exists or what is
the purpose of the Organization
Network effect The effect when a product or service gains value
as more people use it
Operant behavior A specific type of behavior, in such a way that
it is observable by others and it operates on the
environment of the performer
Operating model See “Service management operating model”
Operational planning The planning for activities performed by front-
line managers with specific and defined results.
Includes on-going plans and single use plans
Organization An official group of people, for example a
political party, a business or enterprise, a charity,
or a club
Organizational OBM is a sub-field of Applied Behavior Analysis.
Behavior It is the proven and scientific approach for
Management (OBM) increasing and improving individual and team
performance in an organizational context. Based
on the scientific publications by B.F. Skinner and
others
Organizational See “Capability”
capability
Outcome The end result of a consumer interacting with a
product or service
Output A physical deliverable
PESTEL Environmental analysis technique, which
explores political, economic, social, technical,
environmental and legal factors

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Term Definition
Policy A set of ideas or plans that is used as a basis
for making decisions, especially in politics,
economics, or business
Principle An accepted rule of action or behavior
Problem See “Source event”

Procedure A way of doing something
Process A documented, repeatable approach to carrying
out a series of tasks or activities
Produce Part of the VeriSM model; it describes the
performing of build, test and implement activities,
under the management of change control
Product Something that is created and offered to a
consumer (see also “Service”)
Profession Something that has been established via
specialized training with the purpose of providing
objective advice and service to others
Provide Part of the VeriSM model; it describes that a
product or service is available for consumption by
the consumer and the service provider performs
on-going maintenance and improvement
activities
Provider See “Service provider”
Quality Describes how well a product or service meets the
desired outcomes
Reflective practice The process of retrospectively examining one’s
own professional performance in order to clarify
the reasons for one’s actions and decisions, and
to learn from them
Relationship Describes how interactions between stakeholders
management take place
Request Interactions with the consumer that are questions,
or requirements for new or additional functionality
Respond Part of the VeriSM model; describes how the
service provider reacts to service issues, inquiries
and requests from the consumer
Role Set of responsibilities, activities and authorities
Service Fulfilment of a defined consumer need

Term Definition
Service Blueprint Details design specifications including service
components (hardware, software, infrastructure/
facilities, data…), testing requirements,
performance requirements, implementation
strategy, communication plan for transparency,

training requirements, early life support
specifications/support services among others
Service culture Exists when an organization’s staff, products,
services, and business processes are developed
with a focus on the end consumer or customer
Service Integration A management methodology that defines a set
and Management of principles, practices and approaches used to
(SIAM) manage, integrate, govern and coordinate the
delivery of services from multiple service providers
Service management The management approach adopted by an
organization to deliver value to consumers
through quality products and services
Service management A visual representation showing how the
operating model organization will deliver on its strategy and
provide value to its customers through products
and services
Service Management High level requirements that apply across all
Principles products and services, providing ‘guardrails’ for
the Management Mesh
Service provider The ‘supplier’ of products and services to
consumers. Service providers use their capabilities
to deliver value to consumers
Shadow behavior Describes systems, processes, solutions and
decisions implemented and used inside
organizations without explicit organizational
approval or service delivery consideration
Shadow IT See “Shadow behavior”
Silo See “Tribalism”
Solution A combination of products and/or services that
fulfils a desired consumer outcome
Source event The root cause, or causes, of something that has
happened. May be referred to as ‘problems’

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Term Definition
Stakeholder Anyone with an interest or concern in something,
for example a product, a service, a project
Strategic planning Planning undertaken by the higher levels of the
organization, to create a long term plan to fulfil
the organization’s mission

Supplier relationship A process in business by which an organization
management systematizes its interactions with individuals or
organizes the delivery of raw goods and services
(see “Relationship management”)
SWOT Acronym for: “Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats; it is an analysis
approach that examines the organization,
project or proposed line of business from an
internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external
(opportunities and threats) perspective
Tacit knowledge Knowledge that comes from personal experience
and is held within your brain
Tactical planning Planning for activities that bridges the gap
between operational and strategic plans; for
specific organizational capabilities
Takt time Takt time is the rate at which a finished product
needs to be completed in order to meet customer
demand. Takt is the German word for the baton
that an orchestra conductor uses to regulate the
tempo of the music. Takt time may be thought of
as a measurable “beat time”
Team Small number of people with complementary
skills who are committed to a common purpose,
performance goals, and approach for which they
hold themselves mutually accountable
Tribalism Refers to the loyalties that people feel towards
particular social groups and to the way these
loyalties affect their behavior and their attitudes
towards others
T-shaped professional A professional with a specialist area of expertise,
plus general knowledge of other organizational
capabilities

Term Definition
User A type of consumer; often defined as having little
to no control over the products or services they
use (see customer)
User experience (UX) User experience (UX) is a tactical component of
customer experience, also referred to as digital

experience (DX)
Value How consumers perceive the products and
services offered (“your service offers great value”)
Values An organization’s foundational principles or
standards of behavior
VeriSM The acronym stands for: Value-driven, Evolving,
Responsive, Integrated Service Management.
It is an approach to service management for
the digital age with a focus on a value-driven,
evolving, responsive and integrated service
management approach
VeriSM model Visual representation showing how the
organization will deliver on its strategy and
provide value to its customers through products
and services
Virtual team A group where the members interact primarily
via electronic means and are engaged in
interdependent tasks
Vision Describes the “to be” state of the organization
(aspirational)

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VeriSM™ - A Pocket Guide

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Other publications by Van Haren Publishing

- Business Management and

Topics are (per domain):

IT and IT Management Enterprise Architecture Project Management

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any

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The field of service management is changing rapidly as the industry

It is for this reason that the International Foundation for Digital

VeriSM is an approach that offers value-driven, evolving, responsive,

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VeriSM is essential reading for anyone who works within a service

■ Service owners and service managers - who need to bring their

We were delighted to have been contributing authors of the

Doug Tedder - Tedder Consulting,

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About the IFDC

IFDC - the International Foundation for Digital Competences - was

IFDC took the initiative to create the VeriSM™ approach and

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Structure of this pocket guide

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Structure of this pocket guide 8

PART 1 Services and service management

PART 2 The VeriSM model

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PART 3 Management practices and emerging technologies

19 Service Integration and Management (SIAM ®)133

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1.1 EVERYTHING IS A SERVICE

1.2 CONSUMERS CONSUME

1.3 PROVIDERS PROVIDE

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consumer. The providers will only invest in products and services

Figure 1 Consumers and providers

The service provider needs to monitor this consumer and provider

Managing those dynamics drives the development of service

1.4 THE VERISM APPROACH

Everyone is now in the service market. Even organizations that focus

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attached to those products to be successful (for example, customer

Services are just as important in public sector environments, where

good service can deliver a better experience for consumers or

The most important part of the VeriSM approach is accepting that

The other key success factor is to accept the impact of technology on

Finally, we need to accept that it’s not solely the responsibility of an

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2.1 WHAT IS AN ORGANIZATION?

2.2 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

For an organization to be efficient and effective, it needs to focus its

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Consumer, Within service management, many organizations

over requirements). ‘Client’ is also used and can

Consumer is a term that can include customers,

2.2.1 Organizational capabilities

Capability is the ability or the qualities that are necessary to do

Structure of this pocket guide 8

19 Service Integration and Management (SIAM ®)133

2.2.3 What does a ‘good’ service provider organization

2.5.2 Cascading governance through the organization

3.4 THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ON

3.5 THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ON