Summary

Customers don’t really care (and shouldn’t care) about the widgets behind the curtain (the supporting services) from the service provider. They care about what they need to interact with (customer-facing products and services) in order to create the business outcomes they seek. As part of systems thinking, the IT service provider integrates point solutions (much like the different stations in the kitchen of a restaurant coming together to produce a meal), so this is how products and services happen! Customer-facing products and services need to continue to evolve (or transform) in order for value to continue to be in place and for outcomes to be realized.

Whether the overall organization is in run mode, grow mode, or transformation mode, the IT service provider should always be in transformation mode. This is a key responsibility for formal service management. This presumes that the IT service provider wants to be perceived as a business partner and not just...