Today, IT development not only has boosted some industries and has changed their business model, but also has formed new businesses and models which have not existed before; therefore, success in better management of IT services may result in success of these businesses and play an important role in their development. IT management can be used as a process-oriented concept. Several definitions have been presented in information technology services management (ITSM) but in general definition it refers to all of activities (considered in policies, processes and procedures) that are performed to control, operate, provide and plan IT services by organization.
Telecom industry also affected by IT development in recent years so that the industry has faced multiple and new challenges. Increase in complexity of operation systems and also in customers’ expectation to receive good and quality services are of these challenges. Therefore, telecom operators need the concept of process-oriented IT services management to be able to manage their network and services effectively and comprehensively by focusing on customer-orientation and quality of IT services. As a result, IT services management plays an important role in obtaining business requirements and maintenance of telecommunication systems.
Using the ITSM has three basic benefits for operators as follows:
- Timesaving through simplification and automation of previous tasks which were done manually.
- Decrease in costs
- Improvement in IT services management
- Increase in customers’ satisfaction
- Establishing alignment between business strategies and IT services strategies
- And finally, transparency and awareness of IT assets, services, and fees that all of them are of the main concerns of telecom operators.
All of these benefits help operators to address changing needs of business and aligns IT strategies and operation as required.
Business requirement in IT services providing are presented in the figure below. The requirements form planning in various areas, business strategies, service-providing planning, organizational and technology planning. According to these types of planning, some requirements are defined upon which IT services will be recommended. Them in order to provide the best of these services, they are anticipated in 5 categories, and support processes exist in each of them.
Service strategy including processes of demand management and IT financial management.
Design strategy including service information security management, continuity management, and supplier management.
Transition strategy including service change and configuration management and knowledge management.
Improvement strategy including operations management and incident and problems management.
Finally, all of these processes aim to meet requirements of business and customers.