The second step is to conduct an objective current-state assessment of existing services and service management practices. This should include consideration of the users’ perception of the value being received, along with a review of people’s competencies and skills, the processes and procedures involved, the capabilities of the available technological solutions and the prevailing organizational culture. The success of an improvement initiative depends on a clear and accurate understanding of the starting point and the required impact of the initiative.

For example, an organization can measure the current net promoter score (NPS) from a customer satisfaction survey, conduct a benchmark survey against its competitors or review findings of operational statistics or audit reports to understand its current state. If this step is skipped, the current state will not be understood and there will not be an objective baseline measurement against which improvement can be measured.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-continual-improvement/

Service management  is a set of specialized organizational capabilities for enabling value for customers in the form of services. These capabilities include tangible things like capital, people, and equipment, and can also include intangible things like knowledge, management and skills. These capabilities can also include intangible things, like knowledge, management, and skills.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-key-concepts-service-management/#:~:text=Service%20management%20is%20a%20set,like%20knowledge%2C%20management%20and%20skills .

A service relationship is defined as the cooperation between a service provider and service consumer. Service relationships are established between two or more organizations to co-create value. An organization can play the role of provider or consumer interchangeably, depending on the situation.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-key-concepts-service-management/#:~:text=and%20stakeholder%20management.-,Service%20Relationships,interchangeably%2C%20depending%20on%20the%20situation .

The change schedule is used to  help plan changes, assist in communication, avoid conflicts, and assign resources . It can also be used after changes have been deployed to provide information needed for incident management, problem management, and improvement planning

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-change-enablement/#:~:text=The%20change%20schedule%20is%20used,problem%20management%2C%20and%20improvement%20planning .

When focusing on value, the first step is to know who are the customers and key stakeholders being served. Next, it is important to have an understanding of what consitutes value from the consumer’s perspective.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-guiding-principles/#:~:text=When%20focusing%20on%20value%2C%20the,value%20from%20the%20consumer ' s%20perspective .

Service desks provide a variety of channels for access including:

Phone calls, which can include specialized technology, such as interactive voice response (IVR), conference calls, voice recognition, and others.

Service portals and mobile applications, supported by service and request catalogues, and knowledge bases.

Chat, through live chat and chatbots.

Email for logging and updating, and for follow-up surveys and confirmations.

Walk-in service desk (which are becoming more prevalent in some sectors, such as higher education, where there are high peaks of activity that demand physical presence).,

Text and social media messaging, which are useful for notifications in case of major incidents and for contacting specific stakeholder groups, but can also be used to allow users to request support.

Public and corporate social media and discussion forums for contacting the service provider and for peer-to-peer support.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-service-desk/

“ Service desk  staff require training and competency across a number of broad technical and business areas. In particular, they need to demonstrate excellent customer service skills such as empathy, incident analysis and prioritization, effective communication, and emotional intelligence.

https://www.servicedeskinstitute.com/the-case-for-itil4-foundation-service-desk-analyst-training/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CService%20desk%20staff%20require%20training,effective%20communication%2C%20and%20emotional%20intelligence .

This is one of the most important questions for continual improvement. This question helps to  define measurable targets for the IT service provider  that will help to reach the vision of the company in the long-term. At this stage, we look at the identified key performance indicators from the previous step and determine what values we want to target for each of these indicators. This decision must be made with the business’s vision in mind, but also with a sense of what is practically possible.

https://blog.masterofproject.com/continual-improvement-model/

A guiding principle is a recommendation that provides universal and enduring guidance to an organization, which applies in all circumstances, regardless of changes in its goals, strategies, type of work, or management structure.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-guiding-principles/#:~:text=A%20guiding%20principle%20is%20a,of%20work%2C%20or%20management%20structure .

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-guiding-principles/