Service management
Service Management is the management of service producing industries (in contrast to manufacturing and agricultural industries). The term is most widely used in the
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, and also has notable use within the housekeeping and car repair/maintenance industries. However, almost all firms provide a combination of goods and services and a service management focus can help drive revenues. (
Collier 2006)
Business faculty have relatively recently been studying services as a part of
Operations Management. In
1972,
Harvard Business School published its first services management case,
Benihana of Tokyo. [
1]
The term
Service Management is most widely used as the component of
Operations Support Systems responsible for service delivery, such as order management, inventory management,
provisioning and activation, network topology management and maintenance, and stability/performance diagnostics of communication
service providers and their networks. A service management system automates manual operations of the network, delivery services, and support, making these areas more efficient and error-free.
Components
Components of ICT Service Management require automated systems and personnel with several areas of expertise:
*Each new service provider requires service development which will only re-occur if the provider changes its services offered or expands beyond the limits of its planned
scalability*Each change to the number of customers of each area of the service requires a re
provisioning of the service
*Ongoing support, diagnostics, and crisis aversion/recovery must be available at all times
*
*
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Service Management, Managing the Service Lifecycle*
The Sigma Service Management System*
Telecommunication Service Management Course Model for Business Colleges*
Christoper Lovelock*
Christian Grönroos*
Valerie A. Zeithaml*
Robert G. Murdick*
Barry Render*
Roberta Russell*
Dr. A. Parasuraman*
Professor David Collier at Fisher College of Business
