Know The ITIL 4 Service Value Chain

The Service Value Chain lies at the heart of the ITIL SVS. The service value chain is a business paradigm for developing, delivering, and improving IT services. It defines the key activities needed to produce value in response to demand, such as product development and delivery.

ITIL 4 is a digital operating model that allows businesses to co-create meaningful value from IT-supported products and services.

ITIL 4 expands on decades of progress by adapting traditional ITSM techniques to the broader context of customer experience, value streams, and digital transformation. ITIL 4 encourages more alignment with emerging working methods, such as Lean, Agile, and DevOps, to co-create business value.

A service is defined in ITIL 4 as:

"A method of enabling value co-creation by supporting desired outcomes without requiring the client to manage specific expenses and risks."

ITIL 4 can assist you in:

• Encourage a comprehensive, systems-thinking approach to value co-creation to break down silos.

• To further your digital career and set yourself apart from your peers, learn the common language of IT-enabled service delivery.

• Recognize how IT influences strategy and how professionals can apply the four service management elements to a larger business environment.

• Work with adaptable systems and processes that can adjust to changing circumstances.

• Develop effective and timely communications with stakeholders and build trusting relationships with them.

• Use the guiding principles to handle change, streamline work, and promote flexible and collaborative working habits.

​Outcomes

Service outputs and service outcomes are not the same things. An outcome is a result made possible by a service's outputs. A photo album, for example, maybe an output of a wedding photography service, but the outcome is the happy memories created when gazing at the album.

Value

"The perceived benefits, usefulness, and importance of something," says ITIL 4. It is critical to recognize that value is relative. We can only know how valuable our services are to our clients if we know how they view them.

The ITIL service value chain identifies six core activities that can be coupled in various ways to create numerous value streams. To address the need for multiple service management models, the service value chain is flexible enough to be adapted to numerous techniques, including DevOps and centralized IT. The value chain's elasticity allows firms to respond to changing stakeholder demands most effectively and efficiently.

Although the Service Value Chain appears complex, it is simply an operational model at the heart of the Service Value System. It is responsible for providing users with a new method to view and control services. It essentially pushes firms to divide all activities into two categories: the desire for action and the value that action may generate.

The Service Value System can be regarded as the ITIL 4's "big picture architecture," conceived and built to help service companies select a more holistic approach to service management.

To ensure that you have been enabled to deliver your business, there are four necessary components:

• Service Value Chain

• 7 Guiding Principles of ITIL

• ITIL 4 Practices

• Continual Improvement

Because the majority of the elements are interrelated, they are crucial. Nothing in ITIL 4 exists in isolation. An operational model will quickly lose alignment with what your company requires without governance. Without practice, an operating model will not work. It won't get better unless you keep improving. Without appropriate guiding principles, it is unlikely to improve correctly.

Each activity contributes to the value chain by converting specific inputs into outputs. The transformation is assisted by ITIL practices, which are implemented utilizing internal or third-party resources, processes, skills, and competencies. The information could be demands outside the value chain or outputs from other activities.

The service value chain has six activities in ITIL that describe the processes an organization takes to create value:

• Plan - Any planning at any level

• Engage - All interactions with persons outside the service value chain (workers, customers, management, partners/suppliers, etc.).

• Design And Transition - Analysis of the business and the development of new and improved services

• Obtain/Build - This is how any new resource is brought into the value chain.

• Deliver and Support - Providing services as well as assistance and information.

• Improve - Enhancements on all levels

Let's take a closer look at each activity, paying particular attention to the purpose, inputs, and outcomes. Because each value stream comprises a unique set of activities and practices, the inputs and outputs listed may not always apply because they are unique to each value stream. The lists of inputs and outputs provided are not exhaustive, and they can and should be tweaked as value streams are designed.

Plan

Purpose	​Ensure that all four dimensions, as well as all products and services, have a shared understanding of the goal, current state, and improvement direction across the firm.
Inputs	The governing body of the organization provides policies, requirements, and limits. Engage provides consolidated demands and opportunities. Improve provides information about value chain performance, improvement projects, and plans. Reports on the state of improvement Design and transition, as well as obtain/build knowledge and information about new and updated products and services. Engage has knowledge and information about third-party service components.
Outputs	Plans that are strategic, tactical, and operational Design and transition portfolio decisions Design and transition architectures and policies Opportunities for improvement Engage's product and service portfolio Engagement contract and agreement requirements

Engage

Purpose	To gain a thorough grasp of stakeholder demands, preserve transparency, and maintain ongoing involvement and positive relationships with all stakeholders.
Inputs	Plan offers a product and service portfolio. Demand for services and goods from both internal and external clients is high. Customer-supplied detailed specifications for services and products Customers' requests and feedback Incidents, service requests, and user feedback Deliver and support information on the performance of user support jobs Opportunities for marketing from current and prospective clients and users Opportunities for collaboration and input from partners and suppliers All value chain operations have contract and agreement requirements. Design and transition, as well as obtain/build knowledge and information about new and updated products and services. Suppliers and partners have knowledge and information regarding third-party service components. Information on product and service performance from delivery and support Initiatives and goals for improvement from Improve reports on the state of improvement
Outputs	Combined needs and planning opportunities Design and transition criteria for products and services Deliver and support user support duties Opportunities for improvement and feedback from stakeholders Requests for obtain/build changes or project start-up Contracts and agreements for design and transition, as well as obtain/build, with external and internal suppliers and partners. For all value chain activities, knowledge and information about third-party service components is essential. Customer service performance reports

Design and Transition

Purpose	To ensure that products and services continue to fulfil stakeholder quality, cost, and time-to-market expectations.
Inputs	Plan-provided portfolio decisions Plan provides architectures and policies. Engage provides product and service requirements. Improve provides initiatives and programs for improvement. Reports on the state of improvement Deliver and support information on service performance, and enhance Obtain/build service components Engage has knowledge and information about third-party service components. Obtain/build knowledge and information about new and changing products and services
Outputs	Obtain/build requirements and specs Engagement contract and agreement requirements For delivery and support, new and updated products and services are available. All value chain activities benefit from knowledge and information about new and changing products and services. Information on performance and chances for improvement

Obtain/Build

Purpose	Ensure that service components are available when and when required and that they conform to agreed-upon specifications.
Inputs	Plan provides architectures and policies. Engage provides contracts and agreements with external and internal vendors and partners. External and internal suppliers and partners provide goods and services. Design and transition give requirements and specifications. Improve provides initiatives and programs for improvement. Reports on the state of improvement Engage provides requests for change or project start-up. Requests for changes from deliver and support Design and transition knowledge and information about new and altered products and services Engage has knowledge and information about third-party service components.
Outputs	Deliver and support service components Design and transfer service components All value chain operations benefit from knowledge and information about new and changing service components. Engagement contract and agreement requirements Information on performance and chances for improvement

Deliver and Support

Purpose	To ensure that services are supplied and supported in accordance with agreed-upon specifications and expectations from stakeholders.
Inputs	Design and transition deliver new and altered products and services. Engage provides contracts and agreements with external and internal vendors and partners. Obtain/build provides service components. Improve provides initiatives and programs for improvement. reports on the state of improvement Engage provides user support services. Design and transition, as well as obtain/build knowledge and information about new and updated service components and services. Engage has knowledge and information about third-party service components.
Outputs	Customers and users receive services. Information about the accomplishment of engage's user support tasks Information on product and service performance to engage and improve Opportunities for improvement Engagement contract and agreement requirements Requests for obtain/build changes Information on service performance for design and transition

Improve

Purpose	To ensure that products, services, and procedures are continuously improved throughout all value chain activities and the four dimensions of service management.
Inputs	Deliver and support information on product and service performance Engage received feedback from stakeholders. All value chain operations provide performance data and possibilities for improvement. Design and transition, as well as obtain/build knowledge and information about new and updated products and services. Engage has knowledge and information about third-party service components.
Outputs	All value chain operations have improvement efforts and plans. Information about the value chain's performance for the plan and the governing body Reports on the status of all value chain activities Engagement contract and agreement requirements Information on service performance for design and transition

Service Value Chain (SVC) Activities

The SVC activities operating together in unison establish the service value stream. Each SVC action makes a unique contribution and complements the others in the service value chain. They define a specific set of activities, procedures, practices, and various resources. Each activity has a bunch of objectives that are aligned with value stream enablement. All of the activities have their own set of inputs and outputs.

For example, the value chain activity "engage" might draw on practices such as service relationship management, service desk management, service request management, and (or) supplier management, among others, to respond to varying demands for services and products, which would aid in making the best decisions by gathering the necessary data from various stakeholders.

The ITIL 4 certification system can meet individual and organizational learning needs. It employs a modular, tiered approach to allow you to establish a complete picture of service management or to concentrate on particular areas of expertise.

The ITIL certification program will educate you to manage services and products in today's business climate and empower your staff to add value and level up in the fast-paced global and digital economy.