What is a service?

A service is a means of delivering value to customers by
facilitating outcomes, customers want to achieve without the
ownership of specific costs and risks. - An Introductory Overview of ITIL® V3

The outcomes that customers want to achieve are the reason why they purchase
or use the service. The value of the service to the customer is directly dependent
on how well it facilitates these outcomes.


What is a value?

Value is the core of the service concept. From the customer's perspective, value consist of two core components: utility and warranty. Utility is what the customer receives and warranty is how it is provided. - Foundation of IT Service Management based on ITIL V3


What is Service Management?

Service Management is a set of specialized organizational
capabilities for providing value to customers in the form of
services.- An Introductory Overview of ITIL® V3

Service management is what enables a service provider to understand the services they are providing, to ensure that the services really do facilitate the outcomes their customers want to achieve, to understand the value of the services to their customers, and to understand and manage all of the costs and risks associated with those services.

It includes all of the processes, methods, functions, roles and activities that a Service Provider uses to enable them to deliver services to their customers.

to be continued....