ITIL 4 Service Value Chain

ITIL 4’s Service Value Chain is an important component of the Service Management best practice framework. In this article, we aim to explore the basics of what it is, what it does, and how it can be applied to transform service management.

ITIL 4 Service Value Chain and Service Value System

The Service Value Chain is a central component of the ITIL 4 Service Value System. The Service Value Chain is an operating model for creating, delivering, and improving services. It identifies the key activities involved in creating value for customers through the development of products and services in response to demand and opportunity.

The six activities with the ITIL service value chain are:

• Engage: Interacting with external stakeholders to provide a good understanding of needs, to promote transparency, and to foster good relationships with all stakeholders

• Plan: Creating a shared understanding of the vision, status and improvement directions for all four dimensions and all products and services

• Improve: Ensuring continual improvement of products, services and practices across all value chain activities and the four dimensions

• Design and Transition: Ensuring that products and services continually meet stakeholder expectations for quality, cost, and time to market

• Obtain/ Build: Ensuring that service components are available when and where they are needed, and that they meet agreed specifications

• Deliver and Support: Ensuring that services are delivered and supported according to agreed specifications and expectations.

Source: Axelos (2019)

ITIL Value Chain Activities

The six activities with the value chain can be combined and integrated into a myriad of ways to create a “journey” from demand to value that reflects how the service provider completes work.

So, the flow of this model is such that actions produce sustainable results. But, again, it’s important to stress that this is not a static, blueprint model, but is designed to be adapted according to the subject and the type of value chain. The steps of this model do not need to be carried out in a linear fashion, and it may be necessary to re-evaluate and return to a previous step at some point. Thus, critical judgement and common sense should be applied when using this model to make sure it’s applied in a relevant way to an organisation’s particular needs.

It’s also worth noting that the model can indeed serve as a workflow, but also be used simply as a high-level reminder of a sound thought process to ensure value chains are properly managed.

ITIL is a registered trademark of AXELOS Limited, used under the permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved.

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