Service Portfolio Management – Optimizing IT Business Values

Service Portfolio Management

Service portfolio explains the business needs and the response from providers to those needs. The service portfolio is a combination, or we can say set of services managed by a service provider. The service portfolio is there to manage the entire lifecycle of all the services.

Three categories of services which are there in Service portfolio are:

• First one is service pipeline: services which are proposed or which are in development phase.
• Second is service catalogue: services which are live or ready for deployment.
• Third one is retired services: Services which are no longer functional.

In IT service management, the service portfolio shows the investment, which are made in an organization’s services, it also represents the value that services in return provide.

Purpose:

Purpose of service portfolio management is to make sure that the service provider has got the perfect set of services so that it can balance the investment in IT with the capacity to get the desired business outcomes. It keeps a track of the investments in services throughout their lifecycle.

Service portfolio also makes sure that services are defined clearly and linked to the achievement of business outcomes, thus ensuring that all design, transition and operation activities are in line with the value of services.

The objectives

• Based on analysis of the potential returns and the acceptable risk levels, it provides a process and mechanisms which makes it possible for an organization to take decisions accordingly on which service to provide
• Provides a mechanism to the organization in order to evaluate how the services makes it to meet the strategy, and responding to the internal or external changes in its environments
• Controlling the services which are offered, keeping a check on their conditions and levels of investment.
• Keep a track of investments in services throughout their lifecycle, so that an organization can evaluate its strategy.
• Evaluate the services which are no longer in use and take decisions accordingly for their retirement.

Scope

The main point of concern for service portfolio management is; if at all the service provider is having the ability to generate the value which is expected from the services. Service portfolio management keeps a track of investments in services and then compares them to the desired business outcomes.

Service portfolio management assesses the value of services throughout their lifecycles; it should also be able to compare what benefits have new services brought which were replaced in place of retired services.

Value to business

Service portfolio management helps out the business to make appropriate and good decisions about investments. We cannot implement services just because they are good ideas or because they are an industry standard. Services are implemented only if they demonstrate a good business case and clear returns on investment. Service portfolio management analyzes this by comparing the results that are expected from the customers and the capital required to build and deliver service.

 Service portfolio management also acts as a tool for innovation for an organization.

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