I was just listening to the itSMF podcast and the topic of marketing and getting the business to understand the value of I.T. services reminded me of a simple, yet important lesson I learned in life.  For a while (during my “what do I want to do for a living” period) I worked for my father-in-law at the family business.  Without going into too much detail I’ll give a brief description of my father-in-law’s life:  He came from a foreign country with no money, learned a specific skill and started his own business, became a respected lecturer and member of the professional community and now drives a Mercedes that’s worth more than my house.  In essence, my father-in-law built a life following the textbook definition of an American dream.  One vital lesson that I learned while working at his business is the importance of the bottom line and how much money was made that day.  The reason for this importance was simple; no money = no business.  This is a critical factor when it comes to operating in the I.T. world.  Even more important than (dare I say) adopting a culture conducive for providing customer service or improving processes.  The reason for this crucial thought  is simple; the business understands money.  In fact, just about everyone understands money.  Heck, even time = money.  So why do I keep reading and hearing people press the importance of I.T. and its impact on the business?  Isn’t this something that everyone should just know?  I guess not, because if everyone did have the “bottom line” mindset then experts wouldn’t be blogging, lecturing, videocasting, podcasting, etc., etc. about making sure the business knows the value of I.T.

I certainly don’t intend to undermine customer service or say that money is the most important thing in the world, but it really is the simplest form of value that anyone can understand.  So instead of Service Management being about providing value, maybe the definition of Service Management should be changed to providing the best value.

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Started working in IT in 1999 as a support desk analyst as a way to help pay for food during college. Studied Electrical Engineering for two years before realizing biochemistry was more fun than differential equations, and so ultimately graduated with a Biology degree in 2006. Having (reluctantly) failed at getting accepted into dental school, embraced working in IT and has gone broke becoming an ITIL Expert. Likes to jog, sing camp songs, quote Mel Brooks movie lines and make dumb jokes and loves working for an Israeli tech company where December 25th is a regular work day.