Five key stages make up the ITIL Lifecycle for services. The ITIL Service Strategy stage, which is the heart of the ITIL Lifecycle, links directly to the following stages: ITIL Service Design and Transition, ITIL Service Operation, and Continual Service Improvement. Online ITIL training explains that the Service Strategy Stage links directly to the IT strategy as well as the business strategy. It is crucial to identify strategic planning steps that will ensure new services are creating value for customers. The Service Strategy stage will be briefed by an ITIL course.
Strategic planning is defined by four key activities
Strategy planning – Definition of the market
The Definition of Market is the first step in the Service Strategy stage’s strategic planning. To make money, an organization must generate quality services for its customers. Customers in the market must be carefully evaluated in order to make money. It is important to know who they are, what their needs are and what they want. A service can be designed to provide the best service but it will not cater to the needs of its target market. A company that produces goods and services that are not popular with its customers will see a significant drop in revenue. A market assessment is essential for any good strategic planning.
To be able to plan better, it is important to understand the customer’s needs and analyze the market opportunities. It’s possible that there is a gap in a market that competitors have not considered. These gaps must be filled if there is a gap in the market that isn’t covered by competitors. Your brand and company will be associated with the service you offer by being the first to enter the market. The company should also periodically assess its performance against the competition to determine what its strengths and weaknesses are. A plan for improvement should be developed following this assessment to address weaknesses and maximize strengths to ensure a strategic planning process that is effective and a better market position.
Strategic planning – Formulation Of Offers
Formulating offers is the second step in strategic planning at the Service Strategy stage. After identifying the market and performing a gap analysis, the company must decide which services it can offer to their target market. Which customer segment will it serve? What about young customers or elderly customers, male customers and female customers? How will their location affect customer behavior? In the previous step, we defined the target market and their requirements. This second step is crucial in strategic planning. It is responsible for determining how to meet the needs of the target markets. Properly defining the services that will be offered to customers will help you create a result-oriented definition of them. A service portfolio is a collection of all future services, as well as current services used by customers. It also includes retired services. This second activity in the Service Strategy stage evaluates current services and how they can be positioned to support great strategic planning.
Strategic planning – Development strategic assets
The third activity in strategic planning at the Service Strategy stage is to develop strategic assets. The market is evaluated and the services that can be developed are the first activities of strategic planning.