ICS Embraces ITIL's 5 Stage Service Life Cycle

Integrated Computer Services is very familiar with ITIL's service life cycle approach. These are effective steps that we utilize in order to ensure that we are providing our clients with the best support possible. ITIL's approach consists of five steps that every IT company should follow. These five stages consist of service strategy, service design, service transition, service operation, and continual service improvement. We suggest you become familiar with the following five categories and evaluate your current managed service provider. Has your current IT utilized any of these techniques? If you had to answer no, then you should re-evaluate your current MSP. In order to manage networks successfully these five steps must be practiced and utilized for every business.

Service Strategy - Not all businesses are the same. Each is very individual with different wants and needs. We build an individualized plan for each client in order to implement the best network for their needs. We develop a strategy to give you every possible advantage over the competition. We analyze all options and scenarios and test these against practical situations in order to see what the exact needs of your business are and what practices will be the best.

Service Design - This is the next phase in the process. In this phase we look at the best ways to design and reinforce all the ideas that will be able to support the Service Strategy we came up with in the first step. A successful service design will successfully support all the ideas discussed in the Service Strategy. We look for the most reliable and cost effective methods for your business needs.

Service Transition - This is the phase in which we successfully implement these changes in order to improve your current network. We take pride in offering a smooth transition with as minimal downtime as possible. It is essential that this stage runs smoothly. It is very critical for businesses to be up and running at all time, even while implanting changes. In this step we make sure to take the safest course of action in order to implement these upgrades as quick and effectively as possible. We make sure to keep all critical services up in order for you be able to keep all clients happy.

Service Operation - This next phase puts emphasis on making sure all your daily operations are running effectively. We take every necessary step to monitor your network and day to day functionality. We take a proactive approach to handle simple errors we notice right away before giving them the opportunity to escalate into even bigger issues that could cripple your network. This phase also puts focus on ensuring that all issues are addressed effectively and according to the SLA (service level agreement).

Continual Service Improvement - The final phase is put into place in order to ensure that we are constantly looking for ways to improve your business network. Even if your company stays the same we will always be searching for newer more effective technology methods to improve the way you provide service to your clients. ICS has a staff full of tech savvy individuals who are constantly looking into newer and more reliable ways to improve the networks of our partners all while keeping your budget in mind. We want to make sure you are always getting the most bang for your buck.

These five stages of ITIL's service life cycle are the essential building blocks to world class IT service delivery. It is not important for you to fully understand each stage, but you should make sure this is being practice by your in house IT department or Managed Service Provider. We suggest you bring up the ITIL service life cycle topic to your current IT team during your next business technology review.