Service Delivery vs Service Management: What’s the Difference?

The goal of most GBS organizations is to get the quickest, most efficient, and most adaptable service possible while keeping the customers, stakeholders, and employees happy. We are sure you are familiar with the term “run your GBS as a business”—many believe that this is the secret to delivering a service that has the desired outcomes for the consumer and the organization. Additionally, while you are also probably familiar with the term service delivery, it is common to mix this with the term Service Management. Utilizing a true service management approach has many advantages and could help ensure you have the right focus on your priorities while maximizing outcomes in a way that many other GBS organizations are not taking advantage of.  These are all things we will cover to be sure that after you are through with this article, you will understand how to take your organization to the next level when it comes to the right design.

Service Delivery vs Service Management

First, let’s identify these two roles of a GBS organization: service delivery and service management. Service delivery is essentially the technical skills, tools, and overall structure and strategies necessary to deliver suitable functions for your GBS organization (Gartner Glossary). Additionally, most all organizations have roles like ‘brand managers’ or ‘product managers ’. However, the missing piece that many GBS organizations are lacking is the benefits of having a Service Manager. This is a key overarching role needed to evolve GBS to run as a business. Service managers often own the entire GBS service and work very closely with service delivery and client managers. Incorporating service management into a GBS organization is important because when a GBS begins to get more global work, it requires more standardization. This is when it becomes more important for the business to move not only into service delivery but also into service management.

Standardization and Service Management

When a business undergoes an increase in standardization, it means that the organization must reevaluate certain processes, functions, manpower resources and technologies. Often, a business will begin to incorporate new mandates, new systems, and an overall overview to the team to continuously decrease inefficiencies. However, there are many time-consuming processes that all businesses must focus on. Some of these include managing operations to meet SLAs/KPIs’, analyzing metrics and how to improve stats, customer, and partner relationships, etc. Furthermore, during these transitions, many companies can begin to find themselves wasting time, money, and resources due to the trial and error that comes with most transformations. This is when the role of Service Management comes into play. 

Instead of trying to collaborate with multiple different departments to reach a certain goal, having a Service Manager in charge of strategy, implementation, priorities, and continuous improvement in running your GBS as a business will help the overall service levels of your GBS delivery. It will also improve customer and client satisfaction and help you build better future strategic plans.

In smaller organizations or GBS start-ups, it may sometimes be the case where Service Delivery managers may be performing Service Manager activities, but this is not sustainable in the long run. A clear distinction of roles as your organization matures ensures that the Service Delivery Managers can focus on the day-to-day delivery of the results while your organization is guaranteed that the partnership between GBS and the business is continually being strengthened with your Service Manager coming alongside the business to work on the strategic and transformational aspects.

How does your organization make this switch?

So, how do you go from a broad service delivery to establishing a service management role? Essentially, it is all about mindset. A mindset change if you will. Here are some tips and tricks on how to integrate a well-functioning service management position in your organization.

First, consider how to create awareness within the whole organization about the importance of a Service Management position. This includes considering how you can educate your entire team, including the lowest level of the organization on the benefits of having a Service Management role. What is the scope? How will this impact the organization? What changes are expected? How will this affect the way you operate? When will this happen and who will take on the role?

What might also help new Service Managers in remembering some essential things in their new role would be the acronym: VECTOR. Having Visibility Early on, Constant communication, Transparency, having an Overall view of the service, and focusing on building Relationships. To ensure an overall functioning organization, it is essential that the entire team is clear on the roles of the entire organization. It might be helpful for you to create a RACI matrix to avoid confusion between the Service Delivery Manager and the Service Manager. Effective communication and teaching combined with a proper mindset change will be some of the crucial elements to secure a successful transformation.

Now lastly, how do you pick the person that is suitable for the service management position? A few characteristics of someone who would be a great fit for a service management role would be a professional who has lots of experience in GBS across various businesses and someone who understands all GBS processes end-to-end. It is also very valuable that the service manager has solid communication skills to enable the right collaboration and drive the required changes across all departments in the organization.

Conclusion

In conclusion, all GBS organizations hope to increase efficiency, increase revenue, decrease overall costs, and better their overall customer-employee relationships. While it is common for successful organizations to expand globally and put emphasis on service delivery, it is now also extremely beneficial for GBS organizations to establish a Service Management focused organization. Utilizing a Service Manager role in your GBS will improve overall communication, better planning, strategizing, and a smoother implementation.