IT service delivery is the way a corporation provides users access to IT services, such as applications, data storage and other business resources. IT service delivery covers design, development, deployment, operation and retirement. Quality of IT service delivery is gauged by metrics included in a service-level agreement (SLA).

An IT service management (ITSM) framework, such as IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), dictates the processes, people and products involved in IT service delivery. The IT team enforces both preferred and prohibited approaches in accordance with established regulations, compliance and governance requirements, or best industry practices.

Service Design

Planning and designing IT services to meet business needs and user requirements:

• find these requirements
• discover possible dependencies
• match former two to what’s possible

Service Development / Implementation

Deploying IT services, including hardware, software, and network components:

• Proof of concept
• Test
• Pilot
• Production

Service Maintenance

Ongoing support and maintenance to ensure IT services remain functional and efficient, requires tools:

• ServiceDesk
• Knowledgebase
• Configuration/asset management
• SLA

Service Monitoring

Continuously monitoring IT services to detect and resolve issues promptly:

• Functional
• Performance
• Security

Service Retirement

Remove a service that is no more needed:

• Archive or delete data
• Remove connections
• Decommission resources