Managed IT services: the role of IT standards

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the practical issues regarding standards and the management of IT services delivered by external or outsourced service providers called managed service providers (MSPs).Design/methodology/approach – Extensive review of published materials from academic and industry sources is carried out to discuss the managed services practice as well as IT standards applicable for managed services.Findings – Implementation of international IT standards such as the ITIL framework for IT service management benefits both internal IT organizations and MSPs. Availability of a common standard for managing IT services makes the transition of IT service management from the client organization to an MSP or from an MSP to another MSP less painful and helps to reduce or eliminate service disruptions.Practical implications – The ultimate objective of this paper is to offer MSPs as well as internal IT organizations a comprehensive discussion on the IT standards that are applicable fo...

[1]  John Hinks,et al.  Managing Business Support Services: Collaborating to Compete , 2005 .

[2]  Wim Van Grembergen,et al.  The balanced scorecard and IT governance , 2000, IRMA Conference.

[3]  R. Kaplan,et al.  Measuring the strategic readiness of intangible assets. , 2004, Harvard business review.

[4]  W. V. Grembergen.  Strategies for Information Technology Governance , 2003 .

[5]  E. Carmel,et al.  Offshoring Information Technology: Sourcing and Outsourcing to a Global Workforce , 2005 .

[6]  Joseph R. Matthews,et al.  Service Providers: ASPs, ISPs, MSPs, and WSPs , 2001 .

[7]  R. Kaplan,et al.  Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system , 1996 .

[8]  P. Weill,et al.  Leveraging the New Infrastructure: How Market Leaders Capitalize on Information Technology , 1998 .

[9]  Leslie P. Willcocks,et al.  IT and business process outsourcing: the knowledge potential , 2004 .

[10]  R. Sturm,et al.  Foundations of Service Level Management , 2000 .

[11]  Chris Hobbs.  A Practical Approach to WBEM/CIM Management , 2004 .

[12]  R. Kaplan,et al.  PUTTING THE BALANCED SCORECARD TO WORK , 1993 .

[13]  Winston Bumpus,et al.  Common Information Model: Implementing the Object Model for Enterprise Management , 1999 .

[14]  P. Weill,et al.  IT Governance , 2017 .

[15]  Linda Cohen,et al.  Multisourcing: Moving Beyond Outsourcing to Achieve Growth And Agility , 2005 .

[16]  N. Venkatraman.  Beyond Outsourcing: Managing IT Resources as a Value Center , 1997 .

[17]  Saggi Nevo,et al.  An examination of the trade-off between internal and external IT capabilities , 2007, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[18]  Jerry N. Luftman.  Managing the Information Technology Resource: Leadership in the Information Age , 2003 .

[19]  Ryan Peterson,et al.  Crafting Information Technology Governance , 2004, Inf. Syst. Manag..

[20]  Rhea H. Kirk,et al.  Inner-City Partnerships. , 1997 .

[21]  R. Kaplan,et al.  The balanced scorecard--measures that drive performance. , 2015, Harvard business review.