What Are Business Services?
Business services are the many activities that benefit a company without supplying any tangible product. They help businesses with marketing, production, safety, cost and convenience, among other things. Some examples of business services are information technology, shipping and facilities management. There are a variety of career options available to those who choose to work in this field, including customer service, accounting, marketing and human resources.
Outsourcing business services allows companies to focus on their core competencies while leaving noncore tasks for outside experts or providers. This saves on in-house costs while allowing employees to develop highly specialized skills. In addition, external providers can scale up or down business services to meet seasonal demands.
Digital business services include a system of engagement (customer-facing portal) and a system of action (service catalog). The former is the consumer-facing view of service offerings, a stratification into capability, availability and pricing options. The latter is the organizational process of cataloging, governing, and managing digital business services in a way that aligns with business models.
A clear set of defined business services makes it easier to launch new services quickly. Start by identifying a small number of pilot use cases, such as employee office moves or modifying customer orders. Test these with the intended audience to gain insight into strong use case candidates. Then, create a business service model based on these and map underlying dependencies. Finally, define the digital means for engaging with the service—the customer-facing portal and any workflows for fulfillment.
