Business services are all the non-production activities necessary for business enterprises to operate successfully. They include banking, insurance, warehousing, transportation and communication services. They are used to accomplish trade activities, such as purchasing and shipping raw materials and finished goods, promoting their products, distributing information, and communicating with customers and employees. They also help to reduce cost and increase productivity, by streamlining operations and increasing employee efficiency.

Most business-to-business service providers offer highly specialized services, often with tight timeframes and demanding client requirements. The key to success is in establishing a long-term relationship and understanding the customer’s business needs, expectations and goals. For example, a graphic design firm might require a lengthy consultation with potential clients before a project starts, and may ask for detailed contracts with outlined SLAs and metrics.

In addition, successful delivery of business services requires visibility into IT assets across hybrid infrastructure. This involves mapping the relationships between business services and their associated CIs, documents, resources and any other components that comprise a service. Having this visibility enables organizations to improve their business agility by effectively planning and making important decisions. It also allows them to prioritize backlogs and deliver more value for their customers. To do this, organizations need to be able to quickly and easily find the assets they need in a timely manner. To learn more about business service mapping, download this free guide.