Cloud computing — is a technology enabling the remote access to the shared pool of computing resources, including data communication networks, servers, data storages, applications, and services.
Cloud computing, like a transport network, drove the appearance and development of the IT as a Service business model, which has the following formats:
- Software as a Service (SaaS - software as a service)
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS - Infrastructure as a Service)
- Platform as a Service (PaaS - Platform as a Service)
- Team as a Service (TaaS - Team as a Service)
The IT service term is included in the ITIL V3 glossary. It is defined as a way to deliver a value to customers by helping them to achieve their goals without bearing special expenses and risks.
It follows from the definition that:
- The IT service involves not only physical IT assets, including software, but activities of the staff maintaining the assets and ordering and sustainability of such activities.
- The aim of an IT service provider is to support the customer in achieving his goals and to speak the customer’s language. The team of the IT service provider shall consist of the specialists who are able to communicate in the customer’s business model language.
- The customer shall, on the one hand, be exempt from the knowledge of service components while, on the other hand, he should be sure that the service is provided in the best possible manner: at a reasonable price and with well-managed risks and required features.
The IT as a Service business model involves the contracting out (outsourcing) of activities related to the development, deployment, and support of the information system to an IT service provider. You can hand over all these activities or some scope of work associated with the development and/or support of individual system parts (adaptation to specific conditions, deployment, support, etc.).
The main thing here is not so much the purchase of the system and not even its deployment but obtaining regular, expected, and sustainable results from the IT support of the customer’s business model. This is what any customer expects from IT services.
This approach allows to provide services in a dynamic manner. Thanks to the pooling of computing resources and qualified staff in one place, services can be distributed to many customers. This also allows to significantly reduce expenses per one workplace. The service becomes cheap when it is provided many times and the required resources are idle during a minimum period of time.