ITIL 4 DITS key terms

A plan describing how an organization will use digital technology and capabilities to create value, reach customers, and compete over a defined horizon. It links business goals to technology investment decisions.

The plan for how technology services, infrastructure, and IT capabilities will be delivered and evolved to support organizational objectives. It is normally a subset of, and aligned with, the wider digital strategy.

Sustained, organization-wide change in how value is created, delivered, and captured, enabled by digital technology. It usually alters processes, culture, capabilities, and customer relationships rather than only replacing tools.

A shift in an industry's value logic caused by new digital entrants, technologies, or business models that make established offerings less relevant. Incumbents must respond strategically rather than with incremental efficiency gains.

The arrangement of people, processes, technology, data, and partners through which an organization delivers digital products and services. It defines decision rights, funding flows, and how work is organized across teams.

The logic by which an organization creates, delivers, and captures value, covering customers, offerings, revenue streams, cost structure, and key partners. Digital change often requires redesigning these elements together.

A concise statement of the benefit a customer receives from an offering and why it is preferable to alternatives. It anchors strategy, marketing, and service design decisions.

A one-page visual template for describing and testing a business model across nine blocks, including customer segments, value propositions, channels, revenue streams, and cost structure. It supports comparison and rapid iteration.

The condition in which technology priorities, investment, and delivery are demonstrably connected to organizational goals. It is maintained continuously rather than achieved once through an annual plan.

The system of direction, decision rights, and accountability that determines how an organization sets objectives, allocates resources, and monitors performance. It defines who decides, who is consulted, and how performance is evidenced.

The discipline of selecting, prioritizing, balancing, and reviewing a set of investments or services to maximize strategic value within constraints. It provides the mechanism for stopping low-value work as well as starting new work.

The series of activities and handoffs through which an organization creates and delivers value to a customer or stakeholder. Mapping value streams exposes delays, waste, and dependencies across organizational boundaries.

A technique for visualizing the steps, times, and information flows in a value stream to identify waste and improvement opportunities. It distinguishes value-adding activity from waiting and rework.

An operating model in which stable, funded teams own a product or service end to end, including its outcomes, and are accountable for continual improvement. It contrasts with project-based structures that dissolve at delivery.

The discipline of discovering customer needs, defining an offering, prioritizing a backlog, and steering a product through its lifecycle to deliver measurable outcomes. It connects strategy to day-to-day delivery decisions.

A set of principles and ways of working that favor iterative delivery, customer collaboration, and responding to change over rigid plans. It is applied at team, program, and organizational levels.

A collaborative culture and set of technical practices that integrate development and operations so software can be delivered and operated reliably at speed. It emphasizes automation, shared ownership, and fast feedback.

A practice in which software is kept in a deployable state at all times through automated build, test, and release pipelines. It shortens lead time and reduces the risk of each release.

The smallest version of an offering that allows a team to test key assumptions with real users and learn before further investment. It is a learning instrument, not merely a low-quality release.

The sequence of interactions and touchpoints a customer experiences while pursuing a goal with an organization. Mapping it reveals friction, moments of truth, and opportunities for digital improvement.

A human-centered approach to problem solving that moves through empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing. It is used to explore uncertain customer problems before committing to solutions.

A management approach focused on maximizing customer value while eliminating waste from processes. In digital contexts it underpins continuous improvement, flow, and respect for the people doing the work.

The ongoing, structured practice of identifying and implementing improvements to products, services, and ways of working. It is a recurring activity embedded in normal operations rather than a one-off project.

The combination of skills, processes, technology, data, and organizational behaviors that enables an organization to achieve a digital outcome. Capabilities are built deliberately and are difficult for competitors to copy quickly.

A structured evaluation of current versus required organizational capabilities, used to identify gaps and prioritize investment. Results typically feed strategy, workforce planning, and sourcing decisions.

An attribute or capability that allows an organization to outperform rivals by offering superior value or lower cost. Digital strategies aim to build advantages that are durable rather than easily replicated.

A model in which value is created by facilitating interactions between two or more participant groups, often with network effects. Revenue typically comes from access, transactions, or advertising rather than from producing the goods exchanged.

The phenomenon in which an offering becomes more valuable as more participants use it. It can create rapid growth and defensible advantage, but also raises concentration and regulatory questions.

The shift from selling products to selling outcomes or access, often supported by digital monitoring and subscription pricing. It changes revenue models, risk allocation, and the capabilities an organization needs.

A revenue model in which customers pay recurring fees for continued access to a product or service. It favors retention and lifetime value over one-off transactions and requires ongoing service quality.

A model of six connected activities (engage, plan, improve, design and transition, obtain and build, deliver and support) that together transform demand into valuable services. It shows how activities combine rather than sit in silos.

A model describing four interacting perspectives that shape service management: organizations and people, information and technology, partners and suppliers, and value streams and processes. All four must be considered together.

The overall system of components and activities, including guiding principles, governance, the value chain, practices, and continual improvement, that enables an organization to co-create value with stakeholders.

General, recommended principles such as focus on value, start where you are, progress iteratively, and optimize and automate, used to guide decisions in uncertain situations. They are universal and enduring rather than prescriptive rules.

The possible occurrence of an event that could make it harder to achieve objectives, described in terms of likelihood and impact. Strategy and governance require explicit identification, tolerance setting, and treatment.

An organization's collective ability to adopt and exploit new digital tools and ways of working quickly and effectively. It depends on culture, skills, and leadership behavior as much as on technology.

The structured approach to preparing people for, supporting them through, and sustaining organizational change. It addresses culture, communication, and adoption, not only technical deployment.

The interconnected network of organizations, platforms, and technologies that jointly create value for customers. Strategy increasingly involves positioning within an ecosystem rather than competing alone.