The 7th academic seminar of Shantou University Business School was held on 10th October in the Academic Conference Centre, with the participation of professors Mr Yao Hongxin and Mr Wu Jingqiang, Associate Professors Mr Lin Quan and Ms Lin Jiali. Deputy Dean Professor Ouyang Feng chaired the seminar. Dr. Liu Yide was invited as the guest lecturer.
Centred on the theme of ‘IT service management: concepts (ITSM), frameworks and thinking of restructuring the courses in IT management’, Dr. Liu broke down the main theme into four topics, including the purpose of ITSM, the conceptual substance of ‘processing flow’ and ‘service’, the brief introduction to ITSM and the thinking of restructuring the current IT courses. Starting with examining the phenomenon of ‘service economy’, Dr. Liu further expanded the topic to argue that IT departments are currently characterized by independence, skill-oriented, and inaccessible costs. In contrast, the trend in the future will be one towards more ‘customer-oriented’ and will be driven by demand. Dr. Liu stressed the importance of strengthening the coherence between IT and other departments, which is vital to the creation of business values.
With brief analysis of a number of case examples, Dr. Liu explained the concepts of ‘work flow’ and ‘service’ and concluded that the current situation of IT courses happening in universities as ‘embarrassing’, since the industry, rather than the academia, seems to dominate the research in the realm. Dr. Liu then discussed with the students and staffs the causes and solutions to the situation.
In concluding the lecture, Dr. Liu put forward his solution, suggesting that more lectures and discussions on service management and service economy would be helpful in the short term. In the long term, however, the publication of textbooks with emphasis on the driving force of service would be the perpetual solution.
