IT Service Management as a concept is related but not equivalent to ITIL which, in Version 2, contained a subsection specifically entitled IT Service Management (ITSM). Software asset management (SAM) is the practice of integrating people, processes and technology to allow software licenses and usage to be systematically tracked, evaluated and managed. The ITIL discipline - Planning To Implement Service Management attempts to provide practitioners with a framework for the alignment of business needs and IT provision requirements.
IT Service Management provides a framework to manage IT processes in an efficient and effective manner. IT service continuity management is the process responsible for assessing the impact of the disruption on IT services. IT Service Management An Introduction A means for capturing and assessing project issues is suggested together with the way in which corrective action should be taken.
The ultimate goal of the recovery plan is to maintain service continuity. These disciplines are less well understood than those of Service Management and therefore often some of their content is believed to be covered 'by implication' in Service Management disciplines.
The concept of "Service" in an IT sense has a distinct operational connotation, but it would be incorrect then to assume that IT Service Management is only about IT operations.