The ITIL 4: Drive Stakeholder Value (DSV) guidance maps the customer journey, which begins with the 'Explore' step. The primary objective of this initial phase is for the service provider to gain a clear understanding of the potential customer's context, desired outcomes, and current challenges. Before proposing solutions or demonstrating capabilities, the provider must first comprehend the customer's purposes, issues, and needs. This foundational understanding is essential for the subsequent co-creation of value and ensures that any offered service is genuinely aligned with the customer's strategic objectives, particularly in a significant initiative like a digital transformation.

A. Displaying proof of capabilities occurs during the 'Offer' and 'Agree' steps of the customer journey, after the initial needs have been explored and understood.

B. Presenting solutions from other customers is part of the 'Offer' step, used to build confidence after the provider understands the specific customer's context.

D. Understanding detailed utility and warranty requirements is part of the 'Agree' step, where the specifics of the service offering are negotiated and finalized.

1. AXELOS. (2020). ITIL® 4: Drive Stakeholder Value. TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 3.1

The customer journey: This section introduces the seven-step customer journey model.

Section 3.1.1

Step 1: Explore: This section explicitly states

"In this step

the service provider investigates and gets a clear understanding of the target markets and stakeholders... The provider needs to understand the stakeholders’ needs and the context in which they operate

as well as the broader market." This directly supports that understanding the customer is the first focus.

Figure 3.1

The customer journey: This diagram visually places 'Explore' as the first step

preceding 'Engage'

'Offer'

'Agree'

'Onboard'

'Co-create'

and 'Realize'.

The Service Manager is demonstrating empathic listening by seeking to understand the consumer's feelings and perspective, rather than just focusing on the factual data that all targets are met. Empathic listening involves understanding the emotional context and the importance of the issue to the stakeholder. By acknowledging the complaint's significance and proposing a collaborative solution (reviewing the SLA), the manager is prioritizing the consumer's experience and the co-creation of value, which are central tenets of the ITIL Drive Stakeholder Value framework.

A. Positive Listening: This is not a standard term in ITIL or formal communication theory. It does not accurately describe the process of understanding a stakeholder's negative feedback.

B. Attentive Listening: While the manager is being attentive, this term only describes the act of focusing on the speaker. Empathic listening is more specific as it includes understanding the emotional state.

C. Selective Listening: This is the opposite of the behavior shown. Selective listening involves hearing only certain parts of a conversation, whereas the manager is fully engaging with the complaint.

1. AXELOS

ITIL® 4: Drive Stakeholder Value. TSO (The Stationery Office)

2020.

Section 4.3.3 (Communication and collaboration): This section emphasizes that "Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. It is a key component of emotional intelligence and is vital for effective communication and collaboration." The scenario is a direct application of this principle.

Section 5.1.3 (Understanding and getting to know users): This section discusses the importance of understanding the user's context

experience

and feelings beyond simple metrics. It states

"It is important to remember that users are people

and they should be treated with respect and empathy." The Service Manager's actions align with this guidance.

2. Brouwer

A. M.

& Kirovska

A. (2021). The Importance of Empathy in Service Design. In Service Design and Service Thinking in Healthcare and Hospital Management (pp. 45-59). Springer

Cham.

This academic text

while focused on healthcare

outlines a universally applicable principle in service management: "Empathic understanding allows service providers to look beyond the explicit needs and uncover the latent

unstated emotional needs of the user... leading to higher perceived service quality." This directly supports the Service Manager's approach of looking beyond the SLA data. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56853-34)

This scenario is a prime example of a 'moment of truth'. This term describes a critical point where a stakeholder interacts with a service and forms or changes their impression of the service provider. The service desk agent recognized the business context (a big sale) and went beyond the formal SLA to provide exceptional service. This single, positive interaction delighted the user and significantly enhanced their perception of the service's value, which is the essence of a moment of truth. The provider's empathetic and timely action created a strong, positive emotional response.

B. Smoothing demand: This involves managing fluctuations in service consumption to align with capacity, which is not what happened here.

C. Elevating capabilities: This refers to improving the provider's overall skills and resources, not a specific, positive user interaction.

D. Design thinking: This is a broad problem-solving methodology; the scenario describes a single positive outcome, not the entire process.

1. AXELOS. (2020). ITIL® 4: Drive Stakeholder Value (DSV). TSO (The Stationery Office). Section 2.3.2.1

"Moments of truth

" defines these as points where a service consumer interacts with the service provider and forms or changes an impression. The example provided in the question is a classic illustration of a positive moment of truth.

2. Normann

R. (2001). Reframing Business: When the Map Changes the Landscape. John Wiley & Sons. Chapter 4 discusses the concept of "Moments of Truth" as critical service encounters that define the customer's perception of quality.

3. Bitner

M. J.

Booms

B. H.

& Tetreault

M. S. (1990). The Service Encounter: Diagnosing Favorable and Unfavorable Incidents. Journal of Marketing

54(1)

71–84. This foundational academic paper analyzes service encounters that are critical in forming customer perceptions

defining the principles behind moments of truth. (https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299005400106)

The core problem described is a fragmented user journey and information silos between communication channels and support staff. An omnichannel approach directly resolves this by integrating all channels to provide a single, seamless user experience. This ensures that the context of a user's interaction is preserved as they move between different touchpoints (e.g., from a chatbot to a live agent). Consequently, users do not need to repeat information, and specialists receive a complete history of the user's query, enabling effective and efficient handling.

B. Automating the logging of user emails: This is a tactical improvement for a single channel and does not solve the cross-channel information-sharing problem.

C. Providing multichannel support: This describes the likely current state, where multiple, disconnected channels exist. It is the cause of the problem, not the solution.

D. Providing a self-service portal: This adds another channel but does not inherently integrate it with others to solve the issue of repeating information when escalating to a different channel.

1. AXELOS. (2020). ITIL® 4: Drive Stakeholder Value (DSV). TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 3.2.3

"Channels of engagement and communication

" explicitly contrasts multichannel and omnichannel approaches. It states

"In an omnichannel model

the channels are integrated to provide a seamless and consistent user experience... The user can start their journey in one channel and continue it in another without having to start over." This directly supports the choice of omnichannel as the solution to the problem described.

A partnership relationship is the most strategically integrated type of service relationship, characterized by shared goals, risks, and rewards, and the co-creation of value. Before entering such a high-trust arrangement, it is imperative for an organization to conduct thorough due diligence. This involves a rigorous assessment of the potential partner's capabilities (do they have the required skills and resources?), maturity (are their processes stable and effective?), and past performance (do they have a reliable track record?). This assessment is crucial to ensure strategic alignment and mitigate the significant risks associated with a deep, long-term partnership.

A. Readiness to change is not a primary concern for a basic relationship, which is transactional and focuses on the stable, consistent delivery of a commodity service.

B. While readiness to collaborate is essential for a partnership, the assessment of capability, maturity, and performance is a more fundamental and distinguishing preparatory step for this specific relationship type.

D. A basic relationship is transactional and requires minimal collaboration; the focus is on fulfilling pre-defined contractual terms, not on collaborative efforts.

1. AXELOS. (2020). ITIL® 4: Drive Stakeholder Value. TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 4.3.3

"Assessing mutual readiness": This section details the assessment criteria for different relationship types. It explicitly states

"For a partnership

it is crucial to assess the partner’s capability

maturity

and past performance. This is because the partners will be co-creating value and will need to be sure that they can rely on each other." This directly supports option C as the correct answer. The same section associates basic relationships with simply the "ability to provide the required goods and services

" making options A and D incorrect.