One of the stated purposes of the ITIL service value system is to prevent work silos. Why does the model treat silos as a problem worth designing against?
ITIL 4 Foundation, objective 4. The ITIL service value system hard
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The options
Correct Because teams that work in isolation lose sight of the overall objective, hoard information, and make decisions that optimize their own area at the expense of value for the organization
Correct. The SVS is deliberately architected as a flexible, interconnected system so that activities and practices work together toward a common outcome rather than each unit pursuing local goals.
Not correct Because all work must enter the service value system through a single controlled entry point, and silos create competing entry points
The SVS is not built around one entry point. Opportunity and demand can feed any value chain activity, and that openness is part of its flexibility; the objection to silos is loss of coordination toward the shared outcome, not uncontrolled intake.
Not correct Because silos make it impossible to apply governance, which requires a single centralized team
Governance is about directing and controlling the organization; it does not depend on centralizing all work into one team, and this is not the reason the SVS targets silos.
Not correct Because the service value chain activities must always be performed by the same team in a fixed order
The value chain is explicitly flexible: activities are combined into different value streams in different sequences. Nothing requires a single team or a fixed order.
Why
The SVS is presented as an operating model whose flexibility and interconnection are the point: inputs from any source can be routed to any value chain activity, and practices are shared across activities. This structure exists so that the organization responds to demand as a whole. Silos undermine that by restricting information flow and encouraging local optimization that does not translate into value.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- ITIL 4 syllabus clause 4.1
- What it says
- The SVS is designed to be flexible and interconnected so that the organization avoids silos of work that inhibit effective and efficient value creation.
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a set from objective 4 and space the ones you get wrong.