Neither utility nor warranty can deliver full value on its own. A product or service may do exactly what the customer requires, but if it performs poorly, or is unavailable, insecure or unreliable, it cannot deliver maximum value. Conversely, a service will not deliver value if it does not provide the functionality needed, even though it may be highly available, reliable and secure and offer high levels of performance.
Figure 1.4 shows that value is only created when both utility and warranty are satisfied. A service that seems potentially attractive on paper to a customer in terms of the utility that it offers won’t be perceived as providing real value if the way it is delivered is highly unreliable or it is delivered in an insecure manner.
A customer’s ability to realise value from an IT service is dependent on both the utility associated with the service and the degree to which they can rely on the consistent delivery of that service (the service warranty).