The IT Enterprise Service Management Office (IT ESMO) is designed to develop and implement key elements of IT Service Management appropriate for the entire institution and guiding individual units and groups in adopting them. By creating and making common structures and conventions available for all, the IT ESMO provides units and groups the opportunity to align with their peers on a shared set of complementary practices without demanding extensive individual efforts. Helping units and groups participate in a systematic methodology leads to an organized and more complete adoption of those aspects of ITSM most useful at the local and broad institutional levels. 

Neglecting to use IT Service Management (ITSM) standards, practices, and processes results in waste and inefficiency. Unfortunately, ITSM concepts and best practices do not provide a guide for an organization to begin using it, or where they should start. Those problems are amplified in diverse and decentralized institutions like Illinois. Employing partial, haphazard, misaligned, or contradictory standards, practices, and processes in different parts of an institution create even more problems. Implementing ITSM at an Enterprise scale requires a broad and coordinated effort to avoid creating or prolonging these issues.