What is a risk in ITIL?

A potential incident that could inflict harm or loss, or make achieving goals more difficult. Can also be described as outcome uncertainty, and can be used to calculate the likelihood of both positive and negative events.

Risks are of concern to service users in the same way that costs are (part of the value proposition). These could include a failure of the consumer's server hardware or a shortage of employee availability.

In some circumstances, services may simply lower a consumer's risks, but the consumer may decide that this reduction is sufficient to support the service's value proposition risks (risks of service consumption).

It is the provider's responsibility to manage the consumer's detailed level of risk This should be addressed in accordance with what is most important to both the consumer and the supplier.

The consumer helps to reduce risk by:

• Actively participating in the definition of the service's requirements and clarification of its required outcomes.
• Clearly communicating the critical success factors (CSFs) and constraints that apply to the service.
• Ensuring the provider has access to the consumer's necessary resources throughout the service relationship.