Abstract:Investment in IT and software systems frequently fails to meet the expectations of the business customer. This has a consequentially negative impact on business performance and reduces the perception within the business of the value provided by systems suppliers. This has been a persistently stubborn problem for more than forty years even after decades of 'product' development. This position paper argues that for the likelihood of a successful business outcome to be increased we must first redefine our understanding of the 'service' concept and then apply it more widely, including and embracing the software engineering aspects. This will improve concepts such as software systems engineering, IT service management, service performance, change management, alignment, governance and maturity.