Glossary of digital services terms

These terms are used throughout the Customer service principles.

Term	Definition
Agentic AI	A type of artificial intelligence capable of solving complex problems and making decisions without human intervention.
Digital service	A service that is provided and accessed through digital means, typically over the internet.
Early life support	A phase in the ITIL service lifecycle where the delivery team support a new or changed service after deployment to ensure a smooth transition and address initial issues.
Generative AI	A type of artificial intelligence that can create new content in response to user prompts based on data it has learned from, for example ChatGPT, Copilot.
Natural systems	Systems that people and businesses are already using to carry out daily activities. For example banking apps, payroll software or point of sale systems for tax administration.
Once-only communication	The once-only principle is an e-government concept that aims to ensure that citizens, institutions, and companies only have to provide certain standard information to the authorities and administrations once. By incorporating data protection regulations and the explicit consent of the users, the public administration is allowed to re-use and exchange the data with each other.
Proactive public services	Government services that are automatically initiated based on existing data and anticipated need, rather than waiting for customers to request them.
Service	A series of interactions that help someone do something like getting a passport, applying for a rebate, or finding out the weather. In this case, ‘service’ does not mean customer service, but rather the people, business processes and technologies involved to achieve an outcome.
Service resolution time	The time it takes to resolve a service request, from the moment it is reported until fully resolved.