What are customers of IT services who work in the same organization as the service provider known as?

Strategic customers is not a recognized customer classification in the ITIL framework - ITIL uses internal and external as the primary customer categorization.

External customers are the opposite of the correct answer - they belong to a different organization than the service provider, such as clients of a third-party managed service provider.

Valued customers is not an ITIL-defined term or classification - it has no technical meaning within the ITIL service management framework.

ITIL defines internal customers as individuals or groups who receive services from a service provider that belongs to the same organization - for example, employees using services delivered by their company's own IT department. This classification matters because the nature of the relationship, contracts (often replaced by internal agreements), and funding differ from external customer arrangements. Understanding this distinction helps IT organizations apply appropriate service management practices for different customer types.