| alified and experienced ITIL Consultant - I'd like to set | | | | - It therefore requires to be understood at a senior |
| the record straight on a few points. | | | | level and therefore the ROI in ITIL must be deliberately |
| The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is an excellent set of | | | | planned and realized |
| best practices, carefully organized and edited to | | | | - It's transformational’ change - so that |
| provide readers with information and structure for how | | | | means people change roles; people have new ways |
| to plan, implement, maintain and improve the service | | | | of working and communicating; the organization begins |
| delivered to an organizations customers. | | | | to hardwire the voice of the customer into the heart of |
| ITIL is owned by the Office of Government | | | | IT/Technology |
| Commerce (OGC) and is copyright and trademark | | | | Some further considerations:- |
| protected. The IT Service Management Forum (itSMF) | | | | - It's tough to do; people play politics with their empires; |
| is the leading, independent, not for profit, organization | | | | people protect their functional silo's; people resist |
| that is owned and run by it’s worldwide | | | | change |
| members — to promote and exploit the benfits | | | | - It takes time; to plan, to design, to build, to test; to 'DO' |
| of ITIL. | | | | Essentially you have to change the 'planes engine |
| Oftentimes, when people first read one of the core | | | | whilst the 'plane is still in flight - meaning — YOU |
| ITIL books; ITIL is always classed as common | | | | have to transform the way Technology delivers |
| sense’ particularly by so called practitioners that | | | | service - without impacting the quality and availability of |
| say to themselves, "yeah, we do that already — | | | | Service. |
| so what?" | | | | ITIL's all about Service. Not Tools. Not Technology. Not |
| Well guess what. It IS common sense - but | | | | Process. In my opinion, they are just by-products of |
| unfortunately it is found all to UNCOMMONLY. | | | | what the end goal is. |
| At the heart of ITIL are a set of processes and | | | | [Incidently - there's NO such thing as an ITIL compliant |
| procedures that any organization can review, | | | | tool. ITIL is a set of best practices - not a 'standard' |
| customize and configure to their own content. These | | | | that can be complied to. Vendors always incorrectly |
| have been written and enhanced over 15 years from | | | | say their tool is 'compliant'. Gartner agrees with me on |
| a variety of ITIL/Service/Process experts. This is the | | | | this.] |
| whole point of ITIL — it’s a best practice | | | | ITIL makes you think deeply about who's doing what, |
| starting point — to be considered, re-worked | | | | when, how, with what tools, how well are they doing, |
| and carefully implemented into an organization to | | | | could they do better, how does the customer perceive |
| match that businesses needs. No verbatum, | | | | us... these are just some of the constant questions that |
| to-the-letter-of-the-book, style implementation will | | | | are raised EVERYDAY when you are implementing |
| ultimately be more than 50% effective for any | | | | and running an ITIL based Organization. |
| organization. Every place is different. Every Business is | | | | These are the RIGHT questions for IT Service |
| different. Every customer is different. | | | | Success!! |
| Over the last ten years, many thousands of IT Service | | | | The benefits of ITIL are many - but here are a few of |
| professionals have provided feedback and helped to | | | | commonly reported ones:- |
| enhance the core OGC ITIL texts - so you can rest | | | | - ITIL breaks down functional silo's, gets people and |
| assured that it is THE #1 place to start when | | | | information flowing; gets people talking; all for the |
| implementing strategic IT Service Management. | | | | benefit of the Customer (service recipient). |
| Moreover, recently, ISO20000 has been fast | | | | - ITIL helps to re-organize IT/Technology to be |
| tracked’ through the International Standards | | | | Customer focussed. The roles, responsibilities, |
| Committee to become the worldwide standard for IT | | | | information and reporting requirements all converge to |
| Service Management. A lot of ISO20000 requires key | | | | push meaningful and timely information towards the |
| aspects of ITIL to be implemented, namely IT Service | | | | right Customer interfaces. |
| Support and IT Service Delivery processes. Note: | | | | - ITIL makes people think from a Service perspective; |
| ISO20000 does NOT specify that ITIL is a pre-requisite | | | | not a technology silo perspective. |
| for certification — but it is the logical starting | | | | - ITIL reduces costs and helps with automation to |
| place for best practice adoption. | | | | further reduce cost. ITIL also lets you do more with |
| A few home truths about ITIL - having observed its | | | | less over time - avoiding future staffing cost increases. |
| implementation in various guises into many clients over | | | | - ITIL can be rolled out in 'groupings' of best practice to |
| the last 10 years:- | | | | achieve organizational 'quick wins' |
| - It requires investment in time, effort and | | | | - ITIL should be fun. A way of doing things around here |
| people’s energy — therefore | | | | with people fully involved and included in key decisions. |
| there’s a cost | | | | It boils down to this... |
| - It requires capable and experienced people — | | | | Will the person sitting on a seat do the right thing at the |
| people who are ITIL foundation and ITIL managers | | | | right time at the lowest possible cost - in order to play |
| certified | | | | their part in delivering the service that the customer |
| - It requires a transformation programme to own and | | | | pays for - keep on doing it right first time - and |
| guide the effort of many smaller, but still significant | | | | improve things where-ever possible? |
| projects. | | | | Holy Grail? |
| - It requires active, senior buy-in. No buy-in — no | | | | No. |
| ITIL. It’s that harsh. | | | | Already being achieved? |