April 2009 / An Introduction to ITIL

From large multi-national corporations to small startups, IT has become an integral part of every business’ operations. And as an integral part, organizations have developed high expectations for how their IT service should be delivered. To meet these expectations, IT professionals in increasing numbers have been using the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) – a set of guidelines and policies that are becoming the standard for IT service.

In this month’s Tech Brief we’ll take an in-depth look at ITIL, discuss its benefits, and explain why the world’s leading IT providers are adopting its policies.

What is ITIL?

ITIL is a globally recognized best practice framework that documents the processes, functions, and roles of IT service management. Created in the 1980’s by the United Kingdom's Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA), ITIL is organized into a series of books, with each book covering different areas of IT management. The current version of ITIL, version 3, is comprised of five books:

1. Service Strategy: focusing each element of the service lifecycle on the customer outcome. Concepts include strategy and value planning, responsibilities and roles, business and information technology strategy linkage, implementation of service strategies, and risks and critical success factors.

2. Service Design: the development of IT policies, documents, and architectures for the design of service solutions and processes. Concepts include service design objectives, selecting the model, risk analysis, implementation, cost, and control & measurement.

3. Service Transition: long term change and release management concepts with guidance on transition into a business environment. Concepts discussed include cultural and organizational change management, knowledge management, and tools & methods.

4. Service Operation: activities required to enable day to day operational excellence. Concepts discussed include change management, processes and function, application management, and scalability.

5. Continual Service Improvement: service quality in the context of continual improvement. Concepts include business and technology drivers, business and organizational improvements, methods and tools; and other best practices.

In addition to published material, ITIL is supported by a comprehensive qualifications system, accredited training organizations, software tools, and information groups.

What Are the Benefits of ITIL?

• Provides a single, definable, repeatable, and scalable documented framework for IT best practices across the organization.
• Clearly identifies roles and responsibilities for IT service management.
• Supports reducing IT costs and justifying the cost of IT quality.
• Supports ability of IT to measure and improve internal performance and service provisioning.
• Defines IT in terms of services rather than systems.
• Supports improvement of user productivity.
• Improves communication and information flows between IT and organization business departments.
• Provides a framework for IT to support regulatory challenges.
• Improves ability of IT to adjust as business opportunities and challenges are presented.

Why is ITIL Certification a Good Thing to Look For in an IT Vendor?

ITIL certification shows you, the customer, that the vendor isn’t just thinking about the cheapest or fastest way to structure a service. On the contrary, they’re looking to put together a customizable IT environment that will align with your business goals. An ITIL certifications shows you that your vendor will help you spend smarter by putting a system in place that over time will reduce your costs by streamlining your processes. Now, more than ever, spending smarter should be one of an organization’s top priorities.

Final Thoughts...

Some of the largest corporations in the world, from Microsoft to Proctor & Gamble, have applied ITIL principles to their IT and seen dramatic results. But you don’t need to be a huge multinational to experience the same results. Many smaller IT vendors have ITIL certifications and can provide your business with the same approach to IT management as the larger companies enjoy. Thrive, for instance, is constantly keeping pace with our certifications and currently have over 30 ITIL-certified engineers on staff. If you’d like to learn more about ITIL, or how Thrive leverages ITIL for its clients, contact us.