ABC of ITIL

ABC of ITIL

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a non-proprietary approach for managing IT services, developed in the 1980s by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in the United Kingdom. Now considered the de facto standard for managing a business focused, cost effective IT organization, the ITIL framework was recently redesigned from a process-led approach to a service lifecycle approach.

ITIL has undergone some intensive changes. Notably, the title of the framework itself has been changed. Once called the IT Infrastructure Library, ITIL is now known as ITIL Service Management Practices.

So, what’s in a name?

The name change is a reflection of ITIL’s evolution, from an operationally focused set of processes to a mature service management set of practice guidance.

In fact, ITIL’s entire vision is a holistic, value based, business focused service practice for today and tomorrow’s service management professionals.

ITIL is the only consistent and comprehensive documentation of best practice for IT Service Management. Used by many hundreds of organizations around the world, a whole ITIL philosophy has grown up around the guidance contained within the ITIL books and the supporting professional qualification scheme.

ITIL consists of a series of books giving guidance on the provision of quality IT services, and on the accommodation and environmental facilities needed to support IT. ITIL has been developed in recognition of organizations' growing dependency on IT and embodies best practices for IT Service Management.

The ethos behind the development of ITIL is the recognition that organizations are becoming increasingly dependent on IT in order to satisfy their corporate aims and meet their business needs. This leads to an increased requirement for high quality IT services.

ITIL provides the foundation for quality IT Service Management. The widespread adoption of the ITIL guidance has encouraged organizations worldwide, both commercial and non-proprietary, to develop supporting products as part of a shared 'ITIL Philosophy'.

There is a wide range of products and services available. At the heart of ITIL and commercially independent are:

ITIL Publications
The qualification scheme
itSMF, the not-for-profit and independent group of users and vendors
Commercial companies provide consultancy, software tools and training.

The end-to-end view of how IT should be integrated with business strategy is at the heart of ITIL v3’s five core volumes:

Service Strategy which looks at overall business aims and expectations to ensure IT strategy maps back to them.
Service Design which starts with a set of new or changed business requirements and ends with the development of a solution designed to meet the documented needs of the business.
Service Transition which is concerned with managing change, risk & quality assurance and has an objective to implement service designs so that service operations can manage the services and infrastructure in a controlled manner.
Service Operation which is concerned with business as usual activities.
Continual Service Improvement which has an overall view of all other elements and looks for ways that the overall process and service provision can be improved.

Benefits of Adopting ITIL

During the 20 years of ITIL practice, it remains the world’s most widely recognized and adopted framework for IT Service Management. It has grown from a cottage industry in the 80’s to a global influence.

Over this time the many benefits of ITIL have become widely known and continue to grow as the community of practice matures.

Whether you are a business customer, a service provider, a CIO or CEO, ITIL

Service Management Practices offer benefits that demonstrate their value and return on investment. Some of the widely published benefits are:

Non-proprietary practice - ITIL is owned by the Office of Government Commerce, a department of the UK Government. ITIL does not require a license to practice and it is independent of any commercial solution or platform.
Scalable - ITIL can be adapted for any size of organization. This is a key benefit since the industry predictions for the growth of small to medium enterprise is a major developing trend.
Reduce Costs - ITIL has proven its value in reducing overall cost of managing services.
Improved Quality - ITIL helps improve the quality of IT services through sound management practices.
Aligned to Standards - ITIL is well aligned to the ISO/IEC 20000 Standard for Service Management.
Qualification - ITIL supports the ITSM professional with a line of accredited training and education courses.
ROI - ITIL helps IT organizations demonstrate their return on investment and measurable value to the business. This helps establish a business case for new or continuing investment in IT.
Seamless Sourcing Partnerships - Outsourcing, often with multiple service providers, is increasingly common today. ITIL is widely practiced among industry service providers and offers a common practice base for improved service chain management.

About The Author:
Maximus Sanders: InsTIL is designed & developed by ITIL certified professionals on Microsoft .Net platform using ITIL best practices to deliver end to end IT infrastructure management solutions for business. InsTIL implements the critical processes areas under IT Service Management.

Tags: HELP DESK, SERVICE DESK, IT SUPPORT, IT SERVICE, ITSM, IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT, SUPPORT CENTER, IT ASSET MANAGEMENT, NETWORK MANAGEMENT, NETWORK MONITORING, FACIL

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