What is ITIL^®? Simply explained! (Part 1)

Many buzzwords, rumors and half-truths circulate about ITIL. Here you will find an overview of what ITIL is and what ITIL can do for your business and your IT organization.

Where does ITIL come from?

ITIL originated in the British administration in the 1980s. As the use of IT systems increased, there was a growing need for uniform, effective and economical procedures. Because gathering experience on IT projects proved practical, a collection of books on diverse practices for handling IT systems and environments began to emerge in the mid-1980s.

After initially being used predominantly in the British administration, ITIL gained increasing attention in the free economy all over the world around the turn of the millennium. ITIL v2 replaced the collection of over 40 individual titles and brought them together in a modernized form in eight books. At the same time, the focus shifted from technical to service management practices.

With ITIL v3 from 2007 and revised in 2011, ITIL finally became a global best practice. Supported by a worldwide community of user organizations, tool manufacturers, IT service providers, and consulting firms, a holistic framework was created that described all aspects for managing an IT organization along a service lifecycle model.

With ITIL 4, the latest edition of the best practice collection has been published since the beginning of 2019 in an iterative procedure. It combines the experience of more than 30 years of service management with the modern requirements of digitization, global competition, more agility and speed, and the disappearing boundary between IT and the so-called core business in companies.

In summary, the history of ITIL can be presented like this:

• Version 1: How do we handle basic IT tasks, i.e. technology setup, support for users, changes to the IT landscape, inventory management of IT equipment?
• Version 2: How do we align IT with customer and service orientation and coordinate work using processes across technical and task-oriented organizational units?
• Version 3: How do we manage an IT organization and IT services holistically, from strategy to day-to-day realization in operations?
• Version 4: How do we as an IT organization contribute to the value creation of a company? In the age of digitization of all areas of life and the economy, how can we work together to master the associated challenges better than the competition?

From its beginnings in the 1980s until today, ITIL understands IT as a way to achieve better performance, better products and greater success. This is done by using IT in a targeted and benefit-oriented manner and by managing it economically and responsibly. IT multiplies opportunities and capacities; it is neither a substitute for business nor an end in itself.

How can ITIL be used?

ITIL helps organizations to co-create value with their customers and other stakeholders by delivering and managing the right services and products. Because ITIL is based on decades of experience from service providers around the world, it helps to avoid reinventing the wheel (be more efficient and faster), to think of all that is needed for success (be better), and to leave out what is unnecessary (be more agile and economical).

ITIL offers a very large collection of proven ideas and concepts. Take these as the basis for your individual service management journey! There are many approaches and starting points for this. Whether you:

• Want to make your support chain better and faster through best practices,
• Want to bring your service desk up to date with modern service management,
• want to define the procedure for the development of new services,
• want to understand how value is created in your organization and what is elementary, what is necessary and what is superfluous,
• or whether you need to navigate your organization through the choppy waters of digital transformation,

ITIL 4 will be a help and inspiration for you - for sure!

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