With the increased importance of corporate governance in the day-to-day operations of organizations globally, ITIL adoption has become a major factor. Global provider of enterprise management solutions, BMC Software, recently brought Malcolm Fry, independent executive advisor to the company, as well as many other ICT corporations, to SA to inform the media and others about the pitfalls of ITIL implementations.

To find out why ITIL implementations fail, one must firstly understand what ITIL is, and what it is not. ITIL was first implemented in 1987 by the British government, and is a set of books that document best practices for IT services management.

According to BMC Software global best practices director, Ken Turbitt, ITIL is the most widely accepted approach to IT Service Management (ITSM) in the world. It aims to provide a cohesive set of best practice, drawn from the public and private sectors internationally - supported by a comprehensive qualification scheme, accredited training organizations, implementation and assessment tools.

But what is ITSM? Turbitt explains it as: "A top-down, business-driven approach to the management of IT that specifically addresses the strategic business value generated by the IT organization, and the need to deliver a high quality IT service." He notes that ITSM is designed to focus on the people, processes and technology issues that IT organizations face.

Furthermore, ITIL is a framework, describing the contours of organizing service management. Says Turbitt: "The models show the goals, general activities, inputs and outputs of the various processes which can be incorporated within IT organizations. ITIL does not cast in stone every action required on a day-to-day basis, because that is something which differs from organization to organization. Instead it focuses on best practice that can be utilized in different ways, according to need."

Turbitt stresses that ITIL is not a methodology for implementing ITSM processes, it does not contain detailed process maps, and, says Turbitt, does not, and cannot, provide work instructions.

But why do organizations need to align with ITIL? According to Fry, the compelling reasons are because of governance issues, and, in terms of convergence, to better align IT with the business goals.

James D Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, has said that: "The proper governance of companies will become as crucial to the world economy as the proper governing of countries." In support of this statement Fry says: "IT leaders need to measure the real way in which they and their departments are adding value to the business at every level; they must be fundamentally business-thinking people."

According to Forester Research: "Widespread adoption of ITIL best practices by internal IT departments will follow through to 2008, from around 13 percent of billion-dollar companies in 2004, to around 40 percent in 2006 and 80 percent in 2008." Adopting ITIL best practices is therefore something that companies need to do, if they are not to be left behind the rest of the world.

Fry further notes that adopting ITIL best practices holds numerous benefits for organizations. These benefits, according to him, include the fact that it provides a common terminology that leads to better communication and understanding of what needs to be done, narrows the gap between management and IT personnel, and is based on international standards that require staff certification.

Furthermore, he says, ITIL is an aid to software selection, and, most of all, it is seen as the great equalizer. All of which leads to better integration, reduced costs and improved productivity, he claims.

If adopting ITIL has such great benefits in today

» posted by abennett

Computing South Africa

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