Every company is a complex organism. And its nervous system is the IT architecture: the challenges of the present and future are won on the efficiency, functionality, elasticity, and adaptability of this set of structures and processes. Competitive advantages are gained or lost. The quality of work life and the satisfaction of employees and collaborators are encouraged. The relationship with customers and their retention rate improves.
In this context, ITIL, or Information Technology Infrastructure Library, is placed. What is it? It is a set of best practices and detailed guidelines for IT service management. What is it for? To align IT services with business needs, in a perspective of constant updating and continuous improvement.
In this article, we will focus on the fundamental characteristics of ITIL and on the framework of its process. On the technical details of the certifications. On the decisive advantages and the opportunities it brings. On how to implement it in your own company.
First, however, it is good to clear the field and make things clear. ITIL and ITSM (Information Technology Service Management) are not the same thing: although they are closely related. Both concern the flow of IT services. And the common goal is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their management.
To put it briefly: ITIL provides the general framework of reference, within which ITSM moves. Moreover, ITIL focuses primarily on customer experience, while ITSM on organization, profitability, productivity, and revenue optimization.
ITSM DEMO
Beyond the more technical definitions, there is nothing better than trying, to understand and see firsthand the advantages and opportunities. That’s why we suggest you test the potential of ITIL through an ITSM Demo provided by EasyVista.
The EasyVista platform facilitates the implementation of the best ITIL practices, in line with the unique characteristics and specific objectives of your company. In addition, EasyVista’s ITSM is easily and perfectly integrable with all systems already in use.
Cost reduction, increased productivity, the possibility of offering a unique and specific user experience for each role within your organization.
To learn more about EasyVista’s IT Service Management solutions, just follow this link.
useful information about itil
As we have already mentioned above, ITIL provides a series of practices and guidelines related to the optimized management of IT services. A holistic approach that allows organizations to deliver high-quality services efficiently and effectively. All with a very careful focus on the user experience.
The embryonic first version of ITIL was developed in the United Kingdom, under the impetus of the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA). According to many, however, the precursors of ITIL can be traced back to the “Yellow Books” produced by IBM, which had opened the frontier of integrated computer systems management for the company. It was the 1980s. The years when the first seeds of the computer revolution applied to the world of business were sown.
Today everything has expanded. Updates are continuous and occur at an increasingly accelerated pace. Knowing how to manage this complexity simply is crucial.
The most recent versions of ITIL, particularly ITIL 4, reflect the changes in the Information Technology landscape. Just think of everything that has to do with cloud computing, automation at all levels, IoT, DevOps practices. It is not surprising, therefore, that the main focus is set on continuous improvement, based on iterative feedback cycles. In other words: learning from experience, but in an increasingly automated, rapid, accelerated way.
From this key point descend the most important guiding principles of ITIL, which we can summarize in these points:
- Focus on the value you want to bring and on what you already hold.
- Start from where you are, not from zero.
- Collect feedback from stakeholders and end users, to progress in an iterative mode.
- Collaborate and promote visibility and sharing among different teams.
- Always keep in mind the big picture, related to your own company and the context in which it moves.
- Aim for simplification and concreteness.
- Optimize and automate.
These principles, in turn, translate into a series of management practices:
- General practices: which have to do with the organizational structure and its evolution; with risk management; with security and confidentiality; but also with the planning of the set of individual projects.
- Service management practices: from controlling performance, to customer requests, to the very delicate management of incidents, aimed at restoring the functioning of services as quickly as possible after any type of interruption.
- Technical management practices: from maintaining infrastructure, to software development, to deployment.
WHY IS ITIL IMPORTANT?
Optimize, automate, and trigger a virtuous circle that feeds itself: this is how we can summarize the importance of ITIL. But that’s not all. We have already emphasized that the implementation of ITIL also has a crucial positive impact on security, transparency, and service continuity in case of incidents.
Fundamental, then, is also the modular approach, which allows companies to adopt only the parts of ITIL relevant to their specific needs, ensuring a flexible and scalable implementation.
All this translates into: market competitiveness; quality of work flows, with repercussions on the satisfaction of employees and collaborators; improvement of all aspects of the Customer Experience. Ultimately, an increase in revenue and turnover.
Here below we see even more specifically what are the advantages and opportunities that derive from the implementation of ITIL.
ADVANTAGES OF ITIL
The benefits derived from the implementation of ITIL are crucial, numerous, and reinforce each other. Here are those that, in the experience of companies that have already made this choice, are central:
- Operational efficiency: with ITIL the approach is holistic, standardized, automated. And the adaptation to an ever-changing ecosystem happens in real time.
- Cost reduction: which is a direct consequence of the increase in operational efficiency. And which is also accompanied by a drastic cut in the time losses that fall on the shoulders of IT teams.
- Optimal risk management: it’s not just about being able to move quickly in case of incidents and service interruptions. With ITIL, all predictive processes also improve. Prevention is better than cure: and, in this case, it is done with a precision and effectiveness previously unthinkable.
- Improvement of service quality: another extremely intuitive point, which positively reflects on the experience of employees and customers.
- Exploitation of data: a key point, to which it is good to pay the utmost attention. Data is the fuel of the digital revolution and the most precious asset of any company that wants to play its part in the contemporary market. Improving IT service processes and management means having access to a larger quantity of data, deeper, more meaningful, and well-organized. In short: quality data, increasingly usable.
What is the ITIL Process Framework?
To tell what the ITIL process framework is, it is necessary to consider its entire life cycle. And it is useful to break it down into five main phases:
- Service Strategy. In this phase, the focus is on defining the strategy for IT services. The “picture” to be considered is broad; but you have to be able to do the right “zooms”. Specifically: market analysis, evaluation of business needs, planning of value creation for customers.
- Service Design. It is the phase of designing IT services, based on the general and specific needs that emerged during the definition of the strategy. So: creation of new services, but also review and update of existing ones, ensuring that they are effective, efficient, and responsive to business needs.
- Service Transition. From design to production, with great care in managing changes and risks associated with the distribution of new services or changes to existing services.
- Service Operation. The actual operational phase, which focuses on the daily management of IT services, with monitoring and control of all operations.
- Continual Service Improvement. It is the continuous improvement we have mentioned several times. It is the step that is at the end of the process: but that continuously triggers new beginnings.
Relying on the EasyVista platform, all phases of this process are managed simply, quickly, integrated. Here we tell you how, with all the details.
What are ITIL Certifications?
Specific certifications are linked to ITIL, divided into five levels and internationally recognized.
- ITIL Foundation: an introduction to the fundamental concepts of ITIL, ideal for anyone working in the field of IT service management.
- ITIL Practitioner: the focus, in this case, shifts to practical implementation.
- ITIL Intermediate: divided into different modules, each of which focuses on different aspects of IT service management.
- ITIL Expert: a high degree of specialization qualification, which covers the entire breadth and complexity of ITIL.
- ITIL Master: the highest level, for which experience in key ITIL roles and for at least 5 years is required.
How can companies put ITIL into practice?
The benefits of implementing ITIL are clear and decisive. But how to put this revolution into practice concretely in your company? First, it is a matter of proceeding step by step:
- Initial assessment of existing IT processes to identify areas of improvement and integrations.
- Specific definition of objectives.
- Measurement of the actual achievement of these objectives.
- Continuous training of personnel: because it is always the quality of human capital that moves the quality of technological capital.
- Finally, again, triggering the spiral of continuous improvement.
It is, in short, a matter of holding together a large number of factors. Of paying attention to different aspects. Of creating a path that winds through a series of steps. It’s not simple. But it becomes simple if you rely on EasyVista.
Use EasyVista for an optimal approach to ITIL
If the nervous system evolves, the entire company organism evolves. Thanks to the EasyVista platform, a unified vision of IT processes and services is achieved, incorporating the best ITIL practices.
All without headaches. In a simple way and tailored to the individual company, both large and small. In perfect integration with the systems already in place.
The benefits are enormous, the opportunities to seize are many, the ROI is sure and decisive. Request a demo!
