While ITIL is a widely adopted best-practice standard for IT service management, its current framework does not provide a roadmap for achieving the end-state it recommends. Moreover, factors such as the complexity of aligning service providers with contracts make it difficult for outsourcing enterprises to apply ITIL. Today, a capability-based ITIL maturity model can help users reduce the risks associated with traditional deployment methods.
The traditional approach to ITIL deployment often requires comprehensive contract renegotiations with outsourcing vendors. In particular, ITIL can be used as a template to assess, manage, and reduce an organization’s progress according to ITIL best practices; ITIL can also serve as a guide for planning an organization’s goal of achieving full ITIL maturity; it also enables enterprises to hold partners accountable for ITIL alignment and performance.
The maturity model discussed here relies on multiple perspectives, providing a more comprehensive view of an organization’s maturity and the potential complexity of changing ITIL deployment requirements. For enterprises with IT service outsourcing agreements, this approach can reduce process uncertainty and increase consensus on the entire practice journey. Furthermore, this method is well-suited to the change management philosophy an organization adopts to promote acceptance and deployment. Organizations must understand the five levels of maturity.
Anatomy of the Maturity Model
An organization will ultimately align with one of the five stages marked in the accompanying model diagram. However, assessing this maturity level is an objective process. Deployment is most successful when senior personnel with ITIL experience coordinate the implementation for a small enterprise, or when senior management and operational professionals from the organization and its outsourcing vendors participate in the deployment process. The definitions of the five maturity levels are:
鈼咥d Hoc: There is no formal definition of this function. Activities are primarily performed in an inconsistent and event-driven (Ad Hoc) manner.
鈼咶amiliarity: This function or &