【51CTO.com Comprehensive Report】What Is ITIL?
ITIL stands for Information Technology Infrastructure Library. It is a widely accepted IT service management approach originally developed by the UK’s Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA, now part of the UK Office of Government Commerce).
ITIL aims to improve IT resource utilization and service quality, and it applies to organizations of all sizes, technologies, and business needs. Although initially developed for UK government departments, it quickly gained traction in UK and other European enterprises. By the mid-1990s, ITIL had become the de facto standard in the European IT management field. In the late 1990s, ITIL was introduced to the US, South Africa, Australia, and other countries, and adopted by numerous Fortune 500 companies and other small and medium-sized enterprises. By the end of the 1990s, ITIL was also brought into China by relevant companies.
Reasons for ITIL Implementation Failure
In recent years, although some enterprises have begun to taste the efficiency and convenience brought by IT service management with the help of ITIL, many more enterprises, especially millions of small and medium-sized enterprises, still suffer from “blocked energy flow” due to ITIL project failures. The reasons for implementation failure are none other than:
“Lack”: Lack of implementation experience. Many SMEs do not have experience in implementing ITIL projects, are not familiar with ITIL theory, let alone best practices. Whether it’s organizational structure or process definition, they have to “cross the river by feeling the stones,” so the probability of failure is naturally higher.
“Slow”: The implementation process is slow. Too much time is spent on complex processes, thinking that detailed processes must be formulated and every link considered, aiming to do everything in one step. But in reality, things often go contrary to expectations. This not only makes the implementation process extremely slow and complex, but also uncovers many new problems as processes are gradually executed, even causing employee resistance.
“Poor”: The supporting software chosen is poor. Many software products fly the ITIL flag but actually “sell dog meat under the sheep’s head”; some are even just a service desk. This inevitably leads SMEs using these products to fail to achieve expected results.
“Expensive”: ITIL-related software from large companies is too expensive. Although ITIL products from famous large companies have complete functionality and greatly help enterprises implement ITIL, their prices are absolutely high, basically blocking the path for SMEs to use their products, except for large enterprises that “don’t lack money.”
How to Implement ITIL with More, Faster, Better, and Cheaper?
Actually, achieving IT service management based on ITIL is not difficult. In view of the above failure reasons of “Lack,” “Slow,” “Poor,” and “Expensive,” how can we implement ITIL with “More,” “Faster,” “Better,” and “Cheaper”?
“More”: Learn from best practices published by companies with abundant implementation experience. These best practices are formed based on ITIL theory and years of ITIL project implementation experience. They include not only field-tested process definitions and organizational structures but also a continuous improvement cycle consisting of Plan, Do, Check, and Improve.
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