Adopting ITIL Practices to Drive Continual Service Improvements
How Does ITIL Help IT Service Management?
Very early on in my career in IT Service Management, I sat for my ITIL Foundation Certification. The lessons and terminology learned in that ITIL training course have become embedded in my everyday vocabulary as well as essential to be as productive and collaborative as possible. During the ITIL training course, I was introduced to the language and the ability to apply ITIL practices to everyday situations and challenges, establish clear lines of communication where needed, and share the necessary information with those needing it when they needed it. Just as effective communication is one ITIL’s major benefits for driving continual service improvements, speed is another.
Over the years, I have consulted with many organizations frustrated by their situation. Despite dozens of tools in place to help manage networks, desktops, and applications, none of their technologies nor the teams overseeing them were communicating in any meaningful way. The data was there, but there was no means for it to materialize in a relevant way to drive continual service improvements. Notably, they were aware their organizational maturity had become stunted, their staff having fallen into the trap of doing “what I know.”
Why Silos Occur
Besides these obstacles, many organizations also had the tendency of becoming fractured by designating decision-makers in different areas. This led to silos, which were prevalent. Tribal knowledge developed in pockets of the organization. Groups defined their territories. Fiefdoms were established. As segmentation occurred, whether because of siloed communication or information, it tended to unfavorably influence the speed of adjusting to changing organizational requirements, leading to a more reactive workforce.
After making ITIL training and certification a priority, these same customers told me of their surprise to find out that applying ITIL practices, rather than slowing things down, had freed up time to make even more improvements. In addition, they boasted of the ways ITIL practices embraced the concept of separation of duties by establishing clear lines of communication and defining the intersection points of each process.
How Does ITIL Drive Continual Service Improvements?
I used to believe ITIL was going to be a wave that took over the service management landscape, but instead, the individuals who have adopted the ITIL framework and its principles have allowed it to seep into the foundations of their organization and its culture, ingraining a strategic method into their IT service management practices and support activities as a means of effectively communicating and continually improving.
Instead of continuing to do things the same way because it is easy, applying ITIL practices provides strategic methods for tracking service improvements and developing best practices. To mature into a more adaptive enterprise from a strategic, tactical, and operational perspective, ITIL is the thread tying organizational groups together into a cohesive unit. It makes sense to fashion organizations to be just as integrated as the applications they rely on.
If you or your organization are looking for more information about ITIL 4, the ITIL 4 Foundation certification exam, and ITIL Simulations, Flycast Partners provides training courses with ITIL-certified instructors to help kickstart your ITIL journey or reinforce your existing ITIL knowledge.
