Implementing ITIL

A lot of organizations are looking at ways of Implementing ITIL and CMM. The challenges of Implementing ITIL and CMM tend to center more around people issues, rather than the pure theoretical content of the frameworks. CMM of course is a framework established to guide software developers through the challenges of creating solutions that are truly aligned with business requirements.

ITIL is a framework that has been developed to guide IT Managers through the challenges of managing their IT infrastructure. The two frameworks are complementary and those faced with Implementing ITIL and CMM need not be concerned about any potential clash or duplication of effort between the two. The CMM measurement model is actually a 5 category measurement model. Most people think that ITIL is also a 5 level model, but there are actually steps between the 5 levels in ITIL (making 9 measurement levels).

At the end of the eighty's the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) was developed. ITIL was the name of the handbooks of the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) in England. Now this name refers to the approach, philosophy and goal behind this set of handbooks. ITIL is a set of "best practices" for maintaining information systems. ITIL is the core of the most other frameworks, if something is good you don't have to reinvent the wheel. At this moment ITIL thinking is spread rapidly around the world and everywhere you see organizations being deployed. The world-organization for taking care of this standard is the ITSMF International.

Why Implementing ITIL: Much IT departments are event driven and will react on an event (i.e. server down). You get the feeling that you are running behind all the time. This is a hard situation to handle and will cost a lot. The choice for Implementing ITIL is mostly based on the fact that a organization will get a good insight on the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and what's going on at the IT-department. By Implementing ITIL you're going to describe what the processes are in your IT-department and you going to think about how you can make them more efficient. In other words, you're going to describe what you always did and make someone really responsible for the process.  By Implementing ITIL you get better insight in the things you're doing and which event is triggering the other.

In sum, there are several good reasons to Implementing ITIL:

• To get your TCO under control
• To go from a reactive organization to a pro-active organization
• To make your department ready to outsource some of it's activities
• Make your department ready for the market
• And so on…..

Difficulties on the road to Implementing ITIL:

Because Implementing ITIL means also that you have to chance the mind setting of your employees, it is a very difficult process. It means getting the techies to be more aware of service and business (something technicians hate). There are a lot of emotions involved so the Implementing ITIL leader must be not only a project leader but also a people manager. Implementing ITIL a process what takes a lot of time and mostly the period of time is underestimated. Much too often companies with external help want to implement ITIL to fast, which causes a lot of problems. The best way to Implementing ITIL is doing it in several stages making sure that every stage is done properly and you gave the project the proper place in your organization. There is no such way as a standard procedure to Implementing ITIL, because it is a set of best practices, you can take from the set what you like for your organization and fit it in.

By adopting and Implementing ITIL best practices, companies are better able to deliver optimal, value-based IT service management solutions. The objective of Implementing ITIL best practices is threefold:

• Align IT services with the current and future needs of the business and its customers
• Improve the quality of the IT service delivered
• Reduce the long-term cost of IT service provision.

Key Considerations in Implementing ITIL Standards: Here are some key variables to examine when considering Implementing ITIL.

• The size and range of the business—Small and large organizations are faced with differing challenges in Implementing ITIL. Small organizations may need to have the same resources acting in multiple distinct roles within the ITIL framework, which can be a challenge. Conversely, large organizations are faced with the task of extending unified processes across large and often fairly independent business units.
• The resources at your disposal, including staff—Do you have the right people in-house to perform the number of roles that Implementing ITIL mandates, or will you need to look elsewhere? Do you have the financial resources to invest in an enterprise-wide standards initiative like ITIL and see it through?
• The maturity of staff, processes, and the organization—Is the staff seasoned enough to perform at a best practice level? Can any of your existing processes be integrated into the new regime, or does everything need to start from zero?
• The level of dependency of the business on IT —Companies that rely heavily on IT may find the Implementing ITIL painful in all corners of the business, while the few companies that do not rely heavily on IT may not realize enough value to make the exercise worthwhile.
• The culture of the business—Is the culture one that breeds, recognizes, and strives for excellence, or for mediocrity? Does it resist or embrace change? Has it shown an aptitude at maintaining consistent processes, and at seeing major, long-term initiatives through to completion?
• Communication strategies for IT and the company as a whole—What vehicles are in place to communicate the purpose, status, and benefits of Implementing ITIL. How can you make your users understand their roles in the new process regime and enforce the new model without taking draconian measures?