ITIL - itSMF International

FEATURE ITIL one year on
pools much of the relevant praise and criticism
that is commonly aired through the market.
The key points of the research were this:
- Small organisations are not ready for or are not
interested at this time in the new material.
- People still seem to have a fear of ITIL V3.
- The adapt and adopt approach which was so
well liked appears not to be so universally
understood with the new version – but it
absolutely still applies.
- The concepts are new to IT service
management best practices but have in the
main been used successfully in other industries
or other areas of the business for a long time.
- People have reported that they are finding the
ITIL V3 material more difficult to navigate than
ITIL V2 – realistically this may be to do with
familiarisation with the material but only
time will tell.
- People are deciding to stay with ITIL V2 at the
current time (this is a generalisation but is
true amongst the majority of respondents)
and are waiting for others to try it first so
they can learn from their experiences.
- The understanding across the industry is still
fairly low but this will change with time.
- The qualifications are still in development –
this point is key as before this area is bedded
in and has been around for a while the other
points raised above will continue to be true.
It is interesting that many of these points
are now being tackled, with our practitioner,
consultant and trainer reporters all looking into
the issues of proof of concept, absorbing the new
information and qualifications respectively. Logic
also dictates that all of these issues will be solved
with time, as they all centre on fear, uncertainty
and lack of familiarity with the source material
(aside from the precise details surrounding
qualifications, although yet again, this issue will
be addressed and finalised in time).
The report also highlighted the fact that many
organisations had already developed much of
what is in ITIL V3, which in the words of Megan
Pendlebury, executive director of the Service
Futures Group shows that: ‘ITIL V3 is indeed
inline with where the industry was and is moving
and is not the output of a group of people sitting
in a room rather than looking at the real world.”
There is criticism in the report however,
particularly in the case of the Service Strategy
book. There is a problem of perception with
this title, with many IT practitioners considering
that strategy is not part of their remit and the
Service Futures Group suggests that the book be
repositioned and further guidance should
be offered. The report also aired concerns for
the future of qualifications, with some
Megan
Pendlebury, Service
Futures Group
questioning the
validity of an
additional exam
rather than gaining
real-life experience
with the new
processes.
Feedback for the
other books and
areas of ITIL V3 was
on the whole very
positive, which suggests that the slightly slow
uptake of ITIL V3 may be less to do with any
inherent weaknesses in the new version, and
more to do with ITIL V2 being well understood
and more comfortable for the businesses who
have adopted it. Again, the passage of time
will likely see a greater understanding of the
benefits and compelling reasons to move to ITIL
V3, which when combined with clarification and
guidance from the parties involved in promoting
and working with ITIL will see the new version
meeting the high expectations that have been
attached to it.
ITIL Version 2 and 3 books and CDs are available
online from www.itsmf.co.uk/shop
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18 SERVICETALK july 2008