Confessions of an ITIL-holic

Despite being an ITIL-certified professional for 20 years and working in the IT arena since leaving military service in 1986, I must admit that ITIL 4 was an eye-opener.

But this wasn’t the first time ITIL surprised me: after working in HR for the Israeli Air Force studying computer science and mathematics, and working as Infrastructure Manager for an international company, I reluctantly attended ITIL training. After that, I went from being anti-ITIL to an “ITIL-holic”

Today, ITIL 4 is another step on the journey and, with the focus on value and value streams, it has a much wider view. This is important as IT teams are now leading the digital revolution.

From ITIL 4 Foundation to Managing Professional and Strategic Leader

As ITIL 4 Foundation is exactly that – a foundation – I believe professionals need to continue their learning and improvement journey.

The more advanced ITIL 4 modules which lead to Managing Professional and Strategic Leader designations have condensed the concepts which relate to the 4th Industrial Revolution – and this is why my team are training in them.

For example, ITIL 4 Specialist: Create, Deliver and Support provides much greater understanding of using value streams. This also relates to Agile ways of working, where you need to ask customers about the direction of an idea and adjust in response. It also touches on AI and machine learning, which are becoming more prevalent.

Within Strategic Leader, the ITIL 4 Leader: Digital and IT Strategy module shows you how to ensure IT strategy is aligned with business strategy – something that’s clearly of importance to the CEO.

ITIL 4 and the changing demands in Australian organizations

Here in Australia, companies are very progressive with the latest movement in computing: digitalization. This has become necessary because of a strong consumer influence and demand for better user experience.

But what does this mean for the end user? As everyone is using multiple devices – even my 88-year-old father with an iPhone and laptop – digitalization ensures that the digital experience is the same whatever the tool or interface.

While this is still a work in progress, ITIL 4 can help by establishing the right procedures and practices across any platform.

And this extends beyond high-tech companies – such as banks, telcos and insurance companies – to those that appear to be operating in low-tech industries.

Businesses where I’ve worked in Australia that were seemingly low-tech are, today, actually high-tech in many ways. For example, using drones for measurement and driverless trains to transport materials.

These companies, though not affected by consumer demand, need to keep their business users happy. And because they can’t necessarily choose their IT provider, there needs to be better collaboration and the IT organization must show how it’s enabling the business to perform at its best.

Developing the next generation of ITIL professionals

If the approach of a typical IT professional in the past was “give me the code and I will fix it”, today they need to think bigger about how they contribute to business success.

And this means having an end-to-end view. I tell newcomers to the industry that an IT infrastructure is like a stage show: the audience might not know if an actor forgets his lines, but if there’s something wrong with the set design and staging behind the actors, it’s obvious.

So, having knowledge of ITIL 4 – its concepts, practices and guiding principles – will give professionals an understanding of how things work in an end-to-end service value system.