The survey was commissioned in an attempt to ascertain whether or not ITIL actually fulfils claims to provide quality and best practice, in return for the not inconsiderable expense of introduction.
Commenting on the survey, Patrick Bolger, Hornbill’s Sales & Marketing Director said “The result that surprised me most is that there was such a general acceptance that ITIL is an IT matter only. Business strategic, commercial and political matters, although important on an organisational scale, are not necessarily components of the ITIL implementation. Surely adopters of a best practice methodology designed to underpin the entire IT infrastructure must consider strategic business and commercial matters. Perhaps this is why many organizations felt that ITIL ‘almost delivered’.
According to the first survey results 82% of organisations adopting ITIL said that they would recommend it to others. 64% said ITIL was worth every penny and 70% said ITIL gave a worthwhile return for the effort/expense. 53% saw improvement in customer satisfaction and 48% saw improvement in staff competence.
The figures reveal that adopting ITIL as a way of working gives rise to dramatically positive results. However companies agree that the methodology may not have all the answers.
These results come in the wake of criticism that ITIL still harbours some inadequacies. For instance, missing processes that adopters have had to develop ‘in-house’ include; staff development, managing relations with customers, satisfaction measurement and product release management.
Bolger continued. “The desire for ‘compliant’ is not a compelling event. In isolation any projects born from this desire alone are unlikely to deliver return on investment as the business issues are often ignored in the quest for compliance. Organisations must realise that embarking on a compliance project will require significant investment, process re-engineering and a cultural change amongst staff.”
The major grievances of ITIL’s critics are, more often than not, due to misplaced expectations. Principally, ITIL is portrayed by many as a proverbial panacea requiring little specification, adaptation to requirements or attention once implemented. Is it little wonder then that ITIL falls short of these aspirations?
“ITIL may not be a panacea, but it does provide a structured approach to service delivery. By sustaining the effort to achieve its desired goals, with the support of senior management and sound processes that align with the business, adopters are likely to realise the benefits and avoid ‘almost delivering’,” Bolger concluded.
Complimentary copies of 'The ITIL Experience', undertaken by IT services consultant Noel Bruton, will be available from the Hornbill on Stand 220 at the Helpdesk and IT Support Show, Olympia, 27th-29th April 2004.
About ITIL
Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a set of pre-written strategies, procedures and reference manuals written by acknowledged industry experts, practitioners and theorists, for running corporate information technology functions. It provides a framework for systems delivery, availability and maintenance, to support of the system through the service desk and other services. ITIL began life as a set of guidelines for running IT in government departments. It is now being eagerly adopted by many in commercial organisations.
