Axios advisory: ITIL v3 may not be right for everyone
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 1/31/2008 11:48:00 PM
IT service management specialist Axios Systems says its new white paper, ITIL V2 to V3 – is it worth it?, makes clear that ITIL V2 will remain relevant for the majority of organizations, while V3 will apply to more process-mature organizations looking to take service management excellence to the next level. That's why it's important to note that all organizations can take elements from V3 to drive improvements and act as a benchmark.
Axios says the white paper was published in response to an outpouring of queries from the ITSM community following the launch of ITIL V3 in May 2007, asking if their processes were mature enough to implement the new framework. Pursuit of the international ISO/IEC 20000 accreditation also is driving ITIL adoption as organizations begin recognizing the value of being aligned to the Best Practice standard, yet are unsure which version is best for them.
There has been a great deal of confusion in the market about the role of ITIL V3 as it addresses issues related to service design and strategy. Many organizations believe implementing ITIL V3 should be the first step in adopting Best Practice IT, when in fact implementing the basic processes outlined in ITIL V2 is essential and will still support an organization’s deliverables.
There are significant differences between each version; in particular V2 is more concerned with process, efficiency and cost, while V3 focuses on adopting a lifecycle approach to IT and improving the quality of service. Axios warns there is no need to throw away the processes outlined in ITIL V2 as these can be carried over to ITIL V3. Thus, organizations can keep ITIL V2 in place and, depending on the level of ITSM maturity, use these to build a foundation for ITIL V3.
For some companies and overall business strategies, ITIL V3 may never be a requirement as the basic support processes of V2 will be sufficient to meet their service management needs. The white paper addresses whether organizations should in fact adopt ITIL V3, or V2, how to best approach the latest framework, and map an IT maturity model encapsulating both versions.
According to Dale Brown, head of the Best Practice Division for Axios, “There has been a lot of hype around the latest version of ITIL in 2007 and while it provides an organization with guidelines on how to deliver value to the business by delivering service excellence, fully adopting the new framework is not for everyone. There are a number of key factors that organizations should consider before making the decision to move from V2 to V3 and this whitepaper will answer many of those important questions. While ITIL V3 has grown in popularity immensely over the last six months, it will still only be fully embraced by a few highly mature organizations. V2 still very much has a place and it is, in fact, more appropriate for the majority of the market. Regardless of which version is being used, it is important that organizations have the right tools and technology in place to help follow the ITIL guidelines in order to improve the efficiency and usability of their IT infrastructure.”
Download the paper.
