IT service management and ITIL®

Service management is a set of specialized organizational capabilities for providing value to customers in the form of services. The capabilities take the form of functions and processes for managing services over a lifecycle, with specializations in strategy, design, transition, operation, and continual improvement. The capabilities represent a service organization’s capacity, competency, and confidence for action. The act of
transforming resources into valuable services is at the core of service management. Without these capabilities, a service organization is merely a bundle of resources that by itself has relatively low intrinsic value for customers.

Service management is also a professional practice supported by an extensive body of knowledge, experience, and skills. A global community of individuals and organizations in the public and private sectors fosters its growth and maturity. Formal schemes that exist for the education, training and certification of practising organizations and individuals influence its quality. Industry best practices, academic research and formal
standards contribute to its intellectual capital and draw from it.

The origins of service management are in traditional service businesses such as airlines, banks, hotels and telephone companies. Its practice has grown with the adoption by IT organizations of a service-oriented approach to managing IT applications, infrastructure and processes.

ITIL is the only consistent and comprehensive documentation of best practice for IT Service Management. Used by thousands of organisations around the world, a whole ITIL philosophy has grown up around the guidance contained within the ITIL books and the supporting professional qualification scheme.

ITIL consists of a series of books giving guidance on the provision of quality IT services, and on the accommodation and environmental facilities needed to support IT. The ITIL core books are based on a Service Lifecycle. Each volume of the core is represented in the Service Lifecycle. Service Design, Service Transition and Service Operation are progressive phases of the Lifecycle that represent change and transformation. Service Strategy represents policies and objectives. Continual Service Improvement represents learning and improvement.

ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark, and a registered community Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce, and is registered in the US Patent Office.

IT service management and ITIL®

24. December 2009