ITIL4: A Customer-First Evolution

If you havent seen it, we recently published an article on why we feel ITIL v3 still has it's place in 2024. We've had loads of feedback and questions surrounding this, so we thought we should provide some further thoughts around whilst we still love ITIL v3, ITIL4 is ultimately where we should be aspiring to.

If you've not read the previous article, the summarised view is that in our opinion, as brilliant as ITIL4 is, there's a huge amount that can still be learned from v3. Hmmm, so aren't we contradicting ourselves here, no, please stick with us for a moment...

Let's cut to the chase - in our opinion, some of the less mature organisations may be better to focus on some of those core 'traditional' Service Ops type processes to keep their operations stable, rather than focus on the broader and looser scope of ITIL4 (at least at this stage and then build upon that). Some experts also suggest that v3 might be a better fit for Financial Services and other heavily regulated organisations, which is quite an interesting observation also.

So for the avoidance of doubt then, yes we're massive fans of v3 and the stability it can provide, but we're even bigger fans of ITIL4 with all the newer ways of working. Ultimately, The ITSM People just try to find the right balance to help our clients choose what's right for them (and often, this is to focus on some key aspects of V3 to get the 'house in order' first).

If you're not too familiar with all this waffle and already lost between V3 and ITIL4, let's delve in a bit as to what's changed, and why the changes are so important.

The first thing to mention is that ITIL4 isnt new, it's actually been around for over 5 years. It's fair to say that it has reshaped the IT Service Management (ITSM) landscape by putting a stronger emphasis on the customer. While ITIL v3 was all about getting the processes right, ITIL4 brings some fresh changes that make customer experience the star of the show.

Critically ITIL4 also introduced several new 'practices' that were not explicitly part of ITIL v3, namely:

Architecture Management
Business Analysis
Deployment Management
Infrastructure and Platform Management
Monitoring and Event Management
Portfolio Management
Project Management
Relationship Management
Risk Management
Service Financial Management
Service Design
Service Request Management
Software Development and Management
Supplier Management

Shifting Focus from Processes to People

In the world of ITIL v3, the core was all about detailed processes and structured workflows. It gave us a solid foundation to manage IT services effectively. But as we move into ITIL4, there's a noticeable shift. ITIL4 still values good processes, but it understands that what really matters is how these processes serve the people using them. The focus now is on creating value for customers, not just ticking off process checklists.

Embracing Flexibility with Practices

One of the standout features of ITIL4 is the transition from strict processes to more flexible practices. This change acknowledges that the IT world is constantly evolving, and a rigid approach can sometimes be more of a hindrance than a help. Practices allow for more adaptability, helping organisations stay agile and responsive to change. It's like moving from a strict diet plan to a more balanced, lifestyle-oriented approach to eating—more sustainable and realistic.

The Service Value System (SVS)

Central to ITIL4 is the Service Value System (SVS). Think of it as a blueprint for how all the moving parts of an organisation can come together to create value. The SVS integrates key components like guiding principles, governance, service management practices, and continual improvement. It's designed to ensure that everything the organisation does is aligned with delivering real value to the customer.

Four Dimensions of Service Management

To create this value, ITIL4 looks at four key dimensions:

Organisations and People: Focus on the right culture and skills.
Information and Technology: Leveraging tech smartly.
Partners and Suppliers: Building strong relationships.
Value Streams and Processes: Ensuring everything flows smoothly.

These dimensions ensure a balanced approach, making sure that no part of the organisation is working in isolation. This sounds great right? but this can also pose a challenge and require 'top down' support across the entire organisation, not necessarily just 'IT'.

Guiding Principles to Navigate the Modern IT World

ITIL4 also introduces the new and brilliant seven Guiding Principles and regardless what version of ITIL is preferred, we can all learn a lot from using these to, well, 'guide us'..

Focus on Value: Always prioritise what’s valuable to the customer.
Start Where You Are: Use existing resources and build from there.
Progress Iteratively with Feedback: Make small, incremental changes and learn as you go.
Collaborate and Promote Visibility: Teamwork and transparency are key.
Think and Work Holistically: Understand the big picture.
Keep It Simple and Practical: Don’t overcomplicate things.
Optimise and Automate: Streamline and improve efficiency.

These principles are designed to help organisations navigate the complexities of IT (or Enterprise) Service Management, while keeping the customer at the forefront.

Why ITIL4 is a Big Deal

Adapts to Change: In today's fast-paced digital world, flexibility is crucial. ITIL4's practices allow organisations to adapt quickly to new challenges and opportunities.
Focuses on Value Creation: By emphasising customer value, ITIL4 ensures that IT service management aligns with business goals and delivers real benefits.
Encourages Collaboration: Breaking down silos and promoting visibility helps teams work better together, improving overall service delivery.
Supports Digital Transformation: With its modern approach, ITIL4 is perfectly suited to support organisations on their digital transformation journeys.

So, In a Nutshell ..

While ITIL v3 gave us a strong foundation with its detailed process-oriented approach, ITIL4 takes things further by putting the customer at the centre.

It's less about rigid processes and more about creating real value in a flexible, adaptable way. By focusing on what truly matters to customers and continuously improving how services are delivered, ITIL4 helps organisations stay relevant and competitive in an ever-changing landscape.

So whether you're ready for ITIL4, or the more rigid processes in v3 are a better fit for you, there's no question that they both have huge strengths. It's just about choosing what's right for you (and that might be using a bit of both to get things just right).

So where does it all go from here? Good question, the world is moving even faster than ever.

ITIL5 or whatever the next version is called, might focus on deepening the integration with emerging technologies such as AI, machine learning, and IoT.

It may well emphasise even greater flexibility and adaptability in not just IT but also Enterprise Service Management, further enhancing the customer-first approach by leveraging real-time data analytics for a more personalised service. Cybersecurity, Sustainability, Cloud Services and proactive Service Management could also become core components, addressing the evolving challenges in the digital landscape.

So here's the thing, whatever happens from this point forward, there's no question that building on ITIL4's foundations, 'ITIL5' will no doubt provide an even more advanced Service Management framework for us to learn from.

What have we learned from all this? well, there's really good stuff in all the different versions of ITIL, it's all about taking the best bits to suit you and your organisation.

If you'd like to learn more about how we help our clients apply 'Right Practice' drop us an email to hello@itsmpeople.co.uk to arrange a no obligation chat.

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What is ITSM?

Information Technology Service Management processes include a range of activities designed to deliver and support high-quality IT services for your business. These can include incident management, problem management, change management, and service-level management. Additionally, ITSM involves continuous enhancement processes to improve service delivery, increase efficiency and reduce costs. By adopting strong ITSM practices, your business can improve service quality, customer satisfaction and achieve greater alignment between IT and business objectives. This holistic approach ensures that IT services are effective and integrated with your overall business goals. As ITSM focuses on aligning IT services with your business’s needs, you can ensure that IT processes and services support and enhance business operations. This is achieved through a structured approach to managing IT services, guided by best practices and methodologies such as ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library). These models provide guidance on best practices for delivering and supporting technology and other enterprise services and can help companies align their capabilities with their business goals and strategic objectives.
What is ITIL and how does it underpin ITSM?

We adhere to the ITIL Framework in delivering our ITSM consultancy services. ITIL is a globally recognised set of best practices for ITSM that helps businesses provide consistent, high-quality IT services. By implementing ITIL processes and principles, we ensure that your IT operations are standardised, efficient and aligned with industry standards. ITIL4 is the latest version of ITIL, designed to help enterprises navigate the new technological era known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This version introduces a more flexible, modern approach to ITSM, emphasising its integration with other areas of business management.
What are the core practices and processes in ITSM?

Effective ITSM revolves around a number of processes. Whilst there are 34 practice areas in ITIL4, there are often a core set of practices that many of our clients are particularly interested in optimising. As understanding and implementing these processes can significantly enhance the performance and quality of IT services within your organisation. Incident Management Restores all service operations back to normal as soon as possible, minimising to lessen the impact on your operations. This process might involve logging, categorising, prioritising, and resolving incidents, ensuring which can help mitigate disruption to users and the business. Configuration Management Keeps an updated record of IT infrastructure - hardware, software, and network components - in a centralised configuration management database (CMDB). This database provides accurate data on configuration items (CIs) and their relationships. Change Management Ensures any changes to your IT services are controlled and coordinated. This process evaluates the impact of changes, approving them through a structured workflow, and ensuring successful implementation with minimal risk. Service level Management Defines, negotiates, and monitors service level agreements (SLAs) between the service provider and the customer. This process ensures that agreed-upon service quality and performance levels are consistently met. Asset Management Tracks and manages your IT assets throughout their lifecycle to ensure efficient use and cost control. You maintain an accurate inventory of hardware, software, and other IT resources through this. Problem Management Identifies, analyses and resolves the root causes of incidents. Proactively addressing underlying issues can prevent recurring incidents. This, in turn, provides improved system stability and reduced downtime. Request Management Handles the lifecycle of user service requests, such as access to applications, software installations or information enquiries. It ensures requests are managed efficiently to provide a streamlined approach that fulfils user needs and enhances satisfaction. Knowledge Management Captures, organises and shares knowledge to improve efficiency and support decision-making. By leveraging a centralised knowledge base, your IT teams can quickly resolve incidents and problems, and end-users can find the right solutions to common issues.
Why is ITSM important to organisations and their IT (and Enterprise) teams?

Implementing the right ITSM strategy and optimising your tooling can provide a range of benefits for your company, including: Improved Efficiency and Cost Savings By streamlining processes and automating routine tasks, ITSM can help your enterprise work more efficiently and reduce the time and resources required to deliver and support IT services. Good ITSM is a silent enabler of success across a range of organisational goals. Improved Compliance and Risk Management ITSM can help you ensure that your IT systems and processes comply with industry regulations and standards. It also ensures that you are effectively managing risks associated with your IT operations. This can help you avoid costly disruptions and legal consequences. Increased Productivity Effective ITSM practices can help your business prevent problems and fix them quickly if they do occur. This can help you lower costs—outages cost money—and increase productivity and employee satisfaction. Better Customer Satisfaction You can improve customer satisfaction and build stronger relationships by delivering high-quality IT services that meet customers' needs. Improved Service Quality ITSM ensures that IT services are delivered consistently and meet agreed-upon service levels, leading to higher customer satisfaction and better overall service quality. Business Continuity ITSM processes like incident and problem management ensure that disruptions are minimised and services are quickly restored to ensure business continuity. Strategic Alignment ITSM aligns IT services with business objectives, ensuring that technology initiatives support and drive business growth. This alignment helps you make informed decisions and prioritise projects that add the most value. Enhanced Collaboration ITSM promotes a collaborative environment where IT teams can work together more effectively, sharing knowledge and best practices to improve your delivery of services. Proactive problem-solving Through problem management and a proactive approach, ITSM helps your IT teams identify and address the root causes of incidents to prevent future issues and reduce downtime. Continuous Improvement ITSM encourages continuous monitoring and improvement of IT processes, allowing your IT teams to refine and enhance their service delivery regularly. Better Resource Management With ITSM, IT teams can manage resources more effectively, ensuring that personnel, technology, and budget are allocated optimally to support business requirements.
Do you provide ITSM tooling support and what tools do you specialise in?

The ITSM People are completely agnostic with ITSM tools and not tied to any vendors. Given the close relationship between ITSM related processes and ITSM tools, we often get involved in tool selection projects, or making recommendations on how to improve tools and get the best value from them. We work with tools such as ServiceNow, BMC, Jira, ManageEngine, Fresh, Halo and Xurrent.