Good afternoon members of Padgett-Beale’s IT Governance Board. I would
also like to offer a special welcome to the newest members of this board.
Thank you for your commitment to PBI and your willingness to serve in this
capacity. Today I am here to share with you a little bit about an information
technology service management (ITSM) framework of best practices known
as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library or ITIL 4.0. We will
briefly be discussing what ITIL is, this history of ITIL, and why it is important
for Padgett- Beale to implement this best practice within the IT department.
ITIL is a framework that incorporates a series of best practices and
recommendations for the IT lifecycle to assist businesses and organizations
in managing their entire IT systems and operations by implementing
comprehensive documentation and processes to ensure effectiveness and
improvements are achieved (Miller, 2019). ITIL is a globally recognized
framework that has been adopted by many organizations by providing
practical and established guidance for ITSM and business-related guidance
for IT. ITIL is designed to help solve business issues and to improve or
implement new IT capabilities for an organization. ITIL uses an established
service value system (SVS) comprised of seven elements. c The elements of
the SVC are opportunity/demand, value, guiding principles, governance,
service value chain, practices, and continual improvement. The purpose
behind SVS is to combine all these elements to bring the departments of an
organization together to focus on a shared vision, effective communication,
and the overall big picture of the organization to meet the business needs
(Agutter, 2020).
ITIL was first developed in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s because
their government realized the need to standardize tech management
because of a growing dependency on technology (Stevens-Hall &
Mathenge, 2020). The UK government reached out to the Central
Computer & Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) to develop a process-
oriented framework for efficient and responsible use of IT systems. In the
early 2000s Microsoft adopted this framework and released Microsoft
Operations Framework, which became ITIL 2.0. c ITIL 2.0 was globally
supported and led to many people seeking ITIL specific training and
certifications to become better equipped to manage IT systems and services
as professionals in their ITSM careers (Agutter, 2020). By 2007, with an
updated version in 2011, ITIL 3.0 was released with a focus on service
lifecycle that included the five volumes: service strategy, design, transition,
operation, and continual service improvement. c ITIL 4.0 was released in
2019 by Axelos, a joint venture between the UK Government and Capita, as
a value system-focus approach platform. ITIL 4.0 is focused on agile, faster,
and more flexible approach. ITIL 4.0 has four dimensions: organizations and
people, information and technology, partners and suppliers, and value
streams and processes. This newest version was designed to offer many
more benefits to organizations. Many of those benefits are centered around
creating better strategic alignment between the business and IT, smoother
integration between software delivery practices and the customer
framework, reduced costs through improved resources, and an overall
better management of business risks and service interruptions (Stevens-Hall
& Mathenge, 2020).
PBI is an ideal company poised to benefit greatly from the implementation
of the ITIL information technology service management framework. As a
developing company in the hospitality industry information technology is a
key component to business success. PBI properties use and support
multiple information systems and technologies to support guests and guest
services, manage financial systems, housekeeping and management
systems, building and management systems, and many others. Effective use
of IT and IS systems is an integral component to supporting the continued
business success and growth of PBI. ITIL 4.0 provides the necessary
framework for the leadership team of PBI to enlist all the key players and
departments to come together and follow the best practices and processes
of this effective tool.
Once again, welcome to the IT Governance Board of PBI and thank you for
your commitment to the team. Today we briefly touched on an ITSM best
practice known as ITIL and what it is, the history of ITIL, and how PBI can
benefit from implementing this framework for our business needs. At this
time, I’d like to open up the floor for a few minutes to answer any questions
you may have.
References
Agutter, Claire. (2020). ITIL® 4 Essentials: Your Essential Guide for the ITIL
4 Foundation Exam and Beyond, Second Edition: Vol. Second edition. ITGP.
Miller, S. P. (2019). Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).
Salem Press Encyclopedia.
Stevens-Hall, J., & Mathenge, J. (2020, August 6). The Complete Guide to
ITIL 4. BMC Blogs. Retrieved May 8, 2022, from
https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-4/#Who-is-Axelos
