The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) integrally supports the IT Service Management (ITSM) function. Included are the checklists, tasks and procedures used by a firm to establish a minimum level of IT-capability; these frequently are not specific to the firm, but are more generally used and accessible by the entire business community. ITIL modalities represent the operational baseline for a firm to generate IT-strategies, implement and measure them. If in doubt of how to proceed, a visit to www.c2enterprise.com can provide the support and guidance needed to level the competitive field in your favor. C2 specializes in services for small businesses.
ITIL for management
ITIL is not intended to provide set-in-stone directives for IT-use; rather it is a framework upon which to base IT-activity. Comprised of 12 service supervision processes, ITIL offers a useful foundation for administrative applications such as change management, incident investigation, trend analysis, and problem management processing. Enacting these ITIL-based procedures serves the organization through transformation from reactive to proactive maintenance. Firms will not only demonstrate compliance to applied best-practices, but also have a basis from which to measure the improvement. Although ITIL has unquestionably acquired a reputation of being more appropriate and effective for big business, it has many uses for small- and mid-sized IT shops.
ITIL for smaller companies
Originally, ITIL was used almost exclusively by large corporations, since the concepts and techniques the Library addressed were written with them in mind. Today, however, smaller firms implement their own best processes and practices through ITIL, to improve the value and use of their information systems. Doing so may require some adaptation of the larger-scale standards to smaller organizations. At www.c2enterprise.com., we advise smaller companies to appoint from among IT-personnel a process-owner, to manage the Library’s implementation and application. Equally as important, is careful selection of the ITIL processes most applicable to your needs; C2 has the experience to help with these choices. Implementing the entire range of Library concepts and techniques may not be the best strategy; rather, picking ITIL methods most appropriate to your requirements and strategies is suggested. Indeed, selecting only key ITIL processes for implementation allows more rapid adoption for organizational uses.
Thereafter, incremental addition of ITIL works best for the small-to-mid-sized company. Benefits of ITIL for the small organization include:
- adaptability to almost any corporate culture or need,
- quicker results/reduced costs with fewer people to train,
- standardized knowledge-base for ITIL-applications cuts-across barriers to interaction,
- streamlined IT processing as redundant processes reduced,
- conservation of resources,
- improved data-resource use,
- reduced IT-outage time, and
- lower costs for change ordering, maintenance and other support.
Implementing ITIL ensures your organization makes optimal use of your IT infrastructure, by improving operating efficiency while lowering costs. ITIL drives business value in smaller firms, and should be an integral component of each phase of the service lifecycle.
Conclusion
ITIL is a set of best practice concepts and techniques for addressing the effective management of IT infrastructure, service delivery and support. First conceived for use by larger-scale firms heavily invested in IT, its use has broadened to organizations of all sizes. Smaller firms benefit from adaptation of selected ITIL processes to their specific needs; ITIL interfaces with existing IT, lending itself to a wide range of adaptations and combinations that stimulate change management in corporate culture and procedure. Incremental addition of newer processes is recommended; C2 has the expertise you require to successfully launch the ITIL agenda in your firm. Please visit the www.c2enterprise.com website for further details.
ITIL® is a registered Trademark of the Cabinet Office. Information Technology Infrastructure Library is a registered Trademark of the Cab