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New ITIL version means business

Seminars will be held around Australia to educate IT professionals on the next version of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) service delivery framework, scheduled for release in May.Developed by the UK government, the framework has gained traction across the industry globally as a way of defining processes IT departments should follow in their delivery of IT services such as application development and help desk support.
Written by Steven Deare, Contributor

Seminars will be held around Australia to educate IT professionals on the next version of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) service delivery framework, scheduled for release in May.

Developed by the UK government, the framework has gained traction across the industry globally as a way of defining processes IT departments should follow in their delivery of IT services such as application development and help desk support.

Many organisations in Australia and aboard are still finding their feet with the framework.

Peter Cross, chairman of the non-profit group itSMF (IT Service Management Forum) Australia, said there was plenty of interest in the next ITIL version as new exams were being developed around it.

"There is significant interest in this new version because it's been delayed several times," he said.

The delays have been relatively minor but have been caused by extensive consultation across industry on the new version.

"The amount of questions we get shows there is significant interest in the marketplace."

The organisation will stage seminars around the country to educate members and others on ITIL version 3.

The textbooks governing the new version are due out on 30 May. Five books on service strategy, design, transition, operation and improvement make up version three 3.

Experts agree the new version of ITIL has more of a lifecycle focus than version 2, and sees IT services as part of the business.

"There's a stronger alignment to the business plan and objectives, and measuring the achievement of those in a more structured and rigorous way," said Cross.

Version 3 establishes key performance indicators and balanced scorecards as formal approaches to governance of ITIL, according to Cross.

"What they're doing is overlaying a stronger management structure to ensure continuous improvement," said Cross.

"In the previous set there was intent to align IT with the business. But this [version 3] is more about IT being part of the business.

"It's making IT a formal part of the business," he said.

Ken Turbitt, global best practices director, BMC Software, said the new version saw the framework going from an "adolescence to manhood" stage.

"They're trying to get you to stop thinking in silo functions," Turbitt said.

"Stop thinking of change management as a process but as a service.

"It should make the implementation of ITIL much more complete and effective to the business."

A big part of this was ITIL being purposely written to gain business acceptance, according to Turbitt.

The framework has been criticised in the past for its return on investment being hard to articulate, he said.

New terms such as "knowledge management system" and "return on value" are expected to help business relate to ITIL.

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