ITIL

The Infrastructure Library

The new core ITIL titles have been commissioned and structure to be read as a five title series, each building on the work of the other. As the five core titles reflect the lifecycle of services, their appeal encompasses the entire spectrum of people involved at any stage of the framework. So, without being the prime audience, everyone involved will benefit from access to the entire library.

ITIL Lifecycle Publication Suite

ITIL: How it works

ITIL is the most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world. Providing a cohesive set of best practice guidance drawn from the public and private sectors across the world, it has recently undergone a major and important refresh project.

ITIL publications

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IT Service Management (ITSM) derives enormous benefits from a best practice approach. Because ITSM is driven both by technology and the huge range of organisational environments in which it operates, it is in a state of constant evolution. Best practice, based on expert advice and input from ITIL users is both current and practical, combining the latest thinking with sound, common sense guidance.

ITIL: overview and benefits

ITIL provides a systematic and professional approach to the management of IT service provision. Adopting its guidance offers a huge range of benefits that include:

• Reduced costs
• Improved IT services through the use of proven best practice processes
• Improved customer satisfaction through a more professional approach to service delivery
• Standards and guidance
• Improved productivity
• Improved use of skills and experience
• Improved delivery of third party services through the specification of ITIL or ISO 20000 as the standard for service delivery in services procurements.

ITIL V3: changes and comparison with V2

ITIL's most recent version, V3, represents an important evolutionary step in its life. The refresh has transformed the guidance from providing a great service to being the most innovative and best in class. At the same time, the interface between oldand new approaches is seamless so that users do not have to reinvent the wheel when adopting it. V3 allows users to build on the successes of V2 but take IT service management even further.

In general, V3 makes the link between ITIL's best bractice and business benefits both clearer and stronger. The main development is that is that V3 takes a lifecycle approach to guidance, as opposed to organising according to IT delivery sectors.

ITIL is now based ona core of five titles:

• Service Strategy
• Service Design
• Service Transition
• Service Operation
• Continual service Improvement