What is ITIL?

ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) consists of 6 sets: Service Support; Service Delivery; Planning to Implement Service Management; ICT Infrastructure Management; Applications Management; The Business Perspective. Within these a variable number of very specific disciplies are described.

ITIL consists of a series of books giving guidance on the provision of quality IT services, and on the accommodation and environmental facilities needed to support IT. ITIL has been developed in recognition of organisations' growing dependency on IT and embodies best practices for IT Service Management.

The ethos behind the development of ITIL is the recognition that organisations are becoming increasingly dependent on IT in order to satisfy their corporate aims and meet their business needs. This leads to an increased requirement for high quality IT services.

ITIL: Overview and Benefits

ITIL provides a systematic and professional approach to the management of IT service provision. Adopting its guidance offers users 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 procurement's.

Following is a list of the books included in ITIL version 2:

1. Introduction to ITIL: While not one of the core competencies of ITIL, this publication gives the reader a comprehensive overview of the advantages, methods used and wide array of publications available in the ITIL library. This introductory book helps both the individual and organization acquire a thorough understanding of how ITIL can be an invaluable tool when put into action.

2. Service Delivery- Part of the IT Service Management Set, the service delivery book is primarily focused on being proactive and looking at the long term for what businesses require from its ICT (information and communications technology) provider to make sure that the proper support is being given to its businesses users. This includes Service Level Management, Capacity Management, IT Services Continuity Management, Availability Management and Financial Management.

3. Service Support- Service Support is also part of the IT Service Management Set. This book is focused on the businesses end user and making sure that all end users of the organization have appropriate services to run and complete their tasks accordingly.

4. ICT Infrastructure Management- ICT is an acronym for information and communications technology, this manual includes best practices for several facets of the ICT infrastructure including ICT design, planning, deployment, operations and technical support.

5. Security Management- ITIL security management focuses on the best practices and guidelines to make sure that information is stored safely and protected against risks of hacking and theft. In today's business world, it is extremely important that sensitive data remains private and confidential.

6. Business Perspective- This book details the best practices and addresses many issues in IT. This book tries to facilitate understanding regarding key issues in the IT along with quality management in the IS (Information Service) field.

7. Application Management- This set includes best practices and guidelines in order to improve quality of software applications and support of these applications through the entire development life cycle.

8. Software Asset Management- Software asset management is part of IT service management and looks at how software should be treated as an asset with value. This book details how businesses can save money through policies and procedures that underline using software expeditiously.

9. Planning to Implement Service Management- provides business with a framework for analyzing and understanding what is needed when instituting certain IT processes and approaches. Many times a CSIP (Continuous Service Improvement Program) is implemented, along with other ITIL books and disciplines.

10. ITIL Small Scale Implementation- This discipline is used for businesses with smaller ITIL departments. This book covers many best practices and guidelines used for larger implementation, but focuses as well on the important roles and responsibilities within a small unit and ways to avoid conflicts between ITIL priorities.

Advantages of ITIL

There are several benefits for using the Information Technology Infrastructure Library for many of your IT business needs and one main benefit is that through the guidelines and best practices that are taught in the library, your business can save a tremendous amount of money once implemented.

Another advantage of ITIL is that it will help your IT department organize and manage many different disciplines using one comprehensive volume. ITIL is the leader in IT guidelines and best practice publications; it has been tested in real world environments for over a decade and is proven to work.

Disadvantages of ITIL

While the advantages usually far outweigh the disadvantages, there are a couple of criticisms that are worth noting including the idea that most IT professionals consider ITIL a holistic approach to IT management. While ITIL is comprehensive, even the publication itself does not consider itself a holistic approach to IT management.

In addition, there are also accusations by some IT professionals that following only the ITIL due to its acceptance by many IT managers as the authoritative source has actually led to many businesses to skip pragmatic solutions for their specific business needs. Finally, another criticism of ITIL is that while some topics are covered extensively and are of high value, other topics may not receive enough emphasis with quality being uneven in certain publications.