Author: Hank Marquis

Many I&O leaders and customers see little value from investments in ITIL. Not getting the Return on Investment (ROI) you expect normally comes from using ITIL incorrectly. You, your staff, and your customers must share the same goals and understand exactly what to expect from your ITIL investments.

The goal of ITIL is not “business and IT alignment” or “competitive advantage from IT investments.” Instead, its first goal is to stabilize service operation. This builds a base for the second goal: increasing value through service optimization. You must have clear-cut, documented, and managed expectations for each activity, and order is vital. Success requires that you stabilize service delivery before trying to optimize. Focusing on the correct goal and linking each ITIL task to that goal is the correct use of ITIL.

When introducing a new or changed process, failing to follow a proven “one-two” approach to manage staff engagement can create staff resistance. Many IT and business leaders forget that every process requires evaluation before, during, and after it transitions to operation. Evaluation must also include performance of staff and management. Often forgotten are the human resource efforts required to support the process—job description revisions, training, performance reviews, coaching, compensation changes, etc.