ITIL is a framework of best practices for providing IT services to customers. It includes five life cycles: service strategy, design, transition, operation, and continuous improvement. Implementing ITIL standards can align an organization with ISO/IEC 27001 and bring benefits such as cost reduction and improved customer understanding. It originated in the UK in the 1980s to ensure even delivery of IT services across government branches.
An Information Technology Information Library (ITIL) is a framework of “best” practices for providing information technology (IT) services to users or customers. These IT services might include things like help desk support and incident, problem, change, release, and configuration management. Implementing ITIL® standards allows an organization to align with a certification standard established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) called ISO/IEC 27001.
The concept and practices of ITIL® standards began to evolve in the UK in the 1980s. The UK government was procuring IT services from different providers and needed a way to ensure services were delivered evenly across branches of government. Working with IT service providers, the UK government developed the framework. The framework has continued to evolve.
An organization can expect many benefits from implementing ITIL® standards. Customers understand what to expect from service providers. Costs can be reduced as standard processes are followed. The root causes of the problems are determined, then the problems can be fixed.
ITIL® standards or frameworks are based on the concept of five life cycles. Lifecycles include service strategy, service design, service transition, service operation, and continuous service improvement. Each lifecycle builds on the previous one.
The basic lifecycle is the service strategy. The organization that offers IT services according to the ITIL® framework must identify its market and the services it chooses to provide. Services must be of value to the customer. A plan should be made to use capacity and resources most effectively. After the service strategy has been developed, the service can be designed.
In the service design lifecycle, the systems for managing the service are determined. Management and technical architectures, processes, measurements and metrics are also developed. Once these elements have been identified, the service transition lifecycle can begin.
In the service transition lifecycle, services are moved from development to production, where they will be used by customers. In the transition phase, guidance on controlling service changes and moving service management between vendors is needed. The transition phase leads to the lifecycle of service operations.
The actual delivery and support of services is fully realized in the service operations lifecycle. This lifecycle also includes incident, problem and event management. No process is perfect, therefore ITIL® standards then require continuous improvement.
The final life cycle is the life cycle of continuous service improvement. In this phase all phases of the life cycles of the ITIL® standards are analyzed with a view to improving the quality of the service, the life cycle and the basic processes. The ITIL® standards are a framework of best practices that IT service organizations can use to deliver services to their customers. The framework, with its five service lifecycles, helps organizations design effective service offerings and deliver services efficiently.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
