It is not necessary to do everything ITIL covers, and it is acceptable—and often preferable— for improvements to be made incrementally, based on business priorities. Too many organizations become overwhelmed by everything that needs to be “fixed,” and this can lead to inertia. Counteracting inertia requires a first step. IT is a strategic asset of the business and is simply too business critical and complex to manage in an ad-hoc way. Try to focus on the benefits of a high-performing IT organization and implement projects that can provide quick wins and value to the organization and its customers. The following tips will help you get started.

Here are seven ways ITIL can help you "tune up" your IT organization:

Gain Greater Visibility and Control of IT - If you want greater visibility and control of your IT environment and how it supports your business services, you need a clear understanding of what you are doing, the educational needs, the dependencies in your IT landscape, and any areas of weakness or constraints.

An ITIL process maturity assessment is a key starting point. Ongoing measurement of IT service management processes can then help you gain visibility into how to prioritize improvements based on business objectives and your customers' needs. Clearly defined IT service management metrics also make it possible to address some of the greatest challenges CIOs face today, such as defining the impact of service delivery and support on business services, and quantifying the cost of service improvement.

Achieving end-to-end visibility and control of your IT environment also requires the ability to see every aspect of your IT environment, from the business and service levels down to the component level including all the relationships and dependencies. This is where a configuration management database can help.

The CMDB offers increased visibility into IT—from the business-critical services that require greater redundancy to the software licenses that can be discontinued. It also provides visibility into the potential impact of planned changes, facilitates faster resolution of incidents and problems, and reduces the number of failed releases. The CMDB provides the “single source of truth” in terms of accurate information upon which all other processes rely. This visibility helps IT organizations by giving them information to make more effective business decisions.

Achieve Better Integration with Business Objectives - Improvements to IT will make the business more efficient and effective by increasing customer satisfaction, reducing downtime, automating tasks, and achieving required compliance. Using ITIL can help IT cut the time needed to plan, schedule, and deploy by weeks in some cases. It can also help reduced system outages. These savings can then be use to reinvest in business growth and innovation strategies for future business continuity.

Sharpen Your Focus on Continual Service Improvement- ITIL recommends that you implement a continual service improvement program. This type of program uses the results of measurement and analysis to help IT prioritize improvements that will support changing business needs. A continual service improvement program is an iterative process that happens over time and makes it possible to add more value throughout the organization with each iteration.

A continual service improvement program helps you improve services by clearly defining, measuring, and subsequently controlling the services the IT organization provides to the business. With IT under increasing pressures from all parts of the business, some IT managers may be asked, "Once a program or hardware is installed and working correctly, why can't your team just step back and let it run?" But in a dynamic business and IT environment, change is a constant. Having a program that just runs as planned doesn’t take into account the evolving needs of the business and the customer, and how business changes impact IT.

This ongoing commitment to improvement is an important competitive advantage for any organization.

For example, an international telecommunications company we worked with had multiple service desk operations and had not consolidated incident, problem, or resolution management. The company knew that consolidation was important. To address these issues, the company adopted a business service management (BSM) strategy. BSM, which is discussed in ITIL v3, is a comprehensive approach and unified platform for running IT according to business priorities. Following a basic maintenance plan is the best way to keep an automobile running efficiently and at peak performance, in both good and poor driving conditions. Getting regular oil changes and tune-ups, checking the water level, keeping the tires properly inflated, and other such tasks not only will keep your car running smoothly, but also will lesson the chance of a breakdown on a long journey. Similarly, following the best practices outlined in the IT Infrastructure Library, better known as simply ITIL, will help your IT organization run at peak performance and efficiency on its journey through the current economic landscape.

It is not necessary to do everything ITIL covers, and it is acceptable—and often preferable— for improvements to be made incrementally, based on business priorities. Too many organizations become overwhelmed by everything that needs to be “fixed,” and this can lead to inertia. Counteracting inertia requires a first step. IT is a strategic asset of the business and is simply too business critical and complex to manage in an ad-hoc way. Try to focus on the benefits of a high-performing IT organization and implement projects that can provide quick wins and value to the organization and its customers. The following tips will help you get started.

Here are seven ways ITIL can help you "tune up" your IT organization:

Gain Greater Visibility and Control of IT - If you want greater visibility and control of your IT environment and how it supports your business services, you need a clear understanding of what you are doing, the educational needs, the dependencies in your IT landscape, and any areas of weakness or constraints.

An ITIL process maturity assessment is a key starting point. Ongoing measurement of IT service management processes can then help you gain visibility into how to prioritize improvements based on business objectives and your customers' needs. Clearly defined IT service management metrics also make it possible to address some of the greatest challenges CIOs face today, such as defining the impact of service delivery and support on business services, and quantifying the cost of service improvement.

Achieving end-to-end visibility and control of your IT environment also requires the ability to see every aspect of your IT environment, from the business and service levels down to the component level including all the relationships and dependencies. This is where a configuration management database can help.

The CMDB offers increased visibility into IT—from the business-critical services that require greater redundancy to the software licenses that can be discontinued. It also provides visibility into the potential impact of planned changes, facilitates faster resolution of incidents and problems, and reduces the number of failed releases. The CMDB provides the “single source of truth” in terms of accurate information upon which all other processes rely. This visibility helps IT organizations by giving them information to make more effective business decisions.

Achieve Better Integration with Business Objectives - Improvements to IT will make the business more efficient and effective by increasing customer satisfaction, reducing downtime, automating tasks, and achieving required compliance. Using ITIL can help IT cut the time needed to plan, schedule, and deploy by weeks in some cases. It can also help reduced system outages. These savings can then be use to reinvest in business growth and innovation strategies for future business continuity.

Sharpen Your Focus on Continual Service Improvement- ITIL recommends that you implement a continual service improvement program. This type of program uses the results of measurement and analysis to help IT prioritize improvements that will support changing business needs. A continual service improvement program is an iterative process that happens over time and makes it possible to add more value throughout the organization with each iteration.

A continual service improvement program helps you improve services by clearly defining, measuring, and subsequently controlling the services the IT organization provides to the business. With IT under increasing pressures from all parts of the business, some IT managers may be asked, "Once a program or hardware is installed and working correctly, why can't your team just step back and let it run?" But in a dynamic business and IT environment, change is a constant. Having a program that just runs as planned doesn’t take into account the evolving needs of the business and the customer, and how business changes impact IT.

This ongoing commitment to improvement is an important competitive advantage for any organization.

For example, an international telecommunications company we worked with had multiple service desk operations and had not consolidated incident, problem, or resolution management. The company knew that consolidation was important. To address these issues, the company adopted a business service management (BSM) strategy. BSM, which is discussed in ITIL v3, is a comprehensive approach and unified platform for running IT according to business priorities.
Following a basic maintenance plan is the best way to keep an automobile running efficiently and at peak performance, in both good and poor driving conditions. Getting regular oil changes and tune-ups, checking the water level, keeping the tires properly inflated, and other such tasks not only will keep your car running smoothly, but also will lesson the chance of a breakdown on a long journey. Similarly, following the best practices outlined in the IT Infrastructure Library, better known as simply ITIL, will help your IT organization run at peak performance and efficiency on its journey through the current economic landscape.

It is not necessary to do everything ITIL covers, and it is acceptable—and often preferable— for improvements to be made incrementally, based on business priorities. Too many organizations become overwhelmed by everything that needs to be “fixed,” and this can lead to inertia. Counteracting inertia requires a first step. IT is a strategic asset of the business and is simply too business critical and complex to manage in an ad-hoc way. Try to focus on the benefits of a high-performing IT organization and implement projects that can provide quick wins and value to the organization and its customers. The following tips will help you get started.

Here are seven ways ITIL can help you "tune up" your IT organization:

Gain Greater Visibility and Control of IT - If you want greater visibility and control of your IT environment and how it supports your business services, you need a clear understanding of what you are doing, the educational needs, the dependencies in your IT landscape, and any areas of weakness or constraints.

An ITIL process maturity assessment is a key starting point. Ongoing measurement of IT service management processes can then help you gain visibility into how to prioritize improvements based on business objectives and your customers' needs. Clearly defined IT service management metrics also make it possible to address some of the greatest challenges CIOs face today, such as defining the impact of service delivery and support on business services, and quantifying the cost of service improvement.

Achieving end-to-end visibility and control of your IT environment also requires the ability to see every aspect of your IT environment, from the business and service levels down to the component level including all the relationships and dependencies. This is where a configuration management database can help.

The CMDB offers increased visibility into IT—from the business-critical services that require greater redundancy to the software licenses that can be discontinued. It also provides visibility into the potential impact of planned changes, facilitates faster resolution of incidents and problems, and reduces the number of failed releases. The CMDB provides the “single source of truth” in terms of accurate information upon which all other processes rely. This visibility helps IT organizations by giving them information to make more effective business decisions.

Achieve Better Integration with Business Objectives - Improvements to IT will make the business more efficient and effective by increasing customer satisfaction, reducing downtime, automating tasks, and achieving required compliance. Using ITIL can help IT cut the time needed to plan, schedule, and deploy by weeks in some cases. It can also help reduced system outages. These savings can then be use to reinvest in business growth and innovation strategies for future business continuity.

Sharpen Your Focus on Continual Service Improvement- ITIL recommends that you implement a continual service improvement program. This type of program uses the results of measurement and analysis to help IT prioritize improvements that will support changing business needs. A continual service improvement program is an iterative process that happens over time and makes it possible to add more value throughout the organization with each iteration.

A continual service improvement program helps you improve services by clearly defining, measuring, and subsequently controlling the services the IT organization provides to the business. With IT under increasing pressures from all parts of the business, some IT managers may be asked, "Once a program or hardware is installed and working correctly, why can't your team just step back and let it run?" But in a dynamic business and IT environment, change is a constant. Having a program that just runs as planned doesn’t take into account the evolving needs of the business and the customer, and how business changes impact IT.

This ongoing commitment to improvement is an important competitive advantage for any organization.

For example, an international telecommunications company we worked with had multiple service desk operations and had not consolidated incident, problem, or resolution management. The company knew that consolidation was important. To address these issues, the company adopted a business service management (BSM) strategy. BSM, which is discussed in ITIL v3, is a comprehensive approach and unified platform for running IT according to business priorities.
As a result of adopting this approach, the company consolidated service desks from one for each of 25 countries, into a single service desk for the entire company and adopted a company-wide change process. Such ITIL-driven improvements led to a 30% reduction in mean time to repair (MTTR) and a 60% reduction in unplanned outage time that had an impact on users. The company realized savings of $11 million in change management costs alone.

Help IT Run More Efficiently- You can improve operational efficiency by following ITIL guidance related to examining your processes and objectives and identifying targeted areas for improvement.

For example, the IT department of a major utility company initiated a program to build an enterprise-wide IT strategy based on ITIL. By centralizing its service desk, the utility company reduced its support costs from $89 per hour to $57 per hour and reduced the time to deploy desktop and laptop changes by 75%. The company also is focusing on increasing self-service, improving call routing, and refining other processes. These operational efficiency changes not only help the business perform better, but also help the customer profit from the improvements.

To achieve this operational efficiency, ITIL recommends that you set clear goals, define a process improvement road map, and not expect to fix everything at once. At least annually, you should develop a business case for future activities on the basis of the results from prior and current activities. Determine the ROI and value on investment (VOI) so far, as well as the anticipated ROI and VOI of future improvements. You’ll need to prioritize projects according to what will create the most business value.

Adapt More Quickly and Easily to Ever-Changing Business Conditions- Agility also is important for today’s corporations. The business must be able to respond quickly to changing conditions to remain competitive. ITIL's process of release management, for example, makes it possible to successfully manage the release of software and hardware into the environment. A mature release process, combined with automation, can reduce the implementation time of a software release from weeks to minutes, while also reducing error rates.

Following ITIL guidance on service portfolio management, which helps you to prioritize projects on the basis of their importance to the business, also can help you improve your agility. You must provide the right mix of services and adapt the mix when business conditions change.

Become More Proactive - Why wait for something to break when you can anticipate problems and prevent them from happening? The degree to which problem management and availability management processes are proactive can reveal much about the maturity of the IT organization. The goal of ITIL problem management is to prevent the occurrence or minimize the impact of errors, incidents, and problems in the IT infrastructure. Typical problem management activities include identifying, investigating, and eliminating or minimizing the problem by addressing the root cause or developing a reasonable workaround.

When an organization first implements a process such as problem management, it should focus on the reactive aspect of the process. This is because 20% of problems are generally responsible for 80% of system degradation. Eliminating that top 20% of problems will significantly improve stability, reduce downtime, and improve documented knowledge, thereby enabling incident management to resolve future incidents more quickly.

As the problem management process matures, you will have increased opportunity to focus on the proactive aspects of the process, such as trend analysis. It’s possible to reduce the number of incidents by 50% or more through preventive action. The proactive aspects also allow the business to understand and be more responsive to the needs of its customers. This will reduce downtime and support costs while improving productivity and customer satisfaction.

Improve Communication With the Business and Within IT - The single biggest issue every organization seems to identify is communication—or rather the lack of it—both within IT and between IT and the business. This lack of communication can result in duplication of effort, poor decision-making, higher risk of failed changes, and poor alignment between the business and IT.

Traditionally, IT organizations have become accustomed to thinking about organizational structure in terms of “silos”, departments, or functional areas. Communication, organizational collaboration, and teamwork break down when information doesn’t flow easily from one area to another. ITIL processes cut across multiple areas, using resources, information, and people to achieve a specific goal.
For example, assume that 40% of an organization’s incidents are resolved at the first level, with 40% at the second level, and 20% at the third. Through better documentation of known errors, the first-level staff will generally be able to resolve a far greater percentage of incidents. This reduces costs and improves customer satisfaction.

Revving Up the IT Engine - Following ITIL guidance not only will help you get more mileage out of IT, but also will help position your company to take advantage of better economic times down the road. Balanced organizational investments in education and the right technology tend to pay for themselves many times over and contribute to better overall IT performance and efficiency. ITIL can help your IT organization not only justify and cut costs, but also integrate better with business objectives and improve the quality and speed of service.

The long-term performance of any business depends upon coordinating a well-functioning IT organization with business objectives, while the business consequences of a poorly functioning IT organization can be dire. ITIL can help IT fine tune and establish the practices needed to function in bad economic conditions.

Anthony Orr is global best practice director for Educational Services at BMC Software. He has more than 30 years of IT experience. He is certified in ITIL Foundation, Practitioner, Service Manager, and v3 Expert levels and is certified as a project management professional (PMP). He is also a Sr. Examiner for APMG, the official accreditor of ITIL V3.