With ITIL 4, the world's leading framework for IT service management has undergone a fundamental realignment. While ITIL 3 was still strongly focused on processes and their lifecycle, ITIL 4 puts value creation and the holistic view of services at the forefront.
What is new in ITIL 4?
The central concept of ITIL 4 is the Service Value System (SVS). It describes how all components and activities of an organisation work together to create value. The SVS includes the Guiding Principles, Governance, the Service Value Chain, Practices and Continual Improvement.
At the heart of the SVS is the Service Value Chain, which describes six interconnected activities: Plan, Improve, Engage, Design & Transition, Obtain/Build and Deliver & Support. These activities can be used in various combinations to define so-called Value Streams – tailored processes for value creation.
From processes to practices
ITIL 4 replaces the term ”process” with ”practice”. A practice is a set of organisational resources designed to perform work or accomplish an objective. ITIL 4 defines 34 management practices, divided into three categories: General Management Practices, Service Management Practices and Technical Management Practices.
The seven Guiding Principles
ITIL 4 introduces seven guiding principles to guide organisations in their decisions and actions:
- Focus on value
- Start where you are
- Progress iteratively with feedback
- Collaborate and promote visibility
- Think and work holistically
- Keep it simple and practical
- Optimize and automate
What remains and what does this mean for your organisation?
ITIL 4 builds on the proven foundation of ITIL 3 and supplements it with a more modern, agile perspective. Established concepts such as the Service Desk, Change Management and Problem Management remain – but are placed in a new context.
For organisations, ITIL 4 means that they need to align their IT services more consistently with value creation and work more closely with the business. Integration with agile methods, DevOps and other modern approaches is explicitly provided for, making collaboration between IT and business considerably easier.