Robert Morris University

Paper 1 History of ITIL and examples of companies implementing ITIL

MIS 531

Guruprasad Gadgil 5/9/2012

Introduction:
In order to succeed, businesses should have competitive advantage. Competitive advantage occurs when an organization acquires or develops an attribute or combination of attributes that allows it to outperform its competitors. New technologies such as robotics and information technology are either to be included as a part of the product, or to assist making it. Information technology has become such a prominent part of the modern business world that it contributes to competitive advantage by outperforming competitors . Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects (errors) and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes .Six Sigma Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a method used by professionals trained and certified in the six sigma process who are looking to help a corporation improve its overall functionality and productivity. The goal of a Six Sigma professional is to work with company executives to improve quality in areas that may be struggling. The problems could stem from such areas as customer service, job satisfaction on the part of employees, production rates, or utilizing modern technology. Many businesses nowadays are realizing the importance of having a well set up system which enables proper flow of information across all areas in the firm. This aspect has a lot of benefits, including improved efficiency, more transparency, less flaws and defects, improved quality, and ultimately better results. This will have a direct effect on profits, which are bound to increase. One such tool which is used to achieve this is the Six Sigma Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Six sigma can practically be applied to continual service improvement efforts as described in their white paper Integrating Six Sigma and ITIL for Continual Service Improvement by Jack Probst and Gary Case.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) describes the recent trend of employees bringing personally-owned mobile devices to their place of work, and using those devices to access privileged company resources such as email, file servers, and databases.- Some prefer the term Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT), because it is a broader description, which not only covers the hardware device(s), but also the software used on the device (e.g. web browser, media player, antivirus, word processor). Mobile devices that function as mini-computers are changing how employees work and how IT supports them. The trend to bring your own device to work -- or BYOD -- adds complexity to IT's already complicated job of mobile device management. Some question whether standard frameworks for delivering IT services apply to BYOD. Sharon Taylor, chief architect for the IT Infrastructure Library and president of Aspect Group Inc., an IT Service Management (ITSM) consulting and training company in Ottawa, assures us that ITIL helps implementing BYOD programs more efficiently and effectively .

Information Technology Infrastructure Library

ITIL is a series of documents, originally created by the Office of Government Commerce, a governmental department in United Kingdom and is an integrated set of best-practice lifecycle recommendations with common definitions and terminology. It is actually divided into a series of five documents/books, which are known commonly as 'sets' or 'volumes'. The volumes themselves describe what are often termed 'disciplines', covering individual subjects and approaches. Conceptually, the driving volume is 'Service Strategy', which offers a view of ITIL that aligns business and IT so that each brings out the best in the other. The remaining four volumes are Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement .

Historical Perspective
The ITIL concept emerged in the 1980s, when the British government determined that the level of IT service quality provided to them was not sufficient. The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA), now called the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), was tasked with developing a framework for efficient and financially responsible use of IT resources within the British government and the private sector. The earliest version of ITIL was actually originally called GITIM, Government Information Technology Infrastructure Management. Obviously this was very different to the current ITIL, but conceptually very similar, focusing around service support and delivery. Large companies and government agencies in Europe adopted the framework very quickly in the early 1990s. ITIL was spreading far and, and was used in both government and non-government organizations. As it grew in popularity, both in the UK and across the world, IT itself changed and evolved, and so did ITIL. In year 2000, The CCTA merged into the OGC, Office for Government Commerce and in the same year, Microsoft used ITIL as the basis to develop their proprietary Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF). In 2001, version 2 of ITIL was released. The Service Support and Service Delivery books were redeveloped into more concise usable volumes. Over the following few years it became, by far, the most widely used IT service management best practice approach in the world. In 2007 version 3 of ITIL was published. This adopted more of a lifecycle approach to service management, with greater emphasis on IT business integration .

ITIL Today:
In 2004, recognizing the massive advancements in technology and emerging challenges of IT Service providers, the office of Government Commerce began the second major refresh initiative of ITIL. New technology architectures, virtualization and outsourcing became the main trends in

the information technology industry and the process based approach of ITIL needed to be revitalized and restructured. After twenty years ITIL remains the most recognized framework for information technology service management in the world .

Example of companies that have implemented ITIL, with key lessons learned.
IBM
IBM contributed significantly to the original IT Infrastructure Library{{}} (ITIL), and continues to be a developer, reviewer and user of the ITIL framework. For example, IBM led the project to write the new Application Management book. This book, coauthored by IBM and Microsoft, has recently been published by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in the U.K. IBM Infrastructure and Systems Management Services encompasses the entire systems management lifecyclefrom education to assessment, strategy and design, to implementation and operations. IBM has a proven track record in successful implementation of ITIL-based solutions. Lessons Learned by IBM 1. Establish process ownership as early as possible 2. Train all process owners on process Management 3. Implementation team should be the people doing the work on a daily basis, not a separate project team. 4. Hold a kickoff meeting to outline the plan and obtain feedback
5. Do not assume everyone knows YOUR terminology .

CISCO
In 2004, CISCO adopted ITIL as process framework for process improvement programs . Formal Release management entity was established for critical portions of the IT environment. Subsequently CISCO established an excellence in operations initiative sponsored by IT Global operations. In 2005, ITIL gained momentum, and formal certifications and training schedules were planned. In 2006, IT Operating model was established. In 2007, ITIL process-based organizational plans and roadmaps were established for critical operations areas. In 2008, CISCO adopted the ITwide service management strategy. Lessons Learned by CISCO 1. Tie desired behavior changes to business impacting results 2. Develop management support for accountable metrics 3. Discover cultural blocks and remove them a. My Management does not care b. I have more important things to do c. What is in it for me?
4. Identify and highlight successful group .

The First American Corporation

The First American Corporation is the nations leading provider of business information and related products and services, including title information and services; real estate information and services for mortgage lenders; and consumer information and services, including credit reporting. First American leverages advanced HP technology to automate production and electronically speed delivery of information across the companys network and directly to its customers. First Americans Credit Information Group, a part of The First American Corporation, had an IT organization that was open to transformation. Their challenge was to deliver continuous service and security and serve every aspect of a growing business, all while trying to consolidate our systems. Lessons learned by The First American Corporation after implementing ITIL framework

As problems arose, the team were able to attack those problems immediately due to the ITIL framework

One of the things that become clear is that to the business, IT services is just one entity. Whether down time is due to the service desk, or problem management or the actual service team does not matter. The team just wants to get up and running again and it takes every one working together using proven techniques to make it happen

ITIL based service management is the key to providing better service. .

The London Ambulance Service and implementing ITIL

The London Ambulance Service is the largest free ambulance service in the world and receives 1.2 million calls per annum. There are two key parts to the business; the first is the 999 emergency

service. However, you may be unaware that just as importantly, we run a Patient Transport Service, which transports patients from their homes to hospitals and vice versa. There are 80 sites across London with 4500 staff that are supported by an IM&T Directorate of over 100 staff. Peter Suter the IM&T Director began the vision of implementing ITIL. Following are the key lessons learnt by the management of London Ambulance Service implementing ITIL
1. By making ITIL a key objective, it was vital to manage expectations and therefore from the

outset, the management informed staff, customers and all relevant people, that there may be occurrences where we would be taking one step backwards in order to move two steps forward. This was important, as staff was ready to pounce on any deterioration in service and be critical of this new initiative and therefore this gave us leeway when things didn't go according to plan.
2. With any transformational change, it is necessary to empower staff in order for them to feel

that they have a voice and can influence the change, rather than something which is being forced upon them. One way of achieving this, is to provide a comprehensive training program, so that staff are up-skilled and are confident that they are part of the future. Furthermore, training attributed to the change program can be used to secure buy-in.
3. A key part of any winning formula is to involve your staff. The management achieved this

by selecting 10 line managers that would each be responsible for one ITIL Process. This involved changing job titles to include the relevant ITIL responsibility and each Process owner was asked to dedicate at least 1 day per week to the ITIL project.
4. All staff were constantly encouraged to develop their ITIL skills and think of ways to

improve service. In recognition of this, the management rewarded staff using a number of

methods that included time off work, recognition in the monthly newsletter, training and praise. .