ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) can be translated into French as Bibliothèque pour l'infrastructure des technologies de l'information. More concretely, it is a repository of "best practices" for the management and administration of information systems (IS). It is intended for companies that deliver IT services to their customers, as is the case with Equans Digital.
ITIL is rooted in the IT world, but its principles can just as easily be applied elsewhere, for example within general services or human resources.
What does the ITIL methodology involve?
Since its creation by the British Telecommunications Agency in 1980, several versions of ITIL have been published and updated to adapt to different technological developments.
The ITIL V3 ,published in 2007 includes 26 service lifecycle processes. It is characterized by its consideration of virtualization, outsourcing and new technological architectures.
In order to be better adapted to today's technological environment, a new version is being introduced 2019: ITIL 4. This is based on a new focus and practical guidelines on integrating ITIL with other practices such as DevOps, Agile or Lean.
This update is also intended to be more modern and freer, moving from 26 processes to 34 practices in the new version.
ITIL 4 comprises four dimensions: organization and people, IT and technology, partners and suppliers, value streams and processes.
It also gives service providers the opportunity to customize their processes.
What are the benefits of the ITIL approach for companies?
Adopting ITIL best practices ensures positive returns for users throughout the organization:
Value chain and implementation of ITIL practices
The ITIL repository is made up of five stages of the ITIL service lifecycle, and which can be adjusted to the structure of each organization and IT infrastructure. ITIL therefore offers service providers a certain freedom of adaptation.
This step helps organizations set realistic goals, and develop a strategy to meet customer needs and priorities.
In this stage, IT services are designed according to the needs identified in the service strategy. Key aspects of this stage involve the design of ITIL processes, technology, infrastructure and service management.
The service transition stage focuses on putting the designed services into production. Here, the focus is on maintaining the current state of the service during the deployment of organizational changes, to avoid disruption to ongoing services.
This stage verifies that daily operational tasks are running smoothly. It supports the monitoring of infrastructure and application-related services.
This stage deals with the continuous improvement of the IT services provided. It includes monitoring, measuring, analyzing and improving service performance. The aim is to ensure that services evolve and adapt to changing business needs.
ITIL operational maintenance
Maintenance in operational condition (MCO) is an essential part of IT service management according to ITIL. It focuses onensuring the continued availability and performance of IT services delivered to users. Management of changes, incidents, problems, releases, capacity, service continuity etc. are key aspects of operational condition maintenance in the context of ITIL.
This enables ensuring continuous availability of IT services to customers, reducing downtime, improving user satisfaction and achieving set performance objectives.
"This approach is used today in small and medium-sized enterprises, large corporations and public organizations around the world, across all business sectors."
ITIL certification
To obtain ITIL certification, it is necessary to take a course with a training organization accredited by Axelos. It offers different levels of training that enable participants to develop their expertise in key ITIL areas:
Initiation into modern IT service management and general understanding of ITIL language and key concepts.
Practical and technical knowledge of how to successfully manage IT-based services, teams and workflows.
Knowledge and skills to understand how the IT department influences and guides corporate strategy.
Validation of the skills and knowledge of professionals who wish to establish productive collaborations between multiple practices as well as efficient service flows.