One of the single most common reasons ITIL projects fail to launch (or crash mid-stream) is due to management’s inability to clearly articulate (and then prove) the business value of “doing” ITIL. Budget dollars are hard to come by these days and requesting funding for a multi-year project where the ROI is fuzzy at best is not something most managers are eager to bet their futures on.

Well, there may be some help with the recent release of ITIL v3.

V3 claims to take a more pragmatic, business view of IT Service Management, addressing ITSM from a more “strategic” perspective. Specifically, a major tenant of v3 is the idea of the Service Lifecycle. Managing services form an end-to-end perspective with a particular focus on the financial aspects of delivery is a major focus. This “Service Portfolio” approach should resonate well with upper level management and business executives. It certainly as them spending money to improve project management practices.

On the surface, this sounds like good news, huh? Add to this some additional v3 highlights that are also business focused and you might actually have something you can sell. These highlights include:

• Viewing ITIL in terms of its value in supporting compliance requirements - (SOX, Basle II, etc.)
• ITIL is aligned more tightly with “business usage “
• v3 creates the basis for a Balanced Scorecard approach to measuring success
• v3 significantly improves the ability to measure and tie back improvement in process to “value” to the business
• Processes are treated as secondary to the idea of the “Service Lifecycle”
• Closer ties to other industry standards such as ISO/IEC 20000
• Provides additional assistance for organizations who have to manage outside service providers (can help manage and control costs)

Will these enhancements be enough to convince the yet-to-be convinced that ITIL is worth the effort and that it truly can drive real and measurable business value? That remains to be seen. However, it is a step in the right direction and it shows that the authors of ITIL v3 are aware that for ITIL to really take hold here in the US, executives must be able to see the value before they take the ITIL plunge!

IT organizations at last have the customer-centric view of IT Service Management that is essential to improving the relationship between IT and the customer and their alignment with the business overall.

ITIL v3 is decidedly more strategic, focused on services and less process oriented. The focus on the Service Lifecycle means that there are guidelines for end-to-end service management, including guidance on Service Economics.

So what does this mean to your ITIL adoption initiative, and at what point do you implement your Service Portfolio and Service Catalog?

If you take a close look at ITIL V3, you’ll see specific emphasis on the idea of Service Portfolio Management. And while it is a positive step for ITIL to begin looking at IT Service Delivery from a lifecycle and financial perspective, it does make you wonder how this idea of Service Portfolio Management related to traditional Portfolio Management. (which is typically project based).

Bottom line on this one – in order for an organization to have a complete picture of IT activities (for planning, budgeting, and control purposes), they must have a handle on both Project and Service Portfolio Management disciplines.

Want to know more about the business value of ITIL? Check out our whitepaper: Developing the Business Case for ITIL.

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