What is ITIL?

ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a set of best practices standards for information technology (IT) service management. The United Kingdom's Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) created the ITIL in response to the growing dependence on information technology to meet business needs and goals. The ITIL provides businesses with a customizable framework of best practices to achieve quality service and overcome difficulties associated with the growth of IT systems. Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft are two businesses that use ITIL as part of their own best practices frameworks.

The ITIL is organized into "sets" of texts which are defined by related functions: service support, service delivery, managerial, software support, computer operations, security management, and environmental. In addition to texts, which can be purchased online, ITIL services and products include training, qualifications, software tools, and user groups such as the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF).

While owned by the CCTA since the mid-1980s, the ITIL is currently maintained and developed by The National Exam Institute for Informatics (EXIN), a non-proprietary and non-profit organization based in the Netherlands.

Another generic definition is as under -

The ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) consists of 6 sets: Service Support; Service Delivery; Planning to Implement Service Management; ICT Infrastructure Management; Applications Management; The Business Perspective. Within these a variable number of very specific disciplies are described.

Although the UK Government actually created ITIL via the CCTA, it is rapidly being adopted across the world as the standard for best practice in the provision of IT Service. Although ITIL covers a number of areas, its main focus is certainly on IT Service Management (ITSM).

IT Service Management (ITSM) itself is generally divided into two main areas, Service Support and Service Delivery. Together, these two areas consist of 10 disciplines that are responsible for the provision and management of effective IT services.

Creating Unstoppable Momentum

Our friend and career consultant, Bill Paxton, likes to say that there are three keys to creating unstoppable momentum in your life:

- Clarity
- Congruency
- Consistency

Clarity means discovering what you are designed to do. MAPP can help you do that by identifying your greatest motivations and talents. It also provides a list of careers that you are likely to find satisfying.

One of the greatest benefits of Clarity is having realistic expectations for yourself. For example, a Jeep and an Indy racer are both cars, but designed to do very different things. You wouldn’t expect a Jeep to be competitive in the Indianapolis 500. Nor would you expect the Indy racer to negotiate a logging trail. They are designed for different purposes. So too it is with people. Clarity allows you to have realistic expectations of what you can and can not do.

It’s one thing to know what you are designed to do. It’s another to do it. The main idea of Congruency is to align what you do with your MAPP.

When it comes to congruency, most of us are rather badly out of alignment. You may need to make some adjustments. Most will be incremental, but some may be radical, such as changing professions. The goal is to spend more time using your strengths. That’s where performance and satisfaction both peak.

Consistency means staying with it. Have you ever been caught in traffic in a large city? You accelerate as the light turns green, only to stop at the red light on the next corner. This pattern of starting and stopping repeats itself over and over as you make your way to your destination. It’s impossible to gain any momentum.

Careers can have momentum, too. Career momentum is achieved by practicing Clarity and Congruency over a long period of time. How long? Dr. Bernard Bloom of Northwestern University discovered that it takes between ten and eighteen years to achieve world-class performance in any career. You’ll never get there if you keep switching careers.

The secret to gaining momentum in your life is to do what you are designed to do over a long period of time.

IBM Solutions

IBM offers a vast array of services. However, the following results have been filtered based on the "Business Consulting Area."

- Alliance - Oracle
- Alliance - SAP
- Alliance - Siebel Systems
- Contact center optimization
- CRM business transformation outsourcing
- Customer relationship management strategy
- Field service effectiveness
- IBM IT services for customer relationship management
- Marketing & customer intelligence
- Sales productivity

Find out more!