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In the Real World
In the midmarket, however, the problem is that ITIL implementation can be pricey and has no definitive endpoint. So companies can't achieve "compliance" with ITIL as they can with, say, the Sarbanes-Oxley or Gramm-Leach-Bliley acts (although critics counter that they are moving targets as well). This means the cost of ITIL efforts can skyrocket from a hundred thousand dollars to tens of millions, especially when changes require investments in new technology or the redistribution of existing equipment.
For some CIOs, the specter of high-priced expenditures goes hand in hand with a need for consulting firms to manage expectations. Service management-specific solution providers such as Pink Elephant, Service-now.com, Getronics and TraverseIT LLC all help companies implement ITIL.
"Until recently, there were few companies in the midmarket [that] thought about ITIL or even knew what it meant," says Frank Guerino, TraverseIT's CEO and founder. "Before we even get into specifics of how and why this might work, we spend a lot of time explaining the possibilities."
Most of these possibilities begin with service support and delivery -- the two most popular of the seven books. It should be noted that ITIL books are not sequential, so potential users can pick and choose which aspects they implement. The service support book focuses on five processes: incident management, problem management, change management, configuration management and release management.
Steve Bajada, senior ITIL consultant at Getronics, says that by mastering all five of these processes, companies can minimize the time to identify and resolve service incidents. "While most companies approach service in silos, ITIL enables you to handle it horizontally" across the entire enterprise, he says. "No matter how you look at it, this kind of broader approach is a better way to go."
Specifically, the service support book focuses on users of IT services. Companies can track incidents using a configuration management database (CMDB), which reports on incidents as well as the time it takes to respond to each one.
The book also advises that companies create a single point of contact -- known as a "service desk" -- between users and service management personnel. A service desk differs from a help desk in that the former not only handles incidents and questions but also provides an interface for other activities, such as change requests and software licenses.
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