ITIL 4 Managing Professional Transition: a transformed framework

So, as things have evolved ITIL^® needed to change to reflect that; consequently, ITIL 4 is very much a transformation.

With ITIL 4 Managing Professional, the emphasis is now about how we focus IT management and IT on value and outcomes. ITIL has moved from being a process framework to a value framework.

And with that comes a need to improve the IT manager’s toolkit to help organizations better understand how to achieve outcomes more quickly. With reference to all four key frameworks – ITIL, Agile, DevOps and Lean – this allows “working outside in from the customer” to ensure IT teams and suppliers exist in the context of value and outcomes.

IT as business enablement

The changes in organizations as well as IT are essential for people to understand if they’re to recognize IT becoming a fundamental organizational capability rather than just an IT function.

As people cease to work in IT in the traditional sense – and become part of business enablement – ITIL 4 will help them understand the range of elements that contribute to co-creating value. It reinforces the notion that we are all partners in value and value is about achieving something the customer wants.

Also, it’s become clear to me that organizational habits around collaboration aren’t often sustainable or healthy. Instead, In ITIL 4, communication is critical and the four dimensions of service management facilitate collaboration and communication, both internally and with customers.

One of the things that had to happen was a wider conversation about the different worlds of IT strategy and IT development teams. With this in mind, I think ITIL 4 will be useful in helping organizations build an overarching operating model.

Understanding value

At the ITIL 4 Managing Professional level, the knowledge contained especially in the Driving Stakeholder Value module gets IT organizations to think about how to map a customer journey.

What is also impactful is bringing the value streams concept from Lean and creating language around how value streams actually work. As a consultant, it is particularly useful for me to understand customer value propositions. It will help in devising all of the activities needed to co-create value for clients and how customers onboard the capabilities. It gives me a language to help my customers improve their value journey.

A journey of improvement

To me, the entire idea in ITIL 4 can be summed up in one of the guiding principles: focus on value. ITIL 4 reinforces a focus on the “big picture” and the fact there are many ways to get there without being too prescriptive.

The guidance enables you to identify the major objectives and ask the critical question: are you getting the outcomes you want?

This is a journey of iterative improvement and, while not a new idea, offers something healthier and far more effective for organizations to be doing.

Read Patrick's previous blog posts for Axelos

Developing the strategic project manager

Combining ITIL and PRINCE2 principles to achieve end-to-end value