The ITIL® Mission Statement: Key to Better Services

Setting

Investments in ITIL made by IT Infrastructure & Operations (I&O) leaders often show few results, raising questions about the value of ITIL and the quality of I&O leadership. This brief provides a simple test you can use to both determine and improve your likelihood of success or failure.

Trigger

We've spent a lot of time and money on ITIL. Will we ever see results?

What You Need to Know

ITIL provides advice on how to stabilize and then optimize IT operations. Stabilization means reducing the number, duration, and negative impact of outages. Optimization means building upon stabilization results to increase business productivity and market position. Each requires certain tasks that build upon each other. While ITIL describes the tasks, the order is unique to each ITIL-related project or initiative. Our research shows that I&O leaders who fail to achieve expected ROI are unable to connect ITIL investments with specific actions related to either stabilization or optimization. Failing to drive investments in I&O people, processes, or tools around a specific improvement target and attempting to optimize without prior stabilization are primary indicators of failure.

Success with ITIL comes from using its advice. Linking every ITIL outlay to expected service stabilization (or to optimization if the service is already stable) is the recipe for success. You must create a clear and obtainable ITIL mission statement for every investment. Use the SMART method and the simple form presented in this brief to obtain measurable business improvements and increase your ITIL ROI.

What You Need to Do

If you cannot fill in the blanks in the following ITIL mission statement form, you are more likely to fail than to succeed, and you may never obtain the ROI from ITIL that you expect:

“For the service ___, we use ITIL to ___. We will measure ___ to show ___ in ___.”

Examine each ITIL investment in training, hiring, organizational change, software, consulting, etc., and complete an ITIL mission statement for each. Ask responsible staff, managers, and vendors to “fill in the blanks” using the Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely (SMART) goal-setting method. This simple form will help you and your teams understand your goal. It will force the creation of reporting and metrics, and it provides a mission statement for the initiative. It will tell all involved what you are doing, why you are doing it, and when and how you will see its benefits.

Assume that you will not get clear answers to your “fill in the blanks” request. Be careful not to be punitive. Instead, use the lack of understanding and inability to answer as a starting point for improvement. Seek opinions of those in your organization that you trust first, and work together to gain understanding of the initiative. Use a service-based approach to understand firm and customer impact and value potential. Be sure to include whether the ITIL mission statement is for stabilization or optimization. If it is for optimization, you must verify that the service in question is stable.

Investigate each ITIL-related project and initiative to discover how you determine success today. Do you base your expectations on vague promises, or do you know in advance exactly what you expect to happen, when, and why? Assess the success of all services and all ITIL-related projects and investments based on its ITIL mission statement. Use the ITIL mission statement as the metric to reference maturity, benchmarking, Quality of Service (QoS), and Quality of Experience (QoE.) Use the mission statement to drive promotions, bonuses, terminations, training, etc. Require vendors to complete an ITIL mission statement for purchases, and ensure trainers and consultants complete one before engagement. Do your current service level management reports answer or provide an ITIL mission statement?

Launch your ITIL mission statement review by choosing one ITIL-related project or initiative. Introduce the ITIL mission statement at the next team or status meeting. Explain its purpose, and try to agree on one at the meeting. Always use a service-based approach to evaluate business needs or market initiatives. This includes engaging with customers to validate the mission statement in business terms. Ensure each ITIL mission statement reflects upon desired business outcomes. Share it with all I&O staff, users, and customers as appropriate. Review it every month if possible. Minimally, review it at least quarterly.

Learn More

For more information about how our training solutions can improve productivity, enhance efficiency, and sharpen your competitive edge, visit www.globalknowledge.com/cloud, contact a Global Knowledge account manager at +1 (919) 463-7383, or email EnterpriseSales.NAM@globalknowledge.com.