Applying ITIL 4 in an ITIL 3 world

Applying ITIL 4 to an existing ITIL environment.

I recently did the ITIL 4 foundation training and found it enlightening and a refreshing new approach.  Being a very practical person I wanted to work out how I would apply this version to an organisation that is already following ITIL.  One of the current short falls of ITIL 4 is that whilst the foundation is available none of the other planned publications have been published thus it is not possible to get into the details of how the apply all aspects of ITIL 4.   There are however, some concepts of ITIL 4 that can be introduced now into any organisation that will steer the organisation towards improved service delivery. Below are my suggestions on what you can do now before the full publications for ITIL 4 are available.

Definition of a service I like the new definition of a service, the key new words are value co-creation.  The emphasis is not just on creating value but creating value together with your customers.  There is no value in a service that is not used by its customers as it does not deliver what they want.  Gone are the days of shops, doctors and dentists opening only during work hours it is now essential that all these services are available to us after we before or after our work hours.

ITIL 3 – A service is a means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs & risks 

ITIL 4 – A Service is a means of enabling value co-creationby facilitating the outcomes that customers want to achieve, without the customers having to managethe specific costs and risks.

How to apply– ask your teams to consider the value they co-create with their customers. Not just the perceived value from the service delivery staff but a joint exercise with customers to define the value.

4 dimensions- ITIL4 introduced the 4 dimensions of service management which replace the 4 P’s of service management

• Organisations and people      - People
• Information and technology   - Products
• Partner and suppliers             - Partners
• Value streams and processes- Process

How to apply – for each existing and new services create a one page reference of the 4 dimensions that are relevant to the service.   Having this available with ensure the 4 dimensions are considered with any enhancement.

Guiding principles.  ITIL practioner introduced the 9 principles of Service Management, this was an excellent practical book and by keeping these in mind all the time when making decisions it could help to lead you to the correct course of action.   With ITIL 4 this has become the 7 principles of service management.

?       Focus on value

?       Start where you are

?       Progress iteratively with feedback

?       Collaborate and promote visibility

?       Think and work holistically

?       Keep it simple and practical

?       Optimize and automate

How to apply – try to develop a culture in the organisation where these principles are in the focus of the minds of all staff thus the following question become automatic in all the work they do.  Am I focusing on value?  Where are we now? How can I break this work into iterative steps? Are all the correct people involved/informed? Am I seeing the bigger picture? Can this be made simpler? Can this be automated?

Placing these on a team intranet or putting posters up in the office will help to promote and keep these principles living.

Service value system / Service value chain

The Service Value System (SVS) and Service value chain and service stream are new concepts in ITIL 4. These concepts are designed to allow for a more Agile approach to building services.   ITIL was never intended to be purely linear however the ITIL 3 books were presented in a way that people approached in a linear manner.  With ITIL 4 the different elements are presented with a clear pick and mix approach where the service stream (tasks needed) should be tailored to best meet the service / iteration. 

How to apply. For each new service or change to a service consider which elements are needed.  If you are not already working with Agile development see if this can be introduced to enable a faster implementation.

for more information about ITIL