Software & Services | 11 Dec 2006 :
ITIL gains momentum
The adoption of ITIL best practices for
managing organisations' IT services is accelerating rapidly across Europe with
many firms claiming they are enjoying major productivity gains by following
ITIL guidelines.
That is according to a new report released
today by IT management software specialist BMC Software which argues that with
ITIL adoption running at over 35%, the best practice framework is even more
popular than many market commentators believe. “The adoption rate was
definitely higher than expected,” said Ken Turbitt, global best practices
director for BMC. “This proves ITIL really has become the defacto standard.”
The survey of just under 200 senior IT
decision makers across the UK,
Germany, France, Spain
and Italy
found that 70% were aware of ITIL and of those 56% had personally implemented
some area of ITIL.
Over three quarters of those using ITIL
also said that it had met their expectations, with over half saying it helped
improve IT and business alignment, increased productivity and ensured best
practice was adopted.
The findings suggest that criticism from
some quarters that ITIL is too prescriptive and doesn’t deliver promised cost
and performance benefits are unfounded, Turbitt argued.
The report also found that where IT
directors are not deploying ITIL, the barriers to adoption often lie outside
the IT department. According to the survey over two-thirds of those who have
yet to deploy ITIL said that increased awareness of ITIL outside the IT
function, increased budget and greater board level support were needed to
eliminate the barriers to adoption.
“There is a need to focus more on talking
to the other line managers and getting their co-operation if you are to adopt
ITIL,” said Turbitt.