5 Common ITIL Misconceptions

ITIL is a best practices framework to manage IT operations and services. It was defined in the mid-1980s by the UK Government of Commerce. ITIL’s main objective is to align business and Information Technology, allowing organizations to implement what is relevant to their business. ITIL is essentially documented common sense from years of experience and learning from helpdesk managers around the world

1. ITIL is a standard. - No its not. ITIL is a not standard. Consider it good practice and processes designed by IT Managers who have been there and done it. It is up to you whether ITIL suits your organization or not. You can implement ITIL the way that best works for you.

2. My company should get ITIL Certification? - No, your company cannot get ITIL-certified. If you are targeting certification, you must get ISO 20000 and BS 15000 standards, based on ITIL.

3. I want an ITIL Compliant Product. - There are no ITIL-compliant products. No one can certify products as ITIL-compliant. However, it is common for people to refer to PinkElephant’s certification as a guide to whether their product will meet their ITIL requirements.

4. ITIL is for only medium and large organizations. Not true! ITIL is or organizations of all sizes, whether your run a micro company with just 5 people to an massive organization of 50,000 or more. Anyone can implement ITIL. As a general rule though, we recommend ITIL be implemented if your organization has 5 or more help desk staff.

5. ITIL is an official organization. - ITIL is not backed by a single company, organization or person.

ITIL is not about complicated or strict processes. ITIL is different for every organization, so you should not follow someone else’s process or those processes defined in off the shelf work books. The key to successful ITIL implemention is in the understanding of how your support works and how ITIL can be best applied to those processes.