How Senior Leaders and C-suite Can Benefit from ITIL 4 Training

Senior leaders and C-suite executives frequently grapple with IT-related issues, including misalignment between IT and broader business objectives.

Such challenges can hinder an organisation's ability to meet customer expectations, stay competitive and innovate effectively. But there's a valuable solution at their fingertips: learning ITIL® 4.

What are the benefits of ITIL to Senior Leaders and C-suite?

An ITIL 4 course empowers leaders to initiate and oversee projects that align IT services with broader enterprise goals.

1. Stronger alignment between IT and the rest of the business
   The ITIL 4 Foundation course, through to the ITIL Master designation, emphasises alignment of IT services with business goals and objectives. Senior leaders and C-suite executives stand to gain a deeper understanding of how IT can support and drive the achievement of strategic objectives. This alignment leads to better decision-making, improved communication, and a more agile organisation ready to respond to changing market demands.

2. Enhanced service delivery and customer satisfaction
   Today, customer satisfaction is paramount. ITIL training equips leaders with best practices to enhance service quality. So, the whole organisation can consistently meet or exceed expectations, fostering loyalty and a positive brand reputation.

3. Improved utilisation of resources and reduced costs of services
   Resource optimisation is a crucial concern for senior leaders. Learning ITIL provides insights into effective resource allocation and utilisation, leading to cost savings and greater operational efficiency.

4. Visibility on IT costs and resources
   Transparent cost management is crucial for financial planning and decision-making. ITIL 4 training helps senior leaders and C-suite executives see into IT costs and resource allocation. This transparency allows for more informed budgeting, forecasting, and resource allocation, reducing financial surprises and enabling more effective financial management.

5. Ability to Create, Deliver and Support IT-enabled services
   Senior leaders and C-suite executives can benefit from learning how to create, deliver, and support IT-enabled services effectively. This knowledge enables organisations to provide a wide range of services efficiently and adapt to evolving customer needs.

6. Capability to drive stakeholder value
   Understanding how to deliver value to stakeholders is critical for business success. ITIL 4 training equips business leaders with the tools to identify and prioritise stakeholder needs and ensure that IT services align with those. This alignment leads to increased stakeholder satisfaction and long-term business success.

7. Support for High-Velocity IT
   Organisations need to move quickly to remain competitive. ITIL learning teaches executives how to support high-velocity IT practices, enabling them to keep pace with rapid technological advancements and market changes.

8. Skills to Direct, Planning and Improve IT-enabled workflows and teams
   Effective leadership is vital for IT success. An ITIL 4 course equips business leaders to direct, plan, and improve IT-enabled workflows and teams. This leads to greater efficiency, higher quality outputs, and increased organisational resilience.

9. Peer support across the C-suite and among Vice Presidents
   ITIL 4 training offers a common language, enabling executives to collaborate effectively and share insights, fostering a culture of collaboration and cooperation across the organisation.
   According to Axelos:
   "By building peer support across the C-suite and among vice presidents you can start to bridge departmental/functional silos and gain value from enterprise service management."

10. Enablement for small groups to run projects that bring enterprise services together
    An ITIL 4 course empowers leaders to initiate and oversee projects that align IT services with broader enterprise goals. This capability enables small groups within the organisation to drive innovation and streamline processes for functions like HR, marketing, sales, manufacturing, and more.

Recommended ITIL courses, starting from the foundations

In an era where IT plays a central role in business operations and competitiveness, senior leaders and C-suite executives can significantly benefit from ITIL 4 Foundation learning. We share insights on what the ITIL learning path can look like for leaders.

ITIL 4 Foundation
This is a prerequisite for all other ITIL courses and is delivered in two formats. The standard three-day course is recommended for those with no prior experience in ITIL, and the Fast Track course is for students with some practical working experience in IT and Service Management, especially those renewing their certifications.

Managing Professional
The Managing Professional (MP) designation provides practical and technical knowledge about how to run successful IT-enabled services, teams and workflows. Designed for IT practitioners working within technology and digital teams across businesses.

• ITIL 4 Drive Stakeholder Value (DSV)
  Designed for IT professionals who foster relationships with stakeholders to co-create value. Drive Stakeholder Value benefits anyone who manages customer journeys, experiences, or expectations.

• ITIL 4 Create, Deliver and Support (CDS)
  For leaders involved in Operations, supervisory and mid-management roles in Service Management. Or for current and aspiring ITSM managers. This is great for leaders who design digital products and services and deliver and support them to agreed levels.

• ITIL 4 High-Velocity IT (HVIT)
  Ideal for IT managers and practitioners who work in digital or highly automated environments or who deliver digital products and services. This includes non-technical leaders involved in digital transformation and in Lean, Agile, or DevOps ways of working.

• ITIL 4 Direct, Plan and Improve (DPI)
  For business leaders who need to align their team’s objectives with the organisational strategy. Recommended for those in Supervisory and Managerial Roles involved in aligning team objectives with strategy, planning at any level and continual improvement.

Strategic Leader
The Strategic Leader (SL) designation recognises the value of ITIL, not just for IT operations but for all digitally-enabled services. Becoming an ITIL 4 Strategic Leader demonstrates that a director or manager understands how IT influences and directs business strategy.

• Digital and IT Strategy (DITS)
  Designed for Business Managers and Leaders, enabling them to make informed decisions around the digital transformation of their business.

• ITIL 4 Direct, Plan and Improve (DPI)

Practice Manager
The Practice Manager (PM) designation is for IT professionals aiming to establish good cross-practice collaboration and effective service value streams. Candidates can demonstrate their understanding and application of the concepts covered in the ITIL Management Practices at both strategic and operational levels maximising value from these practices.

• Monitor, Support and Fulfil (MSF)
  Equips professionals with the skills and knowledge to manage service delivery and enhance customer experience by applying concepts, techniques, and strategies to day-to-day tasks.

• Plan, Implement and Control (PIC)
  Focused on the five practices that support effective planning, deployment, and management of services and assets, to ensure alignment with business objectives, minimise risk, and maximise value of assets through lifecycle management.

• Collaborate, Assure and Improve (CAI) - coming soon!

ITIL Master
The highest level of achievement in the ITIL 4 certification scheme. This designation validates mastery in the full suite of ITIL competencies. A candidate must have achieved all three ITIL intermediate designations and passed all exams.

• Practice Manager (PM)

• Managing Professional (MP)

• Strategic Leader (SL)

Leaders can drive their enterprises towards resilience and innovation by enhancing alignment, improving service quality, optimising resource utilisation and gaining a deeper understanding of IT service management.

So, ITIL 4 learning is not just a valuable asset; it's a strategic imperative.

Access ITIL Courses with Lumify Work

Lumify Work is an Accredited Training Organisation for ITIL courses by PeopleCert and an IT Service Management Forum (itSMF) member. Our eBook on ITIL and IT Service Management introduces the frameworks. Access it here.

With the Lumify Anywhere platform, students can access training from the comfort of their homes, from one of our campuses in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch – or wherever suits them best.