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For many Information Technology teams, the work of supporting organisations has its unique share of highs and lows. Both are often the result of challenges with scaling and optimising processes. Here at Lumify Work (formerly DDLS), one of our learners shared her story and the story of her department learning ITIL® to address these challenges.
ITSM and ITIL can transform the way you work. They provide IT professionals and teams with the skills to systematise how IT and tech support can be delivered. This helps teams deliver IT services smoother and with fewer surprises.
ITSM vs. ITIL
IT service management (ITSM) is about more than just applications. It looks at “services” (that includes applications) from end to end. From proactive concepts (innovation) to the sustainable delivery of valuable services in the longer term.
ITIL is the most widely accepted approach to IT service management around the world. The latest version, ITIL 4, is built on the established core of best practice in the ITIL guidance. It provides a holistic end-to-end picture that integrates frameworks such as Lean IT, Agile, and DevOps. It seeks to standardise processes like selection, planning, delivery and maintenance within an organisation. The end goal for ITIL is to increase efficiency, achieve predictability and reduce risk and disruption in the business.
According to PeopleCert, "ITIL 4 continues to support the ITSM community while expanding to a wider range of professionals working in the digital world, guiding how IT interfaces with, and leads the wider business strategy.”
What does it mean if you are in an ITSM role?
When people are part of an IT team that sees IT as a service to be delivered, their manpower and capabilities form part of what's required to deliver quality IT services. People is one of the 4 Ps of ITIL. And in addition to iterating your processes, you will also need to continue iterating your team structure and your job description within it to address the organisation's changing needs. But in general, BMC Software explains that the role requires one to monitor the team's performance when it comes to incident management and to recommend improvements.
How do you and your team become ITIL experts?
To get on the track to becoming an ITIL expert, those with experience in IT support can start by engaging leadership teams and business owners. You can initiate discussions to understand the fundamentals of ITIL and the fact that it is a set of best practices and not fixed rules.
In our ITIL training courses, students can explore the foundations of ITIL concepts, with the option to advance to higher-level certifications – ensuring full, well-rounded knowledge of applying best IT practices for greater business efficiency. You'll see a preview from this photo of our ITIL 4 Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management class last April 6-8, 2022, with instructor John Bromwich at Lumify Adelaide.
From there, you can apply ITIL to address a specific problem or area for improvement. This helps you focus on the relevant customer or operational problems and use the process of implementing solutions to learn more about ITIL and ITSM. And much like a pilot project, you can use what you learn from it to train and inform the rest of the organisation.
ITIL learning stories from Lumify Work students
Sue Ward works for an energy company based in Docklands, Victoria. She and her team sat for ITIL training, and she was gracious enough to talk a little bit about their experiences.
Tell us a little bit about your current role.
I work at an energy provider, managing their strategic technology vendors.
How did you come up with the idea of getting ITIL training?
We wanted the entire team to have the same understanding around why ITIL concepts are so important and be able to use the same language. We are constantly striving to provide our customers with better service and I believe ITIL really helps with this.
What was your training experience like?
The training was excellent. Our lecturer was very engaging, the time sped by and there were lots of discussions and two-way conversation. We had most people in the classroom, but a few were online, and they also felt included and involved. The general feedback from all of our attendees has been very positive.
Any key takeaways from the training that stuck with you even today?
I manage technology vendors, so some of the concepts around incident and problem management (which is often a challenge with vendors) have been very relevant. It was also interesting to understand how ITIL integrates with other frameworks and practices such as DevOps and general cloud development.
How has the training impacted your work?
It’s made me think about concepts I was probably already familiar with (and perhaps took for granted) and actually realise how important they are, in order to deliver a high level of service to our customers.
Adopting ITIL to your team
Organisations can embrace ITIL practices and increase efficiency, achieve predictability and reduce risk and disruption for their IT support.
Lumify Work is a leading provider of corporate IT training with campuses across Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. We offer a wide range of ITIL certifications across varying needs and skill levels, including ITIL Foundation and ITIL Managing Professional (ITIL MP).
You can deep-dive into ITIL as the world’s leading ITSM framework by accessing our eBook. You can also reach out to our team to enquire about an ITSM and DevOps course.
