The Emperor's new ITIL?
Thursday Jun 28, 2007
I need to preface this posting with a caveat that this really is a personal observation, not the view of Sun. And I'll probably change this opinion at a future date!
Earlier this month, we saw the much vaunted launch of ITIL Version 3. If you are not familiar with it, then you can read all about it on the itSMF International site, or the itSMF UK site. ITIL was well overdue an update, and the new version "...makes the link between ITIL's best practice and business benefits both clearer and stronger. The main development is that V3 takes a lifecycle approach to guidance, as opposed to organising according to IT delivery sectors..." - which is A Good Thing.
But hold on.
"....the interface between old and new approaches is seamless so that users do not have to reinvent the wheel when adopting it...". There is not better mousetrap here: the original guidance for Change Management, Incident Management etc. still applies. So, what is the actual, tangible benefit in moving to V3? Yes, I reiterate - I do support the business integatation and lifecycle approach - but what is the business benefit?
I ask, not because of the cost of the books, at £300 a pop, but because of the flood of marketing that I see on the back of this new version. Virtually every day, I receive an email about V3 conversion courses, software tools with "exciting new V3 capabilities", teaser webcasts from "experts", and charged-for book launches from the OGC (the owners).
Behind all this frenzy in the ITIL ecosystem, I worry about what we are implicitly accepting. From the viewpoint of Sun (as an open-source company) collaboratiave, community development seems natural. And that was how V2 felt. But V3 feels like it is more like a proprietary approach.
The parallel I see is the recent launch of Windows Vista. The week of that launch, a UK PC retailer had a 2 page newspaper spread for "Vista-ready" products, such as "Vista ready printers". I'm sure I'm missing something here - a printer is a printer isn't it? I thought we cracked the problem of the O/S being able to talk to printers at least 25 years ago?
I digress. It would be a cynic who would view the current hype from systems tools, training and consulting suppliers as merely an attempt to drive more business out of a maturing market. I'm sure that people will get a real business benefit as they adopt V3.
And maybe 6 -12 months from now, I'll be a V3 zealot, giving presentations about it on my Vista laptop.
Maybe.
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