ITIL- Information Technology Infrastructure Library, probably the most popular methodology for running IT. Many organizations adopted this methodology over the course of the last 5 years. This adoption started with what is categorized by ITIL as Service Transition and Service Operation, including: Change Management, Asset and Configuration Management, Knowledge Management, Release Management, Deployment and Decommission management, Request Management, Event Management, Incident Management, Problem Management, Access Management and Coffee Making Management , just joking!

All, as you can see, are part of running IT operations, hence companies appointed ITIL process owners from the delivery side of the house - the folks who make things happen, the doers. In the last few years, companies have started getting to the maturity level where they want to adopt the services design and services strategies components of ITIL as well in order to not only operate IT but also manage the business of IT by following ITIL process for Service Portfolio Design, Catalog Management, Service Level Management, Supplier Management, Capacity Management, Service Economics, IT Financial Management, and IT Demand Management.

It’s funny, but it seems like this part is handled by folks in the organization that are less into ITIL. Often you will find IT Financial Management and Vendor Governance folks performing these tasks, but not from an ITIL perspective and not connected to the ITIL folks in the organization. It seems like ITIL is still for IT ops folks, and IT Finance, Vendor Management, Demand, and Economics are different folks in the organization.

Will a merger happen or will this line between IT ops and IT Business Management always exist? Will ITIL be the bridge? Time will tell…