4 Reasons Why ITIL-compliant is not a thing

Yeah, you read that right.

All things considered, it’s not really ITIL’s, the popular IT service management (ITSM) best practice framework’s, fault that it has been proclaimed the queen of all that’s authoritative in the ITSM world. Somewhere along the way, many of us have slipped up multiple times, and still misinterpret what ITIL really is. There simply is no such thing as ITIL-compliant or ITIL compliance management.

4 reasons why there’s no such thing as #ITIL-compliant. #ITSM Click To Tweet
  • How can you be compliant to something that’s only guidance?

Think about it. Adopting a bunch of processes into the workplace doesn’t mean that you’re complying. Especially when you’re only “using” a few ideas that work for you. Which is ITIL’s purpose anyway. They are called “best” practices for a reason, albeit if only to guide you to use the right processes and improve your IT services. You don’t have to, or rather, can’t follow it to a T.

  • For the last time, ITIL isn’t a standard nor a governance framework

Not to sound redundant or overbearing but a standard is something that you can comply to. Something that requires you to follow certain rules, in a particular manner. ITIL is NOT one of those things that asks this of you. If you’re looking for a standard, consider looking into COBIT, ISO 20000, and the like – these can actually be complied with and audited.

  • ITIL is to steal ideas from and make better – it’s customizable

You take the best of ITIL, figure out what works for you and your organization, and modify the approaches to accommodate your needs. And your needs are often dependent on your customers’ needs. If you’re going to be using one of ITIL’s ideas, it’d better make your customers happy or add value to the company. That’s the whole purpose to ITIL best practices. Your organization might need a lot more or less than what’s “prescribed” by ITIL.

  • ITIL-compliant is just a tag; move on already!

There are so many of us out there waving a giant red flag, proudly professing to be “ITIL-compliant” when in fact, we’re only “ITIL-aligned.” So the next time you’re bustling in queue to get a tool onboard simply because it comes with an ITIL tag, think twice! Or better yet, think of this article.

The bottomline: Don’t get your underpants in a twist over ITIL-compliance

Now that doesn’t mean we’re ITIL-bashing; we’re believers in ITIL and ITSM tools function more effectively with its help. However, this surely doesn’t mean that we concede to the hype about adopting these ITIL processes to the letter. There’s more to ITIL than the books, certifications, and tags. Our goals should probably focus more on making these “best” practices work better for us – tweaking them to fit our work and maybe even use cases outside of the IT world i.e. enterprise service management. Optimistic, yes, but that’s what ITIL is all about – driving efficiency in the workplace; not just blindly adopting processes.

There’s more to #ITIL than the books, certifications, and tags. #ITSM Click To Tweet

What do you think ITIL-compliance is all about? Share your wisdom with us and tweet this article if you enjoyed reading it.

 

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