ITIL Benets to the Business

A Joint Research Project from Global Knowledge and HDI

ITIL Benets to the Business

A Joint Research Project from Global Knowledge and HDI

Research Analysts: Hank Marquis, Formerly Director of Business Service Management, Global Knowledge Cinda Daly, Director of Business Content, HDI Greg Timpany, Senior Manager of Marketing Research, Global Knowledge Survey Design: Greg Timpany Jenny Rains, Research Analyst, HDI

Executive Summary
There are some in the IT industry who believe that the practice and importance of IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) in organizations could be declining. But, with more than 20,000 people earning ITIL certication each month (according to IT exam provider, EXIN), it is clear that ITIL continues to be relevant. Global Knowledge and HDI came together to conduct a research project to identify the benets that ITIL brings to businesses. The results of this project challenge some commonly held beliefs about ITIL and suggest several new paradigms for success. They illustrate how people from across the United States and around the world answer questions such as: Is C-level management commitment required for ITIL success? Is ITIL just a service/help desk practice?  Is cost reduction the chief benefit of ITIL, as so many vendors and consulting firms promise? There are many ITIL benet surveys circulating throughout the industry, and its easy to become numb from information overload. What sets this survey apart from many others is that it comes from people who are actually practicing ITIL. This survey has no bias towards one tool or another, and says nothing about specic consulting rms. What this survey does do is present an objective examination of what can be expected from following ITIL practices, as reported by IT professionals.

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About the Findings

The surveys respondents represent a cross-section of ITIL practitioners. They come from firms with both national and international presences, and 40% of respondents represent rms with more than 10,000 employees. Over half (52%) of the respondents have a primary position in the IT Service Management (ITSM) area, and 60% are in managerial or supervisory roles in IT. All of the respondents provide IT-related services, and over 50% come from the more regulated areas of government, education, healthcare, legal, and nancial services. It is interesting that 52% of respondents self-selected their role or department specifically as IT Service Management. This indicates that ITSM has been integrated into their corporate IT organizational structures. According to the survey results, ITSM appears to have gone mainstream, and is no longer just a project (as indicated by just 12% of those surveyed) or solely a service/help desk effort (18%). Another telling indicator of ITSM and ITIL maturation comes from the findings related to implemented and planned processes. Traditional wisdom suggests that both incident and change management are the growth areas for ITSM, since ITIL is immature. However, this study shows that many firms already have established, incident (63%) and change (53%) management processes in place. What is significant, as seen in Figure 1 below, is that within the top three followed ITIL processes, problem managementa process that requires organizational maturity and commitmentis the ITIL process most rms are currently implementing (24%) or planning to implement (24%). Furthermore, 43% currently follow ITIL problem management processes, reflecting a 91% adoption/soon-to-beadopted rate among those surveyed.
Top Three ITIL Processes
Currently Follow
Incident Management Change Management Problem Management 63% 53% 43%

Currently Implementing
19% 21% 24%

Planning to Implement
12% 18% 24%

Do Not Follow
7% 8% 9%

Figure 1

Of even greater interest is that while problem management is the leading growth area of the top three implemented ITIL processes, the highest growth of current implementations is in service request management (27%) and service catalog (26%), processes that relate to customer satisfaction and the standardization of IT service delivery (see Figure 8, page 8). While ITIL incident, change, and problem management top the chart, each ITIL process is in use throughout the population. In another indication of ITIL acceptance and integration into corporate IT, respondents chose availability and capacity management as the other areas that are most likely to be on the planning horizon; 38% of respondents plan to implement availability management, and 37% plan to implement capacity management. This is fascinating, since some industry pundits have highlighted these processes as ones that only a few, very mature organizations implement. The key takeaway here is that ITIL seems to have grown up. What may not be as obvious is that ITIL incident and change managementwhen done rightset the stage for problem, availability, and capacity management. When firms stabilize IT service delivery, they are able to shift from running-and-reacting to building-and-transforming.

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Conventional Wisdom Revisited

Conventional wisdom states that one simply cannot be successful with ITIL/ITSM implementation without C-level management commitment. This wisdom may be a carryover from situations in which a consultant is trying to sell six-figure software solutions or long-term consulting agreements. But, according to the survey, many practitioners have been successful without C-level management commitment. In fact, just 39% of respondents claim to have had any CIO- or CTO-level involvement at all. The findings also indicate that if one has C-level management commitment, the focus of the ITSM program changes. For example, those with C-level support are more likely than their counterparts to rate balancing resource allocations as very important (47% versus 33%). They are also more likely to involve other groups in shaping and dening processes and utilize more success metrics. While C-level engagement is not a critical success factor for everyone, it is important to note that 71% of respondents reported executive support in general was the most critical factor for success. In other words, management commitment is critical to success, but C-level commitment is not. Another bit of conventional wisdom is that business/revenue enhancement, cost controls/reductions, quality improvements, and improved agility/responsiveness are the core benefits of ITIL/ITSM (in order of importance). However, this survey identifies customer satisfaction, agility, and workload balance to be the top benefits, not cost reduction or quality improvements. Figure 2 shows how management commitment changes the benets one can expect. The top two benets of ITIL are improved IT responsiveness and end-customer satisfaction. The fulcrum is IT workload improvements, which is the third most common benefit. Notice that cost reductions ranks fourth and fifth, depending on C-level engagement.
How ITIL Benets Shift
5 4 3 2 1

Improving End-Customer IT Workload In light of these findings, it is interesting to note that many ITIL/ IT Service Satisfaction Improvements Responsiveness ITSM vendors sell cost reduction as the key benefit. In the short Figure 2 term, ve years or less, cost reduction is not a major benet often realized. However, in the long term, after recovering capital investments, it is reasonable to expect cost reductions resulting from increased effectiveness.

w/ C-Level Engagement w/o C-Level Engagement

Reduction in Reduction in the Cost of IT the Number of Service Delivery Service Incidents

The top two benets in both cases revolve around transforming IT into an organization that is responsive to its customersa true service provider.

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Key Findings
Contributing success factors show what successful practitioners found helpful. Think of this as a starting point for identifying the requirements for a successful ITIL implementation. When asked to assess the importance of several factors, the following six items rose to the top: Top Six Contributing Success Factors 1. Executive support 2. Teamwork at the staff/line worker level 3. ITIL or other best practice training 4. Communication across organization 5. Organizational buy-in 6. Process owners ITIL indeed delivers measurable business benets. But be careful what you promise, because those benets shift based on managerial commitment. You can succeed with ITIL even without C-level support, but your benefits to focus on could change. Choose wisely. According to the survey, the ability to show improvement in IT service responsiveness is the key measure of success in those organizations with C-level engagement. There is a difference between practicing IT Service Management using ITIL guidance and using software to solve an IT problem. It is important to understand this key point: the benefits you get from using a tool are not the benefits you get from practicing ITSM. Software alone does not make a strategy; rather, software facilitates a strategy and allows a team to complete its tasks. As expected, respondents overwhelmingly conclude that software and other support tools aligned with ITIL are very important, and 51% cite software (incident, knowledge, CMBD, etc.) as a success factor. Interestingly, just 19% cite outside consulting as a success factor. ITIL-based ITSM seems to transform IT organizations into customer-focused service providers. The survey results suggest that the top 11 benets of ITIL to the business are: Top 11 Realized Benets of Practicing ITIL 1. Improving IT service responsiveness 2. End-customer satisfaction 3. IT workload improvements 4. Reduction in the cost of IT service delivery 5. Reduction in the number of service incidents 6. Decreasing service variability 7. Measuring demand for IT services 8. Improvement in IT project success ratio 9. Increased usage of the IT service catalog 10. Increased accuracy of IT forecasts 11. Business protability or revenue

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Respondents Prole
The majority of individuals who participated in this survey have a primary position in IT Service Management (52%) or service desk (18%), with specific job roles at the manager or director level. They brought a high level of participation in ITIL initiatives within their organizations and signicantly contributed to those during the most recent 18 months. Many personally hold ITIL certications.

Relationship to ITIL Certication

82% Personally Certied 33% Staff Certied 11% No One is Certied
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Figure 3

Respondents Involvement with ITIL Certication

Over 80% of the respondents are ITIL certified. In addition, onethird of respondents reported having staff members who are ITIL certified as well. Two-thirds of the certified respondents reported possessing one level of ITIL certification. Seventy-one percent indicate that they are in the process of seeking or adding ITIL certifications. Foundation-level certifications were the most popular with 30% reporting they had v2 Foundation certification and 72% with v3 Foundation or the v2-v3 Foundation Bridge. When it came to intermediate- and advanced-level certifications, there was a significant drop-off. Finally for 58% of respondents organizations, some form of ITIL certication, for at least a portion of the staff, is required (see Figures 34).

ITIL Certication Required?

Unsure

3%

Yes, For All Staff

39%

No

20%

Yes, For Some Staff

38%

Figure 4

Level of Involvement with ITIL

Respondents were asked to report their level of involvement with ITILeither as a lead, involved, or no involvement across five key ITIL categories: design/acquisition; strategy/service definition; operation; project management; and transition/ implementation (see Figure 5). Operation was where respondents showed the greatest level of leadership, with 37% reporting they held the lead role. Conversely, only one in four took the lead role during the design and acquisition phase. Overall, however, respondents are involved in ITIL processes, with over 80% reporting they either lead or were involved to some degree across most phases, with the exception being the design/ acquisition process (72%). If respondents had certied staff, they allocated greater responsibility for design efforts to their staff. This was also the case for strategy/service definition and operations.

Involvement with ITIL During Past 18 Months

24% 28% 34% 16% 37% 411% 29% 20% 31% 13%
Figure 5

Design/Acquisition

48%

Strategy/Service Denition

50%

Operation

52%

Project Management

51%

Transition/Implementation

56%

Lead Involved No Involvement

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Copyright 2010 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved.

Primary Position and Role in the Organization

Over half of the respondents (52%) have a primary position in IT Service Management, with specific job roles at the manager or director level. Those in IT Service Management are more likely to be v3 certified, and take a leadership role in the areas of strategy/service definition, operations and transition/implementation (see Figures 67).

Primary Job Function

Other (Includes HR) Service Desk (or Help Desk) Business Management

14%

4%

Project Management

18%

12%

Core Areas of Focus and Ownership

Participants were asked questions to assess to what degree their IT support organizations implemented the slate of ITIL processes. They were also asked which groups shaped the overall IT Service Management strategy, and the highest positional level that was directly involved with ITIL in their organization.
IT Service Management

14.0%

52%

Figure 6

ITIL Process Implementation

Incident and change management are the only two processes that are being followed by over 50% of respondents. On the high end, incident management is being followed by 63% of the firms represented. On the low end were service catalog/ portfolio; availability; capacity; finance; and continuity; with each being followed by less than 25% of respondents organizations. Less than 10% of the participants reported they are implementing all 16 processes. Several processes are in the implementation phase and are above the overall average of 20% including: service request; service catalog/portfolio; configuration management; and knowledge management. On the planning horizon, respondents indicated they are looking to implement processes around availability and capacity management (see Figure 8, page 8).

Primary Job Role

C-level/ Business Line Other IT Related Functions Other

5%

5%

IT-related Manager/ Director/VP

58%

26%

Technical Support

6%

Figure 7

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ITIL Process Implementation

Currently Follow
Incident Management Change Management Problem Management Service Request Management Release Management Service-Level Management Conguration Management Event Management Knowledge Management Security Management Asset Management Service Catalog/Portfolio Availability Management Capacity Management Financial Management Continuity Management Average 63% 53% 43% 37% 33% 33% 32% 32% 30% 28% 26% 23% 22% 22% 22% 21% 31%

Currently Implementing
19% 21% 24% 27% 16% 23% 25% 19% 25% 14% 21% 26% 13% 15% 11% 18% 20%

Planning to Implement
12% 18% 24% 24% 33% 32% 30% 28% 30% 33% 34% 33% 38% 37% 28% 33% 29%

Do Not Follow
7% 8% 9% 12% 17% 12% 13% 22% 14% 25% 19% 17% 27% 26% 40% 29% 19%

Figure 8

Who Shapes ITIL Strategy?

An organizations help desk or service desk is key in developing the ITSM strategy, with 68% of respondents in this group reporting a role in strategy development. This was followed by operations as a whole. Overall, service managers engage a greater number of internal groups to help drive development of their ITIL strategy more than other groups (see Figure 9).

Who Helps Shape ITIL Strategy?

Service Desk/Help Desk Operations as a Whole

68% 60% 49% 48%

Service Level Management Service Strategy/Service Design

35% 33% 27% 22% 15%

Figure 9

Request Fulllment Security/Compliance

Service Portfolio Management IT Financial Governance or Risk Management

Telecommunications

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

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C-Level Support
Almost half of respondents reported they had C-level support for their ITIL initiatives, with the CIO or CTO serving as champion for the initiative (see Figure 10). Having senior-management commitment was not required for success, but it did make the path easier, according to respondents. It is easier to attain the benets of ITIL when senior management is committed, but it also comes with a change in the benefits sought. Having Clevel commitment means a greater focus on improving service performance, satisfying the end-customer, reducing the cost of IT service delivery, and improving the likelihood that IT projects will succeed.

Highest Position-Level Supporting ITIL

CEO CFO Other

6%

1%

5%

CIO/CTO

Manager

39%

12%

Vice President

15%

Director

22%

Success Factors and Benets Obtained

Respondents were also asked questions to discover which factors organizations found to be most important to their ITIL initiative, the factors that contributed to success, and the benets organizations attained as a result.

Figure 10

ITIL-Initiative Areas Deemed Very Important

Importance of ITIL Areas to Organization
Improving Quality of Services and Other Customer Experience Providing a Central Point of Contact Improving Productivity, Revenue, Competitive Advantage Controlling Costs Company-Wide Controlling IT Organizational Costs Presenting Standard Service Offerings Automating Requests for New Services Balancing Resource Allocations Controlling with Compliance-Related Initiative Costs Facilitating New Product/Service Offerings Regulatory and Environmental Issues Asset (HW/SW) Chargeback Costs Tracking Service Utilization Service Chargeback Costs Demand Proling 30% 30% 29% 28% 28% 26% 56% 54% 43% 41% 40% 34% 58% 56%

Very Important
70%

Core Areas of Focus

The ability to improve the quality of services and exceed customer expectations in the process are the primary areas of focus for ITIL initiatives. Seven out of ten respondents rated this area as very important. Four other areas were rated as very important by over half of the respondents (see Figure 11).

Contributing Success Factors

Executive support was the highest-rated factor associated with the success of the ITIL initiative, with 71% rating it very impor-

Figure 11

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tant. An implementation can be successful without the handson support of senior management, but having that support does make the process smoother, according to respondents. Other critical factors identied include: communication across the organization; teamwork at the staff level; and training on ITIL best practices (see Figure 12).

Success Factors Deemed Very Important

Executive Support Teamwork at the Staff Level ITIL or Other Best Practice Training Communication Across Organization Organizational Buy In Process Owners Business Process Owners Software Supporting Services Customer Involvement Architectural Team

71% 66% 65% 64% 64% 62% 55% 51% 44% 40%

Success Measurement
The ability to show improvement in IT service response is the key success measurement in those organizations where C-level support is given to the ITIL initiative. This measure was selected by 84% of the respondents who have senior management support, compared to 68% of those who do not have that level of support. Also critical to the scorecard are the ability to measure and show improvement in end-customer satisfaction and balance the workload faced by IT departments (see Figure 13).

Role of Third Party Services

Just under half of the respondents reported they believe thirdparty vendors to be important to the enablement process. WithITIL Initiative Success
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

30%
Outside Consulting

19%
Figure 12

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

C-Level w/o C-Level

84%

83% 74% 70% 67% 69% 58%

68%

66% 63%

56% 56%

53% 46% 49% 40% 42% 40% 32% 30% 29% 28%

Re of du IT cti Se on rv in ice th De e C liv os er t Re y No du . o cti f S on er in vi th ce e In cid D en ts Va ecre ria as i bi ng lit y Se rv ice M fo eas r I ur T Se ing rv De ice m s an d

Figure 13

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Bu or sin Re es ve s P nu ro e ta bi lit y

Im Re pro sp vi on ng siv IT en Se es rv ice s En Sa d-C tis us fa to ct m io er n

IT Im Wo pr rk ov lo em ad en ts

Im Pr pro oj ec vem tS e uc nt ce in ss IT Ra tio In c th re e as IT ed Se U rv sa ice ge Ca of ta lo In g of cre LT ase Fo d re Ac ca cu st ra s cy

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in this group, 28% believe these vendors are very important to the successful ITIL implementation. This view is not consistent across all sub-groups. For example, respondents who are v3 certified are twice as likely as non-v3 certified respondents to report that vendors are critical (32% vs. 16%) (see Figures 1415). Respondents in service manager roles did not view the use of third-party vendors any differently from those in other roles. Likewise, there was no difference in the view of vendors if Clevel support was involved, and organizational size is not associated with perceived difference in the importance of vendors. Respondents who view vendors as critical are twice as likely as those who believe them to be marginal to employ a vendor to support business/customer communication (22% vs. 10%). The same relationship exists when considering ITIL consultation. Those who view vendors as critical or important are twice as likely to employ consultants as those who view vendors as marginal (43% vs. 20%). If you view vendors highly, then you are more apt to employ them for professional services (auditing and implementation), systems integration, and outsourced services, including SaaS and helpdesk monitoring. ITIL Foundations training was the most commonly used thirdparty service employed in ITIL initiatives. It was utilized by 71% of the responding organizations. This is more than twice the next highest percentage, 31% for ITIL consulting (see Figure 16). Finally, when asked about the importance of support tools having the capability to align with ITIL processes, the clear majority views that alignment as critical (see Figure17).

Importance of Third-Party Vendors

32% 16% 19% 25% 49%
Not Important Important Critical
v3 Certified Not v3 Certified

59%
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Figure 14

Importance of Third-Party Vendors

29% 27% 24% 20% 47% 53%
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Critical

Service Mgr Non-Serivce Mgr

Important

Not Important

Figure 15

Third-Party Services Employed During ITIL Strategy

ITIL Foundations Training ITIL Consulting Practicioner Leve Training/Classes Third-Party Professional Services Strategic Planning Outsourced Services Third-Party Systems Integrators Business Customer Involvement Business Customer Communication Figure 16 71% 31% 29% 26% 22% 18% 16% 15% 14%

Firmagraphics
The size of both the organizations and IT departments that respondents work for varied greatly. The industries in which the

Importance of Tool Alignment

Somewhat Important Important but Not Necessary Not Important

8%

2%

Very Important

26%

64%

Figure 17

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respondents worked also varied.

Firm Size
Over 10k

Organizational Size
Sixty percent of the respondents work in organizations with fewer than 10,000 employees. With that said, larger organizations (>10,000 employees) are more apt than smaller organizations to be following the breadth of ITIL processes. This could be due in part to a greater likelihood to have a dedicated service manager role (see Figure 18).

40%

Up to 2k

32%

IT Department Size
Forty percent of respondents work in IT organizations with 175 or fewer employees. Large IT organizations (3,001+ employees) accounted for 19% of the respondent base (see Figure 19). The reduction in the cost of delivering IT services as a priority is easy to see for larger firms (more than 3,000 IT employees), but there is also a spike in this measure for firms in the middle range (176500 IT employees) (see Figure 20).
5k-10k 2k5k

12%

16%

Figure 18

IT Department Size
19%
5013k 3k + Up to 60

21%

19%

Key Industries
Six industries accounted for 52% of the respondents: IT-related services (14%); health services (10%); federal government (9%); state and local government (8%); education (6%); and insurance, real estate, and legal (6%). The sales revenue for the respondents organizations (non-government) varied from less than $100 million annually to over $1 billion (see Figure 21).

60175

20%

176-500

22%

Figure 19

Worldwide Sales Revenue (Non-Government) Importance of Cost Reduction by IT Department Size

Up to 60 61 175 176 500 501 3k 3k+ Average Unsure

53% 57% 72% 62% 72% 63%

20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

15%

Under $100 Million 19% $100 Million to under $1 Billion

16%

Not Applicable

Figure 20

10%

20%

$1 Billion or More

30%

Figure 21

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About Global Knowledge

Global Knowledge is the worldwide leader in IT and business skills training, with more than 1,200 courses that span foundational and specialized training and certifications. Our core training is focused on Cisco, Microsoft, Avaya, VMware, Red Hat, business process improvement, and leadership development. We deliver via training centers, private facilities, and the Internet, enabling our customers to choose when, where, and how they want to receive training programs and learning services. Founded in 1995, Global Knowledge employs more than 1,300 people worldwide and is headquartered in Cary, N.C. The company is owned by New York-based investment firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson, and Stowe. Learn more at www.globalknowledge.com.

About HDI
HDI is a global IT service and technical support membership association and the industrys premier certication and training body. Guided by an international panel of industry experts and practitioners, HDI is the leading resource for IT service and technical support emerging trends and best practices. HDI provides members with a vast repository of resources, networking opportunities, and the largest industry event, the HDI Annual Conference & Expo. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, CO, HDI offers training in multiple languages and countries. For more information, visit www.ThinkHDI.com or call +1 719.268.0174. HDI is part of UBM TechWeb, a division of United Business Media LLC.

Respondent Sources
The house les of Global Knowledge and HDI served as the source for respondents. These les contain IT professionals who are either from HDIs customer database (N=55,000) and/or who have taken ITIL training from Global Knowledge or its affiliates (N = 5,665). Data collection was open from August 15, 2010 to September 10, 2010. During this period 358 completed surveys were collected via an online survey.
Although the respondents come from a diverse background they may not be representative of the universe of all rms utilizing ITIL. N = 358 respondents. There is a +/- 5.18% margin of error at the 95% confidence level.

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