Today’s post really is meant to remind all of us (myself very much included) why ITIL and IT service management matter. 20 years ago, if my email service went down, hardly anyone even noticed (On my BITNET account, I probably could send e-mail to about 5 people). Now, an e-mail outage can disrupt world commerce (ask anyone who has a Blackberry). Over the last 20 years or so, IT has transformed from a nice-to-have business enhancement to truly a utility – something that is basic and mandatory to operate virtually any aspect of a business.
This means that IT/business integration and alignment aren’t hackneyed buzz phrases, but absolutely necessary to the organization’s survival. We shouldn’t use the ITIL framework or any other frameworks, models, or quality systems to add certificates to the wall, but to enable our businesses to meet their mission. If our IT teams understand services and service culture at its most basic level as our role in enabling the business to achieve its goals, we will be much more effective, and a much more powerful asset for our business partners.