What is ITIL? IT Service Management vs ITIL: The Difference

IT service management has become an integral part of the corporate world now. From ensuring the workflows are going smoothly to finishing projects on time, ITSM is required all the time. However, along with ITSM, there is another term that is extremely important for IT engineers.
That is ITIL. But what is it, and can it replace ITSM? Find out all about it! However, before that, find out what ITIL is and how similar these two systems are.

ITSM or IT Service Management

ITSM, in one sentence, is a framework that helps organizations structure their IT services. This framework is all about finding the right services aligned with business needs to improve their service deliveries. Moreover, ITSM tools enable the IT teams to design, manage, and deliver IT services to employees effectively. Here are some of the key aspects of ITSM solution platforms:

Service Design & Delivery

Service design in ITSM solutions majorly deals with planning new designs for the IT services for organizations and designing them according to the specific needs of the company. Moreover, once the design is complete, ITSM services also include delivering the designs and ensuring the organization adapts to the new IT design for operations.

Service Operations

Service operations in IT Service Management refers to the continuous management of the services provided to the clients. Moreover, service operations also involve adding value to the clients’ businesses using the services provided by ITSM service providers. Hence, in service operations, one must maintain and improve the service quality of the business and manage disruption within the management. Apart from that it also involves handling service requests efficiently and maintaining the Service Level Agreements.

Service Monitoring & Improvements

Once the service starts to operate, the next step involves monitoring how the services are working for the organization and if any improvement is needed. The reason behind this is to ensure that the IT services that are being provided to the company meet the predefined requirements, targets, and levels. From the above points, it is clear that ITSM is quintessentially for organizations’ IT requirements.

ITIL or Information Technology Infrastructure Library

ITIL or Information Technology Infrastructure Library, manufactured by the British Government is a set of best practices within ITSM. In 2019, version 4 of ITIL came out which made it more compliant with ITSM. Moreover, it was also considered an individual concept in its own right. This change occurred as ITIL can operate outside IT as well. However, that doesn’t mean ITIL is ITSM’s competitor. ITIL makes it easier for ITSM principles to work efficiently in other businesses, and improve their performance, service, and outcomes. Here are some key values that make ITIL important:

Adding Value to the Service

One of the primary and key components of ITIL is to add value to the services provided to the company. More specifically the ITIL service strategy helps business organizations to meet an organization’s needs. The goal is to ensure that whatever strategy they apply must provide them with long-term growth and profit.

Begin from Where You Are

The ITIL framework always encourages companies to begin from their current situation. This helps to promote a realistic service design and deliverable for the clientele. Furthermore, it acknowledges the individual context of each organization and its business approach. Therefore, it ensures reduced cost of ownership, better service decisions, improved performance, and consistent & higher service quality.

Room for Improvement

ITIL means room for constant improvement and room for betterment. So ITIL advises changes in a small manageable manner that will not cause any disruption and also implement changes smoothly. Moreover, there will be multiple feedbacks to make sure that the work process is enhanced over time. Doing this has been proven to bring positive results in the transitioning process containing minimal errors.

Collaborate to Enhance

The ITIL framework is such that it encourages active collaborations between employees and teams to improve services. It helps businesses to gain visibility and foster a culture of shared responsibility among the employees. Moreover, it encompasses processes, interfaces, activities, and roles that come together to make IT service operations successful in a company.

Holistic Approach

ITIL believes in a holistic approach where the entire service value of an organization is considered. So, it focuses on the interconnectedness of the different components and how they help the overall organization to grow.

Keep it Simple

The primary focus of ITIL is to keep a simple work process that will get the work done. Therefore, it advises organizations to keep their solutions simple and aligned with their goals.

Automate to Fast-Pace Work

ITIL promotes optimization and automation of repetitive tasks with the help of technology. That leaves more time for organizations to focus on important tasks and streamline processes. Moreover, this helps management teams to deliver value-added services and fast-paced work in the organization.
An ITIL certification is considered to be a benchmark for any organization who are looking to enhance their ITSM services. The ITIL certification helps management teams comprehend the ITIL practices and principles and have enough knowledge to contribute to IT services and deliver accordingly.

ITIL Vs ITSM: The Key Differences

ITSM and ITIL cannot be compared with each other, as they are not each other’s competitors. If anything, the ITIL framework makes IT service management easier for the organization.

According to the British Government, ITIL is ITSM good practice. So, If ITSM is a methodology, then ITIL is the set of practices that outlines the implementation of ITSM in an organization.

Therefore, it could be understood that the ITSM and ITIL are strongly connected. The only difference between them is that ITIL is a framework to implement ITSM methodologies easily.

Conclusion

ITIL is extremely important to comprehend if you want to make the most of ITSM solutions for your organization. Therefore, rather than thinking of them as opponents, it’s essential to understand that they work as a team and are used to make your organization’s operations easier. Moreover, with ITIL 4’s introduction, the above statement is even more relevant and more important for IT service management than it was before. If you are looking for an ITIL-aligned ITSM solution for your organization, then Diligent Global’s DiliGenie should be your ideal choice. With DiliGenie, you will get a 360° ITIL-aligned solution.

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