Is ITIL Dead in the Water?

This article has been podcast

[Updated: mention of COBIT]

In five years time most organisations will consider ISO/IEC 20000 certification as a normal part of operating: a minimum benchmark. The horse has bolted with ISO/IEC 20000: the world sees it as “the ITIL standard” but OGC and itSMF have zero control of it.

ITIL 3, the “ITIL Refresh” is on its way. Like a Windows release it has been coming for a while, but we are assured it will be here soon. One issue with ITIL that we will examine in an upcoming blog is its rigidity: the revisions are few and far between. So ITIL can fall a little behind current thinking. ITIL 3 is positioned thus:

ITIL was last updated in 2000. Our overwhelming driver for this refresh is to keep the guidance up-to-date such that ITIL continues to be 'fit for purpose' as the most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world.

It may (just "may") be a case of too little too late. People are taking a broader perspective than ITIL: it is beginning to look a little narrow when compared to CoBIT or ISO/IEC 20000.

ISO900x was the biggest load of crap ever foisted on the business community, but who would think of not being ISO900x certified in most business circles? In five years time most organisations will consider ISO/IEC 20000 certification as a normal part of operating: a minimum benchmark.

ITIL3 will not be ISO/IEC 20000-compliant: there is much new territory in ISO/IEC 20000. ITIL 3 is taking at least six years. How long would an ITIL/20000 take, even if OGC choose to do one?

The horse has bolted with ISO/IEC 20000: the world sees it as “the ITIL standard” but OGC and itSMF have zero control of it. All we need is for someone credible (and probably American: they have the resources to do it quickly) to publish and certify ISO/IEC 20000-based guidance, and ITIL is stone dead.

Think about it: a set of books like the ITIL books but exactly aligned with ISO/IEC 20000. That means a more complete scope than ITIL, and it means an absolute ISO standard to back it up and certify against. And there would be good upward compatibility for existing ITIL shops. Who wouldn’t go with it once the pressure to be ISO/IEC 20000-compliant ramps up?

Maybe the centre of the Service Management universe will move to the USA... Will we see [shudder] MOF/20k ...

[Updated:] Another strong contender to displace ITIL is COBIT, which is growing to be as meaty a body of knowledge as ITIL but across a wider range of IT. Not ISO20000 compliant ... yet.

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