ITIL Definitely 'Happening,' Say CIOs

I’ve written a fair amount about the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) over the past few years, including back in May when I wondered whether the tough economy would drive or derail ITIL initiatives. I have to say I’d never really thought of it as “hype.” After all, it’s been around for more than 20 years, with the kinds of testing programs and certifications you’d expect for a methodology of that advanced age. It’s earned the United Kingdom’s Office of Government Commerce's seal of approval.

Unlike more nebulous IT concepts like service-oriented architecture (SOA) and cloud computing, it’s not hard to find accepted definitions of ITIL. It got its second major refresh in 2007. So it certainly doesn’t look like ITIL is going away any time soon.

Some folks criticize ITIL as too costly and/or complicated. Perhaps some ITIL users see it as a cure-all to everything that ails IT. (These are issues with almost any process improvement framework, I’d say. I am sure at least some organizations tend to dismiss methodologies like ITIL because of these concerns.) Maybe that’s where the “hype” tag comes in.

Yet the CIOs interviewed in this short YouTube video from CIO.com, called ITIL: Hype or Happening, come down squarely in the “happening” category.

Among their comments:

• “It will save you time … there’s no need to define your own set of standards, so I am using it.”
• “It allows you to put all of your activities in IT in the right context.”
• “It’s also good from the perspective of training people. If people from outside are trained (in ITIL), they can easily be plugged in.”
• “We’re embracing it at our company.”

This video, which was seemingly shot at a conference, doesn't exactly provide a scientific sample. But it still seems to represent a vote of confidence for ITIL. For what it's worth, SOA doesn't fare nearly as well in a similar video.