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A decade ago, everyone wanted ITIL, the body of IT service management (ITSM) best practice knowledge. People eagerly consumed the training, and ITSM tool vendor marketing was filled with ITIL messaging to attract prospective customers. Then something changed, and even though people were still getting ITIL certified, tool vendor marketing started to lose its ITIL references.
As to why, the delay between ITIL v3 (2011 Edition) and ITIL 4 in 2019 won’t have helped (in terms of relevancy), but my best guess is that ITIL alignment was no longer seen as a significant differentiator for ITSM tools.
But where do we stand with ITIL and ITSM tools, particularly with regards to customer organization needs for ITIL-focused certification schemes?
ITIL and ITSM tools 15-20 years ago
When organizations invested in their first or replacement ITSM tools 15-20 years ago, they wanted to confirm the ITSM tool was aligned with ITIL concepts, terminology, and sometimes even specific recommendations. ITSM tool vendors knew this and heavily marketed their ITIL alignment (some even their “ITIL compliance”) to prospective customers.
ITSM tool request for proposal (RFP) documents were usually built around the many ITIL-aligned capabilities the ITSM tool vendors had baked into their solutions. There was usually also a section (in the RFP) on the level of ITIL process certification the ITSM tool had received from an independent third party.
The lack of this independent ITIL certification was often a reason for an ITSM tool and vendor’s omission from the ITSM tool selection shortlist stage – where ITIL-aligned capabilities were called out in demos. ITSM tool marketing and selling back then was very much an ITIL game.
The connection now
With greater innovation in ITSM tools (or service management platforms), customer organizations expect additional capabilities – aligned with ITSM trends such as artificial intelligence (AI), enterprise service management, and employee experience – as well as the ITSM-enabling capabilities. For software vendors, there’s far less need to demonstrate their ITIL alignment after so many years of convincing customers that ITIL best practices are built into their ITSM solutions.
One could argue that ITIL alignment is now simply “table stakes” for an ITSM tool in the selection process. Of course, some ITSM tool vendors have invested more in some processes than others, but has the move away from ITIL-based marketing and selling made the related software certification schemes redundant?
Why certification is still valuable
If a customer organization wants an ITIL-aligned ITSM tool (and I believe many still do), there’s still value in ITSM tool certification. While the ITSM tool certification might be seen as a quick way of knowing whether an ITSM tool’s capabilities are designed to meet the service management guidance in ITIL, there are two other key benefits.
For some customer organizations, the independent certification of ITIL alignment might be enough. They need an ITIL-aligned tool, and the independent certification validates this. It’s a “tick in the box.” But let’s not forget those other two benefits:
1. The ability to better focus on the differences between ITSM tools
2. Knowing the ITIL understanding of ITSM tool vendor product managers, sales personnel, and implementors.
The ability to better focus on the differences between ITSM tools
While knowing an ITSM tool is ITIL-aligned is helpful, the independent certification process only looks at a finite number of ITIL practices or ITSM processes (and the capabilities designed to support them). On the one hand, this is a known and unavoidable limitation. However, on the other hand, it’s an opportunity for the customer organization to focus on what matters most.
Notwithstanding that some customer organizations only want the core ITIL capabilities (in an ITSM tool), the fact that an organization can know that a prospective ITSM tool has met the third-party criteria for multiple practices means they can focus their attention on other areas not covered by the certification process. For example, support for continual improvement from idea capture and prioritization to measuring benefits realization.
This is ideally how ITSM tool selection should have always been – with the customer organization understanding what they need most from their new ITSM tool to succeed. Especially because much of what can be considered standard ITIL practices can be “ticked off” by the ITSM tool certification scheme as verified ITSM tool “table stakes.” This includes operational practices, such as end-user support or event management needs, that are well understood by both customer organizations and ITSM tool vendors.
However, more advanced ITSM capabilities, such as capacity and performance management or service financial management, can vary widely across ITSM tools. Even what might be considered core ITSM capabilities, such as problem management and service configuration management, can differ significantly between tools (and relative to the customer organization’s needs). This is where ITSM tool verification and customer-led questioning are needed to fully understand where needs can be met by the considered ITSM tools.
However, there’s still likely more that needs to be assessed regarding prospective ITSM tools. For example, when ITSM tools are used beyond IT department boundaries and not only for service management. These tools must support the organization’s needs related to these local custom practices, and it’s necessary to uplift the focus from the verification of standard ITIL practices (by certification bodies) to the custom practices.
Software certification schemes can again allow customer organizations to focus on their core business needs rather than the basic capabilities standard across ITSM tools.
Knowing the ITIL understanding of ITSM tool vendor product managers, sales personnel, and implementors
Let’s remove ourselves from the ITSM tool space for a moment. Would you feel comfortable buying a car from a salesperson who doesn’t drive? Perhaps even less so if you knew some people involved in the car design didn’t either.
You’re likely to think that both parties don’t know your needs (as a driver), making it more probable that they can’t provide a car that meets them. The same is true with ITSM tools.
It has long been said that even the greatest ITSM tools can’t transform a customer organization’s ITSM capabilities and outcomes alone. People are needed for this. ITIL can help with this, particularly through two layers of knowledge – language and solutions.
This has traditionally been seen as ITIL best practices offering:
– A common language that both customer organizations and their ITSM tool implementation partners can use to help remove ambiguity and the associated mistakes that can arise.
– Solution acceleration, where ITIL is a source of practical recommendations for specific management areas (the ITIL practice guides).
However, returning to the earlier car analogy, ITIL and ITSM tool certification can offer procuring organizations a third level of assistance and assurance. That’s an insight into the level of ITIL training and certification undertaken by the ITSM tool vendor personnel who product-manage, sell, and implement the solution. It’s a long-missed part of the ITSM tool selection process.
So, does ITIL certification still matter when selecting ITSM tools?
In the past, I’ve written unkindly about ITSM tool certification. Or, more correctly, about how ITSM tool certification is used in the ITSM tool selection process. Hopefully, this new article sheds light on where ITSM tool certification does add value to tool selection when used correctly. Both ITSM tool certification schemes and the people who use them need to change.
Finally, we’re hopeful of polling the ITSM industry on this in the future, particularly to better understand the ongoing relevance of ITIL when selecting ITSM tools and tool vendors. The last statistics I saw were from a late 2023 LinkedIn poll, where 63% of the 60 respondents thought ITIL certification is an important factor when considering an ITSM tool. Another 23% thought, “Yes, but not primarily.” But it’s always good to keep pace with the evolution of the service management industry and the associated changes.
This article was originally published on the ITSM Tools website on August 14, 2024