Information technology infrastructure library has been commonly known as ITIL. ITIL is like a complete guide for the organization on how they should formulate their basic infrastructure. It provides complete guiding principles on how organizations should run their service operations. When we hear the name ITIL, a question comes to mind: what is ITIL? And why is it crucial for organizations? We have answered these queries in our several articles. In this article, we went into great detail about the origin and evolution of ITIL. We hope this will be very beneficial for you. Before moving forward toward the evolution of ITIL, we should first know its origin.
ITIL was started in the 1980s when data centers were decentralized and worked on diverse architectures. It caused a decrease in the credibility of IT services. The United Kingdom’s Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) realized the importance of considering IT as a service and developed a well-defined detailed methodology in 1989 called ITILv1. In 2000, CCTA was merged into the Office of Government Commerce, and this office released ITILv2 in 2001. ITIL v3 was released in 2007 and updated in 2011. In 2013, the U.K. Cabinet Office and Capita PLC formed an organization named Axelos. The purpose of this organization is to;
“Make individuals and organizations more effective by providing practical guidance, content, and qualifications distilled from real-world experience and developing practices.”
Axelos released ITILv4 in 2017. ITILv4 is the most updated version of the information technology infrastructure library. ITIL v4 indeed provides a new life to the ITIL framework. We said this because it is a much-needed update. There are many frameworks like Agile that are replacing it because it lacks several things that are addressed in the new frameworks. That’s why we said that ITILv4 gives new life to the ITIL framework.
Evolution is necessary for anything which exists in a dynamic environment. For example, the garments market is constantly changing; how could a garment trader be successful without meeting the new trends and designs introduced in the market? Similar to the garments market, the IT market is constantly changing. Then, how could ITIL maintain its rigidity? That’s why ITIL has a long history of evolution. To increase the article’s readability, we should overview its evolution according to the step-by-step updates.
In 1989, ITIL v1 was released. Standardizing IT service management was its primary objective. It guided streamlining services and best practices for managing service operations to organizations.
2001 saw the release of ITIL v2. It offers organizations a more practical, functional, and standardized service delivery and support structure. Additionally, it contains actual, comprehensive processes that businesses can use.
In 2007, ITIL v3 became available. It added some fresh suggestions for service design, strategy, operation, and transition and provided a more thorough overview of IT services. It also offered numerous recommendations for how companies can constantly improve their offerings. The best practices for each significant stage of IT service management were compiled in its fundamental publications framework.
ITILv4 was released by Axelos in 2017. It aims to assist organizations by guiding them on how to use information technology management in a service economy. ITIL Newer methodologies like automation, the cloud, microservices, containers, and DevOps are included in ITIL v4. It also emphasizes the integration of ITSM with other areas of a business.
The four service management dimensions in ITIL v4 are as follows:
Additionally, ITIL v4 contains 34 practices referred to as activities and resources for carrying out tasks or achieving objectives. Contrarily, ITIL has defined processes once more as suggestions it makes to aid an organization in every circumstance, regardless of the nature of its goals and scope of work.
The new version also promotes breaking down organizational silos, enhancing internal communication, and fostering greater collaboration. With ITIL 4, more personalization and adaptability are possible. More personalization and adaptability are available. The new version promotes an IT perspective that is more comprehensive. In ITIL 4, more emphasis is placed on costs, outcomes, risks, and value. It is built upon a strong foundation of ideas supported by ITIL Practitioners.
The adaptability of ITIL and the demands of businesses will determine how successful it is going to be in the future. We anticipate that ITIL will continue to develop to assist organizations in keeping up with cutting-edge technologies and methodologies. Today, ITIL’s popularity is largely due to its flexibility, which is one of the main reasons for this.
In this detailed overview, we learned that ITIL is not the same as it was released in 1989, but many updates were demanded over time. All new updates included all the things that were not addressed in the previous versions. The latest updates also include the items and matters that were required according to the requirements of the current time. For example, when the ITIL developers realized that Agile was getting more importance than ITIL, they released the ITIL v4. In this updated version, they specifically addressed the things that were lacking in it to compete with Agile. For instance, there was a big problem that ITIL is too rigid in v4 developers specifically focus on decreasing its rigidity. In this way, ITIL is improving more and more day by day.
