ITIL® IT Service Lifecycle – The Five New Silos of IT

By Rick Lemieux, www.itsmsolutions.com

The full article can be found here.

In my last article I spoke about IT’s evolution from its technological heritage into a Managed Services Provider utilizing the five domains of ITIL V3 as its ticket into the enterprise business leadership circle. Much has been written about breaking down the technological silos that have prevented IT from presenting a unified face to the business as a service provider aligned with business goals and objectives.

Yet, I believe IT must continue to develop silos to support new models that will help it meet its goals – I call them ‘silos of purpose,’ and they are aligned with the ITIL V3 domains.

Successful ITIL adoption depends upon cross-silo process interaction and shared responsibilities. ITIL Version 3 carves IT into five domains (Strategy, Design, Transition, Operation and Improvement) and outlines for each the people, process and product requirements to build a structure for the domain within the IT organization.

The following newsletter provides a high-level blueprint of how IT organizations can align themselves and their service delivery partners with the five domains of ITIL V3. This alignment will enable IT to create and deliver a new generation of managed IT services optimized for cost, quality and compliance with security and government mandates.

While ITIL V2 served its purpose of making IT organizations aware that IT service management could be done better, ITIL V3 provides the detail on how to make them better. By carving IT up into ‘silos of purpose’ of Strategy, Design, Transition, Operation and Improvement, ITIL V3 provides guidance on how to:

• Align service delivery team members (internal and external) with the domain silo they are responsible for within their respective departmental silos.
• Build out the process areas to ensure that team members are operating within the ITIL guidelines specified for each domain.
• Select and implement products and or services that will automate any or all aspects of the domain workflow and task requirements.

ITIL’s IT Service Lifecycle Management Model

The figure on the left (click on the image to enlarge) represents the five domains of ITIL’s IT Service Lifecycle along with the people, process and products required to make each domain fulfill its ‘silo of purpose’ within the IT organization.

• IT Service Strategy – Planning the IT Services
• IT Service Design – Modeling the IT Services
• IT Service Transition – Implementing the IT Services
• IT Service Operation – Managing the IT Services
• IT Continual Service Improvement – Measuring the IT Services

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