Information Technology Infrastructure Library

Literature Review

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Information Technology Infrastructure Library

According to Chan (2010), ITIL as a framework which is recognized globally as a collection of the best practices that can be used in information technology management. The ITIL v3 in the third version of ITIL. The framework has evolved to meet the various issues which are facing organizations today. It began when Her Majesty’s government in the United Kingdom raised the concerns about the quality of services that it was receiving from its IT. A team of professionals was therefore created to handle the concerns. Taylor (2011) says that the team was made up of professionals with in-depth knowledge in IT and they were able to create an infrastructure capable of handling variety of technical issues.

ITIL is one of the few products which are grouped in the Best Management Practice portfolio. This is a portfolio of products created on behalf of the Office of Her majesty’s Government of the United Kingdom. It is this office which owns its embodied intellectual property rights of ITIL. As technology evolve, so do the various management practices also change in terms of techniques. However, this has not rendered the techniques which had befitted the mainframe period useless. The core philosophy of ITIL is responding not only to technological changes but also the diverse needs of business in the current dynamic market. This is done through service management practices to create ultimate success for the business.

ITIL and I.T Management

Despite the widespread application of ITIL in businesses and organizations, there seem to be limited literature on it. This is especially the case with the third version of ITIL which has been around only for a short period. A research by Cater- Steels and Pollard (2011) underscores the relationship ship between ITIL, IT management and strategic support. The study states that strategic management and the end to end service culture are key in a week constructed IT architecture. Henderson (2013) demonstrates that a successful enterprise approach requires business entities to have foundations that facilitate the digitization of the business with the aim of improving it key capacities and areas of operation. This includes the very basic services and the transaction which it engages in that affects its capability. According to these researchers, an effective foundation of ITIL will heavily rely on tight alignment between the objectives of the business and the IT capabilities.

Taylor (2011) highlights the three critical areas which any company will need to master in order to align its operations with its IT capabilities and go ahead to apply the ITIL. They are standardizing how data and information is shared at operational level, developing an effective organizational enterprises architecture and coming up with serious of governing mechanisms which are meant to ensure that the various IT and business undertakings help in achieving the objectives of the organization. There is therefore no doubt that echoes of consistency, comprehensiveness and structure alignment have been raised in the existing literature with regards to using ITIL to align business operations and strictures with the capabilities of the organization’s IT.

Weiss& Anderson (2014) indicates that the central concepts from the Information technology Infrastructure Library together with various business strategic approaches and initiatives play a crucial role in the overall success and profitability. Effective governance is however required to ensure that the intended goals are achieved. Moreover, it facilitates business/ IT integration at various organizational levels. A recent industry paper by Amburgey, Kelly& Barnett (2013) remarks that customer self-serve portals and knowledge management are among the factors which are vital IT management and play a central role in reducing IT costs in the already competitive market. This argument was supported by Shulman (2011) after the launch of the ITIL V3. Evidence based studies have been carried out on ITIL and V3 by means of a variety of study topics. They include fears faced about ITIL, ITIL deployment, important considerations when using ITIL and the mechanisms for effectively benefiting from ITIL V3.The key emergent themes in the studies include management of the business, HR management, IT culture change, governance mechanisms. Outcome measurement and accountability at the business level. Such themes underscore the central role of ITIL in IT management and the achievement of organization’s goals and objectives.

According to Chan (2010) the