Don’t get down just yet, however. v3 really is a big improvement over v2 and comes at a time when CIOs are in the midst of a major transformation regarding how IT relates to the business.
Doing (a lot) More With Less
According to many surveys, industry watchers, IT practitioners, and pundits, CIOs are not only being asked to do more with less, in a more efficient way but they are also (if not already) going to be asked to light the way towards improving every aspect of the businesses they serve. From innovation to better customer service, CIOs are in for a long, bumpy ride trying to explain why the technology layer cake that makes up most of today’s IT shops can’t bend and flex the way the business thinks it should. Agility is a nice word, but it doesn’t apply to most IT organizations just yet.
“So, I think the CIO’s job going forward, if the economy gets tougher, is not only to do what they had to do in 2000 – 2003, which was consolidate and save money, they’re going to have to do that and they’re going to have to push forward on projects that help businesses be sharper more competitive better with their customers better at finding new customers. I don’t think they’ll get the job of just doing more with less,” said Touchpaper’s Ridgway.
v3 may help with that. Where v2 existed with the assumption that service quality and definition was in place, that was a “pretty big assumption to make especially for a lot of organizations,” said ITIL consultant Glen Willis of PA Consulting. “So, no longer does ITIL make the assumption in v3. They tell you how to create quality service or relevant service and how to implement it and there’s still guidance there on how to operate the service” a la the v2 backbone v3 is based on.
And, at this point in many a CIO’s career, a little how-to advice will most likely be very appreciated.