History and Evolution of ITIL

The ITIL – Information Technology Infrastructure Library – acronym is a registered trademark of UK’s Cabinet office. It is a framework which ensures the efficient and effective functioning of Service Management in the IT industry. It is simply a collection of best practices gathered from all across the industry, vetted by IT service providers, suppliers, customers and all other stakeholders. It has evolved and established itself as the most prominent framework for service management for more than 3 decades now.

The ITIL concept emerged in the 1980s, when the British government determined that the standard of IT service quality provided to them was not sufficient and up to expected levels. The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA), now called the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), was tasked with developing a framework for efficient and financially responsible use of IT resources within the British government and the private sector.

The earliest version of ITIL was originally called GITIM, Government Information Technology Infrastructure Management. Obviously this was very different to the current ITIL framework, but conceptually very similar, focusing on service support and delivery. 

Large companies and government agencies in Europe adopted the framework very quickly in the early 1990s. ITIL was spreading far and began to spread its wings in both government and non-government organizations. The IT industry in itself underwent considerable transformation in the 90s and ITIL kept pace and adapted to the changes in the industry.

In the year 2000, The CCTA merged into the OGC, Office for Government Commerce. In the same year, Microsoft used ITIL as the basis to develop their proprietary Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF). This was a significant milestone.

In 2001, version 2 of ITIL was released. The Service Support and Service Delivery books were redeveloped into more concise usable volumes. Over the following few years, it became by far, the most widely used IT service management best practice approach in the world.

In 2007, version 3 of ITIL was published. This adopted more of a lifecycle approach to service management, with greater emphasis on IT business integration. In 2011, ITIL 2011 was published and it is the most updated version of the ITIL framework as of today.

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Is online a good option to learn ITIL

The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA), now called the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), was tasked with developing a framework for efficient and financially responsible use of IT resources within the British government and the private sector. The OGC now owns the ITIL framework and accrediting organizations all around the world accredit training companies to provide the ITIL course, physically or virtually.

ITIL training focuses wholly on service concepts, its life cycle, managing risks and controlling them, managing services and delivering the best to the customers etc. Every ITIL training has their students quizzed on the various service management jargons and are then awarded with the ITIL certification. ITIL v3 foundation courses are available in various modes in today’s market. No matter where you are located, you can access the needs at an arm’s length through your desktop or laptop. You don’t have to go through the hassle of traveling to the course venues, you can take the exam whenever you please and you can have access to the result immediately.

But the question here is:  are web based ITIL training equivalent to the regular classroom training session in terms of quality of course content and mode of delivery?

The answer is Yes. ITIL foundation  courses are best practised and rendered in the e-learning version next to the typical classroom sessions. In fact, the e-learning mode has many advantages compared to the classroom training mode,

• One can access the course material online whenever and wherever he/she is placed
• The course content can be referred to as many times as required to understand the concepts as instructed by the trainer
• All figures and notes are clearly available without having the pain to collect them
• The exam can be taken at the candidate’s own convenience
• The candidate has access to the result immediately after the test is taken, though the certificate will be issued later, as it is always the case irrespective of the mode of training

ITIL v3 follows mostly a schedule of introduction to ITIL v3  core, its functionalities, service life cycle, its merits, service operations, design of the service strategies, its transition phase, to-dos on service improvements etc. ITIL certification  can be obtained in an equally efficient manner through web-based Instructor led training as the classroom course. After a thorough understanding of the concepts in depth, one needs to enrol for an online examination in any of the centres where ITIL certification exam provisions are available. On successful completion of the exam, you will receive the certificate.

ITIL foundation courses are mandatory in order to get into the advanced version of the ITIL courses. Further, down the line, we are all introduced to cloud computing which holds virtualization techniques as its crust and this in turn enhances the e-learning methodology. With this, ITIL courses can be taken painlessly.

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