1. Top 10 Myths about
ITIL
André Sanz | blog.andresanz.com

2. Top 10 Myths about ITIL
Definition
ITIL ("Information Technology Infrastructure Library")
is a framework for IT Service Management and
provides a set of specialized organizational
capabilities for providing value to customers in the
form of IT services.
blog.andresanz.com

3. Top 10 Myths about ITIL
ITIL Fixes Everything
CIOs and IT Management are always looking for a
quick fix for controlling and managing IT activities,
projects and programs.
In reality ITIL processes are a significant change to
employees work and transition projects will run for
months or years.
If projects are not setup properly the chaos will be
even worse in the beginning.
blog.andresanz.com

4. Top 10 Myths about ITIL
ITIL is the IT industry Standard
IT service providers claiming “ITIL compliance” give
the false impression that ITIL is somewhat of an IT
standard.
Reality is that ITIL is a set of “good practices”. As ITIL
is no standard there is no ITIL compliance. ITIL
compliance is no more than a marketing slogan.
ISO/IEC 20000is the international standard for IT
service management. ISO/IEC 20000 provides
guidance on the implementation and application of
service management systems.
blog.andresanz.com

5. Top 10 Myths about ITIL
ITIL is an "all inclusive" package
The ITIL lifecycle implies that the entire process
framework has to be implemented to gain any
business benefits.
Reality is that many enterprises and organizations
benefit from implementing only some ITIL
processes such as incident management and change
management.
blog.andresanz.com

6. Top 10 Myths about ITIL
ITIL is a governance framework
Getting IT activities, projects and programs under
control with the help of ITIL is an essential step in
facilitating the implementation of IT governance.
Reality is that ITIL does not address IT governance
in a comprehensive way.
blog.andresanz.com

7. Top 10 Myths about ITIL
ITIL can be implemented out of the box
ITIL consists of a series of books that describe good
practices in the IT domain.
Reality is the ITIL describes WHAT to do, not HOW
to do it.
ITIL is not a hand book for organizations to improve
IT services and daily operations.
blog.andresanz.com

8. Top 10 Myths about ITIL
ITIL is a quick fix
ITIL provides a set of good practices that can be
applied in a few weeks time.
Reality is that ITIL is not a list of simple tips and
tricks.
ITIL implementations require an extensive change
management project to adjust people’s mind sets.
blog.andresanz.com

9. Top 10 Myths about ITIL
ITIL will fix ALL IT issues
ITIL will rectify all issues occurring in IT operations
and software development.
Reality is that ITIL is focusing on IT operations and
does not bridge the gap to software engineering,
e.g. the book about Service Design does not address
the area of requirements engineering.
blog.andresanz.com

10. Top 10 Myths about ITIL
ITIL is a cost-cutting initiative
ITIL will make IT operation cheaper.
Reality is that ITIL will align IT services and business.
Hidden cost may be identified, over engineered IT
services may be identified but cost may not
necessarily go down
blog.andresanz.com

11. Top 10 Myths about ITIL
ITIL projects cost a fortune
A full blown implementation project of ITIL processes
requires a huge amount of man power and
resources.
It’s a fact that a full blown implementation is
expensive – but why not start small.
• Setting up incident management and change
management will provide higher customer
satisfaction in a few weeks time.
blog.andresanz.com

12. Top 10 Myths about ITIL
I can do ITIL without a CMDB
ITIL can be implemented with no more than an
inventory list.
Reality is that a Configuration Management
Database (CMDB) is the foundation of all ITIL
processes. ITIL projects without setting up a proper
CMDB are doomed to fail in the long term.
blog.andresanz.com