ITIL Framework discussions have been taking place since the development of this methodology in the late 1980's. Since then ITIL has become the worldwide de facto standard in Service Management. Starting as a guide for UK government, the ITIL Framework has proved to be useful to organisations in all sectors through its adoption by many Service Management companies as the basis for consultancy, education and software tools support. Today, ITIL is known and used worldwide.

Best Practice Framework

As a methodology, the ITIL Framework documents industry best practice guidance. It has proved its value from the very beginning. Initially, the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) collected information on how various organisations addressed Service Management, analyzed this and filtered those issues that would prove useful to CCTA and to its Customers in UK central government. Other organisations found that the guidance was generally applicable and markets outside of government were very soon created by the service industry. Later the role of the CCTA was absorbed into the Office of Government Commerce (OGC).

Being a framework, ITIL describes the contours of organizing Service Management. The models show the goals, general activities, inputs and outputs of the various processes, which can be incorporated within IT organisations. ITIL does not cast in stone every action required on a day-to-day basis because that is something which will differ from organisation to organisation. Instead it focuses on best practice that can be utilized in different ways according to need.

Thanks to this framework of proven best practice, ITIL can be used within organisations with existing methods and activities in Service Management. Using ITIL does not imply a completely new way of thinking and acting. It provides a framework in which to place existing methods and activities in a structured context. By emphasizing the relationships between the processes, any lack of communication and cooperation between various IT functions can be eliminated or minimized.

De facto Standard

By the mid-1990s, ITIL was recognized as the world de facto standard for Service Management. A major advantage of a generally recognized method is a common language. The books define a large number of terms that, when used correctly, can help people to understand each other within IT organisations. They also help to communicate in terms that the business understands.

Public Domain Framework

From the beginning, the ITIL Framework has been publicly available (however, it is copyright protected). This means that any organisation can use the framework described by the OGC in its numerous books. Because of this, ITIL guidance has been used by a wide range of organisations including local and central government, energy, public utilities, retail, finance, and manufacturing. Very large organisations, very small organisations and everything in between have implemented ITIL processes.