ITIL® 4 in action: Real-life examples of how the framework has been adopted

Adopting ITIL® 4 can be extremely beneficial for an organisation, as the framework provides guidance on how best to establish value streams which deliver services that meet customer needs and objectives.

Since initially published in 1989, ITIL, in its various iterations, has supported many businesses to enhance their IT service management (ITSM) offering.

In this blog we have provided some insights from two Axelos case studies to show how two well-known companies, Vodafone and the University of Oxford, were able to use ITIL 4 to co-create value for both them and their customers.

Vodafone

As outlined by this Axelos case study, Vodafone were looking to improve their current way of providing services for Vodafone Business. Using multiple ITIL 4 processes they were able to transition from their current Vodafone Business Customer Operations (VBCO) to a new Minimal Viable Service (MVS) process.

Throughout the service development process, they adopted a range of the ITIL 4 guiding principles:

• Start where you are: Instead of designing a whole new project, Vodafone decided to reflect on the parts of their current VBCO that were still effective and build on these with the addition of 15 ITIL processes to create the final version of the MVS
• Focus on value: One key aim of the MVS was to ensure a consistent experience for all customers, guaranteeing value co-creation for both the user and service provider
• Keep it simple and practical: Another focus of the MVS was to create a standardised approach for staff simplifying their way of working across the business

Using ITIL 4, Vodafone were able to successfully embed the MVS across multiple teams, which led to improved efficiency through their new standardised approach.

University of Oxford

Responsible for providing a large number of IT services for students and academics across the university, the ITSM team used ITIL 4 to move away from their current project-focused approach to a new service-orientated way of working.

As this second Axelos case study explains, the team adopted  the  guiding principles, including:

• Collaborate and promote visibility: Part of an IT services department of over 300 people, the service management office (SMO) needed to ensure that any changes to their way of working were effectively communicated throughout the wider department
• Think and work holistically: Using this principle they were able to streamline the approach to ITSM used by the entire department, ensuring the new practices work with Agile and Lean frameworks that were already being implemented
• Focus on value: With many students and academics relying on the services provided by the team it was crucial that any changes made continued to provide value co-creation for both parties

By adopting ITIL 4, the IT service department at the University of Oxford were able to reduce the number of major incidents from eight a year to just two. As a result of this success, all new employees are now encouraged to certify in ITIL 4.

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