The ITIL model
The British Government’s Central Computing and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) created the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) model: a set of best practices for IT activities, such as IT service management (ITSM) and IT asset management (ITAM), having its origins in the early 1980s. These practices are centered on the concept of aligning IT services with the requirements of a company’s operations. In the year 2000, the CCTA merged into Great Britain’s Office for Government Commerce (OGC).
In their infancy, enterprise IT departments were regarded as cost centers by senior leadership, rather than the value multipliers that they are. At that time, many firms had no established protocols for obtaining services or reporting IT incidents, and IT and business communication was poor. As a result, many firms’ leadership believed IT did not create value or meet company-wide objectives. As enterprise IT departments began proliferating...