VeriSM™ and ITIL®4 are very different. It’s the same story as any other question of how VeriSM differs from ITIL, COBIT®, IT4IT®, ISO/IEC 20000, etc. VeriSM isn’t a standard, methodology, or framework, but rather an operating model. ITIL, 20K, COBIT, etc. all are process (practice) driven standards, methodologies, or frameworks.

VeriSM recognizes that all the various standards, frameworks, methodologies have a different emphasis. What VeriSM points to is that depending on the requirements, the appropriate methodology should be used be it ITIL, COBIT, Agile, Lean, etc. VeriSM expands the service management philosophy across the enterprise.

ITIL still is focused in the technology area even though it’s putting forth practices around workforce and talent management, project management, and business analysis – it’s trying to take the enterprise step but it’s not quite there yet (note: there is still information not yet released and therefore a full judgement can’t be made). ITIL 4 states that it is incorporating Lean, Agile, DevOps into its practices (processes) and operating models. That may well be true, but there is a lot of altering of the methodologies in order to ‘fit’ the ITIL principles.

VeriSM is an operating model; ITIL, et al are all players within that operating model. VeriSM is the only service management philosophy that is truly neutral and non-biased. The operating model clearly states to use whatever framework, methodology, or standard that is most appropriate for the consumer requirements, organizational capabilities, and the mission/goals of the organization. Lastly, as with any of the management practices, ITIL is just one strand of the mesh (key concept in VeriSM) and it is up the organization to populate that mesh with the practices, disruptive technologies, resources and environment that accurately reflect the organization.

To learn more about VeriSM, Click Here.  To learn more about ITIL 4, Click Here.

At GogoTraining our students get to ask the instructor’s questions while they train, and we wanted to share a great student question on ITIL 4 Foundation and the caliber of answer students can expect to receive.  Suzanne brings the classroom to life online by going the extra mile and fully and completely answering their questions just as though they were in the classroom.  Kudos, Suzanne!

 The student asked: 

Hello Suzanne, Many thanks your great and easy to follow class. I have a question in ITIL 4 Foundation course module “Start Where You Are”.  You have a great example of the check-out person who took a personal interest in your discussion while she was checking out your items but received a bad score because the system graded her on speed of checking out. Your last bullet states “good measurements shouldn’t influence behavior”. If that is the case, what should it influence? I’ve studied all types of businesses that say you should inspect what you expect. Tying bonuses and commissions to behavior based outcomes is what I’ve been trained to do, so this concept is a very new one for me. Can you please elaborate? Thanks.

Dr. Van Hove Answered:

Thank you for your kind words. You have a great question — good measures should measure the qualities the organization has deemed important, and in the case of this check-out person, she demonstrated “intelligent disobedience” (a new term in the Managing Professional materials). It was appropriate that she ignore the metrics because she improved the customer experience. What annoyed me in this scenario, was that there wasn’t a compensation for that action. The other side of the coin is when workers only work to achieve the metrics (resolve calls in 90 seconds) and they don’t do their job but rather perform to the metric because it is tied to pay/rewards, etc… That is a BAD metric and that is what we are trying to avoid. So, the point is that metrics should reflect the business and consumer requirements, they should be known to the staff as targets to be achieved, but they shouldn’t be written where common sense, customer experience (and for that matter, employee experience) be ignored, frivolously attended to, etc. Bonuses and commissions are directly tied to individual performance to the OVERALL ACHIEVEMENT of the organization and I believe that is a bit different that my example. The bullet, to be clear, means we don’t want the metric to **become the behavior** but rather the metric measures the desired service component. I hope that makes more sense. Thanks for the question — enjoy the rest of the course and good luck on the exam! Cheers! Suzanne

by Nikola Gaydarov

I am an ITIL v3 Expert and I have been teaching ITIL for the last 5 years. During this time, I had many discussions with my students on how ITIL can be improved. We went up and down the phases and the process and as a result I have written some articles with ideas that came up. I even wrote an article called ITIL v4 well over a year before the official announcement was done. You can imagine the enthusiasm and the feelings I had, when the real work on the new update started. I have been even part of the whole discussion about the name – would it be v4, v3 2019 or just 4. It was great fun.

Leaving some time for the dust to settle, I decided to go for ITIL 4 Foundation certification few weeks ago. I got the book, I got access to a training and started reading.

It quickly became obvious that ITIL 4 would change the game. We are now ready to talk about value, value system and value streams. The best side of it, is that ITIL 4 is written in such a way that everyone can understand and relate to it.

In this article I will try to show you some great ideas laid down from ITIL 4 and why you might want to certify yourself on the Foundation level. Ultimately, I want to prove that ITIL 4 is good for every one of you.

So, let’s start with ITIL 4.

Why ITIL 4

The first thing that struck me was… We now have a definition of Value. Though it may seem funny, in v3 Value there was no such definition.

The next big thing is, of course, the Service Value System (SVS). There are a few other frameworks that have defined similar models, but here we can see the legacy and the new ideas in one model. ITIL 4 has kept and even promoted to the highest possible level the Guiding Principles.

Source: AXELOS, “ITIL Foundation: ITIL 4 Edition” (2019)

We can see how Governance and Continual Improvement fit as well.

Major change in this version are the Practices and the Service Value Chain. The first will extend our process driven model by focusing more on the Why, and the latest define the so called Value Streams.

Value Streams are a big improvement over what we had as a delivery model in v3. They mix activities and practices to deliver value. How great is that?

Source: AXELOS, “ITIL Foundation: ITIL 4 Edition” (2019)

And the good ideas go even further. We now have six activities: Plan, Improve, Engage, Design and Transition, Deliver and Support and Obtain and Build. Why is this a good thing? It is good because we now have focus. Is what I am doing an Engagement or Design and Transition activity? Are there any related best practices to how we engage with our customers? Do we have predefined procedures and guidelines? The list can go on. In short, we are given a high-level system, which can be split into activities and practices with a focus on value. It looks a lot better and a lot more up-to-date, doesn’t it?

I will go into detail, but we now have 34 Practices split into three groups. I think these are plenty of practices 😊 Major point is that we now have Business Analysis, Risk Management, Portfolio and Project Management, Deployment and Software Management. It looks sound from a practical perspective.

The 4 Dimensions of Service Management

Source: AXELOS, “ITIL Foundation: ITIL 4 Edition” (2019)

Last, but not least are the 4 dimensions of service management. They were always there, but we somehow always forgot about them. Something like the pink elephant in the room – it is there but it seems no one is paying enough attention. Emphasizing the importance of People, Information, Partners and Value Streams is a great way to deliver better and better services.

The more you read, the more you think ”Hey, this looks cool, I should certify”, don’t you?

Well, I thought the same, so I did it 😊

Why ITIL 4 Foundation

I have taken an online prerecorded training with a great quality. I read the book several times and done the mockup exams. The practical example about Axle Car Hire was a great help. You can easily understand and relate to theory, if you are given a practical example. The exam was straightforward, not easy, not hard. Well, I am an Expert, so I was close to perfection 😊

Source: AXELOS

Why do you need to certify? The main reason, of course, is that ITIL 4 will follow up on the steps of ITIL v3 2011 and become a well known and well used best practice framework. The certificate will be valid at least for several years and will be known throughout the globe. So, don’t wait, just go for it…

I was speaking with some ITIL Experts last week and they asked me if there is any value in someone getting V3 certified since ITIL 4 releases in 2019. Here is my answer. Take a look and let me know your thoughts.

First off, great question. There is a lot of confusion over the ITIL 4 release as many of the details are still under wraps. From a 10,000 foot look we all know that we live in a world of updates and change does not happen overnight. Companies have infrastructures and processes and systems in place and they don’t throw them away when a new version is released. And most new versions include key elements of the current version, so the baby is not being thrown out with the bath water.

ITIL V3 Is Alive & Well

Right now, ITIL is V3.  V3 is alive and well and will be maintained until at least June 2020.  The ITIL 4 Foundation is being released Q1 2019 – or sometime in the next 4 months. The remainder of the ITIL 4 courses are scheduled to be released sometime June 2019 to December 2019.

Migration Game Plan

If I were new to ITIL and had funds for exams, I would get V3 Foundation and ITIL 4 Foundation Certified.  ITIL V3 Foundation is required for many positions and I don’t see that requirement going away for the next 12 months minimum. ITIL 4 Foundation is new and takes ITIL to the next level and if I wanted to be fully prepared to help my company transition from ITIL V3 to ITIL 4 or have certifications that helped me stand out, get promoted or get a new job, then I would get ITIL 4 Foundation Certified too. If I was already ITIL V3 Foundation Certified, I would get ITIL 4 Foundation Certified for the same reasons.

For the more advanced V3 certificate holders I would come up to speed on ITIL 4 by reading the book when it is released or taking a class. In my opinion there is no need for advanced certificate holders to get the ITIL 4 Foundation certificate. Advanced ITIL 3 Certificate holders (17 V3 credits or more) will be able to take the ITIL 4 Managing Professional transition course when it is released second half of 2019 and achieve the new ITIL 4 Managing Professional Certification.  This enables individuals with 17 or more ITIL V3 credits to take 1 course instead of 4 to become ITIL 4 Managing Professional Certified. If you are on your way to 17 credits in ITIL V3, keep going as it will allow you accelerated access to the ITIL 4 Managing Professional Certification.

I hope this article has been informative. If you have any questions, we are here to help.