Digital transformation is revolutionising industries at an unprecedented scale, and the new ITIL 4 framework can help your business move with the times.
A global survey conducted by The Conference Board in January 2020 found that the top three internal challenges for CEOs and other C-suite professionals were:
- Attraction and retention of top talent
- Create new business models because of disruptive technologies
- Create a more innovative culture.
Fast-forwarding to today, these issues are more pertinent than ever, with organisations facing new challenges and disruption in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But with challenge comes opportunity and IT and business leaders have the chance to equip their teams with the right digital skills and knowledge. This will ensure their organizations remain competitive and sustainable in this volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world.
Upskilling and Reskilling Your Team for the Future
Digital disruption has become the norm for businesses, with senior IT and business leaders under pressure to transform the way they work.
Innovation, speed and agility have therefore become essential components of any business strategy, as organizations try to keep up with the latest technological and cultural developments.
The so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution has also changed the job landscape at a faster rate than we have seen before. According to a World Economic Forum report entitled ‘We need a global reskilling revolution – here’s why’, we will need to reskill more than one billion people by 2030. The report also estimates that there will be ‘133 million new jobs in major economies’ with much of this job growth expected in these seven professional areas:
- Care
- Data and AI
- Engineering and cloud computing
- Green jobs
- People and culture
- Sales, marketing and content
- Specialized project managers.
As jobs evolve, so does the need to transform organizations and to ensure they have a workforce that is upskilled and reskilled to deliver IT and digitally-enabled services that are fit for the future demands placed on them.
Introducing the ITIL 4 Framework
Digital products and services are helping organizations to compete in the modern digital economy. But, as highlighted, organizations are now facing new challenges.
So, how can senior IT and business leaders better exploit this increasing disruption and equip their teams with the skills they need for this fast-evolving digital world?
ITIL 4 helps organizations to connect and align the different challenges that are not only relevant to ITSM professionals, but also to a wider range of professionals working in the digital world.
ITIL 4 is the evolution of ITIL, the most widely recognized framework for IT and digitally-enabled services that helps 90 per cent of Fortune 500 companies to gain optimal value.
The ITIL 4 framework was developed in collaboration with a global community of over 4,500 professionals, practitioners, subject matter experts and industry experts to meet the increasingly fast-paced and complex environment that organizations and professionals are facing.
It can be adopted and adapted to help professionals and organizations to:
- Be more agile and better equipped to adapt IT processes in line with new innovations and technologies, including Cloud, Automation and AI
- Remain competitive in the face of increasing pressure from digital disruptor organizations
- Build a digital culture with an effective continual improvement and communication strategy embodied by key ITIL 4 guidance and practices
- Be ready to adopt new ways of working, such as DevOps, Lean and Agile
- Identify key risks and considerations that should be taken into account before embarking on a digital transformation programme
- Respond effectively to evolving customer needs and increasing demand for new products and services.
How can my organization respond effectively in this digital era?
If your organization already uses ITIL v3, then you can re-certify your team to ITIL 4, providing them with the skills and knowledge needed to transition your existing processes and approaches.
If your organization is new to ITIL, upskilling your team to ITIL 4 will enable them to adopt and adapt the framework into your organization.
The ITIL 4 certification scheme comprises the following six modules which all work together to provide a holistic enterprise solution for your digital and IT teams:
- ITIL 4 Foundation: Provides the building blocks of ITIL 4 and is step one of the ITIL 4 journey. This module is for anyone working within an IT function who needs to understand the key concepts of IT and digital service delivery and how to address new service management challenges. Professionals must be certified in Foundation to progress through the rest of the scheme.
- ITIL 4 Specialist: Create, Deliver and Support. The ‘engine room’ of the digital and IT function. This specialist module is for IT practitioners and leaders who design and manage the delivery and support of IT-enabled digital products and services.
- ITIL 4 Specialist: Drive Stakeholder Value. Ensuring digital and IT services delight. This specialist module is for IT professionals who are responsible for designing or managing customer journeys and experiences, managing stakeholders and fostering relationships to gain value realization.
- ITIL 4 Specialist: High-velocity IT. The future of digital and IT services. This specialist module is for IT professionals working within or towards the delivery of digital products and services and digital transformation projects.
- ITIL 4 Strategist: Direct, Plan and Improve. Bringing digital and IT strategies to life. This strategist module is for IT and digital managers of all levels involved in aligning work to organizational strategy or developing a continually improving team or service.
- ITIL 4 Leader: Digital and IT Strategy. Enabling business success through the creation of digital and IT strategies. This leader module adds a new perspective to the ITIL 4 guidance and will help senior IT and business executives and leaders, heads of department and aspiring C-Suite professionals across the organization to define and implement a successful digital strategy.
Discover how you can equip your team for the future with ITIL 4 today.
