ITIL 4 Update

It’s time for another edition of the world’s favourite IT service management best practice framework.

First released in 1989, ITIL was republished in a new format in 2000, updated in 2007 (with a slight refresh in 2011), and here we are in 2018 with ITIL 4 on the starting blocks!

New Name – ITIL 4

AXELOS (the owner of ITIL) has now gone public with the news that the “ITIL update” (which has been over 2 years in the works) will be called – “ITIL 4”!

The current version is called ITIL v3 – no big surprise that the new name is ITIL 4. Although make note of the subtlety – it’s not ITIL v4 but ITIL 4.

ITIL 4 is set to be released in early 2019, and Pink has played a major and key role in developing this new release!

What Exactly Is Changing?

While still retaining the best of ITIL v3, and with most of the operational and tactical practices and processes you are so familiar with in ITIL v3 still going to be there, the new release also includes focus on integrating many best practice frameworks. All good news – and long overdue!

Having seen the content ourselves, there are some very exciting inclusions. ITIL 4 contains many of the same processes that are part of ITL v3, but there is now a much-needed (we think!) view of integrated service management, which means the ITIL body of knowledge now brings into the fold DevOps, Lean, IT leadership principles and Organisational Change Management.

At Pink, we’ve been working under an NDA with AXELOS for some time to help chart out what should be in this new version, and how it will be presented to the public at large. But that’s not to say this is a new body of knowledge created by an elitist group. On the contrary! AXELOS has sought input from many hundreds of people in all corners of the globe with the question “What would you like to see in an updated ITIL?”

Hey – What About My v3 Certification?

Fear not!

The good news is ITIL v3 training and certification is not going to waste. We expect the next announcement from AXELOS will confirm details of how you can go about upgrading your ITIL v3 knowledge to embrace what’s new in ITIL 4 – should you chose to do so.

If you have ITIL v3 certifications or are undergoing or planning to take ITIL training and certification in the coming months, keep it going!

ITIL 4 will continue to recognise ITIL v3 certifications because, as stated above, a lot of v3 content is being retained. Of course, where appropriate, we can expect new and updated training and certification products to be introduced, and this will be done in practical ways to help you consolidate your existing knowledge with the new practices. There’s only so much we can say right now (because this work is still ongoing) except that we know the new path to “ITIL Expert” will be simpler and more efficient.

Again, the good news is that the money and time you’ve invested so far in building up your ITIL knowledge over the years is still very meaningful and worthwhile.

Pink’s Role

As a global partner, we’ve been working with AXELOS for some time now on this new edition of ITIL. And, while we’re sworn to secrecy on the details, what we can say is that ITIL promises to be more relevant than it has ever been.

As we just mentioned, AXELOS has been working on this for well over 2 years now, seeking out the needs of the user community as well as the views of respected industry experts like Pink’s Troy DuMoulin.

There have been thousands of people who provided input, and the research phase took well over a year. More recently, the documentation of the new guidance took almost another year, so this has clearly been a project with much effort and commitment. Hats off to all those who’ve contributed!

And, we’re proud to say that the Integrated Service Management view we’ve incorporated into many of our recent courses, is the perfect match to ITIL 4. As usual, Pink is right in the thick of it! Since the very first ITIL book was published in 1988, we’ve been providing input, authoring books, developing courses and leading the way in that true Pink pioneering spirit!

Over the years, NO OTHER organisation has been as deeply entrenched and influential in ITIL as Pink. So you can trust us to continue helping where we can.