How Small and Midsize Businesses Can Maximize ITIL Advantages

Affordable and ITIL-compliant tools

The solution to this is in the designing of a tool that is both affordable and ITIL-compliant. In essence, such a tool will have to guide the IT team without forcing the team to know ITIL backward and forward. Think of it as a Seeing Eye dog for IT. The IT person knows how to walk and he tells the dog where to go, but the dog knows how to get there and will lead the IT person there safely.

This metaphor is not so far removed from reality. SMBs simply can't afford to really understand ITIL. They would be perfectly happy knowing that a tool understands ITIL for them and will be sure to base all processes and implementations on the standard.

The potential of ITIL was, and still is, extremely exciting for the IT industry. However, to date, ITIL has been implemented mainly by large, resource-rich organizations. That is not exciting at all (for SMBs). It is a continuation of the status quo, something counterintuitive for our industry of innovation.

ITIL will realize its potential when it is automatically implemented, without IT professionals being required to take significant time in order to learn what it has to offer. Now that we understand that, it is up to us—the industry—to develop tools with ITIL built in. Once simplified tools are put in place that allows for the implementation of ITIL, the full potential of ITIL will be realized. This will lead to a significant rise in productivity for the entire IT industry.

Oded Moshe is the Director of Product Management at SysAid Technologies Ltd. With more than 15 years of experience in various IT management positions, Oded previously served as IT manager at Eden Springs (Europe), where he led the implementation of IT strategy and systems, and the standardization of IT management processes in 18 new European markets. Oded holds a BA degree from the College of Management Academic Studies in Israel, specializing in IT. Oded gained CIO certification in 2005, is an ITSMF member, and regularly participates in ITIL forums around the world. He can be reached at oded.moshe@sysaid.com.