Speaker 1: I never feel like you're trying to navigate a bustling
Speaker 1: city without a map, especially you know, when it comes
Speaker 1: to you keeping up with the latest in technology and
Speaker 1: how it helps businesses run. It's really easy to get
Speaker 1: lost in all the specialized language, sometimes feeling like you
Speaker 1: need a secret decoder ring just to follow a conversation. Well,
Speaker 1: today we're sort of handing you that map. We're taking
Speaker 1: a deep dive into IT till four. It's the globally
Speaker 1: recognized framework that's fundamentally changing how organizations deliver value through
Speaker 1: the services they offer a day in and day out.
Speaker 1: We've distilled the insights from Clara A. Gutter's It till
Speaker 1: four Essentials, which is a fantastic guide, really packed with
Speaker 1: practical wisdom from a true expert. Our mission today is
Speaker 1: to give you a genuine shortcut. We want to extract
Speaker 1: the most important and sometimes surprising nuggets of knowledge so
Speaker 1: you can walk away feeling well informed and hopefully ready
Speaker 1: to tackle your next challenge, whether you're directly in it
Speaker 1: or not. Think of us as your guides on this journey.
Speaker 1: Will help you understand not just the what, but crucially
Speaker 1: the why and the how, making sure you grab the
Speaker 1: core principles and their powerful real world application. So let's
Speaker 1: set the stage a bit. I TELL four isn't just
Speaker 1: another tech ecronym, right, It's more like a journey from
Speaker 1: potentially outdated, maybe rigid IT processes to a dynamic system
Speaker 1: that actually delivers business value. So maybe you can walk
Speaker 1: us through what I TEL four is at its core
Speaker 1: and why is it such a game changer even if
Speaker 1: someone's day to day isn't directly in it.
Speaker 2: That's a great way to put it. Actually At its heart,
Speaker 2: ITEL is considered the best practice framework for IT service management,
Speaker 2: or ITSM. Now, if you're not an IT, just think
Speaker 2: of ITSM as the discipline of how an organization thoughtfully designs, delivers, manages,
Speaker 2: and continuously improves the way it provides all its IT
Speaker 2: services to its users, to its customers. It's not a
Speaker 2: prescriptive rulebook telling you exactly what to do step by step,
Speaker 2: but it's more of a flexible framework that guide you.
Speaker 2: It started, interestingly enough, in the UK government back in
Speaker 2: the nineteen eighties. It's evolved through several versions since then,
Speaker 2: and then I till four arrived in twenty nineteen. This
Speaker 2: newest iteration, well, it truly focuses on a value system approach.
Speaker 2: It's really designed to integrate seamlessly with modern ways of working,
Speaker 2: things like agile and DevOps, you know, those flexible collaborative
Speaker 2: approaches focused on speed and continueus delivery. You hear so
Speaker 2: much about. The main goal is simply to ensure it
Speaker 2: services don't just function, but they truly deliver with the
Speaker 2: business needs precisely when it's needed, and do it efficiently
Speaker 2: and effectively.
Speaker 1: And something often highlighted as a key reason for itel's
Speaker 1: widespread success is its independence, isn't it. It's vendor neutral,
Speaker 1: so not tied to anyone's supplier or technology, and non prescriptive,
Speaker 1: meaning organizations can adopt and adapt the bits that work
Speaker 1: best for them. Plus crucially, it's built unproven best practices
Speaker 1: gathered from thousands of ITSM practitioners worldwide. That adaptability means
Speaker 1: it's suitable for well, basically any organization, any size, any.
Speaker 2: Sector exactly, and the source material really emphasizes that point.
Speaker 2: It makes it a far superior alternative to what's called
Speaker 2: proprietary knowledge, you know, the kind that often build up
Speaker 2: within organizations, those unwritten rules or maybe undocumented processes that
Speaker 2: only a few experienced staff members really know that kind
Speaker 2: of internal knowledge. It isn't consistently documented, it's rarely challenged
Speaker 2: or improved upon, and it creates a huge risk if
Speaker 2: those key staff members leave. Itilrovides a robust shared language instead.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes sense, and its impact is kind of everywhere,
Speaker 1: even if we don't always see it. Think about your
Speaker 1: own daily reliance on tech, whether you're say, smoothly getting
Speaker 1: cash man ATM, booking tickets online for a trip, or
Speaker 1: just relying on your phone for work stuff. Itel is
Speaker 1: often working behind the scenes there, helping make sure that
Speaker 1: technology works seamlessly and effectively. It's directly supporting an organization's
Speaker 1: digital transformation strategies. Without it, you'd likely run into a
Speaker 1: far more frustrating glitches and delays than you probably already do. So, okay,
Speaker 1: if IDLE four is all about value, how exactly does
Speaker 1: it define that concept? Because it seems like it redefines
Speaker 1: it in quite a fundamental way, moving beyond just the
Speaker 1: bottom line.
Speaker 2: It absolutely does, and this is really crucial to grass.
Speaker 2: Value in IDLE four isn't just some vague idea floating around.
Speaker 2: It's precisely defined as the perceived benefits, usefulness, and importance
Speaker 2: of something. So it's far more than just monetary cost.
Speaker 2: It encompasses things like saving time, reducing risk, providing peace
Speaker 2: of mind, or maybe even conveying status. For instance, a
Speaker 2: new internal IT system might save employees hours each week.
Speaker 2: That's time saved, clear value. Or perhaps a robust cybersecurity
Speaker 2: service prevents a data breach that's massive risk reduction. Service
Speaker 2: management itself, then is defined as a set of specialized
Speaker 2: organizational capabilities for enabling value for customers in the form
Speaker 2: of services.
Speaker 1: It's not just an abstract idea that it requires a
Speaker 1: really deep understanding of the nature of value, who all
Speaker 1: the stakeholders are, and that's often more people than you think,
Speaker 1: and how services actually co create that value, not just
Speaker 1: deliver it.
Speaker 2: Co create. That's an interesting term. So value isn't just
Speaker 2: delivered to consumers exactly, it's actively created with them. That's
Speaker 2: a core concept here. The book gives a really great example.
Speaker 2: Imagine you're booking a holiday through a travel agent. You
Speaker 2: don't just hand over money and say surprise me, right.
Speaker 2: You need to share your budget, your desired location, activities,
Speaker 2: you want to do, plan dates, all that vital information
Speaker 2: The agent then uses other providers hotels, airlines, tour operators
Speaker 2: to build that service for you. Together, you co create
Speaker 2: the value of your trip. But if you, as the
Speaker 2: consumer withhold key information, or maybe if the agent doesn't
Speaker 2: truly listen and understand your needs, well the full value
Speaker 2: just won't be realized. It's definitely a two way street.
Speaker 2: It requires active participation, clear communication from both sides.
Speaker 1: That travel agent analogy makes it so clear. It really
Speaker 1: highlights that clear communication and active involvement from everyone involved
Speaker 1: are absolutely key to getting genuine, meaningful value. Are there
Speaker 1: common missteps or challenges organizations face when trying to actually
Speaker 1: implement this co creation idea, particularly maybe in a more
Speaker 1: internal it context.
Speaker 2: Well, absolutely, I think the biggest challenge is often just
Speaker 2: a lack of genuine dialogue, really talking with people, not
Speaker 2: just at them. Organizations might think they know what their
Speaker 2: users need based on assumptions or old data, but they
Speaker 2: don't actively engage them in the design or the improvement process.
Speaker 2: Or conversely, users might just assume it knows best or
Speaker 2: just knows what they want, and they fail to clearly
Speaker 2: articulate their actual needs and importantly their desired outcomes. What
Speaker 2: are they trying to achieve bridging that communication gap is
Speaker 2: just vital. It takes effort.
Speaker 1: Right. That whole discussion on co creation really underlines how
Speaker 1: interconnected everything is. You can't just operate in the silo,
Speaker 1: can you? So how does ITEL four make sure we're
Speaker 1: looking at the whole picture, the whole ecosystem. This is
Speaker 1: where it's four dimensions of service management come in. Isn't
Speaker 1: it sounds like it helps manage all that complexity.
Speaker 2: It definitely does, And this is where IEL four really
Speaker 2: pushes for a holistic view, you know, recognizing that no
Speaker 2: single service or process or team stands alone. It helps
Speaker 2: us answer that critical question, how do we ensure quality
Speaker 2: and efficiency across the board without missing anything vital that
Speaker 2: by considering the four dimensions of service management. These are
Speaker 2: organizations and people, which is all about the structure of
Speaker 2: the culture, of the skills, the competencies of the people involved.
Speaker 2: Then there's information in technology, covering the knowledge, the data,
Speaker 2: the actual tech infrastructure itself. Also partners and suppliers which
Speaker 2: encompasses all those external relationships vendors, collaborators, service providers, and finally,
Speaker 2: value streams and processes, which details how work actually flows.
Speaker 2: Step by step to create value for the customer. These
Speaker 2: dimensions are deeply interconnected, They influence each other constantly, and
Speaker 2: they must all be considered for every service. The source
Speaker 2: is quite explicit. Neglecting any one of them can lead
Speaker 2: to reduced value or maybe even no value at all.
Speaker 1: And it's not just internal factors either. Even things completely
Speaker 1: outside the organization can shape these dimensions, things we might
Speaker 1: not even think about at first.
Speaker 2: That's absolutely right. These dimensions are heavily influenced by external factors.
Speaker 2: A useful way to think about these is using the
Speaker 2: pestal framework. It's a common business analysis tool. It stands
Speaker 2: for political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal influences. So,
Speaker 2: for instance, new data privacy laws that's a legal factor
Speaker 2: might severely limit where an organization is allowed to store
Speaker 2: customer information. That directly impacts the information and technology dimension,
Speaker 2: and it could potentially require different strategies for the partners
Speaker 2: in suppliers dimension, especially if they use cloud providers based
Speaker 2: in certain locations. These external forces are constantly shifting and
Speaker 2: organizations really need to be acutely aware of their potential impact.
Speaker 2: It makes you realize how many sort of unseen forces
Speaker 2: are constantly shaping the services we use every day.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we've talked about these individual pieces value cocreation,
Speaker 1: the four dimensions. How does EITEL four bring all of
Speaker 1: this together into a cohesive, actionable strategy That sounds like
Speaker 1: where the service value system or SPS comes in. That's
Speaker 1: the overarching blueprint right Precisely.
Speaker 2: The SVS is essentially the grand blueprint. The definition is
Speaker 2: a model representing how all the components and activities of
Speaker 2: an organization work together to facilitate value creation. Its core
Speaker 2: purpose really is to combat silos. You know, those notorious
Speaker 2: departmental walls that so often hinder organizations, making them less agile,
Speaker 2: less resilient. Silos limit effective communication, they prevent a shared vision.
Speaker 2: A siloed organization, for example, will almost always struggle to
Speaker 2: act quickly, or optimize resources effectively, or make good holistic
Speaker 2: decisions because information just isn't flowing freely. The STS actively
Speaker 2: tries to foster flexibility and a shared vision. It's meant
Speaker 2: to be more than just a pretty diagram on a slide.
Speaker 1: Okay, so what makes up this SVS.
Speaker 2: Well, the SVS itself is comprised of several key elements
Speaker 2: working together. You've got the guiding principles which act as
Speaker 2: fundamental recommendations for all circumstances. There's governance, which provides a
Speaker 2: necessary direction and control for the organization. Then the service
Speaker 2: value chain. This outlines the six core activities and organization
Speaker 2: performs to create value, things like planning, engaging with stakeholders, designing, obtaining, building,
Speaker 2: delivering and supporting and continually improving. You also have the practices,
Speaker 2: which are essentially sets of organizational resources like people, processes,
Speaker 2: tools designed for performing work or accomplishing an objective. There
Speaker 2: are thirty four of them in Idle four. Continual improvement
Speaker 2: is embedded throughout ensuring ongoing alignment with changing business needs
Speaker 2: and overarching all this are the inputs and outputs of opportunity,
Speaker 2: demand and value. Opportunity and demand trigger activities within the SVS,
Speaker 2: and the outcomes should always be value. What's really interesting,
Speaker 2: I think is the emphasis on the service value chain
Speaker 2: as a flexible operational model. Is not presented as a rigid,
Speaker 2: linear pipeline, but rather as a set of core activities
Speaker 2: that can be configured in many different ways. This allows
Speaker 2: organizations to create specific value streams, tailored sequences of activities
Speaker 2: for different types of services or products.
Speaker 1: That adaptability sounds absolutely key, especially in today's fast paced
Speaker 1: digital world. And you mentioned the guiding principles of all
Speaker 1: those SBS components. These really stand out as practical, actionable advice,
Speaker 1: don't they. They seem like they're constant no matter what
Speaker 1: else changes in an organization, like an unwavering compass.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, they are fundamental recommendations designed to guide you in
Speaker 2: all circumstances, doesn't matter if your goals change, your strategy shift,
Speaker 2: or even if management structures are reorganized. They're also designed
Speaker 2: specifically to allow different ways of working, like traditional waterfall
Speaker 2: or more modern agile and DevOps approaches, to integrate effectively
Speaker 2: within a single coherent service management approach. The book even
Speaker 2: suggests quite practically putting up posters of these principles in
Speaker 2: your workplace just to keep them visible on top of
Speaker 2: mind for everyone.
Speaker 1: Makes sense, Could you maybe walk us through a couple
Speaker 1: of the key ones.
Speaker 2: Sure, let's start with the first one. Focus on value. Now,
Speaker 2: this sounds obvious, right, who wouldn't focus on value? But
Speaker 2: the source reveals how often organizations actually miss this in practice.
Speaker 2: They get bogged down in internal metrics or technical details
Speaker 2: that don't actually resonate with customer needs or perception. For instance,
Speaker 2: an IT team might proudly report on achieving ninety nine
Speaker 2: point nine percent system uptime. Great number, but if the
Speaker 2: one system critical to a customer's peak sales period goes
Speaker 2: down during that point one percent downtime, the customer's perception
Speaker 2: of value just tanks, regardless of the overall uptime stat
Speaker 2: So it's about deeply understanding the customer experience CX, that's
Speaker 2: the overall journey and perception a customer has when interacting
Speaker 2: with your service, and also the user Experience UX, which
Speaker 2: focuses more on how easy and pleasant it is for
Speaker 2: an individual user to interact with a specific product or system.
Speaker 2: It means constantly asking what truly moves the needle for
Speaker 2: a customer, what outcomes are they trying to achieve, not
Speaker 2: just focusing on what we think they want or was
Speaker 2: easy for us to measure.
Speaker 1: That's so crucial. It really challenges us to look beyond
Speaker 1: our own internal metrics and truly understand their perspective, their experience,
Speaker 1: their desired outcomes exactly.
Speaker 2: Then there's another really powerful one, Start where you are.
Speaker 2: This principle tells us do not start over without first
Speaker 2: considering what is already available to be leveraged. Basically, revolution
Speaker 2: is off often far more disruptive, expensive, and wasteful than evolution.
Speaker 2: Before making any big change, especially introducing something new, you
Speaker 2: need to objectively assess what already exists, what tools, processes,
Speaker 2: skills can be reused or adapted, use measurements, gather data
Speaker 2: to really analyze your current state accurately. Don't just rely
Speaker 2: on assumptions the source share some cautionary tales of companies
Speaker 2: that spend absolute fortunes on brand new systems, only to
Speaker 2: find out later their existing infrastructure could have been adapted
Speaker 2: for a fraction of the cost and effort. It reminds
Speaker 2: me of that famous Henry Ford quote. If I had
Speaker 2: asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.
Speaker 2: It's a powerful reminder not to reinvent the wheel unnecessarily
Speaker 2: and to build smartly on existing strengths.
Speaker 1: Right, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, so
Speaker 1: to speak.
Speaker 2: Assess first, precisely, and finally, let's touch on a principle
Speaker 2: that often sparks a lot of discussion. Optimize and thought
Speaker 2: a mate. This is where many organizations tend to jump
Speaker 2: a gun. The source makes a really powerful, almost counterintuitive
Speaker 2: point here, do not automate chaos. Think of it like this.
Speaker 2: If your current manual process is a tangled mess of
Speaker 2: red tape, unnecessary steps, and bottlenecks, what happens if you
Speaker 2: just automate it as is? Well, all you're doing is
Speaker 2: creating a faster, perhaps more efficient, but still fundamentally tangled mess.
Speaker 2: You absolutely have to optimize first. That means making the
Speaker 2: process as effective, streamlined, and useful as it needs to
Speaker 2: be before you even think about automation. The book shares
Speaker 2: examples of companies that eagerly automated inefficient workflows, only to
Speaker 2: amplify the existing problems and frustrate users even more because
Speaker 2: the bad process just happened faster. You really need to simplify, clarify,
Speaker 2: and improve the process before automating. Otherwise you risk just
Speaker 2: well automating an unclear, inefficient mess. As the old it
Speaker 2: Joe goes, if you automate a mess, you just get
Speaker 2: an automated mess faster.
Speaker 1: That's such a vital distinction optimize then automate. It really
Speaker 1: highlights that these principles aren't just slogans. They're like a
Speaker 1: set of wise practical guidelines for almost any project or decision.
Speaker 1: They help you navigate complexity and where you're always aiming
Speaker 1: for the best, most efficient outcome, not just the fastest
Speaker 1: or shiniest solution. Okay, Now, something else significant in ITEL
Speaker 1: four is the shift in language from processes to practices.
Speaker 1: That sounds like a big deal, doesn't. It seems to
Speaker 1: signal and move away from potential bureaucracy towards something maybe
Speaker 1: more agile and adaptable. What are the practical implications of
Speaker 1: that change for organizations?
Speaker 2: It certainly is a significant shift, and it raises an
Speaker 2: important question why the change. Well. Previous ITOL versions maybe
Speaker 2: V three in particular, sometimes face criticism for being perceived
Speaker 2: as too rigid or overly processed driven. In some cases,
Speaker 2: this could potentially imped flow, especially in fast moving, agile
Speaker 2: environments where flexibility is key. So IDLE four moves beyond
Speaker 2: just focusing on rigid, step by step process workflows to
Speaker 2: embrace a broader, practice based perspective. What this means is
Speaker 2: that for each of the thirty four IT tool practices,
Speaker 2: which are categorized into general management, service management, or technical
Speaker 2: management practices, you're encouraged to consider all Ford dimensions we
Speaker 2: talked about earlier, So not just the procedures or workflows,
Speaker 2: but also the people involve, the teams, the culture, the
Speaker 2: necessary information, the technology that suppliers, the metrics, the interfaces
Speaker 2: between practices. Processes are still incredibly relevant. They haven't disappeared,
Speaker 2: but they are now viewed as just one part of
Speaker 2: this wider, more holistic, and ultimately more adaptable practice view.
Speaker 2: It gives organizations much more flexibility to tailor how they
Speaker 2: actually work.
Speaker 1: Okay, so the processes are still there. They're still important,
Speaker 1: but they're now embedded within this bigger picture, allowing for
Speaker 1: more flexibility and maybe less of that kind of bureaucratic
Speaker 1: hurdle that can sometimes actually slow things down.
Speaker 2: Exactly. That's a great way to summarize it. The source
Speaker 2: material even uses a compelling scar tissue analogy. It describes
Speaker 2: how organizations often react to failures by adding more layers
Speaker 2: of complex checks, approvals, and controls to processes. Ironically, this
Speaker 2: can make the process so cumbersome that employees eventually just
Speaker 2: find ways to work around it, entirely defeating the purpose.
Speaker 2: This shift to practices encourages us to keep things simple
Speaker 2: and practical, to ensure we have just enough processed the
Speaker 2: right amount to ensure consistency and quality, but not so
Speaker 2: much that it stifles speed and agility. One vital practice
Speaker 2: that the book really highlights is continual improvement. It gets
Speaker 2: quite an in depth study emphasizing that improvement isn't just
Speaker 2: a one off project you do occasionally. It's an ongoing,
Speaker 2: organization wide activity embedded in everyone's role. It involves systematically documenting, assessing,
Speaker 2: and prioritizing improvement ideas, often using something like a Continual
Speaker 2: Improvement Register or CIR, and then using various methods like lean,
Speaker 2: agile or DevOps improvement techniques to implement those enhancements continuously.
Speaker 2: And just one more key lesson this one from the
Speaker 2: measurement and reporting practice is the concept of good Heart's law.
Speaker 2: Have you heard of that good Heart's law? No? I
Speaker 2: don't think so.
Speaker 1: What's that?
Speaker 2: It basically states when a measure becomes a target, it
Speaker 2: ceases to be a good measure. Think about it. Once
Speaker 2: everyone knows a specific metric is being used for performance
Speaker 2: targets or bonuses, people inevitably start optimizing their behavior to
Speaker 2: hit that specific number, sometimes even gaming the system, even
Speaker 2: if doing so doesn't actually lead to the originally intended
Speaker 2: outcome or improvement. It's a crucial reminder to ensure our
Speaker 2: metrics truly drive the desired behaviors and outcomes, rather than
Speaker 2: just becoming a box taking exercise or a target to
Speaker 2: be manipulated.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's a fascinating point. When a measure becomes a target,
Speaker 1: it stops being a good measure. That makes you really
Speaker 1: think about KPIs and metrics, doesn't it. This whole evolution
Speaker 1: really shows that ITEL is arguably more relevant than ever.
Speaker 1: It offers a flexible form work that genuinely helps organizations
Speaker 1: respond quickly and effectively to change and foster a culture
Speaker 1: where efficiency, collaboration, and that crucial continuous learning are paramount.
Speaker 1: We've certainly covered a lot of ground today in this
Speaker 1: deep dive into it TEL four. It's clear how comprehensive
Speaker 1: yet adaptable this framework really is. We've journeyed from its
Speaker 1: origins and core concepts like value and cocreation, explored those
Speaker 1: four essential dimensions of service management, and understood the unifying
Speaker 1: service value system. The practical wisdom of those guarding principles
Speaker 1: like focus on values, start where you are, and the
Speaker 1: critical optimize then automate and we grasp that crucial shift
Speaker 1: from rigid processes to a more holistic, flexible practice approach.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you listening in now have a much clearer picture
Speaker 1: of how IDOL four can help pretty much any organization
Speaker 1: deliver better, more efficient services and foster that vital culture
Speaker 1: of continuous improvement, giving you that well informed edge we
Speaker 1: talked about.
Speaker 2: Absolutely So maybe for you, our listener, here's a thought
Speaker 2: to chew on as you go about your week. If
Speaker 2: I TIL four really champions this idea of co creation
Speaker 2: of value and collaboration across silos, what's maybe just one
Speaker 2: area in your own work or your own team we're
Speaker 2: inviting a new, perhaps unexpected perspective, maybe from a different
Speaker 2: department or even the customer, could potentially unlock entirely new
Speaker 2: value that's currently hidden. Something to think about.