Author: Jeff Pierick
Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL 4) is a set of best practices for IT service management (ITSM) that provides guidance on how to align IT services with the needs of the business to drive greater value to customers.
ITIL 4 builds upon previous versions of ITIL, incorporating modern ways of working and addressing the evolving needs of organizations in a digital and technology-driven landscape. The main focus of ITIL 4 is to help businesses deliver high-quality products and services, adopt a customer-centric approach, and embrace new technologies such as cloud computing, automation, and artificial intelligence.
Why ITIL is Critical for Managed Services
ITIL provides a standardized set of best practices for IT service management. OSI adopts ITIL processes to ensure consistency and uniformity in service delivery. Through these processes OSI aims to achieve three missions throughout each engagement.
Creating Service Optimization for Customers
Several of these processes can help optimize the engagement to the benefit of the client. Service quality improvements emphasize continual service improvement, encouraging Managed Services Practices (MSP) to review and enhance their services regularly. This helps identify areas of improvement, optimize processes, and ultimately deliver better services to clients. Efficient service deliveries such as ITIL's Service Value System and Service Value Chain help MSPs streamline the service delivery processes. By following these guidelines, MSPs can identify bottlenecks, eliminate unnecessary steps, and improve overall efficiency.
Driving Efficiency & Cost Savings
ITIL encourages cost-consciousness through its focus on efficiency and elimination of waste. With an emphasis on problem management and incident resolution, OSI can identify and address potential issues before they lead to major disruptions. Less downtime and outages translate to savings to the customer. OSI uses these principles to optimize their operations. With effective resource planning and continuous improvement, OSI can provide a lower cost support team to customers. This provides the customer with a cost-effective solution, than to having their own internal support team, while not having to give up the quality.
More Structured Approaches to Risk Mitigation
ITIL provides guidance on risk assessment and management. For MSPs, this means understanding potential risks to service delivery, implementing preventive measures, and having contingency plans in place to minimize disruptions to clients' business operations. These plans come in the form of problem and incident management. ITIL provides structured approaches for problem and incident management, enabling MSPs to identify root causes of issues and implement long-term solutions to prevent recurring issues.
OSI Digital: A Leader in ITIL
ITIL is crucial for Managed Services because it provides a structured and customer-focused approach to IT service management, leading to improved service quality, risk management, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. By adopting ITIL practices, Managed Services providers can establish themselves as reliable and competent partners in the eyes of their clients. OSI Digital ensures that our resources are trained in ITIL and that we approach every engagement with these proven to work processes. This ensures that the customer does not have to worry about support issues and can focus on what really matters to them, growing their business.
Talk to our experts at OSI Digital to learn how to get started on your ITIL strategy today. (Add links to Managed Services webpage and data sheets)
About Jeff Pierick
As OSI Digital’s Chief Technology Officer, Jeff leads projects through technology evaluation, selection, and implementation while also overseeing the development of significant new practice areas for the company. In his 25+ years of consulting and management experience, Jeff has delivered unique, business-focused solutions to over 200 companies around the world, often by the unlocking value of an organization’s data.
