Think big...begin small for ITIL success

When you bite the bullet, like many companies have, and adopt a process theory like ITIL on which to improve IT service management and pick up the software tools you need to get underway, remember that the real battle will just begin. According to Ivo Kristelijin, managing director for UK'sTopdesk Consultancy, starting off small greatly increases your chances for success: "The first error of thought is how an ITIL implementation can be contemplated as a project." Instead think of the project as a continuous process of improvement (like say, TQM) so that improvements which are carried through will open or reopen new branches of improvement, within the same of a different process.

If this kind of vision and expectation is communicated well to executives who hold the keys to company-wide buy-in, and reasonable benchmarks are set, then resultsshould beseen faster thanthe tempting"all or nothing" approach.