The Seven ITIL Guiding Principles

It’s time to level up your skills and gain high-paid jobs in top companies! Yes, we are talking about the ITIL® certification!

ITIL Certification Training provides individuals with the necessary skills and knowledge that help them acquire the certification with ease. Moreover, they get to learn how to efficiently resolve the real-time roadblocks in the IT section of the business.

Today, almost every business requires the ITIL® framework and this is the reason why ITIL professionals are valued everywhere. But do you know that the ITIL® framework is based on seven principles? We bet you didn’t!

These principles define the working of the ITIL® framework in the company. An ITIL professional is required to have complete knowledge of these principles so that he/ she can work efficiently in the organization.

So, without further ado, let us begin by knowing a bit about the ITIL® framework.

What is ITIL® Framework?

ITIL® framework is primarily designed to standardize the selection, planning, delivery, maintenance, and life cycle of the IT services within the business. The main aim of employing the ITIL framework in a company is to improve efficiency and achieve predictable service delivery.

An individual having an ITIL® certification is considered to have expertise in utilizing the process, terminologies, and methods of ITIL in a company. ITIL professionals are very high in demand, i.e., they possess the skills to grow and transform the business.

Coming back to the ITIL® framework, it is essential to note that it provides guidance to manage the five stages of the IT service lifecycle, i.e.,

• Service Strategy
• Service Transition
• Service Design
• Service Operation
• Continual Service Improvement

The five stages of the IT life cycle help in the seamless running of business operations.

Let us now discuss the abiding principles on which the ITIL framework stands!

Principles of ITIL® Framework

The seven principles which we will be discussing now are considered to be the key messages of ITIL. They are specifically designed to guide the actions and decisions of professionals who are responsible for managing and operating the organization’s service portfolio. Here are the seven principles. Have a look!

1. Focus on Value

The ITIL® framework’s first principle is to Focus on value. It means that everything that a company does must be linked back to its stakeholders as well as consumers. While paying attention to the value, the primary thing to know about thestakeholders and customers being served by the company. In order to make this principle come to being in the company, one must:

• know how the consumers use the services
• pay attention to the value of all staff members
• focus on value during improvement initiatives
• pay attention to value in every step of the improvement initiative

2. Start From Where You Are!

While undertaking some corrective measures for improvement, it is not advised to change what has already been done!Building something new altogether can turn out to be a waste in terms of losing the opportunity to leverage what already exists. It is not advised to start all over again without considering what is available at present.

Various methods and services that are previously in place must be measured and observed directly in order to understand their present state. The decisions taken by the professionals must be based on the information available regarding products and services. To make use of this principle successfully, here’s what should be done.

• Look at what pre-exists in the company
• It is advised to use your risk management skills
• Recognize the fact that sometimes the pre-existing services are products that cannot be used again.

3. Progress Iteratively with Feedback

Do not intend on doing everything at once! By organizing and doing work into smaller sections, you can work efficiently in the company. However, re-evaluation must take place for initiatives and component iterations, thereby revising the changes that need to be made in products and services. Seeking and using the feedback ensures that the actions are primarily focused even in changing situations. Once received, the feedback can be used to analyze and identify the risks, issues, and improvement opportunities.

Here’s what one can do in order to employ this principle in the company.

• The ecosystem of the company is ever-changing. Thus, feedback is important.
• Work at a rapid pace but do not leave anything incomplete.

4. Collaborate & Promote Visibility

The key to every successful initiative is collaboration and trust. Organizations must be transparent and share as much as possible regarding the work that they are doing.

In order to create the best output, organizations must make sure that the employees have the correct roles and responsibilities.

Another thing to note here is that when the stakeholders of the company have poor or minimal visibility, they create an impression that work isn’t important for them. Insufficient visibility leads to poor decision-making which impacts the ability of the company to improve the capabilities of internal systems. To avoid such situations, candidates need to perform some analysis activities to keep a track of work in progress, identify bottlenecks, and uncover waste. In order to collaborate effectively, here’s what you can do.

• Communicate efficiently so that the audience can hear and understand.
• Decisions must be made on data that is present visibly.

5. Think & Work Holistically

There is no service or practice in the company that stands alone! It is important to take a holistic approach so that the company works together in a combined and integrated way. The holistic approach provides proper visibility of how demand is captured and translated into positive outcomes.

In complex systems, any changes in the element can affect others. These effects need to be analyzed and planned for. Here’s how you can apply this principle successfully.

• Acknowledge the complexity of the system
• Collaboration is the key to thinking and working holistically
• Automation can help the candidates in working with the holistic approach

6. Keep it Simple & Practical

It is advised to use fewer steps to fulfill the long-term and short-term objectives of the company. The main aim of guiding principles is to ensure that things are not over-complicated. To do this, certain exceptions need to be defined and rules need to be put in place.

By establishing a holistic view of the organization, the teams and groups will easily understand how the work is being influenced! To apply this principle, here’s what one can do.

• Value assurance
• Simplicity is the best way to have efficiency in the company.
• Do fewer things, but do them better
• Respect the investment of time of people involved
• Simplicity is the best route to achieving quick wins.

7. Optimize & Automate

This principle is important to make sure that there is a focus to amplify the value of work done by technical and human resources. Automation can help work on frequent tasks, thereby freeing human resources. These human resources can further be utilized for complex tasks. Here’s how you can apply this principle.

• Simplify and optimize before automation
• Define the metrics
• Use the other guiding principles when you are applying this principle
• Use automation to simplify complex tasks

So, these are the seven guiding principles that can help the company in working efficiently. These principles are not just connected to ITIL but are reflected in other frameworks, methods, standards, etc.

Conclusion

A candidate taking up the ITIL® certification course is expected to have a good knowledge of these principles. They should know the ways to apply these principles in the organization. The course will help you in acquiring the necessary skills that will help the candidates in the long run. So, don’t think much and apply for the ITIL course today!