ITIL V3 is slowly making its mark, but it has a long way to go yet, says Parity

PR Log (Press Release) – Jan 17, 2008 – Recent research undertaken by Parity shows an emerging but positive attitude in adoption of ITIL V3 among IT Service Managers, but there are still many professionals who have not yet undertaken the training and are confused about what it can offer.

Research into attitude and adoption rates of ITIL V3 (http://www.parity.net/training/browsecatalogue/servicemg ... ) at the recent itSMF Conference shows 31% of respondents currently use V3 within their organisation and nearly 40% believe that it offers a more strategic approach, with only 4% deciding against it. "Clearly its still very early days in terms of adoption", said Rick Firth, Managing Director, Parity Training (http://www.parity.net/training/ ), "but the signs are looking positive".

On the more negative side 16% of respondents admitted to being confused about the difference between ITIL V2 and V3 while 26% said they had not yet been through the IT training (http://www.parity.net/training/ ). Responses as to why ITIL V3 had not been adopted were extremely robust ranging from; 'Books are not as good as they should be; certification/examination is dreadful’ and ‘unproven and unrealistic to all in market place’, to ‘just not sure’.

Firth commented, "The problem is many people are happy with what V2 has delivered. We’re almost looking at a different market for V3, where understanding the life cycle is a key part of the approach, but when we asked respondents about this it hardly registered as a reason to use it. This is why we are saying that it still has a long way to go in getting widespread commitment from the IT Service community, but we believe it will come through better understanding and education."

Less than 10% of respondents said they liked the life cycle approach, yet 21% said they considered better alignment to the business as a key benefit.

"The problem is ITIL V3 books and training for certification tells you the ‘what’ but not necessarily the ‘how’", said Firth, "To help organisations do this Parity are making huge changes to the way they sell their services. In addition to launching added value services such as Learning Plus and Parity e-Books  they intend to completely overhaul their learning portfolio to include IT Governance, Management and Professional skills, including Business and IT Consulting".

In terms of the business benefits nearly half of the 50 strong sample agreed that Service Design had been improved which means that clearly V3 is delivering on some of its promises, but since some organisations have only just got started on V2, there is still some reluctance in the market to go full speed ahead into V3.

Parity Group are leaders in Project and Programme Management, IT Service Management training (http://www.parity.net/training/browsecatalogue/servicemgt/ ) and consulting and were one of the original founders of PRINCE2 (http://www.parity.net/training/qualificationsandframeworks/projectandprogrammemanagement/prince2/ )

ENDS

ITIL is a Registered Trade Mark, and a Registered Community Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce, and is Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

About Parity Group plc
Parity is an IT and Business services organisation delivering technical, recruitment and training solutions to the UK and Irish markets.

Parity's expertise in Project and Programme Management minimises business risk associated with systems implementation, integration or business change for clients. As agents of change, Parity provide the skills, competencies and concepts necessary to improved business performance for IT enabled projects, programmes and change initiatives.

Having been established for over thirty years, Parity has developed deep industry and expertise in Finance, Utilities, Telecoms and the Public Sector delivering, people, skills and concepts for IT enabled projects and programmes throughout the UK.

Parity believes that better relationships deliver better results. Many current client relationships span more than ten years, and include; Barclays Bank, British American Tobacco, BT, Department for Constitutional Affairs, Department for Work and Pensions, HBOS, Ministry of Defence, Northern Ireland Electricity, Royal Bank of Scotland, Scottish Power, The Cabinet Office, The Charity Commission and the NHS.

PR contact:
Gina Cannon
PR Manager
Parity Group plc
Wimbledon Bridge House
1 Hartfield Road
Wimbledon
London
SW19 3RU
0845 873 6945
www.parity.net/


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