The Analytical and Management Skills Required for a Successful ITIL® Migration

1-800-843-8733www.learningtree.ca

©2007 Learning Tree International. All Rights Reserved.

The benefits of implementing ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) best practices within an organization’s IT department have become inarguable. Whether it’s high-level processes and descriptive advice for managing the IT infrastructure, or aligning and integrating IT with the business requirements of the enterprise, adopting ITIL best practices provides a substantial return on an organization’s human and financial investment. What remains to be addressed, however, are the analytical and management skills that are critical to successful migrations and, more importantly, maintaining support for the cause internally.

This perspective is beginning to take hold at all levels of corporate management as reflected by recent interviews—both in print and online—with CIOs, consultants and researchers alike. In fact, a 2007 Gartner Research study states:

“IT is no longer a separate and distinct business activity. It’s intertwined with business process management, resource management, strategic planning and operations management. New areas of focus are evolving that are centered on business processes, business information and relationships with business peers, partners and customers.”

Clearly, the “People” aspect of the “People, Process, Product/Technology and Partners/Suppliers” ITIL quartet has come into its own. Recognizing that fact, we believe there are three personal/business skill sets that are critical for prospective ITIL implementers: Business Analysis, Project Management and Relationship Management.

Together, the three overlap to provide comprehensive, results-focused leadership. However, to better understand how these contribute to a smoother transition, it’s important to define each one within the context of the entire process.

Business AnalysisBusiness analysis skills play a key role in identifying and prioritizing the needs of the enterprise from both the clients’ and stakeholders’ perspectives. This aids in determining solutions to business problems, building a solid business case for the transition, and defining the appropriate starting point for the implementation. Areas of study that can cultivate these skills focus on critical thinking, problem solving, strategic planning, business process reengineering and statistically-oriented decision making.

Project ManagementEffective project management skills drive the ITIL transition while keeping a close watch on scope, quality, time and money. To ensure effectiveness, it’s important to develop project management capabilities in the areas of software development, scheduling, budgeting, risk assessment, project quality and team leadership. In addition, an in-depth knowledge of Microsoft Project is extremely helpful, especially when managing multiple projects of high complexity.

Relationship ManagementThe skills that comprise successful relationship management are often the most overlooked within the IT environment. They are, however, critical to ensuring a harmonious ITIL implementation. For an organization to achieve overall success, IT must reach across boundaries—both within and without the company—to maintain alignment around goals and balance competing priorities. For this, individuals need training in negotiation, assertiveness, influencing others, personal communication and conflict resolution, as well as managing their own time and incoming information (to avoid potential overload).

Getting the commitment to adopt ITIL best practices and processes within an organization can often be a hard-won battle, primarily because it requires all levels of management—especially the senior level—to buy into the long-range benefits. However, once the process begins, success will be measured not only by improvements in day-to-day operations, but also in how well the individual projects related to the migration are managed, how well information is shared, and how critical internal relationships are nurtured.

While ITIL training takes care of the “knowing what to do,” it’s training in the “knowing how to do” skills of business analysis, project management and relationship management that provide the essential keys to long-term success.

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1-800-843-8733 • www.learningtree.ca L E A R N I N G T R E E I N T E R N A T I O N A L Position Paper

©2007 Learning Tree International. All Rights Reserved.

The Analytical and Management Skills Required for a Successful ITILTM Migration

About Learning Tree International

Learning Tree International is a leading worldwide provider of vendor-independent training to managers and IT professionals in business and government organizations. Since 1974, over 1,700,000 course participants from over 13,000 organizations worldwide have enhanced their skills and extended their knowledge under the guidance of expert instructors with real-world experience. Learning Tree develops, markets and delivers a broad, proprietary library of instructor-led courses focused on the latest information technologies, management practices and key business skills.

Learning Tree International annually trains over 90,000 professionals in its Education Centers around the world. Learning Tree also provides training in a number of additional cities and on site at customer locations in 26 countries.

For more information about Learning Tree products and services, call 1-800-THE-TREE (1-800-843-8733), or visit our Web site at www.learningtree.ca

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1-800-843-8733 • www.learningtree.ca L E A R N I N G T R E E I N T E R N A T I O N A L Position Paper

CN0706 ITIL Mgmt ©2007 Learning Tree International. All Rights Reserved.

The Analytical and Management Skills Required for a Successful ITILTM Migration

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