by Malcolm Fry

Over the last few years ITIL has become the flavour du jour in the US whereas in Europe it has been part of the main course for quite some time. As someone who spends his time split between Europe and the US I am intrigued by the difference between the two continents I regard to Service Management. Same ingredients but a different recipe. By the way I agree with you that I have now over-cooked the food metaphor.

I have often wondered whether the difference lies in the culture of the two continents or is it because ITIL was developed in the UK and has had longer to establish in Europe. Everybody knows that the US and European cultures are different and I am sure that we all have examples so I will let you supply your own example. However the main cultural difference that intrigues me is the attitude towards service.

In the US the eagerness to give and receive good service is ingrained in the way of life, although 'Have a nice day, sir' can sometimes grate on the nerves. In general Americans are more outgoing and speak their minds freely whereas Europeans are often more private and keep their opinions and thoughts closely guarded. So when it comes to IT Service it is not surprising the Europeans like etiquette and rules whereas Americans just want to get down to the basics as soon as possible.

Europe is also a continent of many cultures as anyone who has travelled around Europe can testify. Imagine a call to a Service Desk in the UK from a customer in Greece about a piece of software developed in Germany that is maintained in France. There are enough cultures here to start an epidemic. It is no surprise therefore to see why defining best practices, complete with a common vocabulary, is important in Europe.

Originally ITIL was developed in early 1980's to standardize the UK government data centres, as they were called then. At that time the various data centres in the government agencies had processes that were similar but not the same, for example they all had change control but different ways of managing change, they had a vocabulary with different words, and phrases, meaning the same thing. Ironically this also describes IT around the world.

Once the UK government had developed the ITIL best practices they quickly became popular because many of the cultural barriers were immediately removed and a common It language was desperately needed. Very soon Government agencies around Europe started to adopt ITIL and ask for ITIL compliance from suppliers, including IT Service Management software suppliers. Very quickly large software suppliers found themselves losing government contracts because they were not ITIL compliant.

This is a key turning point in the story of ITIL because very quickly the large software suppliers needed to get their software ITIL compliant because ITIL was beginning to spread outside of governments. As if not being able to win large government deals was not enough. So the software companies began to make their products ITIL compliant.

Meanwhile in the US a different phenomenon was occurring - certification. Not just academic qualifications but certifications from hardware and software vendors to show competency in managing and supporting their products. Suddenly if you weren't certified you were an outsider.

So now these two mighty tsunamis began to meet Europeans were being told by vendors that they needed certification and Americans told by the same vendors that they needed to adopt best practices. Common denominator? The vendors. As a result we have a Bridge beginning to appear across the cultural divide. The beauty of ITIL is that for the Europeans it is a best practice that has certification whereas for Americans it is certification that has a best practice.

For Europeans ITIL has grown organically and been adopted and pruned accordingly by most organizations. Whereas for Americans ITIL is an introduced species and like all introduced species has caused some problems with the existing IT ecosystem. This has been, to some degree, overcome by the latest refreshed versions of the ITIL books and the involvement of largest American vendors, such as Microsoft, getting involved in some of the newer publications.

When I first started visiting the US I was surprised by the number of focused conferences and organizations with numerous chapters, for example the Help Desk Institute has very focused conferences and about 50 chapters. In Europe there are much fewer conferences, possibly because Europeans on average have 4-6 weeks vacation per year, and Europeans do not like attending after work events. Here ITIL has an ace up it's sleeve because the ITSMF, which provides chapters and conferences, perfectly fits the American model so if ITSMF really gets going the we can expect to see ITIL grow very quickly.

My experience shows that ITIL fits both cultures perfectly and because it is the public domain is neither expensive or is it restrictive. As a last point be aware of restricted practices, these are developed and owned by a vendor, that are based around ITIL, some are excellent but be careful what you commit to because as I said one of the biggest strengths of ITIL is that it is the public domain.

So y'all should adopt ITIL old chap.

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Malcom Fry, a recognized IT industry luminary with over 35 years experience in Information Technology, serves as an independent executive advisor to BMC Software, and Remedy, a BMC Software Company. Malcolm offers an unparalleled breadth of knowledge and experience in IT business and technical issues. Malcolm is the author of four bestselling books on IT service and support, and he has had many other articles and papers published. Technology journalists regularly use Malcolm as a valuable source of information, and he is also the solo performer in a highly successful, bestselling video series made for the Help Desk Institute. He has Masters-level ITIL certification.