ITIL Managing Professional Transition and ITIL Transformation (Version 5): practical ways to improve customer satisfaction in an AI era

Lisa Wadley, ITIL Master (Version 5), ITSM product specialist, Railpen

I'd spent years in service management and customer success roles — looking after the tools people use, making improvements, delivering new services. That's what sparked my interest in progressing my certifications.

When I decided it was time to “move up a gear” and take ITIL 4, it became clear that it was an intrinsic part of being successful in my role.

It’s proven to be both relevant and useful to me, my team and the organisation. The ease of bringing it into the business really helped deliver better standards and what customers really wanted, not what they thought they wanted.

When ITIL (Version 5) was released recently, I followed the ITIL Managing Professional Transition path to bridge the gap. The training delivery was invaluable because it brought out the highlights from the syllabus and in particular, emphasised the customer experience (CX) that I found extremely positive.

CX is an area that has always been in ITIL, but this time I think it’s more of a “hero”. There is no point building things if they are the wrong things, and the learning brings this to the front and centre.

Overall, I found the training gave the space to understand things and consider how it applies to your world. They surface the ‘must know’ information, so you can then use the book for more knowledge and detail when you return to the day job.

Integrating product and service management : better workflows and customer experience

I also love the way that product and service management are integrated. It’s good to have the product perspective and the holistic view it provides. I’ve been able to use it to set new standards in our business, which is crucial as we operate in a highly-regulated industry.

Day to day, I’ve found that taking the Transition module has helped me to have clarity when expressing my opinion about how or why something should be done a certain way, or not done at all. It carries a lot of weight in terms of getting the right things done.

The product and service lifecycle has also been important in defining the phases for my own projects, but also integrating them to others that are linked. We’ve been able to better integrate workflows, share knowledge and raise standards together. That’s really important for the end customer.

I’ve often found product and service can operate in silos. But now I think there’s more willingness to focus on the user experience and the journey. There’s more talk of the ‘why’ we do something today, not just the ‘what’.

Using ITIL guiding principles to support AI strategy value co-creation

We are taking steps to adopt AI in our business in a responsible and well-thought way. As a regulated financial business, we can’t afford to get it wrong. However, I’m confident when we are ready I can draw upon everything I have learnt to help guide the conversations and the strategy we follow at a product level.

I think the ITIL guiding principles will be what I turn to most at that point. Having the ability to look back and check the value we intend to deliver is on track is extremely useful, especially coupled with the continual improvement model. With AI, we will need to do that check more frequently and with more attention.

ITIL Transformation: governing organizational change of any size

Within the ITIL Transformation (Version 5) module, I found the governance aspect the most useful, and it’s provided the in-depth steps I need to deliver transformation in the business. Change is always happening from within and outside the organization, and there’s no doubt this is a useful framework for managing change no matter its scale. Again, this will be vital for getting AI right.

I’d encourage people thinking of doing ITIL Master to go for it. As my career developed, I saw a greater need for the grounding it provides. It’s very strategic in its mindset, and I think we all need that string to our bow.

At the very least, think about getting your team to certify in ITIL Foundation (Version 5). I think it’s essential for managing stakeholders and delivering business and customer value. As a team, you’ll become more trusted with a structure that puts the user first. You’ll also get far better outcomes, and that’s what we all want.