Combining ITIL best practices with real-life application for product and service management excellence

What difference do training and certifying in a professional qualification make to a person’s working life?

First, for people fresh out of education – be that school, college or university – a professional accreditation is “often the bridge between what you know and what an employer needs you to do on day one” of a job, according to the Professional Careers website.

Second, taking courses and exams to work in a specific sector and job type is about building the knowledge necessary to function in such a role. And if a sector or profession has a hierarchy of certification levels, this supports advancement as people progress in their chosen careers.

However, the biggest challenge is where – metaphorically – the “rubber meets the road” and a person needs to show they have the practical competencies to do the job in reality.

Acquiring so-called “head knowledge” – from studying a book and training/certifying in any type of professional qualification – does not always lead to the practical application of that knowledge, according to David Cannon – senior director, ITIL at PeopleCert.

The same is true of ITIL: “It’s easy to say that ITIL is just theory if all someone does is study it as theory without thinking how they will apply it in their situation. However, when applied in practice, ITIL describes a consistent and integrated set of approaches to modern, digital technology management challenges.”

Professionals who each possess a solid grounding in the theory - and collaborate - can expect to achieve the best results, Cannon added. The more unsustainable, error-prone and siloed alternative is to invent solutions to individual problems without reference to an integrated framework.

“This is because these solutions do not take into account key dependencies and integrations. A problem solved in one area resurfaces in another area, resulting in fragmented, individual solutions often duplicating technology and roles that should be integrated,” Cannon said.

“No matter what you're studying, it is critical to bridge the gap between theory and practice. A theory without practical application is just a philosophical discussion; a ‘how-to’ guide without a thorough grounding in proven theory does not provide essential context, dependencies, or an understanding of how to evaluate alternatives,” Cannon said.

The best approaches, he explained, have an integrated theoretical framework based on practical reality. As best practice, ITIL strives to do just that. Yet, ultimately, ITIL doesn't apply itself.

“Professionals who use ITIL must be able to apply what they learn. But this is not unique to ITIL: engineering is based on understanding the combination of several fields of theory and engineers are required to understand how to apply that knowledge,” Cannon added.

“Many an undergraduate studying advanced physics and calculus has claimed that ‘there is no practical use to this subject’. Yet, without these subjects, it is impossible to create even the most basic workable solution.”

This is why any professional working with ITIL will benefit from continuing their learning and certification journey through the scheme, aspiring to designations including Managing Professional, Strategic Leader, Practice Manager and even ITIL Master.

The ITIL journey and applied expertise

Continuous learning, according to Luigi Ferri, a security professional working with various mid-market organizations, is essential:

“Today, if you don't develop deeper expertise than your customers, stakeholders, or even your competitors in specific areas, you'll eventually become obsolete. For me, learning isn't just about collecting certifications. Certifications are important, especially when working with large enterprise customers, because they often expect proven credentials. But in the mid-market, what really matters is expertise: the ability to solve problems and make complex things simple.”

While focusing only on certifications isn't enough, Ferri added that – without them – many large enterprise or government projects wouldn’t have considered him.

“In those environments, tenders often require specific certifications as proof of competence. Experience alone isn't always enough to get through the selection process. I believe the real differentiator is the combination of certifications and practical expertise. In my own career, I've been selected over other professionals because I could demonstrate both: recognized certifications and proven experience delivering results.”

From managing single processes to entire service management systems

The idea that progressing through the advanced ITIL certifications isn't “about collecting badges” is shared by associate trainer and consultant for Pink Elephant SA, Lorika Harms:

“It's about developing the depth of knowledge needed to solve increasingly complex business challenges. While the foundation level teaches you the language, the advanced levels teach you how the practices, principles, governance, and operating model work together.

“As you progress, your perspective shifts from managing individual processes to designing, integrating, and continually improving entire service management systems. That said, certification alone is never enough.”

The real value, Harms said, comes from combining advanced learning with operational experience, with every level of ITIL reinforced by applying the concepts in practice, learning what works, what doesn't, and why.

“The journey through the ITIL qualification scheme is about becoming a better practitioner. The certification validates your knowledge, but it is the combination of knowledge and lived experience that builds true capability,” she added.

Combining context, experience and practical application

To effectively apply ITIL, professionals must first understand their specific organizational context and identify unique business challenges.

From there, according to Cannon, implementing ITIL requires a structured, project-based approach with sequenced activities, trained staff and aligned goals. And these approaches can’t be replicated by either just purchasing or configuring a service management tool.

Professionals should be selective when applying ITIL, tailoring the framework to suit a project's specific needs rather than attempting to implement everything.

“By understanding the big picture, practitioners can select from ITIL what’s relevant to their organization’s current context, rather than trying to impose an element from the guidance because it’s something they are accustomed to implementing,” Cannon explained.

“But you need to have a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the framework in the first place to select the right concepts and approaches.”

Lorika Harms described the importance of context when using ITIL to implement major incident management within an organization which needed an elevated level of governance to manage operational risk during high-impact incidents, but previously lacked such a capability:

“Before designing the process, changing the system, training the people and engaging with service providers, we first understood the organization's operating model, decision-making structure, escalation paths, and business priorities.

“The result was a major incident management capability tailored to the organization’s operational environment, rather than a generic ITIL implementation. It demonstrated that successful ITIL adoption starts with understanding the business requirement, not just the framework.”

Using the starting point of “business need” is always Ferri’s approach – listening and understanding the problem: “Then I use my experience in security, service management, project management, or whatever discipline is most appropriate to propose different options,” he said.

“Customers don't buy ITIL, PRINCE2 Project Management or ISO 27001. They buy solutions to their business problems. The framework should support the business objective, not become the objective itself.”

Looking at the business first (the context) and the theory second is a method equally adopted by Harms: “Only then do I look at ITIL and determine which practices, principles, and concepts best support the desired business outcome. By adapting ITIL to the organization, rather than forcing the organization to fit ITIL, we have achieved greater stakeholder buy-in, more practical processes and service management capabilities that were both sustainable and valuable.”

ITIL (Version 5) – bridging the gap between theory and practice

In the opinion of our experts, what counts when developing capability is a blend of acquiring knowledge through courses and certifications with real-life application experience in organizations. They also agree that the new ITIL (Version 5) - which provides a more practical approach to the current challenges of digital product and service management and transformation projects - can help facilitate this.

What Lorika Harms appreciates about ITIL (Version 5) is how it starts to bridge the gap between principles, practices, guidance, and practitioners having to work out how to apply the concepts in the context of their own organizations.

“It [ITIL Version 5] incorporates far more practical guidance on how to apply ITIL concepts in real-world situations. Rather than simply describing what good looks like, it provides practitioners with a clear path to achieving it,” Harms said.

“I believe this makes the framework far more accessible, particularly for professionals who are early in their service management career. It shortens the learning curve by providing practical approaches that, in previous versions, many of us had to discover through years of experience.

“Experienced practitioners will still rely on judgment and context, but ITIL (Version 5) gives new practitioners a much stronger foundation for applying ITIL effectively in practice.”

Defining today’s product and service management professional

What defines today’s successful product and service management professional?

While Ferri sees project management experience as essential, Harms highlights combining knowledge with operational credibility:

“You have to understand the business, listen to its needs and turn those needs into initiatives, programs, projects, or technology solutions,” Ferri said. “ITIL helps you manage and improve services, but if you don't understand how projects are delivered, it's very difficult to build services that create long-term business value.”

And where ITIL teaches what good looks like, experience teaches when, where and how to apply those principles in the real world, “where constraints, competing priorities, and organizational culture matter,” Harms commented. She added that today’s successful practitioner “knows how to turn theoretical concepts into value, because they've done it themselves:

“They've been on the bridge during a major incident, dealt with frustrated customers, managed SLAs, defended change advisory board (CAB) decisions, balanced business risk against delivery pressure, and experienced the consequences of poor process and ITSM system design. They've walked the talk.”