Transatlantic ITIL survey puts Europe way ahead

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European organisations are leading their North American counterparts in the adoption and execution of IT service management (ITSM) guidelines, a new report has revealed.

Based on a survey, conducted by researcher Aberdeen Group, the report found over half (55 per cent) of European businesses are currently managing their IT as a service according to IT Information Library (ITIL) best practice framework guidelines, compared to just a third (33 per cent) in North America.

Of the 300 organisations questioned, those in Europe using the framework are meeting 65 per cent of service level agreement (SLA) targets, while those in North America are achieving only 41 per cent of their SLAs.

The fact that ITIL adoption seems linked to higher levels of service delivery in Aberdeen report, "IT Transforms Itself into a Service", suggests ITIL is key to ensuring IT processes can be closely aligned to business goals.

Dr. Ralph Rodriguez, Aberdeen senior vice president of research said: "Our research indicates that following the ITIL best practice guidelines can provide substantial bottom-line results and those businesses that implement ITSM well are receiving more than their fair share of the benefits."

These findings are also compelling from the point of view of those that are 'best in class'. Both European and North American enterprises that effectively implemented ITSM strategies and ITIL best practices to earn top-performance status, on average achieved 86 per cent of their SLA goals, which worked out 139 per cent better than all others.

On average the 'best in class' also have 85 per cent of their IT services delivered on time, which is 20 per cent above industry average. And they experience 83 per cent efficiency of IT processes or 112 per cent better than all others surveyed, while they currently experience 63 per cent cost savings from their ITSM implementations.

As further evidence of the ITIL's potential to improve enterprise IT delivery, the success of those best-in-class organisations questioned for the Axios Systems-sponsored report is helping to spur adoption in North America, which is set to take off in the next 12 months.

Some 26 per cent of companies in North America plan to implement ITIL within the next 12 months, in contrast to just 16 per cent in Europe. And only 11 per cent of European companies and 24 per cent in North America have no plans to deploy the framework.

Rodriguez added: "Businesses that have invested in technologies and achieve best-in-class status are those who continue to be the heaviest investors, thus strengthening the conclusion that they are seeing significant ROI [return on investment] from the earlier spend."

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