ITIL Implementation in a Major Arabian Gulf Company

Abstract

The experience of many organizations that have automated their business capabilities using enterprise information systems indicates that the realization of the sought business gains and promised returns on investment are conditional to having in place an effective strategy to support and maintain such systems technically and functionally during the post-implementation phase. It is argued that the proper implementation of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) represents an ideal forum for providing effective support tools that include service/help desk and incident reporting functions for end-users to report problems and issues or request enhancements, change management and configuration management functions to manage and document changes to the applications and functionalities, as well as IT infrastructure inventory and tracking applications. ITIL framework is widely used as a best-practice framework for IT services management. It outlines a set of integrated processes and procedures that will structure and re-engineer IT services activities, shifting IT function to be enterprise-wide business-focused while making the best use of the deployed technology. The case described in this chapter reflects the approach adopted by the IT function of an Arabian Gulf Company (AGC) used for ITIL implementation, highlighting the main challenges that have been encountered in this project.