ITIL, Information Technology Infrastructure Library, ITIL Process, ITIL Framework, DevOps vs. ITIL?

Of all the IT people in the world, there are usually very few that are able to explain what DevOps is and how this methodology stands up against something as structured as Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

This lack of knowledge leads most individuals to believe that they have to choose between ITIL and DevOps. However, this is not the case. DevOps cant replace ITIL and vice versa. DevOps does not have the ability to solve all the problems that come with an ITIL environment and nor will implementing ITIL help perfect DevOps. What you need to do is build an ITIL process that helps the system with resilience.

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DevOps by nature is a philosophy a perspective that will help you address the problems that are faced by the operations and development teams working together or well in reality not working together. On the other hand, ITIL is a codified system of information technology service management (ITSM) that is designed to be a better integration for IT with the needs of the business and its strategies. There may be some parts of both of these methodologies that overlap, but at the end of the day, these two systems are used to solve different core issues. Depending on the issue that you want to solve you can choose the approach that you need. The best way to move forward would be to take into consideration what you already have and find out what you need.

First things first you need to know a little more about these systems.

DevOps
This began as an environment for software development and thus most of the methodologies and tools that are found here focus on improving how your software is deployed. Continuous Integration and continuous delivery have transformed the process of deployment, and continuous monitoring helps provide real-time visibility to the entire IT infrastructure. DevOps is not only about Agile software but so much more.

A little bit of structure in anyone's life does no harm especially if it is in the IT assets or business process. There is a hybridization of operators and developers whose duties spill over and usually make up all of the different aspects of IT This is due to the fact that it is better to share information and work together to meet the goals of your business, it also helps your team to be more productive and creates a better working environment all around. One of the primary reasons why DevOps is most commonly described as a philosophy is that it is able to transform an organization with the help of its ideas at the same time you also take a step back and look at the underlying assumptions that come with IT work and reassess them.

You don’t need to have a specific individual handling part of your overall system that is discreet while assuming without the required proof that the system is working together. DevOps helps the team by allowing them to have an overall view of the IT process and take a call when there is a need for a modification in the system. This way your employees can do what is best for the business. Your coders will learn about the system while your operations executives will learn to code, all of them will need to keep an eye on the security and the collaboration or project management section of the business. What’s different between this and the more traditional forms of cross training? Well, DevOps aims to change the core practices with an idea of cross disciplines, it aims at making changes such as infrastructure as code which allows companies to replace servers that are as fragile as snowflakes by a repeatable, scalable deployment process that is matched to development, testing, QA, and the production environments.

ITIL
ITIL, unlike DevOps, is a highly structured methodology that is specifically designed to increase the efficiency of your business and provide you with various statistics that will help in your IT operations. ITIL is a subtype of ITSM that focusses on the protocols required for the implementation, management, and improvement of the IT services from the business to the customer. As this system is so highly structured, there are various specialized terms that have to be learned in order to use it effectively. As this software is privately owned, there are many certifications and upgrades that you can do to your ITIL framework. This complexity and rigor of ITIL can often create an overhead for the shop as it can only be as efficient as its implementation. There is a lot of time and money that needs to be invested for ITIL.

Myths about ITIL and DevOps

DevOps is all about software deployment
DevOps covers all the different aspects of an IT service company such as breaking down silos, transparency, and collaboration.

They are both mutually exclusive
As mentioned earlier both their objectives are different so they can be used together

ITIL can only be suitably used for an enterprise company
Companies of any kind can utilize ITIL irrespective of the size

You need to invest a lot for ITIL and DevOps
Although there is a bit of investment needed initially these tools help you optimize your systems.

DevOps is an automation tool
It is neither automation nor a tool it is a philosophy.

Guest Post by Vaishali Gopi, FreshWorks Inc.

Contact:
Vaishali Gopi
Digital Marketing Associate
email: vaishali.gopi@freshworks.com
website: www.freshworks.com