Chapter One: Introduction

Welcome to this audio course on preparing for certification in ITIL Four Foundation! My name is <insert narrator name>, and I will guide you through the course material. Congratulations on making the decision to keep your IT service management skills up to date. Maybe you’re newly certified in ITIL version three. That means you are already a valuable asset to your organization. Most candidates are encouraged to move straight on to ITIL Four, to stay completely current with newer technologies. After listening to this course, you’ll have a comprehensive understanding of the exam content for ITIL Four Foundation. Just think of how valuable you will be then!

After completing the foundation program, you'll find you have many options. You can move on to ITIL Managing Professional, also known as ITIL MP. Or you can move on to ITIL Strategic Leader, or ITIL SL. You need seventeen points to be eligible for the ITIL MP. If you are currently taking ITIL V three, you may be working towards obtaining your seventeen points to qualify for ITIL already, as part of your course.

What are these points I mentioned? Thanks to the ITIL credit system, you gain these credits, or points. They help you to advance to further certifications. Each ITIL module you complete provides you with a certain number of credits.

If you’re interested in the Strategy Leader certificate, you can complete a module called ITIL Leader Digital and Strategy. For now, this audio course will focus on the ITIL Four Foundation material.

IT service management practices revolve around delivering value to customers. This is accomplished by identifying demand for a service, creating that service, and maintaining it through its full life cycle. To do this, you need strategy, design, operation, and transformation responsibilities. ITIL originally stood for Information Technology Infrastructure Library. It sets practices for IT service management. These practices help tailor IT services to meet the needs of today's businesses.

In the nineteen eighties, IT service management organizations declared a need for best practices. The UK government’s Central Computer and Telecommunication Agency, also

known as the CCTA, provided them. In its infancy, ITIL was owned by the CCTA and other bodies, including the Office of Government Commerce or OGC and cabinet office. In the late nineteen nineties, new versions of ITIL were released.

ITIL is constantly adapting and improving. For example, version one was released in nineteen eighty six and was in effect until nineteen ninety six. Version two was released in two thousand. Version three was released in two thousand and seven and was the standard until two thousand and eleven. The next release was not version four, but a revision of version three. ITIL version four was released on February twenty eighth, two thousand and nineteen.

Nowadays, AXELOS owns ITIL. Constant updates are necessary, even critical, because of the rapid pace of technological advancements. Version four addresses these most recent changes and defines best practices accordingly. With these updated services, companies can add value to their operations, even during changing times.

IT service industries in today's world rely on technology to make them efficient. IT services and technology products go hand in hand; products enable services and vice versa.

Technological advancements have allowed for the creation of tools that can streamline processes. A great example of this is cloud computing. Modern organizations use cloud computing daily for sharing files, communication, and reporting. Another example is intranets, or local networks that host cloud computing tools. With this evolution of technology and services, it’s important for companies to maintain a balance between adaptiveness and longevity. ITIL practices have evolved alongside these developments. For example, ITIL practices are compatible with other modern best practices such as Agile, Lean, and Dev Ops. By the way, if you'll indulge me in a shameless plug: AudioLearn also offers a course on the Agile workflow technology. Consider listening to that course after you successfully complete this one. Thank you, and now back to the course.

Organizations depend on technology. It can help them to gain leverage over their competitors and to cut costs. Machine learning can eliminate steps from a process that a specific department may perform. For example, analytics are traditionally done by a