The New ITIL: Why the Service We Think We Run Is Not Always the Service People Experience
# ITIL
Shifting from Process Success to Real-World Value and User Experience
February 19, 2026
Scott Everett
The New ITIL: Why the Service We Think We Run Is Not Always the Service People Experience
One of the biggest lessons I have learned leading digital services is this. The service we believe we are running is not always the service our users experience.
We can have green dashboards, strong SLA performance, and well-documented processes, yet still leave students frustrated, academics struggling, or professional services teams working around broken workflows. That tension lies at the heart of why ITIL (Version 5) feels so important and timely.
For years, ITIL helped many of us bring structure to chaotic environments. It provided us with clear processes for incident, change, and problem management. It helped us speak the same language across teams and suppliers. That foundation still matters, but the context around it has changed.
Today, most organisations do not just deliver IT. We deliver digital services that underpin almost every part of how our institutions operate. In that world, being technically correct is no longer enough. We have to be genuinely useful.
That is where ITIL (Version 5) marks a meaningful shift. It does not abandon discipline or governance. Instead, it asks us to look more carefully at what value actually means, and how services are experienced in the real world.
From internal efficiency to real-world impact
In earlier versions of ITIL, it was easy to become inward-looking. Success was often defined by how well we followed process. Did we meet our incident targets? Did we get changes approved through the right boards? Were our documents complete and compliant?
Those things still matter, but Version 5 pushes us to ask a different primary question. Are our services actually delivering the outcomes our organisation needs?
That change sounds subtle, but it has profound implications.
In my own environment, we can resolve thousands of tickets efficiently, yet still fail to make a meaningful difference to how work gets done. If a student struggles to enrol, if a researcher cannot access a system at a critical moment, or if an academic has to work around a clunky process, then we have a service problem even if our metrics look good.
Version 5 encourages us to shift our mindset from managing work to managing value. That means spending less time perfecting internal processes for their own sake, and more time understanding how services are used, where they cause friction, and how they support organisational goals.
The move towards product thinking
One of the most significant ideas underpinning Version 5 is the move towards product and service thinking. Instead of seeing services as outputs of processes, we are encouraged to treat them as long-term, evolving products with owners, lifecycles, and measurable outcomes.
This resonates strongly with my experience. When we think of a student system, a virtual learning environment, or a timetabling platform as a product, our focus naturally shifts. We start asking better questions. Is this service reliable during peak periods like Clearing or assessment windows? Does it genuinely support teaching and learning? Are we making improvements that reduce friction rather than just fixing faults?
That perspective changes how teams prioritise work. It makes it harder to hide behind process compliance and easier to justify investment based on real impact.
It also changes the role of leadership. Instead of simply ensuring that processes are followed, leaders become accountable for the health and value of the services their teams manage. That is a more challenging, but ultimately more meaningful responsibility.
Experience as a first-class concern
Another aspect of Version 5 that stands out to me is the stronger emphasis on experience. Value is not something IT delivers in isolation. It is co-created through how people interact with our services.
In higher education, that idea feels particularly powerful. The quality of our digital services directly shapes the student experience, the academic experience, and the effectiveness of professional services teams.
A system can be technically sound yet deeply frustrating to use. A service can meet all its formal targets yet still slow down core business processes. Version 5 pushes us to take that seriously rather than treating it as a soft or secondary issue.
This also reframes how we think about Major Incidents.
In the past, the focus was often almost entirely on technical resolution. Getting the system back online as quickly as possible was the priority, and rightly so. But Version 5 reminds us that these are also human events. When a critical service fails, it disrupts teaching, assessment, or student support. The experience of that disruption matters.
That does not diminish the importance of technical excellence. It simply broadens our definition of what a good response looks like. Clear communication, empathy, and understanding impact become just as important as troubleshooting.
Continual improvement as a daily practice
One of the things I like about Version 5 is that it normalises continual improvement rather than treating it as a separate, periodic activity.
In many organisations, improvement has historically been something that happened after audits, reviews, or major incidents. Version 5 encourages a more organic approach. Service owners and delivery teams are expected to learn continuously from real usage, feedback, and performance.
In practice, that means listening more carefully to users, analysing patterns in incidents and requests, and being willing to adapt services over time rather than waiting for a formal review cycle.
For me, this aligns closely with how modern digital teams already work. They iterate, experiment, and refine based on evidence. Version 5 provides a governance-friendly way of doing that without losing rigour.
What this means for professionals
From a career perspective, Version 5 challenges service management professionals to broaden their skillset.
Understanding processes is still important, but it is no longer sufficient on its own. Practitioners now need to think more like product managers, experience designers, and value analysts. They need to be comfortable talking about outcomes, not just activities.
PeopleCert’s updated certification pathways reflect this evolution. They are not simply about learning new terminology. They are about helping professionals operate effectively in a more complex, digital, and experience-driven environment.
For organisations, investing in this development is not just about compliance or credentials. It is about building teams that can genuinely improve services rather than just operate them.
My take on the new ITIL
Having worked with ITIL for many years, I do not see Version 5 as a break from the past. I see it as a natural maturation of the profession.
It acknowledges that digital services are now central to almost everything our organisations do. It recognises that value is not delivered by processes alone, but through how people experience our services.
Most importantly, it challenges us to be more honest about what success looks like. Not just whether we followed the rules, but whether we made a meaningful difference.
In that sense, the new ITIL is less about frameworks and more about responsibility. It asks us to own the impact of our services, not just the way we manage them.
That is a challenge, but it is also an opportunity. If we embrace it properly, Version 5 can help us move from being efficient service providers to being trusted partners in delivering real organisational value
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