Why the new ITIL is not just for IT Courses
The latest ITIL (Version 5) was launched in January 2026. As a long‑time ITIL practitioner, consultant, trainer, and ambassador, I’m excited to use this with clients, teach seasoned IT practitioners, and introduce it to university students.
The new ITIL expands from IT operations into digital product and enterprise‑wide service management, with AI woven throughout the guidance. Since its first publication in 1989, ITIL has grown from focusing on IT infrastructure operations and support to covering delivery, strategy, organizational change, and governance.
This means people in many roles can now benefit from its best‑practice guidance, including:
- Customer service and customer experience (CX) teams
- Digital product teams, industrial designers, and UI/UX specialists
- AI‑related roles, including ethics, regulatory, and policy makers
- Analytics and data science teams
- Anyone involved in governance of AI, data, or IT
And of course, the entire IT organization – not just IT operations and service desks.
The digital‑product‑management focus is particularly welcome. Coming from an engineering and manufacturing background, I’ve seen highly skilled controls engineers and industrial automation specialists design and run state‑of‑the‑art automated production lines and equipment. When I shifted to IT in the early 2000s, I saw how mature practices in reliability engineering, quality management, maintenance, and process control were adopted into IT service management – with varying degrees of maturity.
As both a consultant and global IT operations lead, I’ve also seen the rise of shadow IT, where engineering, sales, or marketing build their own IT capabilities with little coordination with central IT. On the other side, some IT managers attempt to “take over” operational technology (OT), sometimes as empire building, sometimes because they don’t know the differences – with equally worrying results.
ITIL’s full embrace of digital products now provides clearer guidance for everyone involved. Organizations with significant digital products, highly automated facilities, or extensive AI use can rely on a single, globally recognized framework instead of juggling multiple ones. This should help reduce silos across enterprises and in how we prepare the future workforce in higher and continuing education.
The future of learning is with us now: Micro credentials and ITIL
A micro credential is a concise record of focused learning that confirms what a learner knows and can do, based on assessment against agreed standards and issued by a trusted provider; it has standalone value and can also stack into larger qualifications (UNESCO, 2022). Policy work from UNESCO and the OECD highlights micro credentials as core elements in learner‑centered, lifelong learning ecosystems that support upskilling, reskilling, and recognition of prior learning across a working life (OECD, 2023; UNESCO, 2022).
Around the world, higher education and continuing education providers are treating micro credentials as building blocks for more flexible learning pathways. Their short, modular, and stackable format lets people start, pause, and resume learning without the traditional time and residency constraints of full degree programs, making it easier to learn new skills, shift careers, or gain formal recognition for existing competencies at any life stage.
In recent regional discussions, a Philippine higher education leader described how micro credentials open doors for under‑ and unemployed adults into roles in manufacturing, contact centers, and other skilled vocational occupations. ASEAN educators similarly report that learners now use short courses both to upskill and to stack credit towards degrees.
ITIL 5 fits naturally into this micro credential world. Its modular, role‑aligned structure makes it easy to design short, stackable ITIL‑based courses that can carry academic credit, professional recognition, or both – giving learners practical, industry‑relevant skills they can apply immediately.
ITIL for students beyond IT and Computer Science
As an adjunct professor and industry practitioner, I’m often asked for input on IT, engineering, and even high school computer science curricula and syllabi. With the latest ITIL covering digital products and enterprise service management, I now encourage colleagues in management, business, social sciences, industrial design, and engineering to consider how ITIL can be incorporated into their programs, such as:
- Vocational programs (e.g., help desks and technical support)
Within specific courses, ITIL concepts can add value to topics in a wide range of topics such as:
- Design thinking and industrial design
- Engineering economics and operations
- Manufacturing and utilities
- Automation (including avionics and automotive)
- Digital transformation and organizational change management
- AI governance and digital ethics
Because ITIL is proven and widely used globally, it connects directly to the digital products, services, and organizations that graduates will encounter in their careers. Alongside rigorous technical and mathematical (calculus!) training, learners also need practical frameworks like ITIL to navigate real‑world digital work and AI‑enabled services.
References:
Asia Pacific Network of National Information Centres (APNNIC) & UNESCO Bangkok. (2025, September 24). Micro-credentials in focus: Advancing recognition and lifelong learning in Asia-Pacific
PeopleCert. (2026). ITIL for organizations (brochure)
PeopleCert. (2026). ITIL for professionals (brochure)
PeopleCert. (2026). ITIL Foundation (Version 5)
UNESCO. (2025). Micro-credentials: An important part of a bigger ecosystem. UNESCO
University of the Philippines. (2024, December 9). Beyond degrees: How short courses are shaping lifelong learning in Southeast Asia. Office of the Vice President for Development and Public Affairs.
