7 Ways You Can Benefit From Getting ITIL Foundation Certified in 2021

ITIL is the most widely used framework in the IT industry to gain optimal value from IT-enabled services. It promotes a global language that can be adapted to deliver value across key business areas. With ITIL training and certification, you acquire expertise in the world of IT service management. Read on to find out more about ITIL, different levels of certifications, and how you can benefit from the same.

What Is ITIL Certification?

The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is an IT service management framework that was originally developed by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency of the UK government. Used since the late 80s, ITIL is a set of best practices designed to make IT service management in government organizations more cost-effective and efficient.

Source: Webopedia

ITIL has been managed by the Capita PLC and UK government joint venture AXELOS since 2014. AXELOS takes care of all the day-to-day aspects of ITIL including,

• Regular updates in the ITIL framework
• Accreditation to third-party providers for ITIL exams
• Licensing external bodies for the use of ITIL intellectual property
• Running the ITIL certification program

ITIL presently covers several areas of the ITIL service lifecycle in a series of four different levels, ranging from ITIL Foundation to ITIL Master. As the levels progress, the ITIL candidate is prepared for more advanced concepts and best practices of ITIL, equipping them for more complex roles in the IT field.

Why Is ITIL Popular?

ITIL is preferred by employers because of the value add that an ITIL certificate holder brings to an organization. Its universal acceptance in the job market makes it a popular choice for IT professionals. Its popularity emanates from the benefits that organizations draw from the knowledge of ITIL.

With ITIL an employer can systematize its IT service operations and add more professionalism. By doing so, an organization can achieve cost reduction, customer satisfaction, better turnaround, improved productivity, better third-party delivery, better risk management, and troubleshooting, to name a few. With these apparent benefits, recruiting ITIL-certified teams provides an upgrade for any business.

How Do Businesses Use ITIL?

Apart from streamlining IT services, businesses using ITIL have witnessed growth and performance improvements that can be directly attributed to the framework. Successful businesses need reliable IT service management (ITSM) systems, but ITSM undergoes a gradual evolution all the time. ITIL addresses this adaptability to changing times, with its best practices and concepts. Businesses rely on ITIL to ensure service availability and consistency, as well as improved risk management and openness to scalability. Disney, for instance, is known to have leveraged these ITIL benefits, translating them into the famous customer experience at their theme parks. This, in turn, financially translates into increased efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and revenue.

What Are the Different Levels of ITIL?

There are four different levels of ITIL.  

Source: Axelos

• ITIL 4 Foundation: Launched in February 2019, the ITIL 4 certification scheme replaced the former ITIL V3 scheme. The revised foundation course covers all essential concepts that are important for any IT professional’s profile. It includes the understanding of Lean, Agile, DevOps, and the seven guiding principles and four dimensions of ITIL-based service management.  
• ITIL 4 Managing Professional: This certification requires you to complete four modules, while existing ITIL Expert certification holders can get it by simply passing the transition module.
• ITIL 4 Strategic Leader: This certification was released early last year. Its content revolves around strategic planning and leadership concepts that are useful for IT professionals in leadership positions.
• ITIL 4 Master: It is offered to professionals to demonstrate the successful use of ITIL techniques in achieving desired business outcomes.

How Does ITIL Certification Work?

To understand how the ITIL certification works, there are a few essential details that you might want to know.

• ITIL Foundation certification is offered to an individual and, until now, no ITIL certification has been designed to certify organizations.
• There is no specific qualification required to enroll in this course. However, it is recommended for IT professionals who are willing to gain an understanding of the ITIL framework, its elements, concepts, and technical keywords. This certification helps you in participating in the processes that have adopted ITIL.
• ITIL has to be completed through the three-layered structure governed by AXELOS. At the top of this structure is AXELOS itself who provides accreditation to examination institutes. Examination Institutes can further provide accreditation to training organizations to conduct courses. Examination institutes also issue certification to candidates who pass ITIL exams. Accredited training organizations are the ones who impart the ITIL course to individuals. 

GreyCampus is an ITIL training organization accredited by PeopleCert on behalf of AXELOS. The GreyCampus ITIL 4 Foundation training and certification is a comprehensive course that offers an optional two-day bootcamp, two simulated exams, and a year’s access to audio-video lectures.

7 Ways You Can Benefit From ITIL Certification in 2021

An ITIL certification will help you gain a basic understanding of the ITIL framework and learn to use it to improve IT service management. If your organization has adopted the ITIL framework, this certification will help you be of more value to the organization. Let us look at some of the key ITIL certification benefits.

1. Career Growth

Once you grasp the ITIL concepts, you become more comfortable contributing to your IT job role. You will be acquainted with ITIL implementation and its guiding principles, which will get you up to speed in an ITIL work environment. Thanks to your ITIL knowledge, your organization will value your credibility, as will your peers. This expertise will help you in your immediate as well as long-term career growth. 

Source: SlideShare

2. Salary Growth

ITIL is considered to be one of the top IT certifications to increase your salary. Techopedia also ranks it among the top five high paying certifications. Payscale sources estimate an average salary of over $98,000 for an ITIL Foundation-certified professional. Thus, it is quite possible to draw a six-figure paycheck with an ITIL certification under your belt. In contrast, an IT consultant averages below $90,000 while an IT Business Analyst averages at around $72,000. Project team professionals have enjoyed around a 15% increase in their salary after their ITIL certification.

Source: PayScale

3. Better Skills

With its all-encompassing nature, ITIL provides definitive expertise in IT management. An ITIL certification can, therefore, improve your IT service skill set and capabilities. Working with the ITIL framework standardizes the planning, delivery, and support of IT services, and improves the efficiency and quality of service. As a certified ITIL professional you will be a part of and contributor to this improvement across different processes within your organization. 

4. Thorough Understanding of ITIL Framework and Processes

ITIL covers the complete service management lifecycle with service strategy, design, transition, operation, and continual improvement. Its principles help you in delivering maximum value to customers, optimization of resources, role defining, goal-oriented process planning, and reliable and useful service. It touches on all aspects of IT service like incident management, capacity management, resource management, operations, etc. Thus as an ITIL certificate holder, you will have the expertise that can fit into any aspect of IT service delivery and management.

Source: GreyCampus

5. Broaden Your Career Options

Your choice of job opportunities and profile options can expand dramatically after receiving an ITIL certification. The ITIL course structure aims to improve the capabilities of service managers and enable them to take on responsibilities that are crucial to the organizational goals. Enlightened with ITIL concepts and principles you can tackle challenges like achieving cost-efficiency in processes, improving competency, scaling up productivity, and clocking better ROI for the organization. With ITIL, the constant focus of AXELOS is to continually upgrade the course content and structure. The certification prepares you to be capable of choosing from a wider variety of organizational roles.  

6. Universal Acceptance

The acceptance of ITIL is unanimous across the world. Thousands of companies and organizations have used ITIL and continue to recruit ITIL-certified professionals as a part of their team. Its famous users include the IRS, Bank of America, Microsoft, Boeing, Disney, British Telecom, Bank of Canada, Walmart, and many more. Most international service providers have maintained ITIL certification as a prerequisite while shortlisting their service management experts. Once you complete your ITIL certification your career options not only expand in terms of pay and job roles but also across industries and locations.  

7. Flexibility

A key reason for the universal acceptance of ITIL is yet another one of its features – its flexibility. AXELOS has ensured that ITIL evolves over the years. The ITIL 4 focuses beyond efficiency in service management and addresses value co-creation and the application of ISTM practices. The ITIL framework also meets the ISO/IEC 20000 global standard of ISTM systems, as well as other international standards. The usability of ITIL across the IT infrastructure of a variety of organizations indicates its flexibility as a framework.  

How Does ITIL Certification Improve Your Business Quality?

To understand the question “what is the use of ITIL certification?” we have to acknowledge that the purpose of an IT framework is to go beyond streamlining of processes to achieve cost-effectiveness, resource efficiency, and consistency. ITIL is considered to be one such example, which helps organizations succeed on several fronts. 

ITIL-certified processes run on best practices that improve the overall quality of service. This includes faster service and reduced costs. The improvement in service delivery is directly reflected in customer satisfaction indicators. 

The use of defined ITIL standards and concepts improves the resource utilization within processes as well as the overall productivity of the business. At the same time, ITIL-enabled businesses are better placed to handle risks and address disruptions and failures. Continuous use of the ITIL framework brings consistency to the operations and gives the business a platform to grow exponentially.

Some Job Roles That Can Benefit From ITIL Certification

Source: GreyCampus

There are a host of job roles that have benefited from ITIL certification. Service strategy and service design roles as well as IT consultants, IT planners, and IT architects can enhance their skill set through ITIL. Supervisory staff and managers, including IT audit managers, IT security managers, team leaders, and business managers can also enroll in ITIL certification and gain a professional advantage. Even top management like CIOs and CTOs undergo advanced ITIL training to use the ITIL framework more extensively in business decisions and strategy. 

Despite the presence of multiple levels, all the basic understanding that forms the core of the ITIL framework is included in the ITIL Foundation level. GreyCampus ITIL 4 Foundation training and certification comes with several attractive features, including the bootcamp and audio-video lecture access. You can earn 25 PMI PDUs through the completion of this course. It also includes ITIL 4 exam vouchers that are valid for six months. When you enroll with GreyCampus, your ITIL certification cost turns out to be one of the most affordable in the market. As a PeopleCert-certified ATO, GreyCampus offers ITIL Foundation candidates a globally accepted certification and a fruitful career in IT service management.  

Want To Improve an IT Service Lifecycle? Get ITIL Certified Today!