Is ITIL Dead? Experts Discuss the Future of ITIL, DevOps, and AI in IT Service Management
In the fast-moving world of IT service management, questions often arise about the relevance of frameworks like ITIL in today’s tech landscape. Is ITIL still useful? Will AI make it obsolete? How does it work with DevOps?
To answer these pressing questions, we gathered three industry experts to discuss the future of ITIL and its place in modern IT operations. Join Chris Ward (Director of Training at Passion IT Group), Ken Jarvis (former CIO and consultant for PeopleCert), and Mark Bradley (co-author of the ITIL 4 Digital and IT Strategy book) as they share their insights.
The Future of ITIL: Is It Dead?
Many have predicted the death of ITIL as new technologies emerge. Ken Jarvis disagrees strongly with this view. “Do you need a framework to get the basics of running an IT division in place? I don’t think those basics will ever go away,” he explains.
Ken adds, “I always need sustainability. I always need reliability. I’m never going to not have a help desk. I need those disciplines, and I don’t care what’s coming into the future – that discipline’s not going away.”
Mark Bradley shares this view, noting that ITIL has become part of the fabric of IT operations. “It’s done its job so well, it’s in the fabric. Any company you look at, you’re going to see the structure in place,” he says.
ITIL and New Technologies: Adapting to Change
The conversation then turns to how ITIL adapts to new technologies like AI. Ken points out that ITIL is, by definition, a collection of best practices. “It doesn’t come out before best practice has been identified,” he explains.
This means ITIL will evolve as new technologies mature and best practices emerge. “AI will impact the ITIL frameworks,” Ken predicts, “but they need to evolve a little bit longer first before we start to say ‘let’s incorporate it.'”
ITIL and Project Management: Better Together?
Ken highlights an interesting integration point when asked if project management frameworks like PRINCE2 are a good match for ITIL. “Having incidents reported on the project that feed back into the project management frameworks and dashboards would be very interesting.”
Mark adds that this integration helps teams deliver quality work. “If you integrated the two, you can validate the quality of the job because there are no tickets. Our resources shine because they deliver on what we committed to.”
DevOps and ITIL: Necessary Partners
On the topic of DevOps and ITIL working together, Ken is clear: “It’s not how they can work together – they must work well together.” He describes the fundamental differences between operations people and development people, noting they “have to play nice together.”
Mark sees ITIL as the foundation that enables DevOps to move faster. “ITIL puts all the pieces and parts in place in such an efficient and effective manner that it allows you to go at a faster pace in this DevOps area.”
Cloud Costs: The Next Big Disruptor?
When asked about future disruptors in IT, Ken points to the cloud. “Most companies I talk to say ‘my cloud costs are out of control’… I think there’s going to be a disruptor in the cloud space that’s going to get my costs versus use of cloud more accurate, more predicted.”
Mark, who works at Flexera, agrees. He compares cloud bills to old telecom bills that “you could fill rooms with if you printed them.” The challenge is growing as cloud spending increases dramatically. “Imagine you’re a large company spending a billion dollars a year in the cloud, whereas it used to be on the corporate card as a little R&D,” he notes.
AI: The Biggest Disruptor on the Horizon
Both experts agree that AI will be a major disruptor. “I think we’re in the early days of the language models,” says Mark. He recommends that IT professionals “jump in, learn it, play with it… so that as the industry continues to evolve, you’re there and you understand it.”
Ken agrees AI will be disruptive but adds, “What we don’t know is what it’s going to disrupt.” He raises questions about governance and accountability when using AI tools for business decisions.
The Verdict on ITIL’s Future
Far from being dead, our experts see ITIL as fundamental to IT operations for years to come. Ken puts it clearly: “I told will always be your framework, it will always be there. The tool will support your framework. The tool cannot be your framework.”
As Mark notes, ITIL has become so embedded in how we work that we often take it for granted. When a new help desk employee learns to log, categorize, prioritize, analyze, escalate, resolve, and close incidents – they’re following ITIL practices without even knowing it.
The strength of ITIL lies in its ability to adapt while maintaining core disciplines that remain essential no matter what new technologies emerge.
Get ITIL Certified with Passion IT Group
Want to develop your ITIL skills? Passion IT Group offers comprehensive ITIL training and certification courses. We also provide PRINCE2 training for those interested in project management frameworks that complement ITIL.
Contact us at to learn more about our training options.
