ITIL - the service standard for IT companies

The CCTA laid the foundation for ITIL in the late 1980s. Up until the 1990s, the authority published 40 compendiums of 50 to 70 pages each, covering topics such as service support, service delivery, office environment, business continuity and more.

The compendiums were revised at the end of the 1990s. The aim was to summarize them with a focus on the business objectives of the IT service. In the end, nine volumes were published between 2000 and 2004. From today's perspective, these publications are regarded as the initial spark for ITIL.

In 2007, the ITIL Refresh project was launched with the aim of bringing the aspects of IT service management up to date. One new feature compared to the previous version of the framework was the mapping of the life cycle of IT services. Accordingly, this is divided into the phases of design, transition and operation.

Another update project followed in 2009, the results of which were published in 2011 under the title ITIL 2011 Edition. This is also known as ITIL V3 and has also been translated into German. The naming rights were then sold by the British government to a private company, which is responsible for publishing the current version.

In February 2019, the new rights holder finally published ITIL 4. This current version focuses on the entire process associated with service management in complex organizational structures.