ITIL Master (Version 5): enhancing career credibility and learning to treat the worlds of product and service as one

Alex Harding – Head of IT Service, Runshaw College

In March 2024, four years after taking ITIL 4 Foundation, Alex Harding became an ITIL 4 Master. Two years later, he became an ITIL Master (Version 5), just four months after taking the latest Foundation certification. Why did he feel ITIL Master was a necessary goal, and why did he move through the new ITIL certification scheme at this rate?

Given today’s cost pressures on higher education, and the knock-on effect on IT departments, it’s necessary to shift to a more joined-up approach.

Which is why I got right behind the new ITIL and took the latest journey to ITIL Master (Version 5).

By consuming the knowledge available in the advanced modules, I can both help my own organization and share ideas with peers in other universities and colleges.

When working at this level, it means going beyond ITIL Foundation to understand more about how to shape, lead and bring in new products and services.

It’s also a sign that I’ve applied myself and gained authority: that I know what I’m doing and, when there’s a major transformation on the horizon, I’ve got the edge and the capability to step up.

From ITIL 4 Master to ITIL Master (Version 5)

Though it was four years before I achieved the ITIL 4 Master designation, the ITIL Managing Professional Transition (Version 5) module took me to the latest Master level within four months.

Granted, our organization had already implemented what became, in ITIL (Version 5), the concept of a digital product and service lifecycle model and had started to adopt guidance from the ITIL AI Governance white paper.

But I didn’t want our improvement journey to plateau, so the ITIL Managing Professional Transition (Version 5) module offered a very well-thought-out and accessible transition path to ITIL Master (Version 5); giving me credibility and a new body of knowledge at the right time.

ITIL Product and ITIL Service (Version 5) – a 50/50 split

My career began in a product world and merged into a service world, so I can see the necessity for advanced ITIL (Version 5) modules in both.

I see a 50/50 split between the importance of product and service, as services are built on top of products, not fresh air!

And while service teams, like it or not, become the face of the product by taking support calls from customers, product teams need to care about what they’ve handed over to the service team.

Having separate ITIL modules gives the two worlds parity and greater mutual understanding of how a customer’s experience of products and services impacts the business.

This knowledge helps to break down silos, encourages people to better appreciate each other’s roles, and brings cohesion and knowledge sharing. In a culture that works like this, you can weather any storm.

Digital product and service management – the real impacts

As I said recently on LinkedIn, “digital product and service management [is] a holistic way of improving outcomes, reducing friction and making services easier to use and easier to manage”. The net impacts are:

• Better decisions
Better decisions come from seeing both product and service value across the lifecycle, sharing insights, and being closer to the customer while also considering the overall experience. It’s about understanding how a technical feature helps someone do their job and making decisions with the whole picture in mind.

• Clearer ownership
Understanding not only the bigger picture but also your part in it and what you take ownership of is crucial. For example, supporting new starters in an organization is about more than just “throwing” a laptop at someone. You take ownership of helping them become productive quickly while thinking locally (owning the process) and considering where it fits in the global picture.

• Stronger service design
Service design underpins everything. And that means knowing what a project is about, getting all the right people involved and building something with a view from every angle. This includes the critical knowledge from the new ITIL Experience (Version 5) module, which is, in my opinion, one of the most valuable.

• More value for the same effort
When an organization stops working in silos, it stops throwing digital products “over the wall”. Value streams cover the lifecycle from product inception to support, identifying what’s on the journey and what could go wrong.

Also, with the AI-native approach in ITIL (Version 5), it asks where the value in AI will come from, and where the governance, support, risk assessment and experience sit.

No matter where in the lifecycle AI appears, the guidance means organizations can deliver, use and support it.

Combining all this knowledge to achieve the new ITIL Master designation is a reflection of me, the work I do and what I’m responsible for. Today, that means handling both digital products and services properly and, consequently, facilitating the co-creation of value.