Accredited ITIL®4 Leader: Digital and IT Strategy

ITIL4 leader, digital and IT strategy, brand new course let's talk about it. You're watching ITPRO TV [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO] Hello and welcome to, and I'm very excited about- Yes. This is the ITIL leader, digital and IT strategy course. And I'm Zach and this is Chris, Chris good to see you and thank you- Good to see you again. Thank you for this course. This is- Yeah. Really exciting. Yeah, it's really exciting because this is really one of the last things we're gonna see from axles for a while because this completes its entire five core books that they're going to release about ITIL 4. And this of course, is leaning into the wonderful world of their new certification called ITIL 4 strategic leader. Now everything that Jo, and I, and Zach have been talking about up until now, for the most part, has been about the wonderful world of managing professional. Which is that you kind of we would say replace the ITIL expert as an overall certification at that level. But then most of the time, we were always showing you that hey, wow, there's this new one called strategic leader. And one of the courses that you needed we've already done which is digital, excuse me, I once did this, digital an IT strategy, which is what we're talking about. A direct plan and improve or DPI is kind of bridge from the managing professional into strategic leader. And so we're going to be covering that, and excited though, because this is going to be a great course for all of you who are not only maybe just in an operational role or middle management role. I am encouraged because I'm sure many of you as new members here at IT PRO TV are also C suites, senior management, VPs next your name, and stuff like that. Because that's truly as we're going to see kind of the I don't wanna say target audience but that's where really the core of what they're gonna be focusing on in doing some of those. I think we can address the elephant in the room real quick. I've also heard this called DITS Yes. Is that correct? DITS, DITS or just D-I-T-S, I mean, I've heard very, very high level individuals in Axelos say at one way and then the other one say at the other. At this point, I'll probably say all three at some point. I'm sure you will too, Zach. Or more abbreviated as DITS. Yes, DITS, which that also happens. So to welcome you here and just to kind of say, what are some of the things that we're gonna be talking about here? The important thing is, of course, is that this is from AXELOS. This is a part of the ITIL4 framework that we have, and started back in 2018 being released. And now here at the end as we record this in December of 2020, they've rolled this out just a little bit earlier this year, and it is the new shiny thing that's out there and really good. So first off, it's kinda like a series of questions. Number one is how do we develop a digital strategy? Okay, we're gonna be talking about digital strategy, and digital transformation, and digital that, and digital this. And this is one of the big things that we're looking at. And then, of course, with the digital strategy, how are we going to leverage the technology that's out there in order to get a better customer experience and move towards that digital strategy that we've defined? And then finally, how do we know if we should invest into a technology or as we talked about in our previous HPIT, hivelocity IT course? You can get so moving so fast in a certain direction and then that technology is like, that was grea,t everybody wants to use it. No, not anymore. Because everybody moves off to something else. When I see this right here, is it or is it a fad? I recall back when VR was kind of new. Yeah. And they were just talking about VR, and what it is, and what it could be. Yeah. And for a while there it was a hot button and then it just kind of faded away. Yeah. And now it's come back. Definitely, yeah. Has done a full circle. Yeah, and the thing is, is that literally this coursee is all about that leadership. It's written for digital leaders, it's written for people that try to get insight into what is it gonna take to make our organizations truly a digital organization? How do we make sure that we are not only the ones that are trying to be the disruptors or the ones that kind of make the market follow us or the industry or the ecosystem? As we're going to see using digital disruption, what does that look like? And how do we do that but yet don't go a direction that we shouldn't? And in that, the crystal ball that we all wish that we had, well, there's some principles that we have. There are a lot of ideas, tools, techniques that we can use. But as we're gonna see, this is not a literal, okay, step one, you do this, step two, you do this, step. It's not a list of steps, it's the overall concepts and guiding principles because we know a lot about those guiding principles. And you've already said that this is more of a framework- Yes. Than anything else. Right, which is what ITIL is, I mean ITIL is a framework and that's what we're gonna be following. So you might be saying, okay, Chris, we're already about five minutes into the first episode of digital and ITIL strategy. Why should we be taking this class? Well, a couple of things. [LAUGH] Number one, it really does focus on the importance and challenge of creating that appropriate digital strategy to help enable your business to do what it needs to do. And how it can and should be integrated into the IT strategy, aligned with the wider business and remember, it's now not just alignment anymore. It's you are actually coming together and integrating. The unification. The unification of those two things, the business and the IT now it's all morphed into one concept because you are a true digital organization in what we do. Which also means it explores the use of, we said it already, the ITIL framework, and how that supports the organizations in that digital transformation journey. Going from where you were, and I think it's safe to say Zach that many companies right now, it's not like they're back in the Stone Age, and they don't have any IT, or anything else. But now there's almost pure digital organization that everybody's looking at. How do we get there, all right? How do we get that structure? How do we make sure that we have the foundations in place but yet at the top, we're flexible, and we can pivot, we can move, we can go anywhere we need to go. And that's a part of it, and utilizing the modern potential of technology or I should say potential of modern technology. To get the most value from your digital technology, what you're doing for them. And then third, and probably not real finally, but this really is kind of coming at it as slightly different way. Now right before we started the episode, Zach we were kind of talking a little bit about how a lot of the ITIL managing professional is a lot more focused on almost coming from an operational middle management, a tactical, operational kind of a thing. Yeah, I mean it's not the you ignore strategy. That's why we have direct plan and improve. We mentioned it in HEBIT, we're not ignoring it, but I hate to say it but it's kinda coming more from that almost middle management, operational developers, all kind of working together. And only giving kind of lip service to the heads of our organization, the board of directors, the CEO, CTO, CIO, every O, and a C in front of it. [LAUGH] And VP level type of stuff, the senior management and what they're trying to do, how they're trying to get involved in this. And so this elevates this discussion of the ITIL concepts into arenas that you will see in the boardrooms. That you will see when the board of directors are getting together and the CEO is going this is not only the vision and purpose of what we are, but where we're going with it. That's where ITIL says, we need to be a part of that too. Now, story tell you I was at a organization, a financial institution here on the East Coast, and I literally sat down with the chief operating officer who was part of getting ITIL rolled out into this organization. And as he sat down in front of me, and he says, Chris, when I sit with my other five or six individuals, all have C in front of their titles as well. They're always looking at me and they're asking, okay, so we're spending all this money on that infamous, you're spending on this, what is this going to do for us, how does it make our organization better? And he says, all I can tell them it's this kind of like framework thing that helps the IT department work better with the business. And he says, but it's really hard to kind of describe that and to bring that up. Well, guess what, by having the ITIL suite in place, ITIL says look, here is what it looks like at a high level strategic view. And one of the big things that I've said, Jo has said, Zach has even hinted at in all of the courses that we've done for ITIL4, is that the strategy needs to set the vision. And everything needs to align and roll into that vision, otherwise You're just going to be stumbling over yourself. You might get some stuff done, and people do, but this course is really and I know it sounds like I'm really pumping it, but it's a great course. And I like the fact that we're gonna have a kind of slightly different audience with some of you. And so the technical mumbo jumbo that you might get in a lot of this, yeah, not so much than what we'll see here. Now a couple of things, in fact, probably a best thing to do is to say, well, what is a digital and IT strategy, and what is it not? Let's start with what it is. It's an examination of the role of a strategy in a digitally enabled organization, we've mentioned that twice now. It's an overview of the capabilities that if we're competing in this new world that we're in, and we're in the new millennium, we're two decades into the new millennium already. And what does that look like? What is the future hold? How do we evaluate the new technology? You don't wanna have a fad, you don't wanna have something that just sounds cool and it's gimmicky, but it really has no true business value to it. And then ways of thinking about innovation. So that way we not only are at the cutting edge on this implementation of digital technology, but we're at the forefront, and we disrupt our industry. It's the infamous, what happened when Uber came in, and Lyft, and the ride sharing, where all of a sudden, what was a very strong industry of transportation in metropolitan areas with taxis and buses and stuff like that. And they came in and they just revolutionized and they disrupted, and now taxi companies are pulling in a lot of the same technology and the same principles that you find on something like Uber. As well they should. So what we're gonna see here in DITS we're gonna see a methodology that we can use to help us be disruptors in the market. Yeah. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, definitely. And and sometimes it's going to be responding to some of the disruptions. How do we accurately, do we just try to mimic it? How do we react? Yeah, do we react and just go, we'll just do the same thing or do we say that's a good idea, but maybe we can spin it on its head and do something a little bit better. Makes sense. So that's what digital and IT strategy is about. Now what is it not? You'll notice the right hand side of the table here. It is not a how to guide. It is not a list of do this, don't do this. This is the way to borrow from our great show that you and I love watching, the Mandalorian. This is the way. This is the way. So- But this is not that. Yeah, not it's not that, so don't be a Mandalorian with this. You wanna be much more like if we're using the character like Cara Dune, The Ranger, who she's gotta just shoots and hip sometimes. So we'll go with that one. It is not an overview of using specific emerging technologies, a lot of people say, well what about like, Gartner's Magic Quadrant and looking at stuff like that? Well, but see, part of what they're trying to do is predict a little bit of the future. This is no how do we decide what the future is? How do we respond is what some of that feature is, and make sure that we're not way back in the back of the bus. So those are some tools you could use, but at the same time we're trying to say ITIL is not gonna say like AI is everything and all everything, that and a bag of chips. What there are gonna say is that AI is being used in very good ways, and maybe you could use it in a way that helps your organization. And again, it's not a forecast, again, go check out Gartner's Magic Quadrant if you wanna be looking at what's going in where things are happening in the new technologies and stuff like that. But it is a really important thing. By the way, even though it's not a how to, [SOUND] here we go, here's our little book- X series. Expos, see the ITIL right there [SOUND], and digital and IT strategy. So official materials and so- It's recommended that we have one. Yes, I will say that if you haven't already, make sure you go out and get a copy of it. I know it's a little bit more money to go grab it, but- Even Amazon has it. Amazon has it, yeah, you should be able to Look it up or just go to tsoshop.org.uk or The Stationery Office if you're looking for on Google, be looking for that. Now, the one interesting thing about this to kind of finalize this is it is a two part assessment, okay? The first, the new part is what they call a practical exercises assessment or a practical assessment. This is where we are going to be giving to you, it's in your downloadables. You're going to have four little practical assignments that you must do. And we'll get into in a little bit more detail about it, right? I'm just gonna say in subsequent episodes we're gonna be looking at that assessment. Yeah. And in the MCQ as well. Yeah, so you've got the practical assessments and Zach just mentioned it, the MCQ, multiple choice question exam. Which is also you can't take that until you've already given your practical assignments in, turn them in. And well, like I said check out that episode, we'll go through it- Coming right up. Yeah, we'll go through that in great detail. Two things though I want you to leave this episode with. And that is that if you can keep this in mind, you're going to be doing quite well all the way through. First stop is we start talking about that word digital. There's gonna be a lot of definitions of some words. Very similar, if you've already taken our hivelocity IT course, you're gonna see a lot of that type of terminology, digital strategy, digital organizations, digital products, digitization, all those things. And I like to keep it simple and practical. Yeah [LAUGH]. Digitization allows us to- Right. Dot, dot, dot. Exactly, and those are some good things. So the process of transforming something from the old, analogue, whether that was text or video or audio or stuff into the digital world, binary, 1's and 0's makes it better or I should say easier to manipulate, maintain, transfer, etc. But there's this other one called digital transformation, okay? Digital and IT strategy really is all going to be about this, and so that's why I need you to understand something. And if this is your very first [LAUGH]- [LAUGH] ITIL4 a course with us after your foundation. We like to point out- Yes. That would you should really know for the exam. Now this is my little dude, this is Pippin, or I'm sorry Peregrin took Ward my daughter's Corgi, and Pippin is always liking to point out things. And so when you see Pippin, pay attention. Pay attention. Pay attention. So guess what? Pippin says you need to know this definition. I'm not really big on brute force memorization, but I guarantee you if you keep this concept in your head throughout this entire course, it's gonna make it a lot easier for you. So make sure you know the use of digital technology to enable a significant improvement in the realization of the organization's objectives that could not been feasible unless if it was tried to be achieved in non-digital way. In other words, you have to be digital. And that's how you transform, it needs to be digital. And Pippin says, absolutely. And grove says absolutely and I say absolutely. ITIL4 leader DITS, please join us for subsequent episodes. So glad to have you with us. We'll see you again. Thank you for watching ITPRO TV. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]