ITIL is the Information Technology Infrastructure Library – an international organization much like the ISO which sets standards and procedures and issues certifications for compliancy. It supplies high quality IT documentation and facilities the exchange of IT information. It covers best-practice recommendations of areas that include Change Management, Service Desk, and Problem/Incident management. The ITIL library is a huge compilation of documents on these areas that will hopefully be used world wide in a standardized fashion. The benefits of following the ITIL suggested standards and guidelines for best practices makes the tracking of systems and licenses used easier, reporting and correction of incidents and errors faster, the comprehensive structure easier to manage, and in many cases the ability to cut long term costs that would have normally been wasted on mismanagement of a business or large organization that had no set plan of action for these occurrences.

The ITIL in all of its writings and frameworks and services also helps businesses by letting their IT be able to know what and where everything is when the IT department will need to upgrade computers components and systems that would otherwise be neglected – it insures that problems from these upgrades are effectively reported and addressed completely rather than having to wait for answers. This is called a SAM or otherwise known as Software Asset Management – as quoted from the ITIL guide “”Software Asset Management is all of the infrastructure and processes necessary for the effective management, control and protection of the software assets within an organization, throughout all stages of their life cycle” . The ITIL has released several books over the years, and each one addresses areas that could be improved and streamlined for IT. The ITIL is an important asset for any organization and every single organization should use their best practices guidelines and read up on what they provide.