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What is RCV? (Updated for ITIL 4 Practitioners)

Originally published November 2016 | Updated May 2025 In the earlier days of ITIL® education, we often referenced “RCV” - shorthand for Release, Control, and Validation - a lifecycle-based intermediate course in ITIL v3. While ITIL 4 has moved away from that structure, understanding RCV still provides important historical context and insight into key practices that continue to drive value in modern service management. A Quick Flashback: RCV in ITIL v3  RCV was one of the five ITIL v3 Lifecycle modules, focusing on ensuring that changes to services are properly managed, tested, and deployed. The primary goal? Minimize risk while improving the business's ability to adapt to changing requirements. The core practices in the RCV module included: Change Management (now evolved into Change Enablement) Release and Deployment Management Service Validation and Testing Service Asset and Configuration Management Evaluation and Knowledge Management These processes hel...
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Fresh Ideas for the Service Desk

Fresh Ideas for the Service Desk: Inspired by ITIL 4 The Service Desk has always been at the heart of IT service delivery, connecting users to the services they need and providing vital support. But in today’s fast-paced digital world, the expectations placed on the Service Desk are evolving. Organizations need more than just a team that answers tickets; they need a strategic partner that contributes to business value, user satisfaction, and continual improvement. Whether you're just beginning your journey or ready to take your Service Desk to the next level, here are some fresh ideas inspired by ITIL® 4 that can help you modernize and thrive. 💡 1. Shift from Process-Focused to Value-Focused ITIL 4 encourages us to think in terms of value co-creation , not just process adherence. The Service Desk isn’t just logging incidents, it’s playing a central role in delivering value to users and the organization. Idea: Start mapping common user interactions to value streams...

5 Essentials You Must Be Doing to be an SRE

Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) is more than a job title; it’s a mindset, a philosophy, and a set of practices designed to bridge the gap between development and operations. However, not every team or professional using the SRE title truly embodies what it means to be an SRE. In this blog, we’ll explore five key practices that define true SREs. If you’re not doing these, you might want to rethink calling yourself or your team an SRE. 1. Prioritizing Reliability Over Everything Else SREs live and breathe reliability. If you’re not actively measuring and maintaining your systems' availability, performance, and durability, then you’re missing the core purpose of SRE. What You Should Be Doing: Define and track Service Level Objectives (SLOs) and Service Level Indicators (SLIs). Use error budgets to balance feature development and system stability. Implement incident response processes to minimize downtime. 2. Automating Toil Away Toil - the repetitive, manual tasks th...

5 Essential Tips from ITIL 4 IT Asset Management Training

5 Essential Tips from ITIL 4 IT Asset Management Training Organizations rely on IT assets to power operations, drive innovation, and meet business objectives. Managing these assets effectively can be the difference between seamless operations and costly inefficiencies. That’s where IT Asset Management (ITAM) comes in, a cornerstone practice within the ITIL 4 framework. After diving deep into ITAM training, we’ve gathered five essential tips to help you enhance your ITAM strategy and maximize the value of your IT investments. 1. Focus on the Full Asset Lifecycle ITAM isn’t just about tracking assets - it’s about managing their entire lifecycle. From procurement to retirement, each stage plays a vital role in ensuring your organization gets maximum value. Key points include: Procurement: Align purchases with organizational goals and budgets. Usage: Monitor performance and compliance to reduce waste. Disposal: Ensure environmentally responsible and secure asset disposal ...

How to Align ITSM with Organizational Goals: A Step-by-Step Guide

IT Service Management (ITSM) is far more than a set of processes for managing IT services. It’s a strategic tool that can help organizations achieve their broader goals, from driving digital transformation to enhancing customer satisfaction. However, realizing this potential requires a deliberate effort to align ITSM with organizational objectives. In this guide, we’ll walk you through a step-by-step process to ensure your ITSM initiatives directly support and amplify your organization’s goals. Step 1: Understand Your Organization’s Goals Before aligning ITSM with organizational objectives, you need a clear understanding of what those objectives are. Engage with leadership and business units to identify key priorities, such as: Improving customer experience. Enhancing operational efficiency. Driving innovation or digital transformation. Increasing profitability or cost control. 💡Pro Tip: Translate high-level goals into actionable metrics. For example, “improve customer exper...

Behind the Scenes: What It Takes to Develop an Engaging ITSM Course

At ITSM Academy, we pride ourselves on delivering training that not only meets global certification standards but also provides an exceptional learner experience. Many of the courses we offer, such as ITIL, DevOps, and Agile Service Management, are best-practice courses with pre-defined syllabi and certification requirements. While these standards set the framework, our mission is to bring them to life in ways that resonate with learners, both during and after class. Here’s a look behind the scenes at how we ensure our courses are more than just a checklist, they’re transformative learning experiences. 1. Aligning with Global Standards Every course we deliver is carefully aligned with globally recognized best practices and certification requirements. We ensure that: All syllabus objectives are covered thoroughly and accurately. Certification exam preparation is seamlessly integrated into the course. All content reflects the latest updates and standards from governing bodies. Meeting th...

Invest in Your Career: Service Management Training for 2025 and Beyond

The Future is Bright ☀️ Be Ready to Shine! As we move into 2025, the demand for skilled IT professionals continues to soar. Certification training in ITIL, DevOps, Agile, and Employee Experience isn’t just a smart move, it’s an essential investment in your future.  Here’s why: DevOps:    The global DevOps market is expected to grow at an impressive 22.34% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) reaching $44.06 billion by 2030. With companies prioritizing operational efficiency, cloud computing, and continuous delivery, the need for DevOps expertise is skyrocketing. Certification helps you master the tools and practices that drive faster releases, improved collaboration, and seamless automation. Agile :   By 2033, the Agile market is forecasted to hit $179.9 billion, as organizations across industries adopt Agile frameworks to stay competitive. Agile training equips you with the mindset and techniques to lead adaptive teams, manage evolving priorities, and deliver cus...