ITIL Compliant helpdesk software

The following was my response to a LinkedIn question that was posted in a LinkedIn discussion about ITIL best practices for service desks.

In answer to "Is there such a thing as an ITIL compliant service desk application?"

Nope.

ITIL is a library. You cannot be compliant to a library.

ITIL describes a process only. It doesn't tell you how you must implement it. You can implement it any way you want. Descriptive, not prescriptive is the tag the ITIL boffins use. Software may give you the ability track and manage your implementation more effectively.

Here's an analogy that might make sense.

I love playing music. Loud electric blues guitar specifically...

Blues music has a well defined structure. A five note pentatonic scale with a "blue" note thrown in for a bit of colour. Follows a I, IV, V chord progression. There's the library.

So when I play the blues, am I "Blues compliant"?

I refer to the theory and the vast library of blues players before me, but my implementation/alignment with the blues is very much an individual expression of the "theory/library", and my effectiveness of it is questionable.

ITIL compliant software exists no more than a blues-compliant guitar exists.

And if such a guitar did exist......Jimi would've smashed that too!

http://www.helpmasterpro.com/community/blogs/entryid/23/if-itil-is-the-answer-whats-the-question.aspx