I keep getting this question a lot: “Which are the books you recommend to learn
ITIL ?”. There are thousands of ITIL books out there. Many of them really good.
For me, the best you can do if you have the time and the money, is going to the basics. The OGC books are the place where ITIL is defined. So I’ll start from them.
Service Strategy, by Majid Iqbal and Michael Nieves describes the core of the ITIL cycle.
It begins with an introduction to the context for which ITIL is intended, and goes on to describe the very basics of service management. The main description of service strategy is contained in chapters 3 and 4.
Chapter 3 focus on the principles behind service strategy (value creation, service assets, service provider types, service structures, and service fundamentals).
Chapter 4 explain the process itself. It includes the details of market definition, offering and strategic asset development, and preparation for execution.
In chapter 5, the authors concentrate on the economics of the service. Concepts such as financial management, return on investment, and demand management are treated in detail.
The book closes with a series of chapters that gets deeper into organizational, tactical and operational issues, to end the book with a description of success factors and risks.
The good: Ton’s of real life examples.
The bad: It’s not light reading material. You won’t be able to fast forward through the pages and find definitions and exam answers. Also, this is an expensive book.
Bottom line: If you’re in a hurry to pass the exam, maybe this book is not the quickest option, but if you’re truly interested in learning ITIL from the ground up, this is definitely a keeper.
Price Tag: You can buy it from Amazon for $159.00. Or, if you’re going to eventually get all the OGC books, you can get the entire suite (Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation, Continual Service Improvement) for $549.00.
