How Does ITIL 4 HVIT Differ From Other ITIL® Courses?

ITIL 4 High-Velocity IT (HVIT) is a specialized certification within the broader ITIL 4 framework designed for IT professionals working in high-velocity IT environments. These environments require rapid service delivery, continuous automation, and a focus on agility to meet the demands of modern business operations. While ITIL 4 as a whole is a comprehensive framework for IT service management (ITSM), the ITIL 4 HVIT module stands apart by its focus on the unique challenges faced by organizations operating in fast-paced, digital, and highly automated IT environments.

Focus On High-Velocity IT

The most significant difference between ITIL 4 HVIT and other ITIL courses is its focus on high-velocity IT environments. High-velocity IT refers to environments where speed, agility, and continuous innovation are critical for success. This is a shift from traditional IT service management, where the focus may have been more on stability, control, and slower, more methodical change.

• ITIL 4 HVIT: Focuses specifically on enabling organizations to deliver IT services rapidly and efficiently without sacrificing quality or resilience. It incorporates principles of automation, continuous delivery, DevOps, agile methodologies, and lean practices.

• Other ITIL Courses: Traditional ITIL courses, such as ITIL 4 Foundation, focus more broadly on the ITIL service management lifecycle. These courses emphasize core concepts such as service strategy, service design, service transition, and service operation, but they don’t dive as deeply into the practicalities of working in fast-paced IT environments.

The HVIT module is specifically designed for professionals working in digital businesses or environments that require rapid deployment of services, often through automation and agile practices.

Emphasis On Automation And Continuous Delivery

Automation is a key enabler of high-velocity IT. The ITIL 4 HVIT course emphasizes how to leverage automation to improve the speed and efficiency of service delivery. This includes the use of tools and practices such as continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, automated testing, and infrastructure as code (IaC), all of which are essential to reducing manual effort and accelerating service delivery cycles.

• ITIL 4 HVIT: Focuses on integrating automation into every aspect of service delivery to streamline processes and reduce bottlenecks. It teaches how to use automation to enhance the speed of IT operations, whether through coding practices, infrastructure management, or deployment processes.

• Other ITIL Courses: While other ITIL modules, such as ITIL 4 Foundation, discuss automation within the broader context of IT service management, they don’t go into as much detail on how to implement automation in high-velocity environments. Automation in traditional ITIL courses is often approached more from a high-level strategic viewpoint rather than a hands-on, technical perspective.

The ITIL 4 HVIT course goes into the practical application of automation tools and strategies to ensure IT services are delivered swiftly, efficiently, and with minimal manual intervention.

Integration Of Agile, Lean, And DevOps Practices

Another distinguishing factor of the ITIL 4 HVIT certification is its integration of agile, lean, and DevOps principles into IT service management. These practices are fundamental to the concept of high-velocity IT because they help organizations adapt quickly to changing demands, continuously improve processes, and maintain high levels of collaboration between development and operations teams.

• ITIL 4 HVIT: The course covers how to implement agile and lean practices to accelerate service delivery and enhance responsiveness to customer needs. It also emphasizes DevOps practices to break down silos between teams and foster a culture of collaboration, automation, and continuous delivery.

• Other ITIL Courses: Traditional ITIL courses, such as ITIL Foundation or ITIL Specialist modules, may reference agile and DevOps but typically don’t delve as deeply into how these methodologies can be applied within the context of ITIL processes. They generally focus on broader service management processes such as change management, service design, and service operation rather than the practical, day-to-day application of agile, lean, and DevOps.

ITIL 4 HVIT integrates these modern methodologies into the framework to provide a more agile, flexible, and collaborative approach to IT service management.

Customer-Centric And Value-Driven Approach

ITIL 4 as a whole places a strong emphasis on creating value for customers, but the HVIT certification specifically focuses on how to do this in a high-velocity environment. The idea of providing value quickly and iteratively is central to high-velocity IT, where organizations must adapt to customer needs and feedback in real-time.

• ITIL 4 HVIT: Emphasizes customer-centricity by focusing on how to quickly assess customer needs, gather feedback, and adjust services and processes accordingly. It teaches how to create service value streams that are not only efficient but also responsive to changing customer requirements.

• Other ITIL Courses: In contrast, other ITIL courses, such as ITIL Foundation, often deal with customer value in a more static, longer-term perspective. These courses provide frameworks for managing services across their entire lifecycle but may not focus on the agility and rapid feedback loops that are necessary for high-velocity IT.

The HVIT course teaches how to use customer feedback to drive rapid improvements in service delivery, ensuring that services remain aligned with customer expectations in fast-paced environments.

Focus On Resilience And Risk Management

While speed is essential in high-velocity IT, maintaining service resilience and managing risks is just as important. The ITIL 4 HVIT course emphasizes how to balance the need for speed with the requirement for resilient, secure, and reliable IT services. In high-velocity environments, managing risks proactively and ensuring that services remain available during rapid changes is a critical aspect of IT service management.

• ITIL 4 HVIT: Provides guidance on how to build resilient services, incorporate redundancy, and implement effective risk management practices that don’t slow down service delivery. The course highlights how to handle failures, disruptions, and security threats in environments where changes happen quickly.

• Other ITIL Courses: Traditional ITIL courses generally focus on risk management and resilience but from a broader, more strategic perspective. In contrast, ITIL 4 HVIT is much more focused on ensuring that high-speed environments can withstand disruptions and continue delivering value to customers.

In HVIT, resilience and risk management practices are tailored to high-velocity environments, ensuring that speed does not come at the cost of reliability.

Target Audience

The target audience for ITIL 4 HVIT is distinct from other ITIL certifications. It is designed for professionals working in industries or environments where speed, automation, and agility are key drivers of success. This includes roles in digital transformation, cloud computing, DevOps, continuous integration, and agile project management.

• ITIL 4 HVIT: Ideal for professionals working in high-velocity environments such as IT operations, service delivery, digital transformation teams, DevOps practitioners, and agile coaches.

• Other ITIL Courses: Traditional ITIL courses are suitable for a wider range of IT professionals, from those involved in strategic service management to those working in more traditional, slower-paced IT environments.

Conclusion

ITIL 4 HVIT differs from other ITIL courses in several key ways. Its focus on high-velocity IT environments, automation, agile and DevOps practices, customer-centricity, resilience, and speed makes it highly specialized and relevant for organizations aiming to innovate and deliver services rapidly. While traditional ITIL modules provide foundational knowledge of service management processes, the HVIT certification goes deeper into the practicalities of managing IT services in dynamic, fast-paced environments. It is an essential qualification for professionals working in industries where agility and rapid service delivery are key to business success.