ITIL® 4 and Design Thinking are both valuable in process design. Especially in large corporate environments, their combined use can greatly benefit the process landscape.
ITIL® 4
ITIL® 4 is the globally recognized standard for IT Service Management. At its core is the Service Value System (SVS), which describes how all activities of an organization work together to create real value for customers and the business. A central component is the Service Value Chain (SVC) with six building blocks: Plan, Improve, Engage, Design & Transition, Obtain/Build, and Deliver & Support. These enable the development of new services, improvement of existing ones, and even their retirement.
Design Thinking
Design Thinking (DT) is based on empathy for the user, creative idea generation, and iterative testing and improvement through prototyping. The goal is to create solutions that not only work technically and economically but also inspire and delight.
From Theory to Practice: Embedding Design Thinking in the Service Value Chain
While ITIL® 4 provides structure and governance, Design Thinking brings creativity and radical user focus. ITIL® 4 itself calls for adaptation—best practices are not copy-paste. Within the Service Value Chain, Design Thinking offers an ideal complement. With the introduction of seven guiding principles in version 4, ITIL® embraced agility. Both approaches share important principles: Involve stakeholders, Focus on value, and Work iteratively. So why not enrich the Service Value Chain with Design Thinking?
In practice, this means: Understand user needs, test ideas quickly, and incorporate feedback before transitioning the service into structured ITIL® implementation. But the service lifecycle doesn’t end there—continuous improvement should occur in direct customer contact as long as the service delivers real added value.
This creates a process that unites innovation and governance.
The combination of ITIL® 4 and Design Thinking offers clear advantages:
High user satisfaction through empathy
Rapid improvement thanks to prototyping and feedback
Reduced risk through ITIL® governance
Sustainable value creation through continuous improvement
Better cross-functional collaboration
If you want to learn more or need to improve user acceptance of your process landscape — T60 offers ITIL®-trained Design Thinkers.
ITIL® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited.