Companies are changing their services, introducing new technologies, automating processes, and adapting their organizations to meet new customer requirements. Nevertheless, a familiar problem often arises: The actual change is successfully initiated but is not permanently embedded in day-to-day work. New processes are defined, projects are completed, and goals are communicated. A few months later, however, teams are back to working according to old patterns, new tools are used only partially, or the expected benefits fall short of expectations.
It is precisely at this point that transformation in service management becomes a management task. The follow-up ITIL 5 Transformation module focuses on how organizations can not only initiate change but also effectively shape it and embed it permanently. The emphasis is less on individual projects and more on an organization’s ability to continuously evolve.
The key question, therefore, is not just, “How do we kick off the next change?” What’s far more important is, “How do we ensure that change actually becomes part of our daily work?”
Why Transformation Is More Than Just a Change Project
Transformation is often associated with large-scale initiatives. A new tool is introduced, a service management system is modernized, processes are redesigned, or a new organizational structure is created. While such projects can be important catalysts, true transformation goes beyond that.
It not only changes individual processes, but also influences the way people make decisions, collaborate, and create value. That is precisely why transformation does not end with a successful go-live. A new tool may have been technically implemented yet still have little impact. A new process may have been documented yet still be circumvented in day-to-day operations. A new organizational structure may have been adopted, while teams continue to work according to old lines of responsibility.
Transformation is only successful when actual behavior changes and the new way of working becomes a permanent part of everyday life.
Why Changes Often Don't Last
Many change initiatives start off with a lot of attention. There are workshops, project teams, new goals, and regular communication. During the launch phase, it’s clear that things are supposed to change. Once the project ends, however, the situation often shifts. The project team is disbanded, other priorities take center stage, and the organization gradually returns to its familiar routines.
This doesn't necessarily happen out of resistance. People tend to follow what works in their day-to-day lives. When new ways of working seem more complicated, responsibilities remain unclear, or managers continue to reward old behaviors, old patterns quickly resurface.
That is why it is not enough to simply explain the change. An organization must create conditions under which the new way of working actually becomes simpler, more meaningful, and more effective than the old one. This is precisely one of the central challenges of any transformation.
Transformation begins with a clear "why"
Change works better when people understand why it is necessary. That may sound obvious, but in practice, the focus is often more on solutions than on problems. For example, a company might introduce a new platform and provide detailed information about its features. Yet employees are still left wondering exactly which specific problem the platform is meant to solve.
This quickly gives the impression that , “We’re getting a new system because management wants a new system.”
An effective transformation therefore does not begin with technology, but with a shared understanding of why change is necessary and what benefits it is intended to deliver. In service management, for example, this can mean providing faster support to customers, improving handoffs between teams, reducing unnecessary work, or aligning digital services more closely with actual needs.
The clearer this goal is, the easier it will be to base future decisions on it, and the more understandable the change will be to those involved.
Change must work in everyday work life
A common mistake is to introduce new ways of working alongside existing structures. This creates additional work. For example, employees are expected to use a new process, but at the same time, old approval procedures, documentation requirements, and reporting obligations remain in place. As a result, the organization doesn’t operate any differently—it simply has to do more work at first.
In the long run, this often leads people to start looking for shortcuts or finding ways to circumvent the new approach. Transformation should therefore always include the question of which existing routines can be eliminated in the future. When a new way of working is introduced, old structures must be consciously reviewed.
This is the only way to bring about real change rather than adding to the complexity.
Leadership determines whether change is credible
Transformation cannot be delegated solely to a project team or change management. Leaders play a crucial role because employees closely observe what behavior is actually expected within the company.
When leaders call for new forms of collaboration but continue to rely exclusively on old metrics and decision-making processes, a contradiction arises. The organization then hears a new message but continues to experience the old reality.
That is why leaders must do more than just communicate change. They must visibly support it themselves, consistently align decisions with the new goals, and actively remove obstacles. As a result, transformation shifts from being a communication project to a leadership task.
Culture cannot simply be imposed
During transformations, people often say, “We need to change our culture.” But culture cannot be replaced by a presentation or a new corporate guideline. It emerges from everyday behavior, from decisions, incentives, and the way people work together.
Which decisions are rewarded? How are mistakes handled? Who is allowed to take on responsibility? How openly are problems addressed? Questions like these shape culture far more than official statements.
This is particularly relevant for service management. For example, if an organization wants to operate in a more customer-focused manner, it is not enough to simply state customer focus as a value. Teams need information about customer expectations, appropriate decision-making authority, and metrics that highlight actual customer value.
Transformation is therefore most effective at changing culture when it alters the structures that influence daily behavior.
Competencies are a crucial part of any transformation
New ways of working often require new skills. This is easily underestimated in change initiatives. For example, if decision-making is to become more data-driven, people need the appropriate skills. When AI is integrated into services, employees must understand how to use it responsibly. If teams are to take on more responsibility, they must also learn to make decisions independently.
That is why transformation does not happen solely through new processes. It requires the development of skills.
However, a one-time training session is often not enough. People need to be able to apply new knowledge, gain experience, and exchange ideas with others. As a result, learning itself becomes an integral part of the transformation.
Organizations that want to embed change permanently should therefore not only ask which processes are changing. They should also determine what skills employees will need in the future to succeed in the new way of working.
Transformation requires clear lines of responsibility
Change often creates uncertainty. Existing roles shift, new responsibilities arise, and decision-making is redistributed. If these changes aren’t clearly defined, gaps can quickly emerge. Then everyone assumes that someone else is in charge.
This can be particularly problematic in service management, because many services span multiple teams and departments. Transformation should therefore not only define responsibilities during a project; it must also clarify how responsibility will function on an ongoing basis in the new operating model.
Who makes decisions about a service? Who evaluates improvements? Who prioritizes requirements? Who is responsible for risks? Clear roles provide guidance and prevent the transformation from falling apart organizationally once the project ends.
Measurement Determines Whether Transformation Can Be Managed
A transformation requires goals. But goals alone are not enough. Organizations must also be able to determine whether things are actually improving.
This quickly leads to a familiar problem: We tend to measure what is easy to measure. For example, a transformation program counts the number of training sessions completed, tools implemented, or processes changed. These numbers can be helpful, but they say little about whether the service has actually improved.
The more interesting question, therefore, is: What effect does the change have?
Are customers more satisfied? Can teams resolve issues more quickly? Have handoffs become easier? Are decisions made more quickly? Is there less unnecessary work?
Transformation should therefore be measured as closely as possible to the actual outcome. It is not the number of change initiatives that determines success, but their impact.
Transformation and continuous improvement go hand in hand
Transformation is often viewed as a state of emergency. It involves a starting point, an intensive project phase, and then a defined end state. In a digital organization, however, this concept is becoming less and less effective.
Technologies continue to evolve, customer expectations change, new regulatory requirements emerge, and business models adapt. As a result, there is virtually no situation in which an organization is permanently “fully transformed.”
That is precisely why transformation goes hand in hand with continuous improvement. Instead of launching major change initiatives every few years, organizations can improve their ability to regularly embrace change and implement it in a controlled manner.
Transformation is thus no longer viewed merely as a project. It becomes an organizational capability.
Small changes can have a greater impact in the long run
Large-scale transformation programs attract attention, but they also carry risks. The more processes, roles, and systems are changed at the same time, the more difficult it becomes to understand the implications and take corrective action.
A gradual transformation can therefore often be more sustainable. Organizations can first test new ways of working in one area, gain experience, and learn from it. What works? Where do difficulties arise? Which assumptions were wrong?
These insights can then be incorporated into the next change. This creates a learning process in which transformation is not simply planned and then carried out, but rather evolves based on real-world experiences.
Resistance is often a valuable signal
People who view change critically are quickly labeled as “resistance.” This can be problematic, because criticism often contains important information.
Perhaps the new process really doesn't work in day-to-day operations. Perhaps information is missing, or important dependencies have been overlooked. A learning organization, therefore, does not automatically treat resistance as a problem, but first asks why it arises.
Of course, there are situations in which people are fundamentally opposed to change. Often, however, critical feedback highlights weaknesses that a project team was unable to identify from its own perspective.
Transformation therefore requires spaces where such feedback is possible. Those who merely communicate change but do not allow for feedback lose an important source of learning.
Technology alone does not transform an organization
In service management in particular, transformations are often driven by new tools. A company may implement a new ITSM platform, automate processes, or integrate artificial intelligence. Such technologies can enable tremendous improvements, but they do not automatically bring about those improvements.
Automation may simply make an inefficient process inefficient even faster. A new tool does not automatically clarify unclear responsibilities. And a poor service experience does not improve simply because AI is used.
Technology is therefore an important enabler. However, transformation only occurs when technology is integrated with processes, skills, roles, and goals.
It is precisely this holistic approach that is crucial for modern service management.
AI further increases the pressure to transform
Artificial intelligence is accelerating this trend. Companies can automate tasks, make knowledge available more quickly, and create new service experiences. This opens up significant opportunities, while at the same time, roles and work practices are changing—in some cases, more rapidly than ever before.
Employees must learn to work alongside AI. Responsibilities must be reassessed, and managers must decide which tasks should be automated and where human judgment remains indispensable.
As a result, AI becomes not just a technology project, but a driver of transformation. Organizations that adopt AI merely as a new tool may therefore be tapping into only a fraction of its potential.
The greatest impact occurs when companies also ask themselves how work should be structured in the future.
ITIL 5 Transformation Focuses on Sustainable Change
This is precisely where the more advanced ITIL 5 topic of “Transformation” comes into play. While the ITIL Foundation establishes a common understanding of modern digital product and service management, “Transformation” focuses more on an organization’s ability to successfully shape change and embed it permanently.
Transformation is not reduced to a single change project. Rather, the focus is on the connection between people, the organization, leadership, learning, and continuous improvement.
This makes the topic particularly relevant for companies that already have service management structures in place and are now wondering how they can further develop these structures.
After all, it’s often not the next method that’s missing. What’s missing is the ability to embed change in the organization in a sustainable way.
Who would find ITIL 5 Transformation particularly interesting?
This topic is particularly aimed at people who not only work within existing structures but also help shape their future development. This includes service managers as well as executives, transformation leaders, consultants, and those responsible for digital products and services.
This perspective is also relevant for people who are managing major technological or organizational changes. After all, regardless of whether a transformation is driven by AI, new platforms, organizational changes, or shifting customer requirements, the central challenge remains similar:
People, processes, and structures must all come together to drive change.
That's exactly why we need more than just traditional project management.
Transformation and change management are not the same thing
Change management often focuses on how to successfully implement a specific change. Transformation takes a broader view. It examines how an organization evolves as a whole and how multiple changes collectively contribute to a vision.
Change management can thus be an integral part of a transformation. However, a transformation rarely consists of just a single change. New technologies, skills, organizational structures, and services influence one another.
For service management leaders, this means not only managing individual changes but also understanding how they are interconnected. It is precisely this understanding that gives them the ability to steer transformation rather than merely reacting to changes.
Conclusion: A successful transformation endures even after the project is over
Transformation isn't measured by how many projects were launched or how many new processes were defined. It's measured by whether people actually work differently after a change program has ended.
This requires a clear goal, tangible benefits, the right skills, and leadership that consistently supports change. Equally important are clear responsibilities, feedback, and a culture in which learning and improvement are part of everyday life.
The ITIL 5 Transformation Module addresses precisely this challenge and links transformation with modern service management. After all, digital products and services are constantly evolving.
Therefore, companies need more than just the ability to successfully complete change projects. They need the ability to manage change over the long term.
That is precisely the difference between an organization that must be transformed time and again and one that has learned to evolve on its own.
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Training Tip: ITIL 5 Transformation at SERVIEW
If you want to learn how to not only plan for change but also embed it sustainably in digital products, services, and organizations, the ITIL 5 Transformation training at SERVIEW is the right next step.
This training program is designed for individuals who are responsible for service management, digital transformation, or organizational development and who wish to deepen their ITIL 5 knowledge in a targeted manner.
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