Introducing ITIL Framework in Small Enterprises: Tailoring ITSM Practices to the Size of Company

Given the critical consequences that IT can have on the survival of SMEs in a competitive environment, ITSM practices have becoming a necessity for SMEs that must be investigated. ITIL is criticized as being appropriate for large enterprises and less for SMEs. Thus, it calls for tailoring this framework while taking into consideration the specific realities of small companies. In this context, this article provides a practical tool formally developed according to the design science research approach, and it addresses an area of relevance to both practitioners and academics and suggests solutions that can help managers to personalize IT service practices to suit the characteristics of small scale enterprises. Results show that the flexible nature of the proposed framework has enabled to overcome the main difficulties of ITIL components implementation in small scale environments. It is found that the integrated use of balanced scorecard perspectives and ITIL practices can help SMEs to better implement ITIL components, achieving in that way a better alignment between the business and the IT.