ITIL in small to medium-sized enterprises software companies: towards an implementation sequence

Information Technology Infrastructure Library, ITIL framework, is a set of comprehensive publications providing descriptive guidance on the management of IT processes, functions, roles and responsibilities related to Information Technology Service Management. However, and in spite of its repercussion and popularity, the ITIL framework does not suggest an implementation order for their processes. This decision constitutes the first challenge that an organization must overcome when starting an ITIL implementation, the enterprise size being one of the leading factors to be considered in the decision making process. In the scenario of Small and Medium Enterprises dedicated to producing software, this paper is devoted to investigating which processes are the most selected to start the implementation of ITIL in these organizations. This is done by means of two different instruments. Firstly, a systematic literature review on the topic and secondly, a survey conducted among experts and practitioners. Results show in both cases that Incident Management Process should be the first process when implementing ITIL framework.