Change enablement in ITIL 4 is the management practice of ensuring that changes to IT services and the IT infrastructure are implemented in a way that minimizes risk and disruption while maximizing value. In ITIL v3 2011 Edition and previous versions of ITIL, this IT service management (ITSM) discipline was called change management.
ITIL 4 recognized that IT organizations must adapt quickly to changing business needs, market demands, and technological advancements. So, while traditional change management can include rigid approvals and potentially prolonged evaluation cycles, change enablement is designed to:
- Support faster, more frequent change releases
- Encourage cross-team collaboration
- Align with Agile, DevOps, and Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) methodologies and practices
- Focus on enabling rather than restricting change.
This article calls out some of the key changes in the move from change management to change enablement.
The name change
Why the name change? If you know your ITIL, you’ll know there were two name changes. The term “change control” was initially used in ITIL 4 Foundation Edition. However, this was later revised due to negative industry feedback. Hopefully, you’ll agree that “change enablement” better reflects the practice’s goal of facilitating change efficiently rather than merely controlling it.
Change enablement is a management practice (not a process)
ITIL 4 introduced 34 management practices, and change enablement is one of them. ITIL v3 2011 Edition positioned change management within the Service Transition stage of the service lifecycle. Now, in ITIL 4, change enablement is embedded across the entire ITIL Service Value System (SVS), helping to ensure that change is integrated at every stage of service delivery.
Change Authority is a new change role
One of the most common misconceptions in ITIL v3 2011 Edition was that every change had to go to the change advisory board (CAB). ITIL 4 rectifies this with the concept of a Change Authority, which decentralizes decision-making.
The Change Authority can be:
- A delegated team within the organization
- A peer review mechanism for standard changes
- Automated approval processes in CI/CD pipelines
- Business stakeholders for high-risk changes.
Adopting DevOps practices
ITIL 4 recognizes that modern ITSM relies on automation. Unlike ITIL v3 2011 Edition, which often relied on manual change approvals, change enablement in ITIL 4 encourages automated change pipelines.
By integrating change enablement with CI/CD practices, your organization can:
- Automate risk assessments and approvals
- Reduce deployment delays
- Minimize human intervention in low-risk changes
- Increase the frequency of safe deployments.
Change enablement and the ITIL 4 Service Value Chain
ITIL 4 replaces the ITIL v3 2011 Edition Service Lifecycle model with the Service Value Chain, where the following elements can be used and reused for ITSM capabilities and value co-creation:
- Plan – Assessing the need for upcoming changes
- Improve – Implementing changes that drive service improvements
- Engage – Communicating changes to stakeholders
- Design & Transition – Deploying new or improved services
- Obtain/Build – Managing changes in software development
- Deliver & Support – Handling changes in operational environments.
Understanding the change
While the structure and terminology of the change guidance have changed between ITIL v3 2011 Edition and ITIL 4, the core principle remains the same – change capabilities exist to deliver value.
While there are similarities, there might also be subtle changes. For example, change enablement still categorizes changes into Standard, Normal, and Emergency changes, but the respective definitions and handling have evolved:
- Standard changes are pre-approved, low-risk, and repeatable changes. These are typically automated or documented in runbooks.
- Normal changes require risk assessment and approval. These are handled based on urgency, complexity, and impact and can follow different workflows depending on the risk level.
- Emergency changes are time-sensitive, urgent changes to prevent major incidents. They are still expedited and typically require a post-implementation review.
More can be said about the differences between change enablement and change management, but this article only intends to be a quick overview. If you feel I’ve missed something important, please let me know in the comments.
Sophie Danby
Sophie is a freelance ITSM marketing consultant, helping ITSM solution vendors to develop and implement effective marketing strategies.
She covers both traditional areas of marketing (such as advertising, trade shows, and events) and digital marketing (such as video, social media, and email marketing). She is also a trained editor.
