Global as well as local businesses and economy are relying on technology more and more each day. The customers are getting “spoiled” by the technology and the customer oriented services it provides. But all the services and the benefits that technology is able to provide to our society is not a simple task that managers, information technology (IT) professionals and executives have to deal with. In today’s business and services world, technology connects us in dimensions we have never imaged before. Companies have their work force in virtual offices all over the world; sales personnel needs to access the corporate network from a client’s office and many employees are even doing their work from home. And of course each business wants to provide its employees, partners and customers with a simple and easy way to get what they want by using automated customer service, 24/7 technical support, online shopping and banking, simple and easy feedback solutions  - and that is just the beginning. Therefore, IT management is becoming more and more service-oriented, offering continuous evaluation and improvement of applications, communication, delivery and support services to internal and external customers. But since all is connected through technology and the internet, compatibility issues can be a major problem. Although one company might have the same idea of providing customer service by using the same technology that an other company already has in place, does not necessarily mean that in the long run these companies will be able to share customers, cooperate or even compliment each other in their business endeavors. To avoid communication and incompatibility issues, companies need to implement a standard that allows them to facilitate the delivery of IT services. And this is where Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) has started to play a major role in the past years and will become an even stronger standard than it has been so far. This paper will evaluate the need of ITIL in the IT service field as well as why companies will and will have to adapt ITIL in order to become or continue to be a part of the constantly growing business field while maintaining their competitive business advantage. Although some critics might argue that ITIL will not succeed because of lack of financial means within the business world or the complexity of ITIL implementations, this paper will show that organizations will be able to adapt rather easily to the IT service standard once the initial implementation and usage hurdles have been taken and the advantages of having ITIL implemented been outlined. The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a framework of best practice approaches intended to facilitate the delivery of IT services and is the most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world. This standard or approach provides a cohesive set of best practice, drawn from the public and private sectors internationally and outlines an extensive set of management procedures that are intended to support businesses in achieving both high financial quality and value in IT operations, efficiency and service. These procedures are supplier-independent and have been developed to provide guidance across the entire spectrum of IT infrastructure, development, and operations and to all business sizes. It is supported by a comprehensive qualifications scheme, accredited training organizations, implementation and assessment tools (ITIL, 2007). With that in mind and the constantly changing IT business world, with new technologies, services and businesses constantly trying to improve their efficiency, customer service and increase their competitive advantage, it is no longer enough to simply maintain the IT infrastructure by adjusting and upgrading IT after the need has been identified.  Today's IT managers are expected to support the success of the entire business by planning ahead and pro-actively shaping and upgrading the business IT environment to meet the increasing demands. In addition to that IT management is forced to improve the quality of IT services and the alignment of these services with customer needs by offering new improved services  such as  performance and availability support, customer and help desk support, and education and maintenance (Van Bon, 2002). And this is where a standard such as ITIL comes in very useful to maintain not only best practices within the IT services, but also improve the overall efficiency of the service and IT processes. Especially the IT service management, which is driven both by technology and the huge range of organizational environments in which it operates, it is in a state of constant evolution and therefore requires a guidance based on management procedures, which is supplier-independent, fairly easily adaptable to ones needs, compatible and based on a cohesive set of best practice and experience form various sectors. Since its first implementation, ITIL has become a more important tool for businesses across the world over the past years. Although ITIL is gaining momentum it is still in the early implementation stages in North America.  Only 19% of respondent organizations in North America have reached the most mature practice levels which include control, integration, and optimization. The majority of respondents (81%) report their adoption of the ITIL framework (guidelines, principles, and concepts) is either absent or is still being established and not yet implemented.  The survey participants also reported that the major barriers to ITIL adoption are a lack of awareness (61 percent), an inability to attain buy-in (60 percent), and a lack of committed process owners (59 percent) (TechRepublic, 2005). Although the lack of awareness is a major issue, companies need to realize that implementing the ITIL standard will benefit their business and customers in many ways. The introduction of a consistent set of processes such as ITIL will highlight potential weaknesses in the previous operations and encourages pro-active improvements. The overall advantages for businesses can be divided into three major areas which are information technology, efficiency and customer service. The benefits in the information technology area are higher IT system users' productivity due to reduced down times, strengthened IT infrastructure, improved quality of IT-related information for optimal management and decision-making, minimized loss and inconsistent records of information, incidents and customer enquiries as well as better management and control over the IT system's infrastructure. On the efficiency side, the business will benefit from improved first line resolution rates, improved team work and communication, reduced numbers of incidents, more effective and efficient usage of resources related to service provision, subsequent cost reduction potential as well as systematic and consistent approach to all processes which again will guarantee the same and high level of quality provided. The customer service part will benefit from ITIL implementation by providing speedy responses to customer enquiries and complaints, enhanced customer care and higher customer satisfaction and improved control of SLA performance which will result in a more favorable perception of services provided. All this will also provide the business the opportunity to discovery and implement permanent solutions, align IT services to present and future needs of the business and its customers as well as improve the service quality, set known, common and integrated procedures and have a precise formalization of the roles and responsibilities of each participant e.g. employees, technology, customers and partners. In overall the business will be able to correspond better to business strategy, the customer demands and the users by using ITIL’ Best Practices (itSMF International, 2007). Over the past years ITIL has developed into the most powerful and widely accepted set of guidelines for achieving Best Practice in IT Service Management. Best Practice, based on expert advice and input from ITIL users is both current and practical, combining the latest thinking with sound and common sense guidance. Adopting the guidance does not only offer the above stated benefits for the entire business but also is a very important factor when considering the enormous growth of globalization, corporate partnerships and improved delivery of third party services through the specifications of ITIL or ISO’s. (Best Management Practice, 2007). In addition to that ITIL also helps businesses with regulatory compliance such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) which requires a thorough documentation of IT processes. Since ITIL is a core part of the foundation of the Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) model, which has been selected as the framework for external auditors performing IT audits for Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), ITIL process guidelines and the COBIT control objectives are a powerful combination that can help accelerate and simplify Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance (Meyer, 2005). Although ITIL has been criticized on several fronts, which include statements that the books are not affordable for non-commercial users, accusations that many ITIL advocates think ITIL is "a holistic, all-encompassing framework for IT governance", all the way to accusations that proponents of ITIL indoctrinate the methodology with 'religious zeal' at the expense of pragmatism, ITIL is becoming a more and more important standard in the IT service sector. Not only providing various benefits, efficiency improvements and customer satisfaction but also simplifies regulatory compliance. Another argument that critics have voiced is based on a 2004 survey where ITIL adopting organizations were asked to relate their actual experiences in having implemented ITIL. Seventy-seven percent of survey respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that "ITIL does not have all the answers". ITIL supporters accept this, citing ITIL's stated intention to be non-prescriptive and vendor neutral, expecting that organizations will have to engage ITIL processes with their existing overall business and service process models, resources and financial and capabilities (Bruton Consultancy, 2004). Businesses cannot forget that ITIL will not provide the answers because it was designed in such a way that it is adaptable to any organization and any mix of IT resources and technologies worldwide. It provides a blue-print for service development and processes, and the IT department can focus on implementing the blue-print rather than re-inventing the wheel and designing their own and unique, but incompatible IT service solution. IT resources need to be focused on service quality to satisfy customer and business requirements. It will help IT departments shift from the image of technology-driven, to focus on delivery what the business needs and when it needs it. And that is the reason why businesses will and already started implementing ITIL in their IT services, infrastructure and processes. It is no longer a choice to have service standards within the IT environment - economy, businesses, partnerships and customers depend and rely on them.