Many organizations across the world are becoming smarter and better organized in their IT services as they adopt “best practice” frameworks. One of these frameworks, ITIL, provides highly adaptable methods that can be used by IT services in various fields.
This exploratory research looked at the origins of “best practice” IT services and previous studies on ITIL implementation. The applicable IT service management attributes were then observed in Taiwanese organizations who have implemented ITIL. These observations were used to find the differences and similarities between these organizations and Eastern and Western organizations.
It was found that organizations in Taiwan implement ITIL for varying reasons and using different strategies. Despite this, the critical success factors and barriers to implementation remain similar between them. When compared to Western studies, there are similarities, such as difficulties with tool sets, and differences, like implementation strategies.
The primary contribution of this study is the contribution of an Eastern view on ITIL implementation. Academically, this will allow a base for future Asian ITIL implementation studies. Practically, Asian organizations will be more aware of the factors affecting implementation when planning such a large scale operation.

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