Want to know how companies such as DHL, General Motors and Nationwide Insurance achieve operational excellence, maintain high levels of IT efficiency and keep their systems compliant with myriad regulatory requirements? They adopt best practices, and more times than not, they choose ITIL as part of their plan to streamline IT processes and improve overall network performance.

The U.K.-born IT Infrastructure Library had a slow start in the United States, but now adoption is reaching critical mass among American IT shops as vendors continue to pump up their management software suites with ITIL-based workflows to appeal to today's process-minded network executives. Who would have thought process improvements could save millions of dollars? Procter & Gamble, for one. The company quickly saved $500,000 by putting processes in place.

Read more on how ITIL and other best practice frameworks can make your operations run more smoothly and keep cash in your pocket with Network World's series of ITIL case studies and news reports:

Automating change

Insurer conquers change management

ITIL case study: How one company turned around a bad experience

Better management through best practices

IT frameworks demystified

Nationwide formalizes capacity management

Transform your IT organization with standards and third-party help

IT pros share their tales of making ITIL work

Implementing ITIL

American ITIL: Best practices win converts