It isn't always the CIO or CTO that decides the direction companies must take to improve IT service delivery. IT managers, network administrators and help desk individuals could be the main driver behind U.S. companies deciding to tackle process improvements such as those laid out in ITIL across their organizations, according to recent survey results.

The survey, conducted by IT services provider Dimension Data, revealed that U.S. companies learned of the best practices laid out in frameworks such as ITIL via grass-roots initiatives. In fact, 40% of the 100 American CIOs at enterprise companies cited grass-roots efforts as bring ITIL into their IT departments. Second to those efforts, U.S. CIOs said that business department initiatives introduced them the ITIL, and rounding out the top three, 16% of these American technology leaders polled said regulatory compliance requirements brought ITIL to their shops.

Dimension Data surveyed 370 CIOs from 14 countries across five continents about ITIL - now in Version 3 - and other IT service management frameworks to learn more about adoption trends and challenges CIOs continue to face.

It is well-known that Americans learned of the best practices of ITIL about a decade after their British counterparts established and adopted them, but for the past 10 years, U.S. companies have been leaving their ad hoc approaches behind for standardized process improvements. Nearly 60% of 100 U.S. CIOs polled confirmed that they are working with ITIL, and Outside the United States, 66% of 270 organizations have adopted the best practice framework that originated in the United Kingdom.

The reasons American CIOs are bringing ITIL in house range from improving IT efficiencies to better aligning technology and business strategy. According to the survey, 30% of U.S. CIOs report "a close link between innovation and IT efficiencies," and another 30% said they believe business value is derived from ITIL "when an organization develops an actionable road map for continuous process improvement" based on the best practice framework. And more than half of U.S. CIOs says that in order to maintain "strategic ownership" IT must align itself with the business and focus on needs of the organization.

"Getting the most from the ITIL framework is still top of mind with U.S. CIOs," said Wes Johnston, executive vice president and COO for Dimension Data Americas, in a company statement. "Whenever an organization undertakes significant change to its people, processes or technology, analyzing the impact of that change is a key component in getting stakeholders to buy into the program."

Denise Dubie is senior editor with Network World.