Is it time to ditch our Ronseal® job titles?

Ian MacDonald proposes a value-related rebrand for our ITIL-based roles.

Ronseal® is a well-known UK brand, best known for woodcare and DIY products. They are known for their no-nonsense marketing of their products with their long running iconic slogan “Does exactly what it says on the tin” providing customers with clarity, simplicity, and trust.

So, what’s this got to do with ITIL?

In many ways, ITIL has long embraced the same philosophy. Since its origins in the late ’80s, through V2, V3 and now ITIL 4, the job titles associated with core ITIL processes have barely changed. Think: Service Desk Analyst. Incident Manager. Problem Manager. Service Level Manager. These job titles are functional, familiar and describe exactly what the role entails. In essence they’ve become the ‘Ronseal’ labels of IT… they do exactly what they say on the tin.

But here’s a thought: ITIL has evolved and maybe our job titles should too. Why not, as ITIL 4 has significantly changed the ITSM mindset?

ITIL V2 and V3 focused extensively on defining the internal processes, roles and metrics that focused on delivering service quality. ITIL 4 now shifts the emphasis from delivering service quality to creating value and facilitating customer outcomes through products and services. Every service provider now needs to recognise the commercial imperative in demonstrating the value of its services and their IT capabilities. Remember if customers don’t perceive value, they will recognise cost!

The observation is that the ‘traditional’ ITIL titles are deeply rooted in internal operations. They describe what you do, but they fail to express the value you bring. In some cases, they may even carry unhelpful or negative connotations. Consider:

Problem Management, the name itself is tied to failure. It doesn’t exactly promote a compelling value proposition centred on protecting service.
Major Incident Management conveys an image about firefighting and damage limitation rather than resilience to recover quickly.
The Service Desk has become synonymous with break/fix and the place to go when things go wrong rather than user enablement.

In a world where IT now needs to constantly prove its strategic value, persisting with our legacy team and job titles is a missed opportunity to better convey their purpose and value to the wider organisation.

Some organisations are already doing this. Here are some rebrands that I’ve seen or personally used that better align job titles with purpose and value:

Traditional function title	Value focused rebrand (function)	Value focused rebrand (job title)
Major Incident Management	Service Recovery	Service Recovery Manager
Problem Management	Service Protection	Service Protection Manager
Change Management	Change Enablement (ITIL 4 gets this right!)	Change Enablement Manager
Service Desk	User Experience Centre	User Experience Analyst
Service Level Management	Customer Experience	Customer Experience Manager
Capacity Management	Service Performance & Scalability	Service Performance Manager
Release Management	Service Readiness	Service Readiness Manager
Computer Operations	Digital Operations Centre	Digital Operations Analyst

These titles feel more relevant and compelling and better communicate why the team/role exists and the value it brings to service provision.

Names matter, they signal purpose, value, and identity. The right title makes it clear what a team does and why it matters, highlighting its strategic role across the organisation and its value to customers. But it’s not just about perception. Meaningful titles also build pride and clarity within teams. When roles are named to reflect their true mission, e.g. Service Protection instead of Problem Management, people feel more connected, motivated, and aligned. A purposeful title can change how work is seen and how it feels to do it.

What team and role names in your IT organisation could benefit from a rebrand?