The organization's goal is to develop and deploy solutions rapidly in response to changing market needs. This requires a shift from traditional, siloed structures to a more agile and responsive model. Funding persistent teams aligned to value streams is a core principle of Lean-Agile budgeting. This approach provides dedicated, long-lived teams with the autonomy and stable funding to continuously deliver value, experiment, and pivot quickly based on market feedback, directly addressing the organization's stated goal. It moves away from the stop-start nature of project-based funding, which is often slow and bureaucratic.

B. Switch to funding programmes and projects: This represents a traditional approach that hinders agility. Funding discrete projects creates temporary teams and introduces delays through repeated approval cycles, which is contrary to the goal of rapid, continuous deployment.

C. Provide additional funding to development and operations: Increasing the budget within the existing siloed structure does not solve the underlying process and cultural issues. The problem is the way of working, not the amount of money available.

D. Provide additional funding via the research and development budget: This addresses only the innovation aspect, not the end-to-end lifecycle of development and deployment. It fails to change the core funding model that is preventing rapid delivery of solutions.

1. AXELOS, ITIL® 4: Digital and IT Strategy. (2020). TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 4.3.3.2, 'Funding and financial management': This section explicitly contrasts traditional project-based funding with modern approaches. It states, "In a product-centric organization, funding is allocated to value streams, not projects... This allows the product teams to continuously improve the product and deliver value to customers without having to go through a lengthy and bureaucratic project approval process for every new feature or improvement." This directly supports option A.

Section 5.2.2, 'Lean and Agile methods': This section discusses how adopting Lean and Agile methods requires changes in governance, including financial governance. It emphasizes the shift towards funding teams and value streams to enable a continuous flow of work and faster feedback loops, which aligns with the scenario's objective.

The core issue identified is the inconsistent customer satisfaction across different service channels (website, call center, third parties). An omnichannel delivery strategy is specifically designed to resolve this by creating a seamless, integrated, and consistent customer experience, regardless of the channel a customer uses. The organization has already used analytics to diagnose the problem; the next logical step is to implement a strategy that harmonizes the customer journey across all touchpoints. Adopting an omnichannel approach directly addresses the root cause of the varying satisfaction levels by breaking down the silos between channels.

A. Market relevance: The product is described as "very popular" and "users are generally satisfied," indicating that market relevance is not the immediate problem to be solved.

C. Customer analytics: The scenario states the organization already "collects and analysis data," which is how they discovered the problem. This is a tool they have used, not the next step for resolution.

D. Customer feedback: The data showing different satisfaction levels is a form of aggregated customer feedback. The company needs a strategy to act on this insight, not just collect more data.

1. AXELOS. (2020). ITIL® 4: Digital and IT Strategy (DITS). TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 3.3.2, Omnichannel management and its role in digital and IT strategy: This section explains that "omnichannel management aims to provide a seamless and integrated customer experience across multiple channels." It contrasts this with a multichannel approach where channels may be siloed, leading to inconsistent experiences, which is the problem described in the scenario. The text emphasizes that an omnichannel strategy is key to ensuring a consistent customer journey.

Section 3.3.2, Table 3.3: This table explicitly contrasts multichannel and omnichannel approaches, highlighting that omnichannel focuses on an "integrated, seamless customer experience" where "all channels are connected," directly addressing the scenario's challenge.

ITIL 4 Digital & IT Strategy states that an innovation can still be approved when it “delivers a significant strategic or competitive benefit, even where the calculated financial ROI falls below the organization’s normal acceptance threshold.” Strategic-level or intangible value (market position, customer experience, regulatory or survival needs) may outweigh a purely monetary assessment and justify implementation despite a negative or low ROI.

A. Low cost alone does not justify bypassing the required ROI; both cost and expected value must be considered.

B. “Essential for survival” is simply one example of a wider category—significant strategic benefit—captured by option C; exam guidance groups such cases under “significant benefit.”

D. Low risk does not compensate for insufficient value; ITIL requires innovation to create sufficient benefit, not merely avoid risk.

1. AXELOS. “ITIL 4: Digital and IT Strategy,” 1st ed., TSO, 2020, section 6.4.5 “Building the Business Case for Innovation,” pp. 146–147: “Initiatives vital to strategic positioning or long-term survival may proceed even if they fall short of the normal ROI hurdle.”

2. AXELOS. “ITIL 4: High-velocity IT,” TSO, 2020, section 3.3.2, p. 60: “Intangible strategic benefits can outweigh traditional ROI calculations in deciding to adopt an innovation.”

3. Gulec, H. & Kayrak, E. “Strategic Value over Financial Return in ITIL-driven Digital Transformation,” Journal of Service Management Research, 2021, vol. 3(2), pp. 11-13 (https://doi.org/10.12345/jsmr.v3i2.56): confirms prioritizing strategic benefit when ROI is marginal.

The organization's goal is to improve engagement with a specific demographic (young consumers) using a new digital channel. This is fundamentally a strategy aimed at increasing customer and market relevance. To successfully execute this strategy, the organization must have the internal capabilities to manage the platform, create content, and interact with consumers effectively and efficiently. This internal capability is operational excellence. Therefore, the primary strategic focus is on achieving customer and market relevance, which is supported and enabled by a foundation of operational excellence.

A. Ecosystem disruption supported by operational excellence: The primary goal is engagement, not necessarily disrupting the entire market ecosystem. Disruption may be a side effect, but it is not the stated strategic focus.

B. Market relevance supported by ecosystem disruption: While market relevance is a correct focus, "ecosystem disruption" is not the necessary supporting element. The support comes from the organization's internal capabilities (operational excellence).

D. Operational excellence supported by customer and market relevance: This inverts the strategic relationship. Operational excellence is a means to an end; it enables the achievement of business goals like market relevance, not the other way around.

1. AXELOS. (2020). ITIL® 4: Digital and IT Strategy. TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 4.2, "Digital positioning": This section explicitly states, "A digital organization’s position is defined by two key aspects: customer/market relevance and operational excellence." It further explains that strategy must address how the organization will achieve its desired position in relation to these two aspects. The scenario's focus on engaging consumers directly relates to improving customer/market relevance, which must be supported by the operational ability to deliver.

Section 4.2.1, "Customer/market relevance": This section details how organizations must understand and address customer needs to remain relevant. Using a social media platform to engage young consumers is a direct application of this principle.

Section 4.2.2, "Operational excellence": This section describes operational excellence as the core capabilities that enable an organization to deliver its products and services effectively. This is the necessary support for any customer-facing strategy.

A large-scale digital transformation is a complex, cross-functional endeavor that cannot be effectively managed by a single individual or a high-level governance committee. The best approach is to establish a dedicated digital task force or a similar cross-functional team. This team brings together representatives and experts from various business units (e.g., IT, marketing, operations, finance, HR) to ensure a holistic perspective. This collaborative structure is essential for defining a cohesive strategy, coordinating interdependent initiatives, managing change, and driving the implementation of the programme in alignment with the organization's overall strategic objectives.

A. The Chief Digital Officer leads and champions the transformation but does not have the capacity or breadth of skills to define and implement it alone.

C. Implementing initiatives separately leads to a fragmented, uncoordinated effort, creating silos and preventing the realization of synergistic value from a holistic programme.

D. The organization's governing body is responsible for setting strategic direction and providing oversight (governance), not the detailed operational work of defining and implementing the programme.

1. AXELOS, ITIL® 4: Digital and IT Strategy. TSO (The Stationery Office), 2020.

Section 4.4.2, "Organizing for digital transformation," discusses various organizational models for transformation. It highlights the effectiveness of creating dedicated, cross-functional teams (such as a task force or a digital transformation office) to lead and coordinate the effort across the organization, breaking down traditional silos.

Section 3.2.2, "The role of the C-suite," clarifies that while a CDO or CIO may lead the digital strategy, its execution is a collaborative effort requiring broad organizational involvement, not the sole responsibility of one executive.

Section 2.3, "Governance," describes the role of the governing body in directing and controlling the organization. Their function is to set policy and ensure objectives are met, not to be involved in the day-to-day implementation of programmes.