I hear this frequently from people working in places where IT performance lags; both in small and big companies. ITIL is not a licensed product that one have to have deep pockets to maintain once a year. Rather it is about operating consistently and daily at a quality level. In general, all businesses big or small will have to incurr this daily operating cost. How this cost is spent executing certain processes or procedures for the purpose of maintaining loyal customers is therefore a business decision. The inability of IT departments to articulate resultant effect on the business is one source for the inhibitive 'deep pocket' perception.

Even as IT people sees potential business benefits following ITIL practices, many do not see that it is the adaptation of ITIL vs the adoption of ITIL that they should be concerned about. ITIL best practices must be adapted for each IT organisation. It is unrealistic to adopt ITIL 100%. Starting with one, two or even three of its processes does not cost an organisation more than it cost to change old habits. In a globally downturned market, IT departments and IT companies must change in order to stand out above the crowd with proven professionalism and confidence. The tool to shape this business confidence is freely available by adapting ITIL practices.

Is ITIL for big companies only? Read that only organizations with deep pockets can afford it.

As per me it is not the money which is affecting this, it is the process and guidlines. Most of the growing organization always look for easy process, they don't actually want to get restricted with policies and guidelines.

This is one of the reason why it is getting restricted with Big Companies only.

Whether ITIL or something else, the objective of adopting a best practice is and should be (as the name says) to implement something in the best available way based on the experience in the market/industry. ITIL is therefore a collection of processes that describe how various services that are expected from an IT department can be implemented and managed in such a way that the service has a predictible quality. Regardless of the size of the organisation, that is something everyone should be able to implement and benefit from.