Wednesday 15 November 2006

BCS-ISEB and EXIN and IT Service Management

Well, I'm back from the itSMF conference 2006 'Theory into Practice' and over the coming weeks I will share the key learning points (and other things of interest) I have taken away from it.

Back in July I drew attention to an announcement from ISEB and EXIN regarding their commitment to ITIL.

On 1st November 2006 they signed an agreement to work together to further the continual improvement of IT Service Management and all that entails, rather than being restricted to ITIL (which is after all but one framework focusing on the operational amongst many spanning the strategic and governance as well). Personally I think this can only be a good thing for the future of IT service management and I look forward to seeing how things develop.

For a fuller editorial regarding the alliance, check out this post on ITSM Portal.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gartner warns of impending IT training crisis
Changes in ITIL accreditation will result in confusion

The IT skills examination and training sector is facing a damaging split that will create confusion for technology professionals and their employers, industry experts warned today.

The problem stems from the appointment of the APM Group in July as the new accreditation body for IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) examination and training.

Analyst firm Gartner predicts that this will result in two competing computing training programmes after June 2007.

The protracted negotiations between APM Group and BCS-ISEB and EXIN, the two examining institutes prior to the appointment of APM Group, highlight the tensions which the new appointment has created.

Gartner warned that there is "little chance of any resolution at all", and certainly not by January 2007 when the contract takes effect.

As a result, APM Group is under significant pressure and is unlikely to have a scheme in place that meets the full demand for ITIL training in January.

However Gartner advises enterprises that this will not create significant problems in the short term because training will be available from BCS-ISEB and EXIN until June 2007.

Simon Mingay, research vice president for IT management strategies at Gartner, said: "The appointment of APM Group has created a division in the IT service management community, with APM Group on one side, the original examination institutes on the other, and the community split between the two camps.

"Their positions have progressively become more entrenched during the past two months, culminating in a press release on 13 November in which EXIN and BCS-ISEB announced their alliance in a signed memorandum of understanding.

"This will effectively create a parallel qualification scheme in competition with the official ITIL-branded APM Group scheme and marks the end of effective negotiations between APMG and EXIN/BCS-ISEB."

The key sticking point relates to the fear that there will be a reduction in the credibility and trust in the ITIL qualifications under the scheme that the APM Group proposes.

Mingay said it is difficult to assess this claim at this stage, but stressed that it is important for IT organisations to be aware that they will be faced with two competing training schemes and to "watch this space" closely for development.
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2169068/gartner-warns-impending

Anonymous said...

Interesting. I have in fact just read a different take on it on the ITSM Report blog:
http://www.itsm.mobi/2006/11/itils-bumpy-road-part-1.html

Whichever way you look at it the future will be fun!

Anonymous said...

Here is an extract from your reference. I tells the same story!

"THE FIRST ROCK
The first rock on the bumpy road has now appeared. EXIN and BCS-ISEB, the examination bodies for ITIL, whose licenses expires next year, have announced that they are to forge an alliance and create a new examination framework for ITSM, to embrace a number of methods, not just ITIL.

This is a truly significant development in this field, to say the least. A competitor certification scheme for ITSM is on the horizon to compete with ITIL. Given the relationship of both examination bodies with major players in the ITIL market, it is a development that APMG must be seriously pondering."

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