Certifications within IT Service Management
As a consultant, it can be challenging to navigate through the jungle of courses and certifications. In this article, you will get an insight to the latest news within IT service management.
Interview with Caspar Miller, ITIL Expert and Service Management consultant at Westergaard
ITIL dominates
Within IT Service Management, ITIL is just about inevitable. It has become the most widespread and used practice, and it has given the organizations a joint conceptual framework and language. According to Caspar Miller who teaches ITIL on a daily basis, there is a good reason why the framework has become so widespread.
“One of the strengths of ITIL is that it is relatively generic and can be used in various contexts. It is an ‘adopt and adapt’ approach which makes it adjustable for the firm. The joint conceptual framework also makes the collaboration between parties easier.”
But just within ITIL, there are 12 different courses. So where do you start, and where should you put your focus?
“Of course it differs from one to another which course is most relevant. After the basis course ITIL Foundation, I would, in most cases, recommend ITIL Practitioner. Here, the theoretical part is toned down, and - to a greater extend - you learn how it is actually done. I think that is important”, Caspar Miller says.
Therefore, as a consultant, ITIL is worth considering – both because it is a useful framework, but also because it is as widespread among organizations as it is today.
SIAM – Service Integration and Management
SIAM was launched in the beginning of 2017. Currently, there is only one certification: SIAM Foundation. However, BCS and EXIN which are behind SIAM are presently considering the possibility of expanding to a certification on practitioner level.
The idea of SIAM is based on how it is easiest to orchestrate the complex correlations between services from various suppliers and parties. In other words, how to join together services from different suppliers to well-integrated, unified output for your clients.
“SIAM can very well be considered as a supplement to ITIL. You add a multi-vendor layer with the prerequisite that you have a good grip of your work processes before you add new ones”.
And even though SIAM is not yet very widespread, Caspar Miller expects that it will be more dominating in the future.
“I expect it to be something that will continuous to be more prominent. Pointing forward, still more companies will find it necessary to control services from different suppliers”.
VeriSM coming soon
Before long, a new framework called VeriSM will launch. VeriSM stands for:
- Value-driven
- Evolving
- Responsive
- Integrated
- Service
- Managment
The preliminary thoughts behind the framework were released recently. The first book will be available from the beginning of December, and the first certification, which is the foundation edition, will be available from the beginning of 2018. Following are the graduations VeriSM professional and VeriSM leader which will be available during 2018.
“In my optics, the main difference between VeriSM and ITIL is that ITIL focuses on IT-services where VeriSM has a more general focus on services,” Caspar Miller explains and continues:
“The way I see the already available information, VeriSM does not bring anything fundamentally new to the table. As with ITIL, the focus is on delivering value to a client, through services.”
Since the information is still relatively insufficient, it is, at this point, limited what can be deduced from VeriSM. Presumably, this will change in the beginning of 2018.
ITIL 2018
AXELOS who is behind ITIL recently announced that an upgraded version of ITIL will be released within the fourth quarter of 2018. The essence of the new version is not different from the version available today, but the update offers content that focusses on how to integrate ITIL with complementary procedures such as DevOps, Agile, and Lean in the most efficient manner. Furthermore, there will be a continuous development of the framework based on input from a solid network of IT Service Management experts.
Even though there is a new version on the way, the previous certification will not be rendered redundant. AXELOS has been very attentive to the fact that the new version will not replace the old one, but instead it gives new tools to further and continuous competence development for those who are already ITIL certified.
“Just because you take the 2011 version of the certification, which is the one available today, it does not mean that it will be invalid in a year. ITIL 2011 can still act as the base of your further competence development and will, moreover, still be useful and valid,” Caspar Miller concludes.
Who’s who
Name: Caspar Miller
Age: 34
Title: service management consultant and ITIL expert
Most recently, Caspar Miller has worked as major incident manager, situation manager, and problem manager - all in complex IT environments with several suppliers. Additionally, he teaches ITIL and SIAM courses.
