What is your ITSM Baseline?

Mart Rovers — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 05:30:53 +0000

Establishing a baseline for your IT Service Management (ITSM) based improvement is the second step of ITIL’s Continual Service Improvement Model, after you have determined your goals and objectives in the first step. The question is, what do you use as your baseline?

ITSM in the Clouds!

Mart Rovers — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 01:40:41 +0000

Cloud Computing is not a tool you buy and install, it is a new approach to the delivery of IT services with a predominant focus on standards and processes. Sounds like ITSM?

Hall of ITSM Fame!

Mart Rovers — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 03:33:43 +0000

Very few statistics exist regarding the number of successful ITSM adoption efforts. The same can be said about the number of failed attempts. No surprise about the latter… No company will “advertise” about its failures. On the flip side, wouldn’t it be nice if an organization such as itSMF would chase these companies who have been successful?

Schrödinger’s Cat

Ed Williams — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 02:00:21 +0000

Once upon a time in a land far away, there lived a Nobel laureate physicist named Erwin Schrödinger. Now, we know that Erwin was pretty much a pragmatist, but we don’t really know anything about his affection or disaffection toward small animals, nor do I know if he ever actually had a pet cat. Regardless, 2010 [...]

Combining ITIL with ISO 27002

Mart Rovers — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:04:47 +0000

In ITIL v2, the Information Security Management (ISM) best practices were described in a separate publication with 93 pages of guidance. In ITIL v3 this was reduced to just 8 pages. More is needed to successfully adopts ISM best practices. ISO/IEC 27002 has the additional guidance.

Frameworks and Standards

Mart Rovers — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 01:42:47 +0000

The fact that we have so many frameworks is probably an indicator about IT’s state of (im)maturity. Organizations, commercial and non-commercial, feel the need to help the IT profession, some with sincere intentions, others with hidden agendas.

Quality ITSM Assessments

Mart Rovers — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 05:46:16 +0000

The outcome of an ITSM assessment is only as good as the assessment itself, the assessor and the representation of the assessed organization. That’s three variables that can heavily influence the assessment’s objectivity.

Retirement of a Legend

Mart Rovers — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:58:12 +0000

On June 30th, 2010 the ITIL v2 Foundation exams will no longer be offered. Last year, the OGC decided on retiring the exams for this course by mid 2010. Worldwide, hundreds of thousands IT Service Management (ITSM) enthusiasts are certified at this level. The impact the course has made on the IT industry as a whole is undeniably tremendous. It has opened the eyes through all the ranks in many IT organizations what ITSM can do for IT. June 30th will in some way be a sad day. On the other hand, let’s celebrate what it has done for the industry as a whole.

The ITSM Training Industry’s Answer…

Mart Rovers — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:48:32 +0000

With last month’s launch of the Accredited Training Council Trade Association (ATCTA), the ITSM industry has reached another milestone in its maturity process.

Devaluation of ITIL Certifications?

Mart Rovers — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:49:50 +0000

One currently can become an ITIL Expert simply by watching video tapes… APMG, the ‘Accreditor’ allows for this new ‘innovative how-to’ experience of ‘learning’ how to analyze a given scenario and apply the ITIL best practices. The days of becoming a Service Manager, the real experts, will be over after the retirement of this course on August 31st, 2010.