ITIL Certification – Credit and Career Advancement

According to information published in 2012 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for computer and information systems managers is projected to increase by 15% through 2022.

ITIL® (IT Service Management) is the most recognized framework for IT service management in the world.

The opportunities presented are plenty – and subjective to a professional’s preference.  Professionals inclined more towards managing and leading teams are recommended to pursue the Lifecycle Modules; for those who are process oriented and wish to play an active in service management then it is strongly suggested to take up Capability modules.

Certification & Credits

image courtesy: http://www.pixacore.org/images/itil_foundation.jpg

ITIL® is undoubtedly one of the most recognized and accredited IT Service framework and helps professionals to pursue career goals. More often not, ITIL certification is understood for service management exclusively. While that’s true, ITIL also complements Project Management. So the scope is quite broad and left to the individual’s preference about career path.

How many Credits do I need to become ITIL® Expert?

 ITIL® certification commences with Foundation and moves forward with Lifecycle or Capability Modules, which eventually will make you qualify to appear for the MALC certification.

You need 22 credits to qualify for the expert level – which is usually achieved by becoming certified as Foundation level and earn 2 credit followed by Intermediate Modules and then MALC.

Foundation (2 credits) + 5 Lifecycle Modules (each module is worth 3 credits and hence 5 x 3 =15 credits) + MALC (5 credits) =22 credits.

Or

Foundation (2 credits) + 4 Capability Modules (each module is worth 4 credits and hence 4x4 =16 credits) + MALC (5 credits)=23 credits.

The criteria set are to earn 22 credit to become an Expert. 

You can learn more about the Credit system , please visit Axelos link.

Career Advancement

Excellent. For a qualified professional, the prospects can be just amazing. Evaluating studies from payscale.com offer valuable insights about the Employees with a Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Expert Level Certification:

image courtesy: http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Certification=Information_Technology_Infrastructure_Library_(ITIL)_Expert_Level/Salary

There is an increasing need and growing demand for this certification and indicators from the public domain forecast a trend of capitalizing on IT Service Management. 

ITIL professionals with more certifications earn on average 13% more in US, according to the ITSM Salary Survey by Plexent. According to the survey, certifications really do pay: in 2011, an ITIL Expert made on average $122,000 and an ITIL Service Manager $125,000 in US. 

Benefits of ITIL For Your Organization | iCert Global

Areas of Improvement for the ITSM (IT Service Management) Sector

The Internet growth has reshaped service and its outlook. The ITSM best practices and processes put in place so that organization can step-up potential, performance and profit. The service aspect, unlike the software, is not the cynosure yet the product lifecycle will be incomplete, if not, stunted without service in its place. More often, repeat orders [read as customers] are the key business drivers, and in order to gain confidence and increase traction, improve service. In the ITSM realm, the stress of service is on information and technology (IT) – as the definition states design, delivery, manage and improve IT services within an organization to meet its business goals.

source: http://forms.axiossystems.com/top-10-itsm-goals-2016

Process optimization:

The most pressing issue as highlighted by a number of service management experts is Process Optimization. How can you maximize efficiency at minimum cost? Process Optimization.  The key is to identify the areas which have the best impossible impact to effect. A typical scenario to understand optimization is automation. Setting auto-response to any query, instead of acknowledging receipt manually is the basic automation that goes unnoticed but very effective. Process optimization will ensure compliance adherence, increased accountability and avoid wastage.

Self-service:

Self-service is a hard-biting issue that still finds itself lagging and lacking for want of a better system. ITSM should be optimized to offer the experience of self-satisfaction. While customer-satisfaction is paramount, the interest of the self shouldn’t be delayed or discarded.  The Self-service issue was a priority in the previous year 2015 which went unaddressed as expected and given the lacuna, the need to close the gap and plug holes took precedence over other priorities for 2016. Any issue important can be read as a good opportunity to make the most and hence focus is on improving the service standards.

IT – business alignment:

The synergy between IT and Business always results in a greater yield. to understand IT-Business alignment, you need to understand how and where does IT and Business connect. How are your meeting with customer captured? And how does technology enable business? You might want to look at dashboards that typically summarize the events and present critical information to empower informed decision-making. Its very much a strategic call, like  IT Governance with risk and compliance management.

The insights posited as trends or ‘Opportunities’ for 2016 is more of reflection from the remnant and projections for future. While Process Optimization was closely followed by self-service, the value of aligning business needs to increased customer satisfaction too was a pronounced call for action. Strong indication was sounded for Automation mainly to streamline process and resources and avoid waste of time and material. The list also featured Budgets, Digitization ESM and ITAM. While Budget and Digitization are prospects, ESM and ITAM stem from the remnants of 2015.

The Status of 2015.

The trends of 2015 was studied to understand the reach and addressal; and the understanding is that Services found wanting and fell short on Self-service, Service beyond management and IT Asset Management. The table below depicts the findings.

source: http://forms.axiossystems.com/top-10-itsm-goals-2016

Self Service:

When user is self-empowered, the dependence on others can be cut down to improve productivity. Usually time-chokers, when issues have to be resolved by ‘someone’ always burdens the user with increased reliance on resources. Instances when access to a particular site is blocked that not only interrupts your work but arrests the thought flow, scuttling spontaneity  and slowing work as a result, all in the aspect of security? There is always a better way to get things done without compromising security and still serving the self-service. The ITSM can step-in to sort out the mess and streamline flow to avoid interruption and enhance engagement.  The service desk inexplicably, fails to empower self-service

Service management beyond IT:

It is also known as Enterprise Service Management (ESM), which can optimize service management to pass on benefits to other departments like Human Resources, Finance, to improve delivery.  If you have to follow-up on a leave request or a loan applied, will it not be necessary to touch base with HR for eligibility and approval, and pass the request to Finance to disbursement? The services that can make the entire process seamless, cutting out the delay and accelerating the request-response will result in greater satisfaction.

IT Asset Management (ITAM):

Software management is significant because of its need and value, and also the adherence, compliance and audit check makes it increasingly important to manage your assets. Its observed from industry practice and use that aligning asset management with service management will result in substantial cost reduction. You will be able to better control and become cost-effective through screening and shortlisting to prioritize and take preventive measures to ac\void any attack or breaches in safeguarding your assets and value.

Some of the critical shortcoming in 2015 were lined up for redressal and remedy in 2016 and   prominently featured were self-service and IT Asset Management.

You may please access the white paper which requires registration.

For more information about our ITSM programs, we request you to visit our website  http://www.icertglobal.com/all-courses or call the nearest branch close to your locality.