They're changing the guard at ITIL palace
Loyalist Certification Services (LCS) have become an ITIL accredited Examination Institute headquartered in North America. If the significance of this escaped you consider this:
That makes four: EXIN, ISEB, APMG and LCS.
There are two major implications of this announcement. First it represents another step in the rise of the USA as an ITIL power. The IT Swami predicts the USA will before long be the new centre of gravity for ITIL, OGC not withstanding. (It is not as if OGC were doing anything to counter this).
Second it also represents another step away from the old guard. EXIN's and ISEB's effective voice is now a small fraction of what it was pre-APMG. ISEB for one seems to be looking in new directions that don't involve ITIL. Add to this the impending turnover of the entire itSMF International Board (as told in the latest Skeptical Informer) and we could be looking at a changing of the guard.
Made in New Zealand 
Comments
Yanks are engaged
It seems even the US government is getting into the services game. Section 1106 of the "National Competitiveness Act" is all about services with a heavy bent on IT and business strategy.
http://forums.thesrii.org/srii/blog/articleblog.id=spohrer&message.id=24
By the way, Jim Spohrer (out of Almaden), is probably one of the finest minds I've met on the topic of services. One of the rare few who truly warrant the title of Service Management Expert/Theorist. I noticed the ITSMF presentation on the ITILv3 launch site quoted his research.
Full text of ITIL bit of new US House-and-Senate-approved Act
The above link won't work for me. For those interested, the following has been passed and is just waiting for wannabe-Texan George to approve it.
"SEC. 1106. STUDY OF SERVICE SCIENCE.
4(a) Sense of Congress- It is the sense of Congress that, in order to strengthen the competitiveness of United States enterprises and institutions and to prepare the people of the United States for high- wage, high-skill employment, the Federal Government should better understand and respond strategically to the emerging management and learning discipline known as service science.
4(b) Study- Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, through the National Academy of Sciences, shall conduct a study and report to Congress regarding how the Federal Government should support, through research, education, and training, the emerging management and learning discipline known as service science.
4(c) Outside Resources- In conducting the study under subsection (b), the National Academy of Sciences shall consult with leaders from 2- and 4-year institutions of higher education, as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)), leaders from corporations, and other relevant parties.
4(d) Service Science Defined- In this section, the term `service science' means curricula, training, and research programs that are designed to teach individuals to apply scientific, engineering, and management disciplines that integrate elements of computer science, operations research, industrial engineering, business strategy, management sciences, and social and legal sciences, in order to encourage innovation in how organizations create value for customers and shareholders that could not be achieved through such disciplines working in isolation."
http://forums.thesrii.org/srii/blog/article?blog.id=spohrer&message.id=2...
P.S. I find my own Sense of Congress diminishes as I get older.
National Competitiveness Act of 1993
This is very important.
Venture Capital
These Acts occur about once a decade. The last one in 1993 focused more on the natural sciences (the dot coms were but a twinkle in the valley's eye).
The most recent Act effectively amounts to a 9-figure boondoggle. The U.S. government is proclaiming its venture capitalist intentions for the coming years. I recall a similar U.S. tipping point event when an analogous act included a newly conceived field called Computer Science. There were many unforseen outcomes from this funding (think DARPA and this little thing called the internet, Computer Science as an academic discipline, IBM as god, and so on).
Of course, it could amount to nothing. But at the very least, it should establish IT Service Science as a legitimate field of research in the U.S.
Another trough for the industry to feed at
Move over!
Let's not forget that
Let's not forget that Loyalist is Canadian.
oooh I missed that. thanks
oooh I missed that. thanks
No cottage industry
I was far more startled by the following statement:
"For the past six years, LCS has processed all of EXIN’s ITIL exams across the North American continent. To date LCS has processed over 105,000 ITIL exams."
Assuming all foundation at, say, $1,000 a pop (probably low), that is over $100MM over 6-years in North America - a region only getting warmed up. And this is just EXIN's exams. What about the others?
Wow. I had no idea. No wonder the training community is in such a frenzy; this is no cottage industry.
How do I apply to become a trainer?!
it has snuck up on us
great brains think alike. Today I have been writing this post
As I said in The Pillars of ITIL, it has snuck up on us: "In the early days ITIL was a casual thing: a loose collection of books from a loose collection of experts. Now it is a billion (I guess) dollar industry affecting millions of people. Publishing a few books is not enough any more."