ITSM News Round Up for January 2011, Part II

FrontRange Launches New SaaS Product

Hot on the heels of Service-now.com, FrontRange has also launched a software-as-a-service ITSM solution. Headquartered in Pleasanton, CA., USA, FrontRange Solutions develops and delivers software applications for the mid-market. Their SaaS product has a unique twist: it is designed to be migrated on-premise if a customer decides a couple of years later that they want to purchase it outright.

FrontRange are predicting that CEOs will start to question reoccurring costs from their IT departments, creating a backlash against the SaaS pricing model. Those trying to predict the future of SaaS think that IT managers are making short term purchasing decisions because it's more convenient, but long-term CIOs should be considering total cost.

"We have seen a strong increase in demand for IT service desk SaaS over the past two years and we expect this to continue for some time," said David Coyle, VP of Research at Gartner. "It is good news for IT service desk customers and the market to have SaaS and perpetual license options available from established vendors."

Drawing from over 20 years of experience delivering service management and asset management solutions to more than 13,000 companies worldwide, the new solution from FrontRange includes comprehensive service management, service catalog and asset management capabilities, all of which can be brought in house if required.

"We made a strategic investment to build the right products for the SaaS environment from the ground up," said Michael McCloskey, CEO of FrontRange. "Many of our competitors did not make the requisite investment into building a true SaaS offering, and are simply hosting their legacy solutions. We knew that this was not what discerning customers would choose. We're now ushering in the next generation of IT Service Management solutions."

 

Last Chance for Bridge Qualifications

Last year, OGC announced its intention to withdraw ITIL v2 publications and qualifications from the market. You can no longer sit Foundation, Manager or Practitioner v2 exams, and the Foundation Bridge qualification was withdrawn at the end of December, 2010.

You can, however, still take these exams as re-sits, and there are now just a few months left to take the Manager's Bridge Certificate. Resists and the Manager's Bridge are available until June this year. After that, V3 is the only available scheme.

"The withdrawal of the v2 qualifications is part of the planned process to ensure candidates are taking examinations that reflect the ITIL guidance," said Richard Pharro, CEO of APM Group, OGC's official accreditor. "As the current version of ITIL has now been in the market for three years, OGC feels it is the right time to withdraw the earlier version of the qualifications, demand for which has naturally dropped off. It is important that candidates with v2 qualifications understand that their qualifications are still recognized within the industry and under the current scheme, which gives all ITIL qualifications a credit value to use towards other levels of ITIL certification."

 

Welcome Recruits: Introducing ITSM Boot Camp

ITSM Academy, a full service provider of IT Service Management education and advice, headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, USA, has launched an ITIL Lifecycle Boot Camps program, which squashes two Lifecycle disciplines into an ordinary working week.

The first boot camp is at ITSM Academy's Dallas training center next month, and although the company believes it will be challenging to take on two modules back-to-back, they feel this method means delegates will better understand the tight integration between lifecycle stages and processes and the benefits of realizing an integrated process approach.

"ITSM Academy's exciting new ITIL Lifecycle Boot Camp program provides individuals looking for a balanced, accelerated and cost-effective curriculum a way to achieve 15 of the 22 credits require for the ITIL Expert certification," said Jayne Groll, Co-Founder and President of ITSM Academy. "Individual certifications look great on your resume and provide tangible evidence of career growth but ultimately it is about using the knowledge you acquire to benefit your business. A well-rounded program enables you to maximize those benefits through the use of best practices."

 

More Innovative Training - iPads for Delegates

UK training company Sysop has also been considering innovative ways to deliver training. If you book one of their ITIL "Bundles" of service management Intermediate courses, they will send you an iPad, pre-loaded with all of the material you will be using on your courses.

The company said this is a lighter more portable alternative to cumbersome ITIL course manuals, and it also provides the opportunity for students to add their own notes and commentary both during their pre-course work and while attending the course.

The invigilators still won't let you take it into the examination room, although it will take up much less space and draw more admiring looks than a set of ITIL manuals on your desk back at the office.

Elizabeth Harrin is Computer Weekly's IT Blogger of the Year 2010. She is also director of The Otobos Group The Otobos Group, a business writing consultancy specializing in IT and project management. She's the author of "Social Media for Project Managers " and "Project Management in the Real World". She has a decade of experience in IT and business change functions in healthcare and financial services, and is ITIL v3 Foundation certified.