Given the recent announcement of BCS-ISEB and EXIN, Gartner now advizes companies to consider the real value of IT Service Management training/exam programs: is it about the ITIL brand, or should it be about the best offer?

The license BCS-ISEB and EXIN have for ITIL exams runs until end of Q2 2007. If APMG fails to bring BCS-ISEB and EXIN on board, companies will eventually have to chose - from July on - between the traditional ITIL-branded trainings and exams offered through APMG, and the new offer from ISEB and EXIN. The two current exam bodies positioned their new scheme as a "broader, higher-quality" program than the official ITIL-branded scheme run by APMG. They will integrate other intellectual property into the scheme to cover more IT Service Management ground - reflecting the views of many experts in the industry that IT Service Management is more than ITIL. Although it still is an option for ISEB and EXIN to (also) join APMG's program, this is no longer the most likely outcome.

Market is stable for half a year
The APMG scheme will be operational in January 2007; the new ITIL books will go into public review that same month, to be published at the end of Q2 2007. This means that at least for the first half of 2007, APMG will only be able to offer ITIL exams based on v2 - which are the very same exams that BCS-ISEB and EXIN will be able to offer. But why would companies not take the ISEB or EXIN exams if they have done so for the last fifteen years? APMG is not likely to change the requirements of the exams during the last 6 months of their existence, without causing huge capacity problems - they would risk shooting in their own foot that way.

Gartner expects that in the end, companies will have to chose between the value of the official ITIL brand and the value of the broader scoped ISEB/EXIN exams on IT Service Management.

Evolution will benefit the user organization
This definitely is the prelude to a schism in the IT Service Management training and examination market. In the end, that may be for the best: companies will profit from the fact that BCS-ISEB and EXIN will have to come up with something better than just ITIL for an exam on IT Service Management.

itSMF still plays a crucial role
Both organizations are seeking support from the international ITSM community. The announcement at the website of itSMF International was downscaled last week from 'an agreement' to 'a memorandum of understanding'. itSMF International's Publications Committee raised many questions on the proposed deal. And the fact that the Annual General Meeting of itSMF - last week in Birmingham - didn't come out with an agreement for APMG, has made clear that APMG's chances of winning their support are not much better or worse than ISEB's and EXIN's.

In the end, itSMF will always want to stay completely independent, and able to support any solution their members woud like to get.

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