For anyone or organizations planning to do ITIL Certifications in 2023, be advised that PeopleCert raised prices effective January 1, 2023 and has a second price increase planned for April 1, 2023.
ITIL exam vouchers are valid for 1 year from the date of purchase so if you are planning to take an ITIL certification this year, you will want to purchase before April 1, 2023, to avoid the second price increase.
This Holiday Season, GogoTraining is giving away 1 ITIL 4 Managing Professional course per person. If you are interested in getting ITIL 4 Certified, Contact Us Today and let us know which ITIL 4 course you would like to receive at no charge.
Please note that PeopleCert, the ITIL Exam Institute, requires students to purchase the exam voucher for their ITIL courses before they are granted access to the course. To assist our students, we are offering exam discounts up to $200 depending on the exam required.
To find out more, Contact Us Today.
Wishing you the Happiest of Holidays and best wishes for the New Year ahead.
The Online ITSM Video Library is the perfect reference tool. It includes over 450 video tutorials on key ITSM concepts so you have the tools you need to succeed. It offers a comprehensive database of ITSM concepts. It is accurate and reliable. Organized by topic and taught by world-class ITSM practitioners. For more details on the Library and what comes with it, Click Here.
The Online ITSM Video Library is the perfect reference tool. It offers over 450 videos on key ITSM concepts so you can update easily and cost effectively.
Why was the Online ITSM Video Library Created?
Except for taking expensive certification classes, reading time consuming books, or searching endlessly for information that may or may not be accurate on the internet, there is no comprehensive ITSM resource available and that’s why we created the Online ITSM Video Library. Whether you are new to service management or need deeper insight into key concepts, the Online ITSM Video Library has it all.
Benefits of the Online ITSM Video Library
What the Online ITSM Video Library is Not
Please note that the Online ITSM Video Library is not a class. It is a resource tool designed to help individuals learn about key ITSM concepts. It has nothing to do with PeopleCert Accredited classes. If you are looking for PeopleCert Accredited classes, Contact GogoTraining.
Your Cost Effective ITSM Support Solution
The Online ITSM Video Library solution offered by GogoTraining can be purchased by individuals and organizations.
To find out more about how to bring the Online ITSM Video Library Solution to your organization, Contact Us.
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Why was the ITSM Online Video Library Created?
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By Jim Ragle
When preparing to take an IT-related certification exam, one needs to decide whether to self-study using free content found online or to pay for an accredited, on-demand training course specifically designed to prepare you for the relevant certification exam.
I’ve had to make this choice several times. And while I like to think of myself as resourceful and adept at filtering through online nonsense to find the good stuff, when it comes to certification exam prep it’s not worth the effort and risk to go it alone with free online content.
Choose the accredited training. You’ll get certified much easier and faster. Why?
First, let’s talk about the certification program content – the stuff that you will be tested on. For most certification programs, that content is copyrighted by the owner of the certification program. ITIL certification content, for example, is developed and maintained by Axelos, which is owned by PeopleCert. Axelos/PeopleCert protect their copyright, as any commercial company developing content would do. They make money by licensing that content to accredited training organizations and selling the certification (via an exam) to would-be practitioners like us. As such, non-accredited training programs that do not license the ITIL content from Axelos/PeopleCert are prohibited from using the copyrighted content in their training offerings.
So, how can a free, unaccredited ITIL training program do a good job of training you for the exam if they aren’t allowed to share with you the copyrighted ITIL principles, practices, and methodologies?
One way they try to get around this is to simply provide free (or even paid) “practice exams” or sets of test questions you can review. Just test questions and answers – no theory, no context, nothing taken from the copyrighted material (or not enough to raise any copyright issues). I’ve seen plenty of these free exam prep questions and they are often terribly written. Here are some issues I’ve repeatedly seen in free exam prep questions:
I’m not saying all the free exam prep content out there is bad. It probably isn’t. But how do you know if it’s good or bad if you don’t know the subject matter? After all, you are admittedly a beginner if you are seeking a training course in ITIL Foundation V4, for example.
If you have a lot of time and are willing to wade through an abundance of ad-supported sites offering free sample test questions and can spot the red-flag test questions as described earlier, then maybe it will work for you. However, you still have to pay for the certification exam, and there is a risk that you fail the exam and have to pay to retake it. Are you willing to take that risk?
I’d rather pay for an accredited training program and save the time, hassle, and significantly reduce the risk of failing the test. What you get when you select an accredited training program is the following:
When I was preparing to take the ITIL Foundation V4 exam, I reviewed some of the free content (mostly free mini quizzes) and quickly realized this was a minefield. After some research into accredited training programs, I chose the ITIL Foundation V4 training program offered by GogoTraining. The course is structured as a series of modules (all on-demand) that include video presentations with accompanying slides, delivered by Dr. Suzanne Van Hove, who is a seasoned expert in IT Service Management and ITIL. She brings vast, real-world Service Management experience to the training and does a fantastic job of adding context to the sometimes seemingly abstract concepts in ITIL. Even with this additional context, the presentations were quickly paced – fast enough that I didn’t feel like I was wasting time but slow enough to follow (also, you can always pause and go back). Dr. Hove’s delivery is enthusiastic and animated, which helped make the training interesting and engaging. Also, after every couple of modules, there are quizzes to gauge your progress and two full practice exams to take after finishing the course. All helpful. Most importantly, after taking the training, I immediately took the ITIL Foundation V4 certification exam and passed quite easily.
Accredited is the way to go, in my opinion. And GogoTraining worked great for me.
Please note: If you find a provider willing to sell you a full ITIL Foundation course without an exam voucher, it means that the course is not accredited so you don’t know if it is accurate. PeopleCert has a department that works to police unaccredited courses because they want to make sure that students have the highest possible success rate.
If you have questions, happy to help. Thank you, Marianne
By Jeffrey Tefertiller
Hello, this is Jeffrey Tefertiller, I want to take just a moment to talk about Software Asset Management. Some people call it SAM, for short. Software Asset Management is growing in prominence as well as importance throughout many organizations. The function is used, and frankly needed to control risk and cost.
For example, on cost, many studies have shown that a good SAM program can save an organization up to 30% of its software spend. That is a huge, huge savings that requires investment.
What makes SAM more difficult, is that technology is everywhere in an organization. Think about how many types of software your organization has now and trying to control the usage versus the entitlements that you own. Entitlements is just a big word for what licenses do have you paid for that you can use. So, SAM is always looking to strike that balance of paying for what you use and use what you’re paying for. That’s difficult in these large organizations. And software publishers want to keep it that way.
There are audits that go on that make it difficult for software asset managers. These audits try to see if a company is over deployed in a certain publisher. The results of these audits is usually pretty interesting to me, because the software publishers, want you to overpay. Yes, that is what happens. But, they also use the results of that audit, as incentives to push you towards a certain type of products skews, if you will. And as been a trend, in the last five years is the push towards software as a service SaaS).
Let me give you an example. When Microsoft comes in, they do an audit, usually through a third party. They say you owe hundreds and 1000s of dollars. And they say well, you can pay this or will discount it if you promise and sign right here to move these workloads that you now have on premise to our cloud version. It’s real prominent with Microsoft Office moving to 365. They incentivize it through pressure and organizations must be wary that this happens. They must understand their entitlements versus their deployments.
I want to close with some numbers and statistics from Gartner that I find interesting. Gartner has traditional on premise spend, staying pretty flat with nominal one or 2% growth throughout the year 2025. That growth is probably just growth in business not growth in that area. If you compare it to the cloud, cloud is going up 10 to 20% every year. So, think about that, that line that’s going up at almost 20 degrees on a chart. And so, when you think about this cloud spend going through the roof, it comes back to Software Asset Management, and how do we manage the software publishers and that leaks over to how we do cloud asset management. And the topic is a big one, because organizations can spend millions and millions of dollars on software.
In fact, the average employee has well over $10,000 of software spent on them every year. In some companies that’s close to 50,000, Now do the math in your company. That is a lot of money spent and that’s why investing in a good SAM program can help save.
We reached out to IAITAM, Inc. the other day to find out how SaaS affects SAM and would like to send a big thank you their way for contributing to this article.
SaaS and SAM
Software As A Service affects many aspects of SAM. Before SaaS everything was more physical. Programs had to be physically installed on our hardware assets (desktops, laptops, etc.) and this required a request, justification, approval, and negotiation before the software could be acquired and installed. As technology enables us to move away from handling physical assets – just like we no longer use paper money or credit cards as much as we favor PayPal and Apple Pay – installing new software is as simple as a few clicks of the mouse, enabling departments to bypass the typical acquisition process.
How SaaS Makes SAM Even More Important
This ease of access and ability to bypass the acquisition process does not eliminate the need for SAM. In fact, it further complicates SAM. The assets are still assets and require management.
SaaS requires ITAM managers and teams to have a good deal of control and understanding of their SAM program because subscriptions need to be renewed and can be negotiated as an auto-renewal and are often easier to forget since the renewal doesn’t require any action or permission to happen.
Because SaaS makes it very easy for employees and departments to find what they need with little help, ITAM teams are often bypassed in ways that they couldn’t be before. When this happens, it can wreak havoc on the ITAM team and their ability to manage and control asset spend and affect their ability to accurately inventorying the IT assets of the organization.
SAM, HAM & Security
Another significant impact is that when software is virtual, it is accessible to almost everyone. This makes it very easy and tempting for employees to download what they need, especially if it’s free and without having to put in a request for an IT manager. However, if left unchecked – in no time, the company has no way of pulling together a list of the programs installed on company devices. This is why it’s so important for Software Asset Managers to have solid security restrictions on all desktops, laptops and mobile devices.
Software Asset Management must work more cohesively with Hardware Asset Management (HAM) and Security to restrict the ability to download and install software without the knowledge or approval ITAM. SAM must be aware of every detail in the fine print of our EULAs and other Subscription Agreements to remain compliant. This requires a stronger SAM team and more robust tools than we’ve had in the past. Many organizations employ multiple Discovery Tools now, for example.
SAM is More Important Than Ever
In principle, the Acquisition and Vendor Management of SaaS requires the same policies, procedures, and strategies as our traditional IT assets. There are just different questions to ask the vendor and different considerations to make that are specific to the cloud asset itself. Ultimately, the ITAM program remains the same, but the need for the Communication and Education KPA has never been greater!
If you were wondering, it’s true. Project Managers can benefit directly from three of the new ITIL 4 courses. If you are interested in benefiting from this intersection and advancing your career this article is here to help guide your path.
Background
ITIL 4 starts with Foundation and then branches into advanced 2 paths: (1) The Managing Professional Path and (2) The Strategic Leader Path. Both paths have courses that map to the Project Managers Mission.
#1 ITIL 4 Strategic Leader
The course with the highest level of intersection, where Project Management is “testable” is found in the Strategic Leader Path. The course, Digital & IT Strategy (DITS), is the Strategic Leader capstone course. It is designed for Managers and requires a minimum of 3 years management experience.
How to Become an ITIL 4 Strategic Leader
In order to achieve the Digital & IT Strategy Certification (DITS), candidates need to have achieved the ITIL 4 Foundation and ITIL 4 Direct, Plan & Improve Certifications and have a minimum of 3-year management experience. Prerequisite classes include: ITIL 4 Foundation and ITIL 4 Direct, Plan and Improve (DPI).
#2 ITIL 4 Managing Professional
The other two courses are found in the ITIL 4 Managing Professional Track. This track consists of 4 courses of which 2 of them are highly recommended for Project Managers:
What’s Left?
The other two courses in the Managing Professional track include Create, Deliver & Support (CDS) and High Velocity IT (HVIT). These classes are more IT specific and look at how to manage service design and support, and how to exploit the various disruptive technologies. The intersection is not as strong for Project Managers, but just in case you are interested, here are the details:
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