ITIL® - IT Service Management
IT service management is one of the best and the highest certifications in the field of IT. With each passing day, the popularity of this certification is increasing. People who want to have a great career in the IT industry must do this certification. Despite the growing popularity of the certification, an average person knows very little about it. For anyone who wishes to do the service management certification, it is very important to know about ITIL first.
Itil is an abbreviation that stands for It Infrastructure Library. The ITIL was originally created or developed as a set of codes of practice which were interrelated and comprehensive in nature. These types of codes of good practice are very useful and important in the IT community for achieving the best quality support and delivery and the cost effective services. In other words, ITIL is a set of practices for the IT service management which are specially designed for aligning the services of the IT industry with the needs of the business. In its current form, the ITIL has been published as a series of five core volumes. A different IT service management lifecycle stage is covered by each of these core volumes. The ITIL describes many different procedures, processes, checklists and tasks. These processes, procedures and tasks are not specific for any organization. But these can be applied by the organizations to establish integration with different parameters on which the success of an organization depends. These parameters include the organization’s strategy and delivering value. Also, these processes and procedures are used to maintain a minimum level of competency. By using these processes and procedures, the organization is able to establish a baseline that can be used to plan, measure and implement strategies. These strategies are used to demonstrate compliance and measure improvement.
As the world starts becoming more and more dependent on IT, the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) of the UK government developed a set of recommendations in the 1980s. It was this time when the government of UK recognized and realised that without a set of standard practices, the private sector contracts and the government agencies had started creating their own practices for IT management. When the IT Infrastructure Library originated, it originated as a collection of books. Each of these books covered a specific practice of IT service management. The CCTA developed the IT Infrastructure Library as a set of inter-related and comprehensive codes of practice. The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) maintains this library and also releases everything that is updated related to ITIL. The OGC is an organization that acts as an independent of all the commercial interests organization involved in ITIL. The main asset of the ITIL is its independency. This is the reason that the ITIL is so widely used.
Coming back to the ITIL IT service management certification, it is the highest level on the path of the ITIL certifications. Before taking the exam for this certification, one is required to have at least one of the ITIL Practitioner Certification. Due to the complexity of this certification and the wide range of material and practical experience, this certification is also called the master’s certification. One should undergo long training and intensive Assignment before taking the final exam. This certification is believed to be so complex that it is advised to work in the ITIL environment for several years to understand all about the masters that there is to know. Also, there are many intensive Assignments that are organized by different companies. Their Assignments are believed to prepare the candidates for the Service Manager certification. Although these Assignments prepare the candidates for the certification, they are not as valuable as years of experience in ITIL environment. The average training for this certification is 10-15 days for Assignment learning. Also, there should be a lot of study material to study from after the class. During the classes, a lot of emphases is laid on practical case studies. These practical case studies constitute at least 60% of the total curriculum of the whole manager certification. The other remaining 40% of the curriculum is comprised of theory. The ITIL IT Service Management Certification is a way for the candidates to get wide opportunities and serious roles in their career. This is why the candidates need to present the solutions that they can think of too complex problems during the training and they also need to give an evidence of their communication skills and the team building skills that they possess.
Who should do the ITIL IT service management certification?
As already mentioned above, the ITIL IT service management certification is one of the best certifications in the IT industry. Also, it is the highest level of certification on the path of ITIL. Due to this prestige, the popularity of the certification is growing with each passing day. The IT service management certification is meant for all the individuals who want to make a great career in the IT industry. Getting this certification is almost a guarantee of great success in the IT industry. People who want success in this industry should do this certification. Individuals who work in an IT service delivery or service environment should do this certification to get the best out of their jobs. Also, the individuals who work in the service management environment or work in an environment that requires great competency in the IT services should do this certification.
How is the ITIL IT service management certification beneficial for the candidates?
There are a thousand reasons for anyone willing to make a career out of the IT industry to do this certification. It is the highest quality certification in the entire IT industry. Over the last twenty years, the ITIL has been proven as the most demanding IT service environments. This framework provides the organizations the help that they need to achieve the impossible i.e. better services and that too, at lower costs.
There can be a long list of the benefits that this certification provides the candidates who take up this certification and also the organizations. Some of the benefits that the organizations get are:
By using the processes that the service management certification teaches the individuals, the organizations and the businesses can develop effective workplace environment. These processes help the organizations in investigating the root causes of problems and also help them in preventing these problems from happening again.
The framework and the principles learned by the individuals in this certification, when applied by the organizations, help them in maximising returns on the investment. This framework helps the organizations in delivering the services to the customers at the right cost while maintaining the high quality.
Some of the benefits for the candidates are as follows:
When someone completes this certification, it is a proof of the fact that the person has the abilities and the skills required to provide a practical framework for planning, delivering and supporting the IT services to the business.
It certifies your ability to produce and offer more reliable IT services and thus increase the business productivity, effectiveness and efficiency. When you become certified with this certification, you are able to define processes for each activity with clearly documented accountability to achieve greater efficiency.
Moreover, with each passing day, more and more organizations are starting to accept only certified professionals. Therefore, when an individual gets a coveted certification like this one, it increases the career prospects for him by a drastic extent. Having such a certification mentioned in your CV always helps. This certification in the CV serves as a proof to all the employers of the great quality skills that you possess and thus increases your chances of getting hired drastically.
The individuals who have this certification are preferred over all their peers. It is because of the value of this certification that the individuals who hold it are given great preference over all the persons who do not have such a certification. Moreover, getting preferred over the peers is something that every professional wants. It is something that makes the individuals feel special and motivate them to work harder. The individuals who have this certification enjoy a great demand in the industry. As mentioned, they are preferred over all the individuals who are not certified.
Also, the ITIL IT service management certifies many other abilities of the professionals who pass this certification. It certifies the ability of the professional to modify the business in such a way that the business is able to keep pace with the changes and also drive these changes to the advantage of the business.
How to prepare for this certification?
There is no method of preparation that can be considered the ideal method of preparation for any exam. There is no method of preparation that can suit all the persons and fulfil all their requirements. No schedule, no Assignment of preparation is meant for everyone. Every person prepares according to his own set of skills and his own calibre. Every person faces different problems during the Assignment of his preparation. The conditions that different people prepare in are different. This is the reason that there is no ideal method of preparation. But every exam requires the candidates to do certain things to succeed in that particular exam. Some of the things that the candidates can do to pass this exam well are:
1. Training Assignments
The candidates who are preparing for this exam should take some training. Since this is a really complex exam, one should always prefer taking some training Assignment. There are a lot of online vendors who offer these Assignments and give the professionals a chance to prepare well. It is highly advised for the candidates to take at least one of these professional training Assignments before taking the final exam.
2. Take mock tests
Taking mock tests is one of the best ways to prepare for any exam in the world. This is something that can help a person in preparing for any exam. One should take as many mock tests as he can before taking the final exam of the certification. These mock tests are really helpful as they allow the candidates to experience everything that they are going to experience when they go into the exam hall to take the final exam. The best part about these mock tests is that the candidates get to experience all this without actually worrying about the results and thus, they manage to keep their calm during the exam. These tests help the candidates in realising how long they have come over the Assignment of their preparation and how long they need to go more on it. These mock tests tell the candidates where they actually stand. They give them the chance of getting aware of all the rules and regulations and also the pressure that they are about to face in the final exam.
3. Keep your calm in the examination hall
It is really important for the candidates to keep their calm when they give the final exam for this certification. It is very important for all the candidates to know and understand that all the preparation that they have done can instantly turn into waste if they do not keep calm and cool in the examination hall. It is in the examination hall when it matters the most and the candidates should always remember that.
What is the exam format and what are the requirements?
There are no formal requirements to take this exam. There is no pre-requisite condition for the candidates to fulfil as such to be eligible for taking the exam. However, the candidates are recommended to get some training with a BCS accredited training provider before taking the final exam.
The candidates can take the exam for the ITIL IT service management certification with an accredited training provider or they can take it online at a test centre. The duration of this exam is one hour. There are 40 questions in this exam and all of these questions are MCQs. Each of these questions’ worth is one mark. Thus, the maximum marks one can get in this exam are forty. The candidates need to score at least 65%, i.e. 26 marks to pass this exam.
