Cabinet Office and Capita joint venture pushes out new accreditation for IT service management
Axelos has formally launched the new IT Practitioner qualification for IT service management, with the organisation's senior executives saying it can reinforce the value for money element of the function in the public sector.
The joint venture between the Cabinet Office and Capita began consulting on the development of the latest iteration of the ITIL framework in March of last year, and is now making it available through accredited training organisations and publishing practitioner guidance.
The qualification focuses on equipping IT service managers to bring capabilities such as organisational change managaement, communication, metrics and measurement in line with business goals. It provides the next step after the ITIL Foundation for professionals who have already learned the basics of ITSM.
It has been developed through taking feedback from a community of 36,000 IT professionals around the world. Abid Ismail, CEO of Axelos, said this reflects real life examples of their work and has been distilled into “coherent and consistent” framework.
He added that it will help to reinforce an appreciation of the value of IT management to public authorities.
“IT, particularly in the public sector, has been like finance in having been seen as a support service,” he said. “But over time finance has become instrumental to making decisions and driving the business forward, and I think the same is now true for IT management.
“It's not just a support service, it's part of how you determine and shape a vision, and whether you will be successful or not depends on how you manage your IT assets.”
Kaimar Karu, head of IT service management at Axelos, said: “The main advantage for the public sector is the same as for the private is that enables the IT professionals, when they've gone through the improvement work, to align it to the organisational mission and value to the organisation.
“Often they can't explain why they're doing these things and it isn't clear how it provides value for the organisation; sometimes it's just a local improvement.
"But this gives local teams and individuals the techniques to make things happen, explain why it's good for the organisation, and get proof of the progress and make sure it aligns with the occupation.”
ITIL emerged from the Civil Service but draws on best practice from public and private sectors. It is part of the Best Practice Management Portfolio for government published by the Cabinet Office
