Thursday, March 09, 2006
Pink Elephant Announces The 11th Annual IT Service Management Conference
BURLINGTON, ON – March 9, 2006 – Pink Elephant today announced that the 11th Annual International IT Service Management Conference and Exhibition will take place at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas from February 18 to 21, 2007.
Just one month after the 10th anniversary of the world’s largest event dedicated to the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) brought a record-setting crowd to Las Vegas’ Bellagio Hotel, Pink Elephant is preparing to reach new heights for next year’s conference.
“We have more than 200 attendees already confirmed – the most preliminary registrations the event has ever received during the same period in past years,” says George Spalding, Pink Elephant Vice President, Global Events. “There is a greater demand for in-depth case studies and real-world know-how, and Pink Elephant will continue to deliver fresh and innovative program content to meet the ongoing educational needs of attendees, while reflecting current developments in ITIL best practices.”
From introductory ITIL 101 to more advanced presentations on tool selection, culture change, and step-by-step process implementation, the IT Service Management Conference & Exhibition is designed for all IT practitioners at any stage of their ITIL journey. Each annual conference includes almost 100 sessions within multiple themed tracks, delivered by international IT directors, top business school professors, service management gurus and Pink Elephant’s own consultants.
Recognizing individuals and corporations for their outstanding commitment to ITIL is a key feature of the conference and helps to further promote the framework on a global scale. The latest ITIL Awards were given to BP, one of the world’s largest energy companies, receiving ITIL Project of the Year; and Molly Holladay, ITSM Architect with Bandag, Inc. for ITIL Practitioner of the Year. Best ITIL Case Study, an award determined by conference attendees, went to Stephen Wrenn of Liberty Mutual Insurance and Man Yuen Martin Chan from Unihub Ltd. was awarded ITIL Student of the Year.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Pink Elephant Authors Selected For ITIL Refresh Project
ITIL Experts Set To Write New Book On Continual Service Improvement
BURLINGTON, ON – March 7, 2006 – Pink Elephant today announced that two of its IT service management experts were named within a select list of worldwide IT experts to author the next version of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). The best practice books are regarded as the most credible framework for IT service management.
The Office of Government Commerce (OGC), the UK-based government agency that owns ITIL and is leading the refresh project, chose George Spalding and Gary Case to exclusively write about continual service improvement, one of five volumes in ITIL version three.
“After being involved in the ITIL project since its inception in the late 1980’s, we are thrilled to have been selected to help steer its future development,” says David Ratcliffe, President, Pink Elephant. “We look forward to offering our knowledge on how organizations can continually improve their IT service management operation.”
“OGC expects to refresh ITIL every three to five years, to ensure it remains fit for purpose and reflects the needs of our users, especially in the UK public sector. In an open competition conducted by OGC’s publishing partner TSO, authors were selected from many global bids based on their knowledge of the subject, their track record, professional standing within their own fields, and their ability to write well,” said Jim Clinch, ITIL Products Manager at OGC. “We welcome George Spalding and Gary Case of Pink Elephant to an esteemed group of ten authors for the forthcoming ITIL release.”
Mr. Spalding and Mr. Case have led and managed extensive IT service improvement initiatives in global companies and public entities over the past twenty years. They are seasoned ITIL educators, consultants and writers, accomplished speakers at major IT conferences, and hold top industry certifications including the ITIL Service Manager.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Pink Elephant Becomes The First Globally Accredited Provider of New ITIL Role-Based Course
BURLINGTON, ON – March 6, 2006 – Pink Elephant today announced it is the first organization worldwide to receive accreditation for an integrated ITIL certification course, titled ITIL Practitioner: Service Desk, Incident and Problem Management.
The Netherlands-based Examination Institute for Information Science (EXIN) awarded the accreditation, which is intended to guarantee and promote the quality of ITIL training institutes. EXIN is one of two independent examination bodies responsible for managing the ITIL certification program.
Last year, EXIN designated Pink Elephant as the first globally accredited organization to deliver ITIL Practitioner: Configuration, Change and Release Management. The primary goal of the clustered course offerings is to enable IT professionals to gain a more in-depth view of how specific groups of highly interdependent processes should work together. Pink Elephant was the first in the industry to introduce specialized, role-based certification courses.
“Pink Elephant has a longstanding relationship with EXIN and is already accredited to provide training for the full ITIL certification program,” says David Ratcliffe, Pink Elephant President. “We’re thrilled to add this new distinction to our growing list of ‘firsts’ as the global leader in IT management best practices.”
ITIL Practitioner: Service Desk, Incident and Problem Management is appropriate for IT managers, supervisors, team leaders, network managers, website managers, application developers, system managers and all Service Desk staff who already possess the Foundation Certificate In IT Service Management, attainable through Pink Elephant’s ITIL IT Service Management Essentials course.
For more information on ITIL Practitioner: Service Desk, Incident and Problem Management or any other ITIL certification course available through Pink Elephant, please contact a client care representative at 1-888-273-PINK, or view the course description.