Thursday, August 31, 2006
More ITIL Practitioner Certification Courses Coming To Australia & New Zealand In 2006
More Organisations Surpassing Foundation Level, Focusing On Role-Based Staff Training
SYDNEY – August 31, 2006 – Pink Elephant today announced additional 2006 dates for two ITIL certification courses gaining popularity in Australia and New Zealand, as shown from the full capacity of classes previously delivered and the continued demand – ITIL Practitioner: Configuration, Change & Release Management (IPRC) and ITIL Practitioner: Service Desk, Incident & Problem Management (IPSR).
The primary goal of these clustered courses is to give IT managers and process coordinators a more in-depth view of how specific groups of highly interdependent ITIL processes should work together. Participants must hold the Foundation Certificate In IT Service Management, attainable through Pink Elephant’s ITIL IT Service Management Essentials before advancing into the practitioner offerings.
“ITIL is definitely reaching new heights in this region – many more organisations are recognising ITIL as a priority, are getting past the foundation level, and are investing in more role-based study for their IT staff,” says Rachel Pennings, Pink Elephant VP, Asia-Pacific.
ITIL’s UK Roots & The Next Frontier
Originating as a UK government initiative to compile and centralise the most effective approaches to IT service support and delivery, ITIL evolved into a non-proprietary set of books supported globally by both the public and private sector. The library is still owned by the UK’s Office of Government Commerce (OGC), and in an effort to maintain ITIL’s relevance it is currently undergoing a refresh, with an updated set of books scheduled for publishing in 2007. Pink Elephant is one of a few organisations the OGC selected to contribute to the next version of ITIL.
Adding to this distinction, Pink Elephant is an Australian Government Endorsed Supplier, and was the first globally accredited provider of IPRC and IPSR. Netherlands-based Examination Institute for Information Science (EXIN), an independent examination body responsible for managing the ITIL certification program and ensuring the quality of ITIL training institutes, awarded the accreditation.
Pink Elephant’s additional publicly scheduled dates for ITIL Practitioner: Configuration Change & Release Management in 2006 are:
• September 11 – 15, Brisbane
• October 23 – 27, Sydney
• December 4 – 8, Melbourne
Additional dates for ITIL Practitioner: Service Desk, Incident & Problem Management are:
• September 11 – 15, Canberra
• September 18 – 22, Sydney
• November 6 – 10, Auckland (NZ)
• November 20 – 24, Wellington (NZ)
• December 4 – 8, Sydney
For more information on these or any other certification courses available through Pink Elephant, including in-house training, please contact a client care representative at 61 2 9004 7277 in Australia, or 0800 333 357 in New Zealand.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Developing a Balanced View of Measurement
To truly understand the health and welfare of anything one must look at it from multiple perspectives. This statement summarizes the position of a best practice measurement model called the balanced Score Card documented by Kaplan and Norton.
Approximate running time: 13 minutes
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Get IT Best Practices On-The-Go With Pink Elephant’s Pinkcasts
Free Service Management Overviews Now Available Through PinkLink Member Area
BURLINGTON, ON – August 22, 2006 – Pink Elephant, a global leader in researching, documenting and promoting IT management best practices, is packaging essential IT management tips and tricks in a free new service for busy IT professionals with the launch of a podcast series – also known as PinkCasts.
Offered through the PinkLink member area to subscribers with a valid username and password, the PinkCasts will provide concise yet informative overviews on various topics relevant to tactical, operational and strategic level IT practitioners, such as the goals and challenges of specific ITIL processes, best practice case studies, tool considerations and more. The first two PinkCasts available are:
• Pink Elephant: Everything You’ve Always Wanted To Know, But Were Afraid To Ask! – What does a company with a name like Pink Elephant have to teach organizations about managing IT? Join ITIL guru Troy DuMoulin and Pink Elephant President David Ratcliffe for an insightful look at how the company has been involved with ITSM and ITIL and its plans for exploring the next frontiers of IT management
• First Call Resolution: The All-Time Bogus Metric – How many times have you seen the glint in the executive’s eye when he or she proudly proclaims a first call resolution of 80% percent or higher? What if we were to say that this single metric is probably the most misleading metric of all time? Pink Elephant VP George Spalding explains the “First Call Resolution” myth and what it actually might be covering up
Weekly, new PinkCasts will appear, adding to other readily available best practice resources in the member area, including a full listing of Pink Elephant’s feature articles and webcasts dedicated to ITIL and IT Service Management.
To start a PinkLink subscription and gain immediate access to the PinkCasts and other free features in the member area, register for a username and password. All contact information is kept internally at Pink Elephant and is not shared with third parties. For more information about PinkLink or any other Pink Elephant service, please call 1-888-273-7465 or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Friday, August 18, 2006
First Call Resolution: The All-time Bogus Metric
What if we were to say that this single metric is probably the most misleading metric of all time? How, many of us focus on this supposedly key metric as the primary Key Performance Indicator for our outsource Service Desk Contract? This Pink Podcast examines the “First Call Resolution” myth and what it actually might be covering up.
Approximate running time: 10.5 minutes
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Pink Elephant Launches Free IT Management Best Practices Resource Area
BURLINGTON, ON – August 8, 2006 – Pink Elephant today announced the launch of the PinkLink member area, a value-added free service that offers a consolidated listing of all previous PinkLink featured articles and webcasts about IT management best practices.
Available to PinkLink subscribers with a valid username and password, the member area now contains 28 PinkLink articles, also known as PinkPapers, and 16 webcasts. This list will grow, as Pink Elephant plans to add additional content each week, with more exciting features to be added in the future, including an RSS feed for instant content update notification.
The PinkPapers and webcasts were developed by Pink Elephant’s executive consultants, who hold years of experience conducting major IT process improvement projects worldwide, and documenting their best practice research. For the first time, this comprehensive body of knowledge is gathered in a central area within Pink Elephant’s website for unlimited access and use.
PinkLink subscribers will continue to receive regular monthly e-newsletters on the latest IT management insight and opinion. To explore additional best practice information, subscribers can sign in from Pink Elephant’s home page, where the member section will then appear containing an entire listing of PinkPapers on such topics as:
• IT Governance And The Managed Service Provider
• ITIL Process Maturity Self-Assessment
• Defining, Modeling & Costing IT Services
Plus, subscribers can download all previously recorded webcasts, or the presentation slides only, on numerous topics relevant to IT practitioners at the tactical, operational and strategic levels:
• Building An ITIL Business Case
• Getting Your ITIL Processes Started
• Top 10 ITIL Quick Wins
• IT Governance Unraveled
To start a PinkLink subscription and gain immediate access to the complimentary member area, register for a username and password. This is a double opt-in process for Pink Elephant to ensure that e-newsletters are only sent to individuals that request it.
In addition to activating the PinkLink subscription and member area access, providing contact information enables customers to quickly and easily register for any of Pink Elephant’s conferences or education courses without having to re-enter their contact details each time. All contact information is kept internally at Pink Elephant and is not distributed to third parties.
For more information about PinkLink or any other Pink Elephant service, please call 1-888-273-7465 or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).