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Service Management Society Inc. Commences Operations in the U.S.

After almost a year of planning and preparation, today marks the official launch of the Service Management Society, Inc. (SM-S).

The SM-S is a non-profit corporation having three primary objectives:

* Implementation of a standards-compliant, role-based qualification scheme for service management professionals spanning the customer, operations and infrastructure management domains;

* Maintenance of a robust, supporting body of knowledge that is both inclusive and extensible; and

* Use of a community-led management and improvement program to enable the 'svoice of the professional's in the evolution and realization of both the qualification scheme and body of knowledge.

Mr. Ian Clayton and Mr. Kenneth Gonzalez are the co-founders of the SM-S and serve as its President and Vice President respectively. The founders believe that the establishment of the SM-S represents a landmark event for anyone who is a Service Management enthusiast, and a valuable addition to the service industry.

The enthusiastic and positive responses received to date both validate the approach and reinforce assertions about the needs of the service management professional, the organizations that they serve, and the challenges that today'ss service provider organization faces, for roles-based qualifications.

As an example, Mr. Guy Stockwell, Vice President of Operations at TJC Technology Services, Inc. said:

I see a significant shift by the enterprise in measuring value based upon the results IT helps them achieve, and believe as professionals we need to augment our current, traditional technical skill sets with those that help us better meet our service obligations and customer satisfaction levels.

The Service Management Qualification Scheme (SMQS) is designed to address the capability gaps that result from the current IT- and framework-centric certificate schemes. Rather than evaluate the ability to recall the content of a specific framework, the SMQS emphasizes the knowledge, skills and abilities required to fulfill a specific functional role.

To enhance the value of the certification program, the SM-S has submitted an application and has been approved as a preliminary applicant for ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

Mr. Stockwell continued to say that:

The emergence of the Society and its qualification scheme objective is timely, and recognizes both this need, and the paradigm shift of IT to a service organization.

When asked about the SMQS, Mr. Guy Daley, Director of Data Center Product Management at Cisco Systems, Inc. said:

The Society and its role-based qualification scheme for service professionals is a welcome addition to those working in information technology, especially considering the increasing focus on IT providing information systems as a service.

In order to properly implement the qualification scheme, SM-S recognized a coherent body of knowledge was needed to bring together and harmonize diverse frameworks and content in a holistic manner. The SM-S has adopted the Universal Service Management Body of Knowledge (USMBOK) which introduces a framework- and vendor-neutral view of a service management system.

The USMBOK is used to understand how the various functional roles participate in the operation of a service organization and the service management system and how they interact with each other throughout the service lifecycle.

Finally, the SM-S recognized that a community-led management and improvement program would be essential to the success of its initiatives. This is one of the more striking aspects of how the SM-S is organized, because it gives a voice to, and places the future evolution of, the profession (in the form of the SMQS and the USMBOK) directly in the hands of those it exists to serve - the working professional.

In the short-term, SM-S will be focused on establishing partnerships with other organizations with relevant interests in the service management environment. SM-S will engage in a grassroots campaign to encourage the participation of practitioners as Associates, and solicit their voice in industry surveys on needs, the completion of the ANSI certification process, and ensuring the continued relevancy of the SMQS and USMBOK programs.

For more information:

Kenneth Gonzalez, Vice President

info at sm-s dot org (e-mail)

714-491-5924 x2 (telephone)

http://www.sm-s.org (Web Site)

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