American Express OPEN Forum

The principals of ITSM Academy, Lisa Schwartz and Jayne Groll, “grew up” in the world of Help Desks. As our careers progressed, we graduated to Senior Management roles within our organizations. While our titles and responsibilities differed, our mutual passion for quality IT Services kept us on parallel paths.

As the first wave of IT Service Management (ITSM) and the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) reached the shores of the United States, we were both hooked. An internationally accepted collection of best practices focused on reducing IT costs and improving customer satisfaction was here.

We had to get our arms around this!

So, like many of you, our research began.

It became obvious to us that education and networking would be our first steps. Local resources were limited – so we gathered some colleagues to help start the South Florida itSMF USA Local Interest Group (LIG).

We also began the hunt for quality ITIL training. At the time, classroom choices were very limited and mostly tied to attendance at a corporate conference. eLearning eventually became the vehicle by which we would each achieve our ITIL Foundation certifications.

As they say, one thing led to another. To help fill the training void, we founded ITSM Academy and set our sites on developing "Americanized" training content and achieving Accreditation. Difficulty in finding ITIL and ITSM publications was the impetus for starting ITSM Bookstore, which is now one of the largest Service Management bookstores in the world.

In 2006, we were recognized by the Project Management Institute (PMI) as a Global Registered Education Provider allowing our learners to earn Professional Development Units (PDUs). In 2006, we also expanded our Training Portfolio to include ISO/IEC 20000 courses. In 2007, we became the first US organization to achieve APMG Accreditation.

In 2009, we were Licensed by the Commission for Independent Education, Florida Department of Education. Our IT Service Management Professional Program offers diplomas in three (3) occupational disciplines based on IT Service Management (ITSM) best practices, frameworks and standards.

Each diploma track is a well rounded program that encompasses all of the skills needed to successfully execute a specific career-based role. The career paths are IT Service Management Professional (ITSMP):
· Change Manager (ITSMP-CM)
· Support Manager (ITSMP-SM)
· Service Level Manager (ITSMP-SLM)

...educate and inspire