Helping to boost its recently launched Service Management Quality Initiative (SMQI), a campaign to create better standards in the delivery of IT services via the Internet, the MSP Association, today announced a new collaboration with the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF), a non-profit organization that helps set standards for best practices in IT service management.
In joining forces, Linda Shannon-Hills, chair of the MSP Association, and Ken Hamilton, chairman of the itSMF, says the two organizations will collaborate on the adoption of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), for all service provider models.
ITIL, which is used by hundreds of organizations around the world, provides a structured framework for managing complex IT environments.
“We’re very privileged to be working with the IT Service Management Forum,” noted Shannon-Hills, of Hewlett-Packard OpenView in Portland, Oregon.
“We anticipate them guiding our Service Management Quality Initiative Council in the use of ITIL best practices as we roll out service provider betterment programs in a number of areas, including self-assessment; quality of service (QoS) modeling; training and certification; and especially standards for service level agreements,” she explains.
“The itSMF applauds the MSP Association’s commitment to ITIL best practices and standards and will contribute our strong user perspective to the SMQI program,” commented Hamilton.
“The itSMF will share its global ITIL certification and training programs with MSP Association members and partners to help them deliver improved IT service availability at optimal cost.”
Founded in June 2000 and based in Wakefield, Mass., the MSP Association is a consortium of managed service provider that have come together to help define and promote quality of service in the Internet delivery of select IT functions.