2008 - A good year for ITIL V3?

By Linda King, G2G3

With the festive season upon us, and 2008 slowly drawing to a close, it is time to reflect on the year gone by. It’s been a year of highs and lows, not least from an ITIL perspective.

The official statistics relating to ITIL certification were recently released showing the number of exams sat across the ITIL V2 and ITIL V3 offerings. (statistics thanks to the ITSM View blog)

January to August 2008 figures look like this:

ITIL Version 2 Examinations Taken
v2 Foundation 81500
v2 Practitioner 7550
v2 Service Managers 7700

ITIL Version 3 Examinations Taken
v3 Foundation 74150
v3 Foundation Bridge 11100
v3 Managers Bridge 1900

Despite considerable marketing efforts around the ITIL V3 offerings, it appears that ITIL V2 is still the winner in 2008. Why is this? Yes, these things take time to gain momentum... but is it because, as per my previous blog, that ITIL V3 is simply too wide in scope for many? Or is it because people think that taking the V2 exams then the upgrade is an easier option? One things for sure - it’s unlikely that the V2 examinations will be withdrawn any time soon with figures like these.