Here comes the silly season....

The offers are starting to come through; more unwelcome emails that tell you what you need with respect to your ITIL v3 training.

I've made the point before and I'll make it again. Make up your own mind.

The 10 new courses (yes 10) that are defined in the ITIL Intermediate level of the certification program will be filtering into the marketplace.

One thing is for sure, if you want to follow the full ITIL v3 track you need to set yourself aside several months - up to a year or even more.

ITIL v3 will be around for a while, so there is no need to hurry. Look for clever offers that bundle a variety of courses together; saving you money. Also decide early on your strategy.

Will you opt for the Service Lifecycle courses, which will give you a solid grounding in the theoretical elements of the Framework or will you decide on a Service Capability track; which is more implementation/operation focussed.

It is true that you can mix and match different programs, but the clever money will be on those that follow a consistent path.

Demand for the ITIL v3 courses will grow over time; which programs attract the greatest interest will be interesting to observe.