I'd like to present the industry's first Technology Asset Management Body of Knowledge - the TAMBOK. You can find it by clicking on the link at the end of this post, but please take a moment to read this brief introduction.

Fair warning: I rarely talk about “me” but today, for this purpose, I’m giving you my personal/professional perspective. For those of you who may not know my background, I've been in the technology asset management industry for over twenty years. Here’s where I’m coming from…

Since 1988 I have been developing and delivering collegiate-level programs in Negotiations, Buying Technology Assets, Project Management and other related business topics. In 2000, I designed and delivered two of the first professional certification programs in the technology asset management industry - one for Software Asset Management and another for Technology Asset Management.  However, in 2004 I found myself forced to take a step back and to view the asset management professional development industry from a new perspective. I've spent nearly half a dozen years in intense study of credentials and of the credentialing processes used by some of the top professions - and I have been highly disappointed in the existing certification programs in our field.

We need a paradigm shift

Frankly, fewer than 5% of technology asset management-related training programs I’ve reviewed are performing an effective job of establishing and building our profession. Don't get me wrong: As a sort of "training wheels" beginning, we've produced some decent certifications over the past eight or so years - but we STILL haven't kicked the proprietary supplier/product habit. The vast majority of our training and certifications have been designed by, and in many cases are still delivered by, partners, pals, and allies of the very industry suppliers that created the financial and liability needs to establish technology asset management systems in the first place. (While this is not necessarily a terrible state of affairs, it CAN BE easily translated into a less-than-credible focus on "marketing" over professional preparation.)

I think it’s well beyond time that we converted our professional preparation into a supplier- and product-agnostic process – one genuinely designed and developed BY practitioners, FOR practitioners – a program series that is based on solid learning methodologies (Think Bloom’s Taxonomy) and shaped to help you obtain and retain professional career employment by delivering serious business value to the enterprise. This is the main reason why I worked with other asset managers to create the industry’s first non profit organization specifically focused on credentialing asset management practitioners: The Institute for Technology Asset Management. It’s also why we’ve chosen to formally document our profession in the Guide to the Technology Asset  Management Body Of Knowledge - The TAMBOK.

TAMBOK = What you need to know

So... Here's what I've done. I've spent the last few years working with over three hundred business professionals, academicians, and asset management practitioners to re-envision our collection of certificates into a serious credential program - one based on a cost-effective and publicly available Body of Knowledge as well as a credible credential preparation program of study. Together, we have built this Guide to the Technology Asset Management Body of Knowledge (TAMBOK) to accurately reflect the skills you need to perform well in the fields of Software & Copyright Compliance Assurance (SCCA), Software Asset Management (SAM), Technology Asset Management (TAM / ITAM), and Technology Portfolio Management (TPM).

Understand that the copy of the TAMBOK currently available - our Third Edition - is the culmination of a series of short, yet comprehensive, reviews to bring together the major components into a credential series that not only speaks to what you KNOW, but also to what you can DO with that knowledge. The major components of the TAMBOK include the following:

Four Life Cycle Process Groups

  o Procurement

  o Distribution

  o Operations

  o Governance

Six Practice Areas

  o Portfolio Management

  o Business Management

  o Financial Management

  o Risk Management

  o Contract Management

  o Project Management

And Over Fourteen Applied Competency Areas

  o Think about focused applied capabilities in topics such as Negotiations, Audit Methodologies, License Management, Documentation Management, and others.

We've come a long way with these professions since I first developed and implemented the knowledge infrastructure of my former association. After extensive research and development, our working group determined that we need to take the next step of converting the traditional certificate process from a few hours of lecture followed by a memorization test - into a credible credentialing system that mirrors the success of such credentialing programs as those provided by the Project Management Institute, the AICPA, the Contract Managers Association, and others. (There is an extensive list of organizations from which we drew samples, guidelines, and advice in the TAMBOK Appendix.)

That next step begins with a formal Body of Knowledge - the TAMBOK - on which we can build and evolve a solid foundation of applied capabilities. The TAMBOK is not a derivative work that attempts to bend technology skills into a new service by simply grafting it on to the existing responsibilities of enterprise technicians. Instead, this is an entirely new perspective of capabilities to be applied to managing the Business side of the Technology Portfolio.

And, to further clarify the potential of the TAMBOK, we’ll soon be presenting a highly unique Knowledge Briefing Series covering how "What you know," is converted into "What you can actually apply," which translates into "The value you can deliver with a significantly more credible credential."

We'll be the first to admit that the TAMBOK isn't perfect - it's a work in progress. But this document IS the first supplier- and product-neutral effort by a credentialing body in our industry to bring order from chaos and to place your cost-effective Professional Development Blueprint in your hands where it belongs.

The TAMBOK is available HERE

Comments are welcome - as are qualified practitioner volunteers to help evolve the next release.