In
a recent BSMReview blog note I recommended listening to EMA's (Enterprise
Management Associates) webinar discussing Business Service Management. They
were in the process of publishing a new EMA Radar Report on the 'service
impact" of implementing BSM technologies.
After watching the Webinar this week,
I was disappointed with the incompleteness of the analysis. My primary concern is how the analyst can you claim
accuracy and objectivity when vendors that have been long time
advocates and thought leaders for BSM are excluded? Even if a vendor doesn't respond to the analyst inquiries,
it seems prudent to reference that fact and comment on information that is in
the public domain.
For example, I don't understand how you can have a Business Service Management
vendor discussion without BMC being mentioned. I can kind of understand not
mentioning Service-Now.com, but frankly I think most customers would be highly
interested in one of the fastest growing SaaS vendors in the space and how they
are positioning their solution in the context of BSM. This begs the question, what other vendors are missing?
The Radar report positions 14 vendors (some which I am just now hearing about) and provides some insights, but I'm hesitant about buying into the outcome. This makes me wonder if the report is highly influenced by EMA's vendor clients and, as such, is it biased?
I also think the report is rather flawed. Having done an analysis myself of several of the products in the last 2 years, I find some of the results rather odd. My guess is that this report is a little less objective that the earlier workload automation radar report which did seem to get it about right.
Having said that - what single product is BMC's BSM tool? They seem to try to sell BSM as being everything you need to run a datacenter.
BMC does not have a single BSM product ...which I view as a good thing. It positions its IT service management product line in the context of a BSM value proposition ...that the BSM solution set actually enables a better level of service to the business community. I like the concept of a business-oriented version of service management ...I push back when it is a marketing package for positioning better intergration of IT service management (ITSM) tools. I see both elements in the BMC promotion of BSM ...its an opportunity and a handicap at the same time.