The first series of questions in the 2011 BSM Maturity Benchmark survey focused on evaluating BSM maturity. The good news is there is growing clarity re: the definition/purpose of Business Service Management with movement away from the narrow focus on Application Performance and Running-IT-as-a-Business to a measurable activity for aligning IT with business goals. The bad news is the noticeable gap identified by respondents between the perceived maturity of the "business" and the abilities of IT to support rapidly changing business needs.
There was almost universal agreement that technology is no longer an option but a critical requirement for business survival and growth ...particularly as it relates to customer relationships, profit margins, revenue growth, competitive advantage, product differentiation and time to market. Three of the more interesting dichotomies of the benchmark related to:
1. 83% of business respondents affirmed that "technology provides us with a unique, sustained competitive advantage" while the IT view was significantly lower at 30%.
2. 84% of business participants agreed that technology was used by their company "to create product and service leadership in our industry" while the IT view came in at 55%.
3. Only 42% of business users supported the idea that the company limited "the use of technology to basic business functions" while the IT view was much higher at 67%.
Why this discrepancy between the business and IT views? Is it that business has a better perspective of how technology actually impacts business initiatives? Is it that IT better understands what technology "could" do for the business, but isn't? Fortunately these questions are explored in greater detail in subsequent sections of the 2011 BSM Maturity Benchmark report. Click here to obtain a copy.
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