The BSM Review Blog

EMA BSM Service Impact Report is Incomplete

2010-07-11T20:28:14Z

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?

All quiet on the Western Front

2010-07-08T10:55:16Z

Sorry, I have been very quiet on here for a while. Combination of a big birthday (numbers wise), and the fact that I am writing a book for BMC - more about that when it is ready to be published.

The interesting thing is that not much has annoyed me recently - normally the reason for my blogging! Could this be due to the fact that we now have a Government, which is saying sensible things like

Cut the ridiculous amounts of spending in the public sector, which we can't afford (stop stupid IT projects that don't bring any benefit)
Stop wasting time and money on ridiculous Health and Safety measures (sensible ones yes, unnecessary compliance no)
Allow teachers to bring back discipline at school (don't start me on unregulated projects)
Ignore overpaid idiots in the European Parliament, who come up with fatuous suggestions on how to waste more of our money (the latest was buying eggs by weight rather than half a dozen - dooh!)
Sort out the pension debacle / stop paying welfare to those who don't need it / deserve it
etc.

Life is by no means perfect here in the UK, and we have an incredibly long way to go, due to the uncontrolled profligacy of twelve years of Blair and Brown, but I see light at the end of the tunnel. What we all have learnt (I believe) in recent times, is that you can't have everything you want, just because you'd like it. If you can't afford it and you don't need it, then tough. I'd like an Aston Martin DBS, but I can't afford it and I don't really need it.

Unfortunately today's society (here in the UK) is almost entirely driven by "what's in it for me?" Not very helpful when you are trying to get an economy back off its knees, or trying to design the systems required to get your company through these miserable times.

Reminds me of JFK - "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." BSM should make you ask what's in it for the company, not what's in it for me?

EMA Prepares for BSM Service Impact Radar Report

2010-07-01T20:00:00Z

In preparation for the release of a new EMA Radar report that evaluates the BSM vendor community, Dennis Drogseth, a Vice President at Enterprise Management Associates, held a webinar this week entitled BSM Service Impact Radar Report: A Story of Market Transformation in 2010 that discussed the results of research based on interviews with 15 vendors and more than 25 customers at various stages of deployment. EMA will be publishing the Radar report next week.

A few research highlights really hit home with me and validated the BSM Maturity Model developed by the BSMReview community. These include:

BSM initiatives are transformative to managing services rather than just technology
BSM initiatives are value driven, not cost driven (i.e. Why doesn't the business drive BSM?)
BSM real and perceived/expected benefits are consistent with the view of our experts

I would encourage you to watch this EMA webinar and the one next week.

Of course, I hope to hear your perspective.

Does SOA + Agile Programming = Crappy Business Agility?

2010-06-03T16:30:49Z

This article was written by Jasmine Noel, one of my business partners. In it, she points out that behind true business agility lies much more than simply use of a hot-button' technology and marketing slogans. Adherence to some fundamental principles in application design, collaboration and management must be followed. She makes her point along excellent examples and detail. Enjoy!

The Three Perceptions of Implementation

2010-05-25T16:14:15Z

Contrary To Popular Belief Semantics Do Matter! In this article I am going to explore three very different perceptions / definitions about the word "Implement" that are critical in regards to any IT related project but also have a great deal to do with the success of an ITSM program. The source of this article comes from a great book titled "Change & Effect" ISBN 978-87-993289-0-1 on Managing Organizational Change from our Partners in Denmark aptly called Implement Now before the ITIL/ITSM purists protest vehemently that you don't implement ITIL practices, preferring to use the word adopt or adapt let me but this in context. What we are discussing in this article is the fact that you are going to implement a change of some sort into your management system that will impact the processes, policies, ITSM tools, job descriptions, measurements, etc. of your current organization. Also by Implement I am assuming you hope the change to stick and benefits come of all the work and money your organization has invested in your project. The primary point of this article is to reflect on your personal or organizational understanding of this very important word! I may have already tipped my hand in the previous paragraph but consider that in the last decade or so I have seen many organizations fail at their ITSM projects due to the fact that they have greatly underestimated the work effort of their initiative. (Adopting, Adapting, Implementing) ITSM practices is not about simply documenting a process or purchasing and implementing and ITSM software solution. In fact these are only enabler's to the goal of achieving a change of behaviour. More on this subject in the Article. "Establishing Or Assessing An ITSM Program"

However, on a more narrow scope of discussion lets apply the three definitions found in this excellent book. Note: I have taken some literary liberty with the Headings but remain true to the concept's of the three definitions. Install The Software And Let Them Figure Out How To Use It In this definition of the concept of Implement, the focus is typically centred on the software and little to no effort or thought is given to process, policy documentation outside those basic things needed to configure the tool such as the rudimentary classification structures. Any training sessions that are provided are strictly focused on tool functionality. Phrases you often hear from people who hold this perception of the word Implement are: "These folks are IT professionals they should be able to figure this out for themselves" "We don't need to define processes since the tool will provide all the process we need. We will simply adopt the process in the tool" "The tool is very intuitive we don't need to develop much if any kind of training strategy" Book Quote: "Implementation is to install a change, You focus on commissioning the change initiative and handing it off to line managers, expecting them to accept responsibility for it."

The good folks who hold to this perception of the word Implement largely focus on the Tool as the primary element that needs to be considered and managed. Unfortunately they are also the folks that will be accused of another IT project being thrown over the fence for someone to catch without any knowledge of what to do other than login and open a screen or two. Define, Automate The Process and Train Users On How To Do Their Jobs

In this definition of the concept of Implement the focus goes beyond the tool to also having some definition around the job skills, policies, process and automation elements of the new working methods. Focus is given to creating what we often refer to as "Deployment Workshops" where the users of the new process and tool are required to go through a training session that covers both the newly defined process elements and provides exercise / use case based tool training in a lab or online environment before they are asked to begin using the new process. Phrases you often hear from this perspective are: "We need to train process users how to do their new or modified Jobs" "We need to measure how the process is being executed for compliance" "We need to make sure people understand the policies related to the new way of working" Book Quote: "Implementation is to install a change and secure stability of the new state. You launch the change and make it stick by training the users and helping them develop procedures to support and reinforce the change." This approach is typically help by organizations that look at the process and tool holistically and are focused on making sure that that Joe and Jan process user knows how to perform their daily tasks. Establish A Process Governance Structure To Build And Improve On The New Process and ITSM Tool Deployment This perception starts interestingly enough with the understanding that perfection is not the goal. Rather the goal is to create an overall organizational capability relative to the governance, process and tool structures that will target the realization of value from day one but that also focuses on establishing the structures needed to take what is initially deployed and to improve and further refine it over time. In essence the focus of the project is on creating a platform for continual improvement that will take the initial project and hand it over to an organization that will immediately begin to personalize and improve it based on Continual Service Improvement principles. Phrases you often hear from this perspective are: "ITSM is not a project or a short term diet, its the rest of your life" "The goal is not perfection but just good enough for now so we can build on what is first deployed" "The ITSM project is a transformational program needing serious management of change, not just a tool or process documentation exercise" Book Quote: "Implementation is to install a change and build capacity for the organization to develop by itself. You work to integrate the change into current practice while leaving things open for further change. The new elements are not considered an end-state in themselves." Based on my personal experience this third perception of the word Implement most accurately describes the appropriate perspective of an ITSM program. Unfortunately the first two understandings of the word are all too common and often lead to very disappointing and unexpected results. Success with your ITSM/ITIL project is ultimately determined by what foundations and structures you have put in place to take your initial project deliverables beyond the proverbial "Toss Over The Fence" to a more integrated approach to establishing the elements required to realize positive change that endures the test of time. Troy's Thoughts What Are Yours? Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly." ~Francis Bacon

Business Service Management: What's the problem?

2010-05-13T07:46:05Z

Reading through the articles on BSMReview.com, I started to wonder: "what is the problem?". Is IT really thàt disconnected from the business? Looking around in my living room and at the office, I can harldy imagine how life would be without any Information Technology to support me. And all of this is provided to me by companies in the form of products and/or services. Would I buy and/or use them if I didn't know what value they bring to me? No, of course not. Given that IT has penetrated already so much into my life, these "IT companies" must be connected to (or better say integrated within) "my business".

Interestingly some time ago I delivered an ITIL v3 based Service Portfolio Management workshop within a large Financial Institution. In preparing for this workshop we agreed to first focus on the question: "what is a service?". So I started by presenting the ITIL v3 definition of a service: "A means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks.". So far, so good. Then we looked at how to define a service and -more specifically- on how to define the business value of a service. Now when I asked the question "what is the busines value of your e-mail service?" the answer I got is "The e-mail service provides message traffic and storage of e-mail and e-calendaring". Does this describe a business value? Don't think so.

Looking at this sample, one might see it as a proof point that IT is really disconnected from the business and use it to justify a Business Service Management approach. Personally I wouldn't go that far. The only thing that it shows to me in this particular case is that IT is not able to articulate the business value of a service, but that doesn't mean the service doesn't have value or is not being used. On the contrary, the e-mail service sample above is one of the most used and appreciated service in the Financial Institute with an implicit value. Nevertheless and ultimately as one of the results of the workshop we came up with the following definition:

E-mail services provide value to the business when cooperative business communications are conducted without the constraints of location, device or time-zone. Value is created when IT operates for the business a store-and-forward messaging system, so that business employees can compose, send, store and receive e-mails with peers both inside as well as outside the business and in a manner that

Is accessible 24 x 7 x 365 across the globe
Allows only one outage of max. 5 min per 3 months
Enables messages up to 45Mb and mailboxes up to 100Mb
Supports protection of business confidential information
Ensures data availability and archiving within business policies

Similarly and on a bigger scale, I recently met with another customer (read: a service catalog manager within IT) who asked me to review his service catalog and provide feedback. Of course I accepted this and then found myself reading through a 193 pages thick service catalog printed on paper. When the guy returned after a few days and asked me for my opinion, I said: "Imagine that you are entering a restaurant and ask for a menu card. And when the waiter returns he delivers to you the cookbook of the chef. How would you feel?". He immediately got the point that the service catalog contained way too much information for their business customers. In addition I showed him that there was also information missing in the service catalog. And you probably have guessed this one already: it contained no descriptions of business value whatsoever.

Again also in this situation the reality was that all services in the catalog already existed and were actively being used by the business customers. So why then create a service catalog? Good question. In this particular case the main driver for producing a service catalog was IT's desire to explain what they deliver, however the business didn't ask for a service catalog and also was not involved in the creation. And like Bill Keyworth rightfully stated in The Why & What of Business Service Management: "BSM success is entirely dependent upon the willingness and skill of both IT and business to have an effective two way conversation ...one party without the other is doomed to failure.".

Reading through my samples above and several articles on BSMReview.com, I see a number of very specific issues and symptoms, but am still not sure what the main problem or need is for which we are trying to find a solution under the name of Business Service Management. When we define BSM as "the discipline that aligns the deliverables of IT to the enterprise's business goals" then I wonder what's the value in doing this? And isn't this already happening implicitly ? Is it really possible to define the package of whatever it takes to deliver the expected service to the business community ...in a way that they can understand and appreciate that delivery? To me this sounds a little bit similar like designing the perfect organizational structure, while we all know that this does not exist (otherwise everybody would have it by now...).

I realize that my statements are provocative, however I believe that a good understanding of and interactive discussion around the fundamental problem we are trying to solve should be the starting point for (m)any article(s) on BSM(Review.com). So let's first address the question: "Business Service Management: what's the problem?".

Looking forward to your comments.

IBM's Strategy for Business-Oriented Service Management

2010-05-13T07:31:00Z

Richard L. Ptak, Bill Keyworth and Audrey Rasmussen believe that IBM's strategic focus on Integrated Service Management (ISM) and the application of IBM solutions under the Smarter Planet theme marks a milestone achievement in linking business and IT resources and assets for business success. Not the least because Integrated Service Management, in our opinion, leads directly to the broader message of how IT can effectively leverage and link together all enterprise assets and resources to achieve the goals of the business. ISM closely aligns with the Business Service Management (BSM) concepts that are being unnecessarily limited to discussions of just leveraging IT infrastructure.

Learn how IBM illustrates and documents enterprise-wide benefits to be realized from BSM. Read the article »

Peter J. McGarahan: Resolution Ownership - It Matters for BSM!

2010-05-13T07:24:50Z

"You Answer It; You Own It!"

A customer-focused service culture designed with the customer in mind will quickly benefit from the practice of Total Contact Ownership (TCO), where there is no ambiguity of ownership and direct accountability when it comes to the customer experience and ultimate satisfaction.

Read the article »

BSM: Developing a Business Impact Statement

2010-05-13T07:14:46Z

IT leaders must learn the necessity, value and process behind the development of a "Business Impact Statement" and the importance of crafting this statement in terms and metrics that are meaningful to the business community. Bob Multhaup & Ken Turbitt highlight its critical role in initiating business-oriented service management.

Read the article »

Book Review: "The Concise Executive Guide to Agile" by Israel Gat

2010-05-12T21:18:37Z

Why would a business executive be interested in Agile software development?

Why is Agile a topic of interest to the Business-oriented Service Management community? The answer involves strengthening the connection between the developer (...who provides software capabilities for business use) and the business entity (...who uses software technology for critical business functions.) These two groups are frequently bridged (...successfully or unsuccessfully) by IT operations, adding complexity and increased business frustration to the BSM process of aligning business with IT (...both operations and development or DevOps.)

Read Bill Keyworth's book review >>

BSM for (our) Government?

2010-04-09T10:54:09Z

As I have mentioned before, we are about to have a General Election in this country. After 12 or 13 years of gross incompetence, blatant lying and driving our economy to its knees the present incumbents are telling us we should vote for them as they know how to get us out of the mess they caused. They think we should spend more and more on creaking systems that don't really work.

The Opposition, who should be winning by a mile, have unfortunately squandered all the opportunities that the last 12 years presented to blast the current lot out of the water, so we are not sure how good they will be at running the country. They think we should cut back on unnecessary spending and run things more efficiently. We're not sure if they know how to do this.

As an example of the sort of thing that happens here, take a look at this.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had BSM for Governments? Decisions made on what is best for the country rather than the politician's pockets. Systems killed if they are not needed. Experts used to run IT. People sacked for incompetence.

Dream on Armstrong.

School holidays

2010-04-09T10:45:23Z

I can tell the children are on holiday this week - lots of youths wandering around with vertically challenged trousers defying the laws of gravity, terrified parents pretending to be relaxed whilst being driven round by their offspring, and my Internet connection going up and down like a yo-yo.

I supposedly have the "best" (define best!) broadband provider in the country. Why then does their service suffer every time there is a school holiday or when the little darlings come home in the evening from school?

It is, of course, because they have to spend several hours on Facebook, a site which frankly does very little for me, but hey I am of a generation which values face-to-face conversation. I am also of a generation/mindset which thinks systems should be available, and that rebooting something in the middle of the day is unacceptable.

Capacity planning anyone?

The continuing lack of communication

2010-04-07T16:15:25Z

In an earlier entry, I bored you rigid with the tale of my buying a new PC. The good news is that it has arrived and works beautifully - I even have to grudgingly admit that WINDOWS 7 seems to be OK (I think the secret with WINDOWS is to skip versions?)

However, perhaps it's me, but communication between me and the maker leaves a lot to be desired!

My email:

Dear X

Never got the confirmation email that the system said I should get, but I did get a computerised phone message end of last week. The PC arrived safe and sound yesterday. All working fine.

Their response:

Order confirmations are sent by email immediately after the order is confirmed, however I will resend the confirmation now.

I still haven't received the original email or the alleged resend. It doesn't actually matter as I have the PC, but something is obviously wrong with their system and their total inability to understand my problem. Yes, I have checked that my email id is stored correctly.

They have now sent me a customer feedback survey to see if I am happy with their handling of my question. Guess what? NO I AM NOT. But it will probably make no difference as I am not convinced that anyone ever reads those things anyway???

Ask a question - Save a business!

2010-03-31T20:35:34Z

I am always amazed by my customer's lack of willingness and acceptance to admit they have issues, problems or the fact that they are not fully realizing the benefits from a current process / tool or recent service / system implementation. I believe one of our industry's biggest maturity issues is the lack of desire to continually ask these questions:

"why are we doing it this way"
"what is the end-product / results / benefits realized by doing it this way"
"how do we translate / relate these end-products / results into business value"

Remembering that IT services are a "means to an end" and the end is the resulting business value created by implementing a technology-enabled business solution. BSM leaders should always challenge conventional wisdom and approach all situations with an assessing eye and a keen sense of inquiry delivered by asking the right questions. We should hone our question asking skills (much like Sherlock Holmes) so that they delivered in the most appropriate manner given any situation, personality or circumstance. Knowing when to ask open-ended vs. closed-ended questions or knowing when to ask a follow-up question vs. just writing it down for later review and approach are two examples of many when it comes to be a great questioner.

We should be sensitive and understanding to the people we are seeking answers from, but at the same time our questions should not be directed to make creators of the "sacred cows" feel like we are questioning their motives, work or decision. Questioning is a realization that everything eventually will change, especially the business and technology drivers. The faster our industry can 'get over' personalizing and emotionalizing questioning in the pursuit of continuous improvement - the better off every customer and employee will be!

Remember: Ask a question - Save a business!

Dynamic computing - cloudy?

2010-03-24T13:32:11Z

Having got my latest rant off my chest in the previous entry I would like to return to the whole area of cloud / dynamic computing.

In an earlier entry, what I threw open to debate was how do you set, measure and report SLAs in a cloud environment? Who owns the service? Who reports to whom? Who knows how to react to a problem? Is it critical to them as a provider or critical to you as their customer? What does an outsourcing contract look like in a "Cloud" world"? etc. etc.

What's going round my brain at the moment is taking this further into the whole world of dynamic computing, where everything is in a constant state of change. One of the key components in a BSM world is the CMDB, which is difficult enough to populate in a static environment. How is discovery going to work in a dynamic environment? How rapidly is it going to discover and react to the change? Is discovery going to be tied into change and compliance management so that changes, which do not fit the (hopefully established) business policies are rejected? etc. etc.

I would be very interested in your thoughts or any experiences anyone would like to share on managing a dynamic environment.