Take your life back.

No one wants a Service Oriented business, we want an Outcome oriented business

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:16:00 -0500

Why is it that IT experts are so focused on HOW something is achieved and not WHAT is achieved?

I was just reading this article by James Urquhart, VP of Product Strategy at enStratus, "Why it’s so hard to talk about cloud"

Some good points were made between James and Andi Mann, VP of Strategic Solutions at CA. However, the real gem in this post, as with most posts, were in the comments. IT at this critical point needs clarity in terms, not confusion. Unfortunately product companies are perpetuating the confusion. Why? Because they are struggling to hang their hat on a differentiation that they can sell.

IT must not embrace these selling points into their value proposition. It's a value trap. I'm not saying that as a buyer you should not see value in CLOUD/SaaS/Private, whatever.... You should consider all the key elements of their services and support. However, do not bring this as a value proposition to management.... THEY DON'T CARE

Services deliver an outcome. Applications and infrastructure facilitate that outcome. I think "Service Management" IT people work too hard to shy away from appropriate and fitting terms like applications, infrastructure and systems to use the term service in immature and confusing way. I.E. Email as a Service. Email is a system that is part of the employee communication services, like Phone systems, and mail systems, and IM systems, that facilitate the outcome of people sharing information with each other. If the employee communications team was in place instead of the email team, the intranet team, the phone team, the IM team, the portal team, etc.. someone would have realized "Oh our outcome is not very good". (It also would have marketing and HR staff as part of the team)

STOP THE MADNESS, this is not that hard. In order for a Service to exist you must have a clear and present service consumer and a definitive service provider, that delivers an outcome to that consumer. With out either of these it is a system, and that's is OK, systems are good. They help us manage smaller components in a meaningful and easy to call out way. You should also have a Service Owner (the person paying for it, not ITIL's IT self commissioned guardian.) You also have Service Enablers. Key sourcing relationships (internal and external) that are required to help facilitate that outcome.

So like I've said many times on the ITSMWP podcast, unless you are an IT business, you really don't need IT Services. You are making more work for yourself, frustrating your culture and breeding confusion.

But if we don't have Services, how can we manage ourselves? You have Services, business Services. Manage yourself based on the outcomes of those Services.

If the Outcome is bad - your services stink.
If the Outcome is good - your services will do... for now.
If the Outcome is great - some lied about the metrics... J/K (sort of)

So if an application, or an infrastructure, or a system is in the cloud, does management really care? Of course they don't. They just want the systems in place to ensure speed, security and availability of the overall service they are receiving. If a cloud provider can be a better Service enabler than internal IT, than an Outcome oriented culture will leverage it.

Oooh... shiny!

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:53:00 -0400

It is said that Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What one finds as a crafted masterpiece, another sees as a big pile of junk. Well this past month I've had a bit of a revelation. Technology value is also in the eye of the beholder. Having spent a majority of my career in IT and Tech Marketing trying to understand the science behind value (Utility and Warranty to the ITIL geeks in the house), I go back to a presentation I did 2 years ago where I proposed a third value point, aesthetics. Well a few recent events have confirmed my belief that the way something looks and engages the physical senses (sight and touch in particular) heavily influence the value perception.

Example 1: New phones for the family.
Recently we made a trip to Best Buy, where my wife, 2 older children and I picked out super cool Android Smartphones.

Upon arriving home the family was all excited about the shiny new phones... until I had to go and put stop to the joy. "Guys, the phones are going back!", you would have thought I had just shot the family dog (if we had one). Stared down with looks of trying to figure out whether I was joking or brave enough to take on a revolt, my Ludite wife chimed in "Why, what's wrong?".
No Bars! That's right, not a single carrier signal in my house. No one even noticed that their new new shiny phones actually work as phones. As cool and feature rich these phones were, I had to introduce my family to the value point of Warranty, specifically availability. Happily, Best Buy took the phones all back, no questions and we were able to get on a carrier with a great signal. However, no simple phone for the former Ludite, she had to have the iPhone now that she got a taste of coolness. :)

Example 2: Recent release of SMAK
A week and a half ago, we released two major features our Alpha testers were screaming for:
A) A message counter on each of the life mode tabs, so you could see which aspect of your life needed attention.
B) A simpler easier way to assign your active relationships into your life mode categories (work, home, friends, etc...)

Right after we released these new features, we were all so excited about the new look and feel and the great new features that we didn't realize that the system was starting to crawl to its knees. So time for another lesson on the value point of Warranty, this time on performance. Yet, despite the performance issue, no one wanted to take out the new shiny alerting feature. What? You can not go to market as the best productivity enhancement tool since the wheel, if your technology crawls, it's just that simple. Yet, the crowd spoke clearly, we want Shiny and Fast, and Usable.

Needless to say, my revelation is this. Regardless of all the science and market research on Value creation, excitement does not come from functionality (utility) and performance (warranty) alone. Utility and Warranty maintain excitement and the emotional attachment to the technology which influences perceptions and prejudices people use to measure on-going value. However, if you really want to get people excited enough that they want to become advocates for your success, you better make it a great user experience, simple, tasteful and crisp.

Expect some real upgrades on SMAK's User Interface over the next few weeks. Also, check out our latest video:

I'll take Triangles over Circles anyday

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:47:00 -0400

I've been inundated over the past few weeks with emails, DM's and messsages. "Hey, is Google+ like SMAK". Yes, Google+ has some very similar features of SMAK, and we are pretty disappointed we were not out of private Alpha so that people could compare the two. What can I say... well, here is what I can say. Here are just a few reasons why we didn't release:

Security and Privacy - Google+ launched and quickly realized that people didn't like it when you stuck 20 of your connections in the "Annoying" circle. So, of course they shutdown log-ins and scrambled for a fix.
Usability - The most popular question on Google+ so far is "why am I here?" followed by "where is everybody?".
Intelligence - So far Google+ makes a lot recommendations of people you should connect with. Too bad you don't know any of them. Really, do you need to be managing 500 new avatars?
CASH & Klout - Google has a lot of both. They can afford to make mistakes.

So the long and short is, hang with us! We are working hard to bring you a solution that will work not only with Google+, but all of your already invested relationship networks. We don't you wasting time, being frustrated or feeling exposed by a new tool. Your security, ssage and already established network is our biggest focus. And unlike Google, we can't afford to make a mistake.

Well, if for nothing else Google+ validated that we like to drag and drop our friends avatars around. It sort of makes us feel like puppet masters.

I really do like some of the features. I just see it making my life even more complicated, and yet another channel to check.

How do you feel about it? Would love to hear your comments.

PS: don't forget to register for SMAK www.mysmak.com

User failure - it can't just be me

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Wed, 6 Jul 2011 10:40:00 -0400

I'm really not trying to be a complicated guy. While I carry a lot on my plate (CEO of a startup, On the board of Co.'s, father of 4, co-host of wildly successful podcast, avid volunteer and church leader,..) OK, I bit off more than I can chew... I'm a soon to be 39yr old Generation X over-achiever, what can I say. I really thought I could do more with technology. I believed the hype that I could have it all, an engaged and endearing family, a loyal and supportive staff, an enriched and enlightened media following... yeah FAT CHANCE. The reality is most of the time I just have a bunch of people waiting for me to show up... physically or mentaly.

While I'm partly to blame, technology has some accountability in this mess. There is one hype I've encountered and I hope revealing it here will spare you from the same:

Apple Hype - Advanced mobile technology makes it easier to stay informed.
This is a joke... Here is just one small example. I used to listen to podcasts by downloading them on to my $50 Sansa MP3 player. Taking 10 minutes at the beginning of the week I would judiciously read show notes and determine which are downloaded. (list of the podcasts I listen to below)

So not wanting to spend this 10 minutes, I spent $800 on a fancy iPad since I had already configured iTunes to download my shows automatically. My hope of setting up a scheduled set of podcast downloads on my mac that would sync to my iPad has turned out to be a big ha ha on me.
1) iTunes podcasts on your mac don't sync automatically with your iPad. (yup, that's a period right there)
2) iPad does not give you a sort order a playlist schedule. Like everone who listens to industry related podcasts you want to listen in date order from oldest to current. No such capability on iPad.
3) Can not automatically remove pdocasts... so the list grows and fills your disk up. (I'm sure this was on puposed)

Now I end up spending at least an hour of my time a week downloading and clearing podcasts, switching and sorting them, creating temporary play lists... I listen and learn less and waste more time, total and utter FAILURE on Apples part..

How in the world did Apple product managers not see this gaping whole in their product design and usability? Oh wait! They did... it was a major flaw on the iPod. Yet, with all the user feedback and frustration, they release it to the iPad

So moral of the story: listen to your customer and respond. If the product fa
ils, the user expereince is bad, I don't care how cool the window looks when I can't do simple functions.

My podcast list:
(ITSM weekly podcasts (US, ROW and Antipodean), This week in Tech (TWIT, TNT, & The Social Hour) & The next web daily

Startups vs.best practices... can't we all just get along?

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Thu, 9 Jun 2011 10:45:00 -0400

Transitioning from CIO to CEO has been an interesting move for me. This is not my first time as a CEO, but my role as CEO of Vigilant was short, and Vigilant was an IT services company, so it was still chief of IT services. However, as much as I dog on ITIL, CObIT and other industry frameworks for being too esoteric and vague, I always have appreciated and applauded the principles and intents. As SMAK has launched from thought to design to code to hardware, my experiences and training in lifecycly management has served me well. Our Strategy phase quickly incorporated what our resources and capabilities could be, would be, and should be. Since I have the unique opportunity to start this IT operations from scratch, I wanted to get our LifeCycle management clear and correct from the start.

Just because we are a lean startup doesn't mean we need to run in chaos. I certainly am not going to cast all hard lessons learned in the trash. I know that if a disparate development team is not given a solid and stable platform for code migration, our IT ops will be a mess. My ITIL students and past clients have heard this expression a million times from me. If you want to cleanse the pond, you must clean the streams that feed it. In other words, if you want a clean IT operations platform, you must have solids standards and architectures in place for all involved to work from. Breaking down the DEV/QA/UAT/Prod barriers is a challenge. Typically it is based on rights and security. Access control can be a nightmare and causes much of this angst. By setting up boundaries and protocols up-front, the streams will stay clean and the pond will be a source of value.

So here is my strategy straight out of SMAKs operation guide on how I plan to allow autonomy and control co-exist.

User Setup and Configuration:

To secure the environment we will utilize a strategy of layered access to systems. Each environment will utilize the same set of layers with a name denoting their environment.

To gain physical access to systems (keyboard, SSH, Remote windows) there will be a user created.
Once physical access is gained you will need to change user or run-as a user with rights to access either system settings / application data (php, xml files / database settings / database information.
Access controls are organized in to functional groups based on assetts. Asset types fall into 5 categories:
Production – Production environment with real users and customers. Needs to exhibit high service warranty.
Demo – Production+ build version of our site with fake data that we will use for demonstration at events, webinars, and other marketing events. (Production+ means at least production vesion with potentially new features to demonstrate functionality)
UAT – User Acceptance Testing Environment– QA Build version signed off on by production release team for Security; Availability; Performance testing. Now awaiting user interaction; regression; usability and design; product marketing sign off.
QA – Quality Assurance Environment – Build version that has been signed off by development team and gone through integration testing. Testing in this environment will focus on Functionality; Security; Performance; Availability; Installation; Recovery. Training to production release team will happen at this build stage. Sign off by Product Management.
Dev – Development Environment – Dynamic build versions be created in this environment with 2 core focus areas

InnoDev - New product development focused on publishing new feature sets and requirements from Product Marketing team.
ProbDev – Problem Management environment focused on production snapshots for replicating issues found in production.

The following table lists the usernames: {obviously cleansed and changed for security purposes} Key here is to create naming conventions that make it ease for each lifcycle to be identified and controlled. This will make it a lot easier with building RACI models in your CMS map.

User Type	Production User Name	Demo User Name	UAT User Name	QA User Name	Dev User Name
Group Name
Enterprise Cloud Administration
Access User
System Admin
Application Administration
Database Administration
Data Access User (can see datapoint for customer information)
Customer Service Access (access to configuration and registration info)

Turning the page...

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Wed, 9 Mar 2011 14:12:00 -0500

What is up with Hooper?
After almost 20 years of fixing technology and relentlessly studying ways to optimize it's usage and the people who administrate it, I have finally come to the realization that we are at the tipping point of communication technologies current usefulness, email in particularly. Technology as we know it is changing, the methods we use to share, collaborate, engineer, design, problem solve, and innovate are creating huge opportunities but also huge human inefficiencies.

Socialized problem solving is enabling creative resolutions to be found at an accelerated pace in some communities. However for most people the over indulgence in information sharing and connections is causing a social reaction: Social Stress is the name I am giving it. It's the constant desire to be in touch, in the know, in the group. To have connections with the right people, to get the inside information, to be available to all, all the time.

For years I and many colleagues have been suffering from "Information Overload". Well, the problem now is "Connection Overload". Too many connections, too many ways to be connected, too many relationship management tools... it's too much. What's worse is all these social media tools are inter-connecting, repopulating and regurgitating the noise you didn't want to hear in the first place.

So this is what I am going to try and do: To ease Social Stress and fix the "Connection Problem". My business partners and I have teamed up to develop a technology that will allow you to centrally configure your relationships and connections. Our hope is that with the reduction of noise, applications will become more meaningful, relationships more meaningful, and life more meaningful. The company is called SMAK - Secure Messaging Alerting and Knowledge

Over the next few months you will see a new website launched called http://www.getsmaked.com where will make available access to a technology that will filter and stream your emails, status updates and group your connections in a super easy and effective way.
Stay tuned...

Dazed and Confused - Pink11 revelation

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 10:10:00 -0500

It's 6am Vegas time, and my head is spinning. I am coming up on day 3 for me of one of my favorite conference venues Pink Elephant IT Service Management. After years of studying, implementing, consulting and leading ITSM intitiatives and projects I woke feeling like someone had picked my pocket.

WHY IN THE WORLD DO NON-IT COMPANIES HAVE IT SERVICES?
THEY DON'T NEED THEM!
There I said it. (actually' I've already tweeted it).

Why would I say this? Me, after standing on soapboxes for so many years.
I don't know if it's the past year of doing the ITSM Weekly Podcast and listening to guests. Having some gut wrenching discussion internally at Inforonics about our corporate strategy. Maybe it has been reading the Universal Service Management Body of Knowledge (after reading this post Ian offered users a $50 discount. use Discount code "VigilantGuy" tx Ian) and meeting its author this week Ian Clayton. I'm sure it's a bit of all that, but's it's definitely 2 distinct events that have happened in sessions here at Pink. Which is why this contiues to be one of my favorite venues.

Event #1) After a 45 minute panel discussion on Service Catalog (of which I had the pleasure of being on) the last question of the day was by a women who was frustrated by the inability to have services defined and asked "Besides Email, what are some other IT services". I then hear each panelist rattle off System after system, network, storage, etc.. It was clear this panel of Service Catalog (where you write down what the services are for the business) couldn't agree on what a Service is.

Event #2) In a panel discussion moderated by Rob England (aka The IT Skeptic) the topic was the elusive CMDB. A source of consternation, frustration, and confusion throughout the ITSM industry. The major point hit again and again: It has to be Service Aligned.... But wait, we can't define what a service is.
As I sat there and listened to the extremely passionate arguments, emotional lessons learned, and even one person honeslty begging for help.

We are trying to put Round Pegs in Square holes. We are making up a layer that does not need to be there. The IT Service layer is fabricated to fill a misconceived whole. Well there is no whole.

Business Models are supported by Operational Models that are managed through systems and processes. Business Services are the only services a business needs. These can be supported through systems layer that correlates and integrates assets (technical or not).

Yet, that is not how ITSM community speaks and talks. In the ITSM community if my Business Model is about Hospitality, we still create this thing called Storage Area Network Services. When did SAN Services become something people buy to get a hotel room. They Don't!

So if I follow the current thinking on ITSM, I am supposed build and define the SAN Service, put it in a catalog, map it to a CMDB, and present its value to my CEO and ask him for a seat at the table.

If you were CEO, would ask me to sit down?

I can tell you what Captain Arbrashoff would say: "Beat it buddy"

Please tell me your comments or send me a tweet @vigilantguy I would love to hear your response and thoughts on this.
On to day 3.

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week36) - Guest Speaker: Ian Clayton

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Thu, 6 Jan 2011 17:03:00 -0500

My dad was a mechanic, he is the farthest thing from a "Computer Guy" as you can get. Seriously, I have to use Webex to support him because I just don't have the patience to walk him through screen clicks, but that's a whole other blog. Yet, he was not unlike most of the IT professionals I have worked with. Let me explain: He owned his on Garage, a Service Station, so it was naturally ingrained into me that when people had problems with their technology (uhm yes, Cars are technology) that they would take it to him to have it "serviced". This idea of going to professionals to have your problems handled is by no means new. Yet somewhere along the line service standards changed. Let me illustrate. I remember pumping gas as a kid for my dads customers (yeah for real, people didn't actually do it themselves), I would even check the oil, wash the windshields, and even clean the wiper blades. Also, you could get any type of car repaired, and we did any type of repair. We were a "Full Service" station. Times have changed we now have "Self Service" stations where you get Gas and typically food goods and other non-automotive related convenience items. "Full Service" stations you get your gas pumped and that's usually it. As for car repairs, you go to specialists, Brakes, Mufflers, Transmissions, etc... The progression has been, as people became more comfortable with their technology, they have become more self sufficient, able to service themselves and look for value added services to their time and convenience.

I see the IT industry heading down the same path. IT staff used to be great to help setup network switches, desktops, install applications. Now an office manager or receptionist won't get hired without knowing these skills. Thus IT leaders need to look at the trends to help customers be serviced better, more conveniently, enable and empower them to help themselves. In Episode 36 we have a great guest and legend in the IT Service Management space, Ian Clayton. Ian is a very forward thinking expert on customer service management and speaks frequently on the concept of "Outside-In". I hope you enjoy this podcast, as much as I did and I can not recommend his book enough, USMBOK for IT service Management. Ian has offered a %50 when you enter the code "servicesphere" at check out.

Shownotes and details here: http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/10/11/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-episode-36.html

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Episode 36) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Your Hosts: Chris Dancy, Matthew Hooper and Matt Beran (twitter #ITSMWP)

Special Guest: Ian Clayton, Ian's Blog Here, See Ian in January 2011Here!

Submit Questions: Anonymously or Email or Call In: (765) 236-6383 or Twitter Questions/Comments #ITSMWP

Episode 36 Topics:

SIM CIO Roundtable (Boston)
RedMonk Podcast
LinoIT (The ITSM ITIL Wall of Death)
Free ITSM Tool (OTRS)
App Economy
Bearonvision Summons Ian Clayton
USMBOK History
OGC ITIL version number Fear (see page 6-7) > Know your customer
Walmart Customers > Own your brand
Customer Experience Management
TSA Junk Scanner
Thunder Cats
MIS Hooper if you’re NASTY
Pink 11 Conference Radical Elements
itSMF USA History and Founding
An Officer and a Gentleman
ITIL not the enemy
Nicholas Carr “IT Doesn’t Matter”
Viagra for ITSM
George Westerman defines customer
JUST LISTEN FOR THE NEXT FEW, TURN OFF EVERYTHING AND LISTEN
Service Transition (ITIL Book)
USMBOK
Incident is UNDER a service request, NOT at the same level (Inside out thinking)
311 Service Center
Dead Animals and Service Request
“Getting it in place is MORE important than getting it PERFECT first” – Matt Beran (Baby JC Wisdom #BJCW
Why would IT want to make things worse than they are?
Service Nursing, from Real ITSM
Build for Micro Single Purpose Apps (This is a recurring theme on podcast 26-31)
Select, Select, Submit
Google Search for Torch (Torch vs Flashlight)
To understand ITIL vs understand Service You need this
Sticky Website (we need Sticky Service Management)
Is it DNA that controls IT Self Service Usage?
Evolving to be self-center as IT professionals
The AxeMakers Gift
The Power of Prayer
Does Amazon do great customer service or did they condition you to their SERVICE MODEL?
Specialtys
Can you be an IT person and never focus on IT again (Bringing Service BACK, Brining Human BACK)
Where are the Metrics in Customer Centric vs IT centric management
We are the World (Show the experience and the pain)
No Beran didn’t send the Link (Service Fail)

COOL DEAL: 50% OFF USMBOK for ITSM Weekly Podcast Listners! Enter Code "servicesphere" at checkout

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week34 & 35) - ITSMF Video and Post Show Episode

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 11:29:00 -0500

Many people ask me why I am part of certain associations. SIM (Society of Information Management), HDI (Help Desk Institute), ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association), and ITSMF (Information Technology Service Management Forum). The first reason is to meet smart people. I don't have time to research the latest and greatest trends, practices, and keep up on who's who. Since 2004, I have had a dual role of chief marketing and technologist. Each of those disciplines area in and of themselves morphing at lightning speed. So to keep up, I've found networking with folks for a few hours and hearing a presentation on certain topics keeps me in the know. Sadly, however, the value of networking groups have diminished as committees are formed and political agendas are pushed. The value of volunteer-ism is diminished because of prominence or association. What do I mean? Take for instance the hard working independent consultant who is out working it, and offers to give his experience of deploying a Service Desk at 5 clients vs. the Service Desk Manager for a well known financial institute that has hired guns at their disposal for the hard work. The committees for choosing speakers all too frequently discount the independent because of fear that they will try to sell the audience, and will choose the big company profile. Even if the IC has proven to put a lot into the organization. Give me a break! First off, 30-50% of the audience at these conferences have either been, are, or will be a consultant at some point in their career. Second, a SPAMMY consultant is pretty easy to call out. Anyone who has been at this for a while knows that if you pitch at a conference you loose your audience and credibility fast. Staying hard-core has always shown value and increased the awareness of your skills and thus led to follow on work. Even if you are not a polished speaker, simply speaking from the heart on real world experiences and engaging the audience in a mutual discussion will drive more value. So committee members I call out to you, if you want my continued membership. Get the workers out in front of us and save the experts for panel discussions. We want to hear "real world". Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we shouldn't have real practitioners from the Big name companies. Believe me, I appreciate their discussions. However, if you have attended these conferences and meetings, you have seen that it is "always" these folks. I'm saying give us people who are dynamic, exciting and know what they are talking about, regardless of their role, company or title. Just keep it real!

Ths week in IT Service Management Weekly the Podcast, Chris, Matt and I record live from the ITSMF Fusion 10 conference. It's only 20 minutes, so I have also put in here the following podcast.
Enjoy

LIVE from itSMF Fusion 2010 ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Week 34) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Episode 35) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

I See A Pink Door and I Wanted Painted Black

What happens when a CIO, a Service Desk Manager and an Industry Junkie Chat Weekly?!

Your Hosts: Chris Dancy, Matthew Hooper and Matt Beran (twitter #ITSMWP)

Submit Questions: Anonymously or Email or Call In: (765) 236-6383 or Twitter Questions/Comments #ITSMWP

Episode 35 Topics:

The first video of the recording of the Podcast
PS I am shy
Brainshark
Shareshare Pro
Inforonics SupportCast Video
Baron at itSMF Fusion 2010
Rutgers Student Suicide
Robert Stroud Loves to SPAM the #HDI Hashtag
itSMF UK 2010 Conference
New Style Retweet
Hooper SKIPPED my session at itSMF Fusion
HDI support via Twitter
ITSM History (CRM and ITSM Meet 1999-2002)
HDI Membership Levels
Pink Elephant
ADHD
New Kindle
The God Delusion (Richard Dawkin)
The Greatest Show on Earth (Richard Dawkin)
Hooper’s Attention Seeking History
Pink Elephant
ITSM New Media Essentials Class (The Class NO ITSM professional should be without)
Pink Elephant 2011 Conference
HDI Service Management Conference
HDI, itSMF and Pink Elephant the Vendor View
South by SouthWest
Michael Cote and RedMonk
Rob England (The ITSkeptic)
Skeptic CMDB
Let’s pick on Skep like Ivor Macfarlane
What Defines a “VENDOR”
The CMDB Imperative Review book, See Review Here
The IT Skeptics looks at CMDB
Power and Responsibility
Ivanka Menken Defined
HDI 2011 Conference (March 2011)
itSMF UK 2010
ITSMWP Rest of the World Edition Podcast
BMI
Ian Clayton
USMBOK Book
Pointillism
Hooper Throws DOWN!! “GOD” on Twitter
Scripture Portion of the Show
Hooper: John 3:16
Chris: Matthew 35-25
Fizzy Duck Tweets
Ian Clayton’s Hair
Farrah Fawcett Hair

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week33) - Guest Speaker: Kevin More

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Mon, 8 Nov 2010 22:40:00 -0500

In my last blog post I spoke about the human element of actions. This becomes ever so much more prevalent when your corporation works with deviations from societal norms. In my life I have worked for almost every type of corporation, marketing, sales, insurance, finance, hospitals, snack goods, education, engineering... There is a few I haven't worked in by choice, but not many. The actions of showing up at a desk, walking into a meeting, presenting a topic, evaluating a report, have all been relatively the same for me. My strength has been FCAPS Fault, Capacity, Availability, Performance, Security, and Change management. However, my experience for everyone of those actions has been completely different. FCAPS management to be truly proactive you must understand the business. What does that mean? What do the people in the business do, and how do they do it? You must observe the culture, understand the patterns. For instance, my first work assignment in insurance I took the opportunity to evaluate when desks would clear out at the end of the day. I noticed typically around 4pm employees were heading out and by 5pm it was fairly empty. So before ever running my first system utilization report, I already head the suspicion that between 2-4pm the system was at high-load. Lifestyle was a cultural element, and sports moms' and dads wanted to be home for 6pm practice. When evaluating network and system traffic, I was spot on. 2-4pm heavy usage. So I then took that data and evaluated the load testing strategy. Just as you would have suspected, a ramp load to an avg steady stay for 6 hours and then down again. In other words, the simulation was emulating traffic and load based on a work-day schedule, not a cultural behavior or pattern. So what am I getting at? KNOW YOUR BUSINESS.

This week our special guest is a colleague of mine from Boston SIM, Kevin More. Kevin is a very impressive proffesional, not just cause he is technical, a savvy business person, or has an iPad. (Though I am jealous of his iPad). It's because he knows his business. He understands what his culture does, how they perform actions, and even more importantly WHY they do it. Listen in as Kevin More, CIO of May Institute, discusses the delivery of IT services for an organization dedicated behavioral health and development of children and adults with brain dysfunctions and autism.

Enjoy this weeks episode with our special guest Kevin More.

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Episode 33) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Your Hosts: Matthew Hooper and Matt Beran(twitter #ITSMWP)

AUTISM, iPADs and SIM-FUSION!

What happens when a CIO, a Service Desk Manager and an Industry Junkie Chat Weekly?!

Your Hosts: Matthew Hooper and Matt Beran(twitter #ITSMWP)

Special Guest: Kevin More

Submit Questions: Anonymously or Email or Call In: (765) 236-6383 or Twitter Questions/Comments #ITSMWP

Christory
HDI Speaking Tour
itSMF Fusion 2010
Executive itSMF Fusion 2010
Glenn O’Donnell
Ivanka Menken
Kevin More
May Institute
Autism
ABA
Autism in the US military
iPads discussion
iPads in use from clinician
SIM
CIO Roundtables
HDI
itSMF
Focus groups more value than social media
SIMPosium

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week32) - Guest Speaker: Philip Neufeld & Matt Neigh

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:29:00 -0400

Service Management - a term that continues to allude people who are in the service industry. I'm not talking just IT, all be it probably we are the worst to embrace this. I'm talking about those who just don't get that if you are not fabricating a tangible (electronic or physical) product or good, then you are performing services for your job. Even if you make a product, say diamond plated dental instruments (something you would be surprised I have learned a lot about), you still are performing services. Turning shanks, dipping instruments, packaging, shipping, are all series of actions. So what's my point?

Service Management is not process. Processes are not Service Management. Yet both involve the same series of actions. You must perform a series of actions in a quality controlled form to produce a result that is consistent, expected, and predictable. This is where PROCESS kicks in. Processes help you to know which actions to take, when to take them, and what to track about it so you can measure, tune and report on those steps. SERVICE MANAGEMENT thus is all about the attitude, reflection, interaction, communication, and personalization that surrounds the people performing those actions. Thus a simple way to think about it in my mind is a PROCESS gets the job done, SERVICE MANAGEMENT satisfies a the requester. Thus if you spend too much time focusing on either one of these without the other, you will achieve an imbalance of not getting the job done and being a talking head to a requester, or being efficient but a royal pain to work with. Remember if it's just an action, a robot can do that. Humans desire a human element, and you must bring that human element to the table when perform actions for other humans.

Enjoy listening to this weeks episode where we speak with Special Guest: Philip Neufeld Director of Service Management, IT Services State of California and Matt Neigh from our Higher Education sponsor Cherwell Software

Thanks again to our sponsor Cherwell Software Higher Education and ITSM Software

Show notes here: http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/9/13/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-episode-32.html

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Episode 32) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Your Hosts: Chris Dancy, Matthew Hooper and Matt Beran (twitter #ITSMWP)

Mobile Apps, Communication Intelligence and Fusion

What happens when a CIO, a Service Desk Manager and an Industry Junkie Chat Weekly?!

Your Hosts: Chris Dancy, Matthew Hooper and Matt Beran (twitter #ITSMWP)

Special Guest: Matt Neigh

Special Guest: Philip Neufeld

Series: ITSM and Higher Education

Submit Questions: Anonymously or Email or Call In: (765) 236-6383 or Twitter Questions/Comments #ITSMWP

Sponsor: Cherwell Software

Sponsor Special: Higher Education and ITSM Software

Episode 32 Topics:

American Medical Systems Support
Dr. Pam Carter’s Podcast
Jay Stuart Sends Free Pass to Pam Carter to Fusion10
Cherwell Software
Phil Neufeld
CBAT
Former FrontRange Solution Leaders
Fresno State
Deskside Support Best Practices
Pat Bolger Hornbill Software
Ease of Use vs. Ease of Usage
Cherwell Asset Discovery Tool PDF
HEAT Service and Support
True Differentiators in ITSM Solutions
The Future of ITSM Tools
Human ERP
Fristory
Platform for Service
iCherwell Mobile Application
WAP
Client side Business Rules
Cherwell Software “Community”
Matt Neigh’s Blog
Matt Neigh’s Twitter
Tungle.me (Calendar of the Future)
Pull Media vs. Push Media for Service Management
SIM
SIM and itSMF Special (50% off for members contact HOOP!)
itSMF Executive Forum
Cherwell Software at Fusion10
itSMF Social Training, UGH!
CSU Travel Restriction
Higher Education Podcast Series Episode 28-32

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week31) - Guest Speaker: Pam Carter aka Dr. Pam

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:17:00 -0400

In 2009 I had the unique pleasure of attending the Academic Summit at the ITSMF Fusion09 Event in Dallas. The event included a ITSM Simulation by the folks at G2G3 and really brought to light the difference between teaching and doing. It was great to see the professors struggle between concept and application, just like the rest of us do. After the simulations my colleagues and I were given an opportunity to sit in on the presentations of the professors on how they are bringing ITSM and ITIL into the classroom. It was really great to hear the strategies, however, one person stood out in particular to me. Dr. Pam Carter, Associate Proffesor of Management at North Carolina AT&T State University, had an approach that really hit home. With a predominant number of the students coming from families whose parents were not involved with white collar workers, their ideas and concepts of the business world were very foreign to reality. To translate that into the ITSM world was a real challenge. By utiliizing analogies that the children could really grasp on to, she was able to connect with the value of ITSM principles and disciplines.

Listen to this weeks episode, certain to be one that goes down in ITSMWP History, as Dr. Pam, as we have come to affectionately call her, builds our appreciation for the words "Cultural Change".
Show notes: http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/9/6/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-episode-31.html

Thanks to our Higher Ed Series Sponsor: Cherwell Software

ITSM Weekly, The Podcast (Week 31) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Agriculture, Historically Black and ITSM

What happens when a CIO, a Service Desk Manager and an Industry Junkie Chat Weekly?!

Your Hosts: Chris Dancy, Matthew Hooper and Matt Beran (twitter #ITSMWP)

Special Guest: Dr. Pam Carter

Series: ITSM and Higher Education

Submit Questions: Anonymously or Email or Call In: (765) 236-6383 or Twitter Questions/Comments #ITSMWP

Sponsor: Cherwell Software

Sponsor Special: Higher Education and ITSM Software

Episode 31 Topics:

No hosting for you
ITSMWP Rest of the World Edition (The Review)
Spent Socks and Tramps
North Carolina A&T State
MIS is People
Keyboards on People?
Agricultural and Technical?
Land-Grant University
Food Inc
Professor vs Associate Professor
Ward Churchill
Information Systems in the Movies
Live Free or Die Hard
From Business Plan to Information Processes….in 3 sentences!
Historically Black College or University
Underground Railroad
AN INFORMATION SYSTEM doesn’t have to be COMPUTERIZED!
The diversity argument for ITSM
The PhD Project & The PhDProject on Twitter
Hooper is White
Students are dropping out of IT degrees…..
Society for Information Management and Academic Agenda
Catch 22 with IT and Mentors
What is a minority, now that the Hispanic population will soon become the majority in the Southwest?
How much blood makes you a black?
Is this a problem or an opportunity?
Bowie State
Chris’s World
Anal Cyst Quote of the Week: IT self-service is not adequate for solving problems, says Gartner
Gartner Headlines, The Doctor is in….
{{{oohhhh this section of the podcast is just toooooo good.}}}
ITIL Foundation is the Sound Bite Nation
The PhD Project & The PhDProject on Twitter
itSMF Fusion 2010
Thank you to itSMF President Robert Sterbens for Dr. Carter’s Pass!

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week30) - Guest Speaker: Juan Torres

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:00:00 -0400

Social Media is changing the game for enterprises. It's not different for the CIO's. CIO"s have been asked to deploy internal and external portals that engaging and sharing of information for collaborative efforts. After months of research we come back to the business with a 6 figure proposal and 6 month timeline. The business reposnse - "can't we do this on Facebook now". That my friends is game changing. The thought of employees sharing information on facebook. Information like, "hey what's that link for time sheet entry?". "Yo, do you remember how to log in to the system again". How do you like those status updates going out to the social world. Think CIO's don't have to pay attention to new media environments and technology... think again.

This week we have on our show Juan Torres. Juan runs the help desk for Ohio Dominican University. He helps bring to light the reality of supporting the next generation of business community IT has to prepare to support.
Show notes here: http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/8/29/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-episode-30.html

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Episode 30) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Christory, Christmas Gifts, CSI and Xbox

What happens when a CIO, a Service Desk Manager and an Industry Junkie Chat Weekly?!

Your Hosts: Chris Dancy, Matthew Hooper and Matt Beran (twitter #ITSMWP)

Special Guest: Juan Torres

Series: ITSM and Higher Education

Submit Questions: Anonymously or Email or Call In: (765) 236-6383 or Twitter Questions/Comments #ITSMWP

Sponsor: Cherwell Software

Sponsor Special: Higher Education and ITSM Software

Episode 30 Topics:

Inforonics Support Cast
HelpDeskManager (on Twitter)
ITSM Weekly UK version (aka @FakeITIL)
The Help Desk is on Fire….we don’t need no water, let the…..
Best Employees are Education Majors (NOTE: not IT)
How to Train Higher Education Students to run a Help Desk
Facebook Places for helping new employees (students)
The Help Desk ate my homework
If they use it at home, we support it on campus
Shakira on a Roomba
HDI
HDI Certification
You are a support person for life
Christory, The birth of Christmas Gift that keeps giving
FrontRange Solutions
Who is Cherwell? Cherwell Software our Sponsor!
Help Desk vs Service Desk
Help Desk customers FEARLESS
HDI CSI, Customer Service Index
Wordel
Cone of Silence
The Juan Torres (Help Desk Manager Higher Education)

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week29) - Guest Speaker:Matt Blair & Taj Peeran

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 11:39:00 -0400

For the next gen of IT professionals the business landscape is a theory not a law. With so much dynamics in the underlying operations of marketing, sales, manufacturing, IT is going to be challenged to bring a new game to the table. Students need to be Business Students with Technology skills. Product development and innovation is going to be a the mainstay of the engineering folks. The role of the IT professional will be to manage the "pure sciences" capability, including intellectual property into a monetized outcome of technology (applied science). Creating and protecting value models based on business benefits driven by technology will be no easy task. The CIO of the future will have to have deep and diverse skills, if role exists at all.

Listen in to this weeks podcast as we talk to Matt Blair & Taj Peeran 2 students working to get their Masters in Information Services (MSIS).
Show notes here: http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/8/22/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-episode-29.html

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Episode 29) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Dancing as Fast as We Can, Utility, Warranty and the “I” in team.

What happens when a CIO, a Service Desk Manager and an Industry Junkie Chat Weekly?!

Your Hosts: Chris Dancy, Matthew Hooper and Matt Beran (twitter #ITSMWP)

REAL LIFE STUDENTS OF ITSM!

Special Guest: Matthew Blair - Matt Blair is the President of the MSIS Association - a networking, personal development and community service organization that runs a parallel with the Masters in Information Systems (MSIS) program in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He writes about current IT issues in his blog,MattMinute, and also has intern experience in audit, project management and process refinement. He holds a Bachelors in Finance and Accounting and will be graduating with a Masters in Information Systems in May 2011. He can be reached via LinkedIn or e-mail at mablair@indiana.edu.

Special Guest: Taj Peeran is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Information Systems at Kelley School of Business, and at the moment interning at Mead Johnson, Evansville for the Global PMO Group. With an undergraduate degree in Computer Science, and a keen interest in technology and software development, he worked for Wipro Technologies for 4 years, where he focused on developing and architecting solutions on the J2ee platform. On the MSIS program he says - 'The program has an excellent blend of technology and business subjects. The focus of the program is to empower its students to understand the different aspects of managing and governing IT'. He can be reached via LinkedIn or email: apeeran@indiana.edu

Series: ITSM and Higher Education

Submit Questions: Anonymously or Email or Call In: (765) 236-6383 or Twitter Questions/Comments #ITSMWP

Sponsor: Cherwell Software

Sponsor Special: Higher Education and ITSM Software

Episode 29 Topics:

Black Decker World Headquarters
College Internships
George Spaulding of Pink Elephant has a Question, Tools from 2005, what will tools in 2015 look like?
ASL
Microsoft Office Live
Sky Drive
Yahtzee (3 Matts one podcast)
Mobile Apps or WAP?
Google Apps Marketplace
Utility and Warranty
Chomp (Yelp for Applications)
TuCows
GoDaddy Customer Service
Thursday nights, call someone for work
What didn’t college prepare you for?
Brown Nosing
It pays well when the IT Bar is set low
CMMI
Reactivity is going to get worse
Building a Wall for a Flood that Already Happened
Online Privacy
World Wide Web – ARAPNET
Microsoft BOB
Google, Microsoft and Apple (in one word)

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week28) -Higher Ed Series Guest Speaker:Mark Fitzgerald

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 12:14:00 -0400

We talk a lot about the three tenants of IT organizations, being Process, Product and People. At the end of the day, it's all about people. We are People, we exist because of people, we work on behalf of people and people work on behalf of us. Processes and products exist because we want more out of people. Universities are challenged with creating and fostering the cultural perspective of the future leaders and innovators. July we introduced our series of Higher Education and the role ITSM plays. Our first guest is both a professional ITSM practitioner as well as a professor and ITSM advocate.

Enjoy this excellent perspective and some great aspects of the industry you may not have thought of before.

Show notes here: http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/8/15/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-week-28.html

Thanks to our series sponsor: Cherwell Software

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Week 28) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Your Hosts: Chris Dancy and Matthew Hooper (twitter #ITSMWP)

Special Guest : - Mark Fitzgerald

Series: ITSM and Higher Education

Submit Questions: Anonymously or Email or Call In: (765) 236-6383 or Twitter Questions/Comments #ITSMWP

Sponsor: Cherwell Software

Sponsor Special: Higher Education and ITSM Software

Week 28 Topics:

Beran-less
VOTE FOR MARK FITZGERALD (you will by the end of the podcast)
Who is Mark Fitzgerald
Boise State University
Help Desk vs Service Desk
HDI Higher Education Forum
Brand Equity (vs ITIL terminology)
HDI Conferences
What do you support on a help desk vs. what do GENERATIONS expect you to support.
Maybe your customers don’t want to talk to you
What generation is what…..
Different Service Catalog for different audience (BLASPHEMY)
Internal vs. External Service Desk….REALLY?
Does Higher Education have a responsibility to TEACH IT consumers how to behave?
Are business’s today missing the boat? (The PERFECT ITSM Storm)
Keeping your HEAD above water vs Business and IT Alignment
Who are the podcast customers? Defining a customer
Rob England’s New Book, Basic Service Management
Silence is COMMUNICATION
Selling the communication of changing services
Marketing Communication vs. SPIN
Marketing Technique “Laddering”
CIO out stumping, shaking hands and kissing babies
CIO’s Command and Control vs. Consensus
Real Life is much different than IT Decision making
The Perfect Storm in IT is here
Chris’s Dead Mom has a feature spot on the show
Consumers today aren’t smarter, they just are fearless
Up sizing social media folks
Help Desk as an Entry Level? Hmmm
Experiential Learning
Abilene Christian University
Homogeneous
Ego and Pride
G2G3 Simulation
Pain vs. Reward Learning
The Road Less Traveled
I can’t show you how to use matches until I show you the power of fire.
Boise Help Desk Site
Mark Fitzgerald Contact

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week27) Special Guest: Patrick Bolger

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 13:35:00 -0400

Being the spokesperson for a Service Desk tool is not an enviable position in my mind at all. In fact it's probably one of the worst functional areas I would want to support. It's flooded by vendors, it's selling to a cost focused market place, and it's level of expectation for results is ridiculous. Unless, your vision and product is game changing, and your are a bullish marketer. This week we had the pleasure of having on Patrick Bolger, an acquaintance I've come to know through sponsoring at ITSMF and Pink Elephant over the past 5 to 6 years. My first introduction to Patrick was a continued lesson in never underestimating who you are meeting. Patrick, in his gruff voice approached me as I went to his booth, "what's ehh ahh Vigilant do?". Figuring he was a booth bouncer, I said "oh we implement ITSM solutions." The standard "you wouldn't really know what I'm talking about if I told you". Then like a sucker punch, Patrick started to unleash on me a vision of service management and forward thinking I hadn't seen in the industry, especially from a tool vendor. Long before ITIL V3, Patrick was talking about life-cycles and maturity mapping, integrating strategic vision into tactical execution. I sat for over an hour punch drunk at the wealth of knowledge from a guy who looked like he just stepped out of the WWE. That's a compliment Patrick, please don't hurt me. :)

Moral of the story: Never underestimate the talent in the exhibit halls. Ask questions, take time to learn, and don't be afraid to say "show me what you got" that's what they are there for.

Enjoy this great episode with Patrick, and thanks again to his company: http://www.hornbill.com/ for sponsoring.

Show notes: http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/8/9/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-week-27.html

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Week 27) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Your Hosts: Chris Dancy, Matthew Hooper and Matt Beran (twitter #ITSMWP)

Sponsor: Hornbill Software

Sponsor Special: You Choose!!

Week 27 Topics:

What is @FakeITIL
Chief Evangelist
FrontRange Solutions
Sparxent (Formerly NetworkD)
Why do English Software Companies Have Trouble in the US
James Finister
Hornbill Twitter
Olympic Games and Hornbill Software
1980 Olympics (Lake Placid)
Chris’s Parents From Here
The Thorpedo
Gartner Adjusted Spending for IT
Stephen Mann
Michael Cote
MonkChips (James Governor)
Ben and Jerry’s and Email Marketing
Hubspot
What to do when you Cloud Data Goes BYE BYE?
Beran’s Car
Chris’s Service Desk Roots
Where does Chris Stand on Service Desk and SaaS (you heard it here first and a bit of history and forecasting)
The gang ways in on is the WEB rich enough?
Beetil, InfraDesk and Service-Now
Best New Grammy Curse
Madonna History
The Gauntlet Service Desk Offering from Hornbill
OTRS Tweet (Unhappy customer wanting different software)
Hornbill adds Social Integration (Beran Salivates)
Wordle
What is @FakeITIL
Brandon Lane
Mortal Kombat
Facebook Questions
Alan Pease
Where is the FBML Help Desk
Twitter Suggested Users
The Patrick Bolger Twitter Account
Social Media for VMWorld Document
Are you at the Twitter Bar
Value to the Community
itSMF Fusion
Are ITSM ITIL Trade Shows WORTH now?
See Patrick at itSMF Fusion
SDITS Show London
Your ITSM Tradeshow Experience
Pannels vs Presentations at Tradeshows
itSMF Italy Call for Papers
The Audacity of Free
What Does a Meeting at Hornbill Cost?
Kicking Tires or ….
Look at Me!
What Happens After Malcolm Fry

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week26) Special Guest: Riitta Raesmaa

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:12:00 -0400

One of the areas that plagues CIO's and subsequently IT organizations is the area of contract management. Even the CIO who is a savvy negotiator will readily admit, once the deal is inked managing the life-cycle of the contract becomes an exercise in file keeping, not vendor management. This weeks guest on the podcast is Riitta Raesmaa, VP of Marketing and Communications for Sopima. Like all of our guests she is skilled in ITSM and a major contributor to information sharing, whether through ITSMF or twitter. She doesn't talk about contracts management on the podcast, but looking at her companies website Sopima got me thinking, this is definitely a topic CIO's could learn a lot more about.
Our last in the series of Women in IT Riitta is great fun, has a huge following on twitter and brings some great insight to the nation of Findland.

Show notes and Links here: http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/8/1/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-week-26.html Thanks again to Hornbill for sponsoring this series.

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Week 26) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

how Hosts:
Christopher Dancy
Matt Beran
Matthew Hooper

Sponsor: Hornbill Software

Sponsor Special: You Choose!!

Week 26 Topics:

Sopima
Riita has MORE followers than ME!
Sopima Award
Riitta Raesmaa
Helsinki, Finland
IBM Finland
Roman Polanski (2^nd appearance)
itSMF Finland
Riitta on Twitter
Cloud Computing Video
Ritta Cloud vs SaaS
Hornbill, You Choose
Beran’s Definition of Cloud
OSI Model
Hoop’s Definition of Cloud
Pizza and Fudge
National Bird of Finland
SaaS Washing
CERN
Inforonics
True SaaS People
Chris Defines Cloud
Maybe your customers don’t want to Talk to You
Have we lost the faith in ITSM
Hooper the Father of Social Media
What do you call it, Help Desk or Service Desk
Nordic HDI
Nordic HDI Event
The Center of the Universe
Cassandra and Mythology
Riitta’s Links
Google Reader
Hoopers Blog
Maslow’s Hierachy
Why can’t you Retweet the IT Skeptic
The few, the proud, the people The IT Skeptic Follows
Google Wave vs Google Buzz
TweetDeck REAL TIME Video
Riitta’s evolution with social media
The Value of LinkedIn
Where is Finland, GOD help Chris
itSMF Norway
Bjork
Finnish Music (HIM)
Thrash Accordion
Email Marketing, Does it Still Work?
Trying to Communicate is not communicating
Don’t Do Finnish!

How to Maximize Outsourcers - Part 3 of 3 - Working the Relationship

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:50:00 -0400

This is the 3rd part of a 3-part article on how to get the most out of your outsourcing relationships.

Click here for Part 1 - You (or your company). Can you handle the truth?

Click here for Part 2 - The Outsourcer. Friend, Foe or Value Provider

Now for Part 3 - The Relationship. Customer, Consumer or Partner

Part 3 - Us

Congratulations!

You've taken a big step in evaluating the mission that your IT organization is on, and have decided that there are core services that you should be focusing on to make a business impact, and that there are services which are not core and that you will partner up to achieve the maximum outcome.

Phew... big step.

Next, you have carefully selected outsourcing options and providers that will deliver outcomes aligned with your corporate objectives and business focus.

Great job!... but you're not quite ready to achieve a return on this work. There are still 2 major hurdles you need to get through in order to start actualizing benefits of this relationship and to start taking advantage of the benefits.

Hurdle 1) Frankenstein Complex

So you have just inked the deal, when you step back to look at your creation and say to yourself - "I now have more complexity, disjointed parts, awkwardness; I've created a Monster!".

Well, before your peers start running into the data center with pitch forks and torches, you need to be armed and ready.

First, you must make sure that you have clear roles and responsibilities outlined and accepted by your team and the outsourcer.

An excellent source of reference on this topic is the book IT Savvy by Jeanne W. Ross and Peter Weill- Chapter 5 "Allocating Decision Rights and Accountability"

Next, you must be clear on intellectual rights. Who owns the IP, the code, and access to your data. Depending on what you are outsourcing, this can be very complex. The "Cloud Computing Bill of Rights" by James Urquhart can be a great start.

Finally, you need to show value.

Ugh... not more presentations.

NOT MORE Presentations... the last thing that your business peers want to see is a powerpoint of how you've glued body parts together. (sorry for the graphic image, but that's how non-IT business units look at most of our presos)

I'm talking about real value, demonstrated by outcomes that matter.

So, now that Franky is keeping the lights on and handling daily operations, take this time to setup the following committees

(I recommend in this order):

A) End-User Improvement Steering Committee

-- A joint effort between IT and departments with the largest or most critical end-user base, focused on improving the end-user experience.

The output of this committee should be focused on areas of improvement in business operation. Shy away from look and feel unless it is truly an improvement that will improve business performance.

B) Service Quality Improvement Steering Committee

--Bring together a representative from the top 3 to 5 services within the business

Create a Service Quality initiative that is based on verifying value-add (yes the old VVA stuff for those with manufacturing backgrounds, hey it works) of the services that the company delivers.

The output, from an IT perspective, should be to start labeling and documenting the business services relationships to IT services and the IT Service providers.

-WAIT! don't you mean IT assets?

No, I don't. You need to trust your service providers, and trust that they will create that level of documentation. Trying to micro-manage the outsourcer is a losing proposition.

With that said, let them do a lot of the work for you. By providing them the service relationship model, you can have them provide the reporting to you in a format that the business wants to see, along with the reporting on their performance.

Now, you can start to change how IT is perceived. Yet, beware... you’re still not there.

Hurdle 2) Extreme Makeover Complex

This new look for IT is very exciting to the business. They really like some of the new-found attention that they are getting. Yet, without maintaining certain disciplines, the glitter and glam will fade quite fast.

Here are some personality checks to keep the relationship strong.

Don't forget where you came from.

In other words, don't forget the difficulty and complexity of the services you have outsourced. This is not your chance to finally be the "Customer" and unleash all these years of pentup frustration from being beat down by the business. Your outsourcer is your partner, a partner who will best serve by making you look like a hero.

It's not cheating to multi-source.

(I know this is sound more and more like a Cosmo article...)

But seriously, it's business. Single-sourcing is not always your best option. Be open and honest with your provider. Dictate your requirements and reasons for sourcing alternatives. If you feel that your current provider is over-stretched or over-committed - tell them. It will give them the opportunity to focus on the services that they are delivering, plus it will create an opportunity for them to compete in the future.

Of course, you may be surprised and find out that they are more mature in this offering than you think; that they can provide great credentials and references to back that up. , In this case, it's a WIN either way. Remember from Part 2, this is a competitive marketplace, and you have every right to keep providers earning your business.

Finally, don't play games.

Sad but true, there are many who feel that all the resources of an outsourcer are at their beck and call. Be warned! Outsourcers with whom you can play games, play games as well. You are fooling yourself if you think you are getting more than you paid for or bargained for. Enter the relationship with honesty and integrity and expect the same back. View the outsource partner as an extension of your organization, while remembering that they are NOT your organization.

So when dealing and interacting with them avoid internal politics and keep them focused on delivering for your team.

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week25) Special Guest: Ivanka Menken

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Wed, 4 Aug 2010 18:30:00 -0400

I have so much respect for people who have the guts to start a business. Having started several myself, I know all too well the pain and struggle it takes to take your vision and passion, wrap structure and profit around it and make it successfull. The Art of Service's CEO Ivanka Menken joins us on the podcast this week. Beyond being a successful business women, Ivanka is a highly sought after IT trainer, an author, blogger, twitter personality, and a bundle of energy to boot.
You are going to love this weeks podcast.
Show notes here:
http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/7/26/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-week-25.html

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Week 25) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Show Hosts:
Christopher Dancy
Matt Beran
Matthew Hooper

Special Guest 1: - Ivanka Menken
Submit Questions: Anonymously or Email or Call In: (765) 236-6383 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (765) 236-6383 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or Twitter Questions/Comments #ITSMWP
Sponsor: Hornbill Software

Sponsor Special: You Choose!!

Week 25 Topics:
■Hornbill You Choose
■Ivanka Menken
■The Ivanka Interview
■Hooray for Menkenwood
■The Art of Service
■What advice would you give a young woman today?
■Hoop throws down the TRUTH between a MANs answer and a womans.
■Marriage statistics
■Roman Polanski
■The Ivanka Twitter
■My Hero List
■What is EO?
■Can I get a witness?
HDI Minnesota
UStream
Global Internet Speeds
Hornbill You Choose
■Roy Atkinson and #custserv Tuesdays
■Connect, Learn, Grow itSMF Podcast
■Hoopers Tuesday Nights
■Roy Atkinson on Twitter
■Live Stream with Google Wave
■ITSM Tools, where are the LIST of Service Desk Tools and Others??
■Novell My CMDB
■Inforonics
■Open Source ITSM Tool: OTRS
■Beetil
■Tag Bubble for your Help Desk ( Wordle)
■Beran Stikes again
■The only text you need in a close ticket email
■Get Glue
■Free yourself from chatter
■Hoops Tool Preview
■Future Social Media Stream
■LinkedIn Needs a Meet The Fockers Button
■Ivanka LinkedIn BEST practices
■The Burning Bed
■The ITIL Experience v1
■Become an author for v2 “The ITIL Experience”
■Fusion 2010 (Meet Ivanka there)

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week24) -Women in Tech Series Guest: Sophie Klossner

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:09:00 -0400

Continuing our series of Women in Tech, we are excited to have Sophie Klossner on our show this week. An active and leading member of HDI since 1992. Sophie has seen the IT profession develop from multiple angles, and gives us a great perspective on it's current state.
It seems to me that the world is getting more competitive. Because of this I think we are seeing a more drastic reaction to events. In other words, when things are good, they are great, however, when things are not good, they are horrible. The reality of it all is things are rarely "Great" and rarely "Horrible" and we tend to get caught up in cycles. This weeks' podcast touches on a real situation where Cloud Computing takes an impact. We all know it happens, and that it will happen. Yet we also know the the market cannot sustain a reputation hit this early in it's development. Enjoy the discussion that ensues when Beran send "The Tweet".

I'd like to thank our sponsor Hornbill again for hosting this series.
Show notes are here:
http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/7/18/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-week-24.html

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Week 24) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Show Hosts:
Christopher Dancy
Matt Beran
Matthew Hooper

Submit Questions: Anonymously or Email or Call In: (765) 236-6383

Sponsor: Hornbill Software

Sponsor Special: You Choose!!

NOTE: There were audio issues with some of this recording. We apologize in advance!

Week 24 Topics:

HDI Overview & Sophie’s Roles
How has the “help desk” changed over 18 years
Bursting Out
Beran’s first TOUCH
HDI Global Partners
Practices and Salary Survey
You Build Value in yourself, for the benefit of the organization – Hooper
SIM Boston
itSMF Fusion 2010
Lisa Rowe’s Podcast Appearance
Stats on Male/Female in the Support Manager Role
Gartner Cloud Rights
Going down the Path (2:02 seconds)
The Dark Side of SaaS
Historic Tweet , Service-Now
Matt Beran – The Social Future
ITSM Industry Defining Moment
Service-Now the response
Twitter the Library of Congress
Service-Now
Inforonics
The Video Clip for Twitter Responsibility
HDI Twitter
Fan Mail
Michael, Southern California
Jeff Brooks
Imperial Palace, Tokyo
Contact Sophie Klossner

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week23) -Women in Tech Series Guest Speaker: Lisa Rowe & Neil Thomas

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:53:00 -0400

There is no doubt that IT has been a male dominitated industry. This month we focus our attention on females who have made a real impact to the IT industry, both through their place within volunteer organizations, as well as within the corporate scene.

To kick off the series we have invited Lisa Rowe on our show. You'll love Lisa's frank discussion of the "gender debate", and take away some great tips about career development.

Our other special guest is Neil Thomas, who will be heading up the ITSM Weekly the Podcast UK version.

Great show notes are here as always: Plus links to our sponsor of the Women in Technology series Hornbill
http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/7/12/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-week-23.html

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Week 23) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Show Hosts:
Christopher Dancy
Matt Beran
Matthew Hooper

Submit Questions: Anonymously or Email or Call In: (765) 236-6383

Week 23 Topics:

Martha’s Vineyard
itSMF USA, Connect Learn Grow Podcast
Sustainability SIG
100 degrees Celsius
Jeffrey Brooks (I was asked just to randomly insert this)
Estrogen
Women in Technology
SIM Women
Are American Less Evolved “Professionally” than Europeans
BJ (Baby Jesus)
Women's Suffrage
Woman in the Workforce
Beran’s Women
Allan Pease and Allan Pease at Pink Elephant 2010
Johnny Weir
Steven Mann
ITSM Weekly UK
EMEA
Hooper and Colleague Driving
Lisa on Twitter
Neil Twitter
The Ego Tweet Profile
Service Desk Managers from Antarctica
South American Help desk
Benjamin Button
Leadership Tweets
Brokeback ITSM (Levels of Man Crush)
Rhettfulence The Tweet
ITSM Tool Vendors and Marketing Spin
Rhett Glauser of Service-Now
ITMM IT Marketing Management
HP’s 48 Upper Social Network
ITSM Vendors (Training, Software, Consulting) (RT’s of QUALITY from ITSM)
ITSM Vendors (Training, Software, Consulting) (SPAM and CONTENT)
Good Vendors ITSM Vendors on Twitter-
Cherwell Software
Numara Software
Who’s your DADDY!
ICCM Solutions
VIVIT HP Community
The Digital Fuel Twitter
NSFW VIDEO (iPhone 4 Video)
HDI Presentation on NEW MEDIA Marketing
Service-Now Facebook
The Future of your Desktop (Future-vision from ServiceSphere)
KCS (Knowledge-Centered Support)

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week22) - Just the Boys

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:47:00 -0400

In our episode this week we tackle several major challenges facing IT managers. Support during holiday seasons, licensing, and asset management are just a few things we hone in on. I think sometimes we have had such fantastic guests, I forget what great talent Matt Beran and Chris Dancy are.

One topic we touched on though which is very personal to me as a father, CIO and Marketing Executive, is that of on-line safety and teaching children the balance of appropriate communication that is safe, and information sharing that is dangerous has proven to be a real challenge. I am truly grateful for my many years of security awareness and policy training. Because of my role and career I have expereiences and education most parents don't, & I truly feel for other parents whose children know more about on-line media than they do. The most important thing you can do is monitor, watch your children while they are on-line. Let them drive (use the keyboard and mouse) and educate them on what to watch out for: Pop-ups, forms, etc...
I also highly recommend the Parent Control Bar program. It is a free program that allows you to restrict internet access to certain websites http://download.cnet.com/ParentalControl-Bar/3000-27064_4-10539075.html
Yes, it's a pain, but it's worth protecting your children.

Here are the show notes for the Podcast:
http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/7/1/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-week-22.html

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Week 22) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Show Hosts:
Christopher Dancy
Matt Beran
Matthew Hooper .

Week 22 Topics: Episode 2953

Steve Chambers and Ken Gonzales The Show
Stephen Mann
The Ross Remix
Great Leadership at AMS
Inforonics
Outsourced Monitoring Service
ITSM Video
“Service Virtualization”
Canada Day
Independence Day
Multiculturalism
Consulting Portal – Sarah Wilbore
Pink Elephant
Do Americans work more than EMEA?
LANDesk
Asset Management vs Desktop Management
Gail Noren
Big Fix, Altiris
Targeted Multitasking
Microsoft System Center
Software License Management is a FANTASY
ITIL
Social Media Day
itSMF USA Connect Learn Grown
Carolos Xasssinoca
Sustainable 360 Special Interest Group
itSMF SIG’s
HDI Vertical Forum
Leslie Cook at HDI
Hoop Rants on HDI
Practice Salary Survey Guide
HDI Membership Kit
Cover of Support World Magazine
itSMF, HDI, ASQ, SIM, ISACA who gives you what kind of value
ASQ
LinkedIn as a barometer on Company Health
LinkedIn is NO DIFFERENT than Facebook
ServiceSphere on Facebook
Kids and Social Responsibly
Berans’s Facebook
Your Open Book (facebook search)
Chris Dancy’s Twitter Birthday
Ivanka Menken

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week21) - Guest Speaker: Stevie Chambers & Ken Gonzalez

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Tue, 6 Jul 2010 09:44:00 -0400

The Bad Taste of ITIL

In this weeks episode we talk to some who have tried ITIL, but frankly didn't like the taste. ITIL to them lacked the ability to bring the outcome they desired. To Stevie Chambers, ITIL doesn't go deep enough into the technology infrastructure, thus practioners are left to guess or "make-up" best practices for managing their environments, read more on his blog ViewYonder.com. For Ken Gonzalez ITIL doesn't go wide enough into the enterprise, leaving the starting points of business interaction to chance, Ken's blog can be found on EngagedConsulting.com .

These are not uncommon feelings and expressions in the ITSM community.

Enjoy listening and learning on this topic to get some great perspectives.

Show notes are here at the source of all that is ITSM site on the web:

http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/6/28/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-week-21.html

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Week 21) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Show Hosts:
Christopher Dancy
Matt Beran
Matthew Hooper .

Week 21 Topics: Episode 3231

Steve Chambers Blog
Engaged Consulting
Service Management Society
Stevie and the Sith
Stevie explains his views on ITIL
USMBOK
Ken Gives His View on COMMERICAL frameworks
Rodrigo Flores of New Scale
Developers and Project Managers have Process Manager Love Children
America; The NEW outsourced service desk for the rest of the world
Ken brings the REAL world to the podcast
Ian Clayton
VDI
Steve Chambers and The BLOG INCIDENT
J Michel Metz Chicken Little Blog
Soylent Green
Streisand Effect
Stevie Chambers Photo
Thought Leadership BS
Free Webinar/ Complimentary Webinar
Vampires, ITIL Zombies, Social Media
David Ratcliffe Pocast
Certification vs Accreditation
America Home of the Self-Generated Work
Five 9’s

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week20) - Guest Speaker: David Ratcliffe from Pink Elephant

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:02:00 -0400

Pink Elephant... Yup, that's there name.

I have known Pink Elephant for about 6 years. I was trained by Pink in ITIL V2, V3 and took their IT Executive training from one of their Sr. consultants ITIL V3 Author Gary Case. I have since become great friends with many folks within the Pink organization.

I've met David Ratcliffe President of Pink Elephant in the past, as Vigilant was a frequent sponsor of the Pink Elephant IT Service Management conference, however it was only this past February that I got a chance to get to know David well, mostly from our interactions on Twitter. David is a great example of one who embraces new technologies. When he first posted that he was going to use twitter to keep Pink Elephant Conference attendees up to date and allow questions from audiences, I was the first to share with him the horror stories. However, he pulled it off with great success and really made it a great event. Making me eat Crow, but with some salt it was fine.

Enjoy the great insights, stories and history of the organization that brought ITIL to the U.S.

Show notes here at the greatest ITSM site on the web:
http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/6/21/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-week-20.html

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Week 20) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Show Hosts:
Christopher Dancy
Matt Beran
Matthew Hooper .

Week 20 Topics: Episode 2843 (well episode 20)

George Spalding
6^th Annual Latin America Conference
Chris’s Party Imagine
Did Hoop Finally Join HDI?
itSMF USA
SIM
ISACA
Robert Stroud
This week’s LIG Meeting (New England)
ROWE (Results-Only Work Environment)
Baby Jesus
Pink Elephant (The Name Orgin)
Pink Elephant Logo
Lord of The Flies
Ron Muns
Knowledgebase Realities in 2010
Support in The Cloud
Service-Now
Moore’s Law
Bring Your Own Desktop
Gartner NO IT Assets In The Future
Software Piracy
Any Browser You Want (well but Sleipnir)
The Future of ITSM (What 2 Areas are in your tomorrow)
Ivanka Menken Blog
Pink Verify (The HISTORY)
OGC
Gartner Magic Quadrant ITSM Tools
APMG
Pink Verify Criteria
Are there Sales Targets for Pink Verify?
Safe Toys
David’s Blog

ITSM Weekly the Podcast (Week19) Guest: Robert Stroud

matt_hooper@msn.com (Matthew Hooper, Chris Dancy, Matt Beran) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:39:00 -0400

Very exciting week for me on ITSM Weekly the Podcast, our special guest was Robert Stroud.

In 2007 when I was working for a CA partner I had the opportunity to meet an individual that really impressed me with his vision of the ITSM market. I've since seen Robert speak several times and had a chance to have a conversation over lunch at the 2009 ITSMF Academic summit. He has a great passion for the industry, and does lot for the community through the membership organizations.
He is also one that has crossed over from technology to marketing, which is my own personal career path.
Please enjoy as I did this weeks podcast with Robert and definitely check out the show notes from ServiceSpehere:
http://www.servicesphere.com/blog/2010/6/13/itsm-weekly-the-podcast-week-19.html

ITSM Weekly The Podcast (Week 19) from ServiceSphere on Vimeo.

Show Hosts:
Christopher Dancy
Matt Beran
Matthew Hooper .

Chris misses the Stephen Mann Podcast
The WRONG Robert Stroud
ISACA board meeting
itSMF Finland
Carbon Footprint
Amityville, NY
CA Technologies
Bill Banks, FRITS
Combine frameworks
Do we have the time to sort our “IT” selves out
Maturity Levels
Al-Anon
Lynn Lawton
Transparency ITSM and organizational (The Video) (The Lynn Lawton Video)
Cloud, SaaS, what’s the differences
Yom Kippur
BMC Whitepaper on Security
Rhett Glauser
Risk IT based on Cobit
NIST definition on Cloud
Hubris (Just learn English)
Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Management Summit
Beran owns the future
Robert Stroud’s Open Invitation