Service Assurance Daily

Are Flexibility, Sleepiness and a Cocktail Key to Creativity?

Jason Meserve — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:59:50 +0000

As a creative type, I have to be in the right mood to write and create. If things aren’t right, words grind on to the page slowly with too much effort. When I am at my best, I feel the words flow on to the page with greater ease and the final product is better. So for me, having a little flexibility in my schedule is key as I can write/create when the words flow best, which is usually later in the day or into the night. This is why I enjoyed reading and fully endorse this week’s Inc. column by Margaret Heffernan — “Why Flexible Hours Inspire Performance” — in which she argues that employers are wasting their time tracking employee hours and are better off focusing on results rather than what time people come and go. In other words, treating employees like adults. Yes, employees have to be accountable by showing up on time for meetings and getting their work done in a timely fashion. In other words, the employee has to act like an adult, too. Heffernan cites an example from early in her career when she worked in broadcasting.

They didn't care about hours either. They trusted that, with a broadcast date in the schedule, any producer would work their socks off to make the best program on time—because that's how you advanced your career. Nobody ever said, "Wonderful timekeeping, shame about the show!"

What do employers want most: Content and products that help drive revenue or people chained to their desks from exactly 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.? I would think driving revenue trumps all.

Twitter: Could You Quit Anytime? - You say ‘addiction’; I say ‘healthy interest’.

Denise Dubie — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:41:48 +0000

Often I hear myself explaining to people that I use social media as a primary part of my livelihood, justifying my seemingly always-online presence. A recent study could blow the cover off a bigger issue that even I am not completely ready to admit. This research shows that for many checking e-mail, posting to Twitter and updating Facebook is not just a pastime; it is more like an addiction. An addiction that researchers say could be harder for some to kick than cigarettes and alcohol. According to an article in The Guardian (the same study was also reported in Medical Daily), a study of 205 people aged between 18 and 85 revealed that it may be more difficult for people to ignore the desire to tweet, post and e-mail than it is to resist the urge to drink alcohol and smoke tobacco. The study tested the willpower of participants and required they report their “desire episodes,” according to The Guardian article. Other cravings such as sleep or sex could be stronger than the urge to use social media, the study team reported, but people are more likely to give into the desires for social media. That could be because the stronger desires simply aren’t feasible, say, if an individual is at the work place. But study leaders said resisting the lesser desires to give into tobacco or alcohol could be because of perceived long-term consequences.

Balancing Act: A Framework for IT Transformation

David Hayward — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:44:25 +0000

IT organizations worldwide are juggling to keep services running at expected availability and performance levels AND to execute new IT projects, such as adding new customer services, building out the network and enhancing old services. If you too are being squeezed like this, then it is worth your time to compare notes with others who are keeping all the balls in the air at once. One such enterprise customer (call them “Company X”) is a leader in its field, is highly profitable and has a lean and mean IT workforce that amounts to only 1% of the total 12,000 company employees. That’s only about 160 IT professionals. They have three main groups within IT: Application Development, Help Desk/PC Support Group and Operations. The Operations Team, which manages infrastructure and applications, has less than 60 employees. Besides using commercial enterprise applications, the company builds a lot of their own applications. They have more than 1,000 network devices, more than 1,000 servers and more than 50,000 devices on customer premises that they remotely monitor and control. Their overarching strategy for IT excellence has three vectors:

Drive customer and employee value by offering new services;
Assure availability and performance of new and old services; and
Prepare the IT organization to support long-term business growth.

Is Your Klout Score Higher Than a 12-Year-Old’s

Susan Tran — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:11:13 +0000

I broke into hysterical laughter last night and couldn’t stop when I discovered that my son’s Klout score is higher than mine. His score is higher than all of the people I work with that engage in social media on a daily basis. Mind you, I severely restrict his online access and he does not have a Facebook, Tumblr or MySpace account. I did allow him to have an e-mail account and post content on YouTube. He’s not allowed to show his face, name, age, where he goes to school or his residence. My son’s misfortune is that his parents are very tech-savvy, which limits his ability to outsmart us when it comes to technology. Well, at least in the near term. Despite all the precautions I take, my son has more online influence (according to Klout) than me and most professional social marketers. While my ego took a hit and I questioned Klout’s influence algorithm, I couldn’t help but think about what I could learn from my son. He didn’t understand the humor and irony of the situation. He patiently told me all kinds of things about search engine optimization techniques without actually using the vocabulary or having the awareness that it’s exactly what he was doing. I was amazed and quickly realized that social media is second nature to him and his peers. He reassured me that what he told me was common knowledge amongst his school buddies. While busy adults and professionals devise all kinds of organization and naming schemes to help each other understand social media and its impact better, their kids are busy living it. It dawned on me that the next generation and future workforce is so social technologically savvy that it will no longer be a debate whether social capabilities should be a part of an enterprise application. It will be a basic requirement. I don’t know of many popular applications for the younger set that lack social capabilities. Even stuffed animals now have online profiles. These kids expect every app they touch to give them the capability to connect, share and promote content and ideas. And why shouldn’t they?

Service Assurance Daily Weekly Reading List

Denise Dubie — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:31:55 +0000

Apple Goes Corporate Bloomberg Businessweek reported that without much effort Apple has made its way into the corporate environment. Survey data shows that a majority of managers always have their iPads with them at work and many reported they use the tablet for business purposes when not in the office. Personal Data’s Value? Facebook Is Set to Find Out With Facebook poised to file for a public stock offering this week, The New York Times technology section ran an article regarding what could be Facebook’s greatest asset: the personal data of its millions of users. If the company can attract advertisers with the data while also keeping Facebook users’ privacy concerns at a minimum, the company could find even more success. IT Salaries: Growth Reflects Positive Changes in the IT Job Market CIO ran an article on a topic on the minds of many during these still challenging economic times: IT salaries. The article points to the consumerization of IT for some of the credit to the growing compensation numbers. Companies need development, application, security and other skills to provide mobile-ready resources to end users.

Super Bowl Ads: A Blast from the Past, a Look Ahead

Jason Meserve — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:52:21 +0000

With the Super Bowl this weekend, TV fans will be treated to a wealth of new commercials from advertisers spending a pretty penny for each 30-second spot. Everyone has their favorite commercials from past games (there are enough Top X lists to keep you on YouTube for the rest of the day), but one of my favorites happens to be from CA and it came out a decade before I started working here: As a fan of the Three Stooges, it’s no surprise the slapstick comedy of this ad continues to resonate with me.

How to Play a Complete Game when Managing IT

Jason Meserve — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:01:31 +0000

This weekend, the New York Giants and New England Patriots square off in Super Bowl 46 in Indianapolis to determine NFL supremacy for 2011. If you’ve caught any of the many press conferences leading up to the game, you probably have heard Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick preaching that his team needs to be good in all three phases of the game – offense, defense, and special teams – in order to have a chance to win football’s ultimate prize, the Lombardi Trophy. Belichick and his coaching brethren know that each unit of the team must perform at a top level in order to win in the highly-competitive NFL. The defense can keep points off the board, special teams can help with the “field position” battle and if the offense scores early, it can pressure the opposing team into doing things to which they are not accustomed. The same all-phases-of-the-game mentality applies to enterprise IT as well, as the more visibility one has into both application and infrastructure performance, the better the outcome in terms of uptime and user satisfaction. A NetForecast benchmarking survey from last summer shows that this all-phase-of-the-game approach works:

We can unequivocally say that those with a "stereoscopic" view of infrastructure as well as application performance achieve dramatically better results than those with a "monoscopic" view of just one or the other.

APM Behind the Numbers

Melissa Hamilton Sargeant — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:17:04 +0000

I’m a runner. Like many runners, I love numbers. I run six days per week, logging an average of 35 miles per week. My numbers give me insight that goes well beyond pure mileage. They tell me when to change my shoes, how much dark chocolate I can consume, where I am relative to my training goals and why my feet hurt. What insights can we derive from the rapidly growing number of Application Performance Management (APM) vendors? Recent analyst reports highlight more than 25 companies. Only five years ago, I think there were less than 10. Despite the less-than-favorable macroeconomic climate and flat IT budgets, the APM market is growing, capturing the attention of venture capitalists and established IT vendors. What’s driving so much interest in APM? Let’s go behind the numbers and take a look at some of the market forces that have come together to create an environment that is uniquely well-suited for APM solutions.

CA Technologies at Cisco Live 2012

Denise Dubie — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:09:18 +0000

CA Technologies this week announced a new product, CA Private Cloud Accelerator for Vblock Platforms, and the company is showcasing that along with other service assurance, automation and management technologies at Cisco Live 2012 in London. Here Stephen Elliot, Vice President, Product Management, Solutions Enterprise and Cloud Solutions at CA Technologies, briefly details what he's seeing and hearing at the show and from customers today. He also touches on how CA Technologies is prepared to address customers growing need for advanced automation, management and service assurance products.

How IT Can Get Control over Mobile Apps - Consumer-driven IT will require CIOs put policies in place, provide mobile capabilities and optimize performance to keep end users happy.

Denise Dubie — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:16:49 +0000

Mobile devices and applications will force IT executives’ hands in 2012, but the change could be for the best if CIOs and other high-tech leaders better understand what end-users want, enable an agile environment to support new technologies and minimize risk when it comes to smartphones and cloud apps. If it isn’t obvious enough in everyday life that smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices are becoming the norm – meaning their introduction to the workplace is here – recent research gives IT executives the proof they need to prepare for the mobile revolution of 2012. For instance, according to early estimates from Flurry Research, some 6.8 million Android and Apple iOS devices were activated and nearly a quarter of a billion apps were downloaded on Christmas Day 2011 alone. Savvy IT professionals know to be worried about this deluge of devices. A recent CA Technologies survey of 729 respondents show that 53% find security the biggest challenge their organizations face with mobile technologies. Eighteen percent cited mobile readiness. A second question asked what challenges an IT organization faces when employees use their devices at work; one-third of 433 respondents cited sheer variety as the biggest challenge, 26% said non-supported devices and 17% worried over providing apps.

“BYOD” Inspires FUD in IT Managers - Increasing demand for tablets, smartphones in the workplace causes concern over app access, security for IT managers, Cisco survey finds.

Denise Dubie — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:42:47 +0000

There’s no doubt mobile technologies will drive change in IT shops in 2012, and a recent Cisco Systems sponsored survey shows that IT managers around the world worry about security, app access and the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend. Cisco commissioned Redshift Research to survey some 1,500 IT managers and executives in the U.S., Canada, U.K., France, Germany and Spain to get an idea of the attitudes, fears and reactions IT managers are having to personal devices such as tablets and smartphones in the workplace. The survey found that more than half (51%) of those polled are experiencing an increase in the number of employees bringing their own devices to work. While nearly half (48%) said their companies wouldn’t authorize employees to BYOD, but 57% did admit that some employees use personal devices without consent. The highest reported use (64%) of personal devices in the workplace was in the U.S. The fear, uncertainty and doubt the survey highlighted comes into play when employees expect to access company resources with their personal devices. IT managers surveyed said that access to company servers was a “huge problem” as was devices being lost or stolen (64%). And 44% indicated that “handling BYOD issues” diverts the IT organization’s attention away from other important projects.

All Eyes on London’s Docklands - No it’s not the Olympics its Cisco Live!

Kobi Korsah — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:46:55 +0000

CA Technologies is delighted to be a Gold sponsor at Europe’s premier technical education, technology evaluation, networking and thought leadership event for IT, networking and communications professionals. This has always been a great event, but as the lines between IT operations management disciplines continue to blur, Cisco Live! 2012 at London’s ExCel from 30 Jan - 3 Feb takes on even greater significance for the IT community at large. All eyes are on London for this one! Twelve months ago Cisco welcomed nearly 6,000 delegates to Cisco Live! 2011 in the world’s coolest city and treated them to some outstanding sessions, an exhibition packed with real vendor talent and then topped it all off with aural and visual entertainment befitting the event. This year’s event will upstage that. Again CA Technologies will be there in force with IT Operations Management and Business Service Assurance experts from across the globe showcasing a bold vision for optimizing Cisco Network Infrastructure Performance. We will demonstrate how our solutions deliver the visibility, management and control needed to assure quality of service (QoS) across borderless networks, unified computing, collaboration and communications.