IT Infrastructure

Giving Back To The ITSM Community: We Move, If Slowly, But With Purpose

Stephen Mann — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:34:17 +0000

It started as a blog called Giving Back To The IT Service Management Community - a personal plea for anyone involved in IT operations, IT service delivery, IT support, etc., to "give back" to the larger community. Hopefully it highlighted (or reminded us of) the need for the creation of lower-level, more granular, and ultimately more practical best/good practice information that is freely available to IT service management (ITSM) practitioners; as a quick start mechanism and/or to prevent the continued reinvention of the wheel by organizations wishing to better themselves.

Many (OK, some) ask "Where has this gone?" or "Where is the free content?" Great questions, but ones that I will conveniently avoid (hopefully like a skilled politician); although others involved, I expect and hope, will provide updates on this in the comments section below.

To some Back2ITSM might appear yet another forum for "the usual suspects" (bagsy me be Verbal Kint) to "socialize" themselves to their ultimate downfall. However, I beg to differ. I feel that this has legs, no matter how short those legs might eventually be; which brings me to the reasons for this quickly written blog:

I still need to feedback the limited but interesting responses to the Back2ITSM survey.
I want to publicize some Back2ITSM "coming soons."

Survey feedback

A Late New Year’s Resolution: Be Nice To A Supplier And See What Happens

Stephen Mann — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:39:42 +0000

When I very briefly joined TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) as an IT service management (ITSM) consultant a year ago today, I met a fellow new recruit Sandy Winschief - a vendor/supplier management specialist armed with a pair of Six Sigma black belts. Sandy was/is a key piece in TCS' Service Integration offering jigsaw and someone who made me think more about the relationships between IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) organizations and their suppliers.

Sorry, you said, "Service Integration"?

For those new to Service Integration I offer the following "definition" from a Forrester colleague's "thinking":

"To make multisourcing arrangements effective, customers must get suppliers to work together, both from the commercial and operational standpoint. The services integration layer, comprising elements of process, tools, service-level agreements (SLAs), and related structures, is absolutely critical to the success of these arrangements."

My ITSMWPROW podcast colleague James Finister gives a more detailed overview in his personal blog.

So how can Sandy's vendor/supplier management expertise help I&O professionals?

Pushing The Envelope - SeaMicro Introduces Low-Power Xeon Servers

Richard Fichera — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:46:58 +0000

In late 2010 I noted that startup SeaMicro had introduced an ultra-dense server using Intel Atom chips in an innovative fabric-based architecture that allowed them to factor out much of the power overhead from a large multi-CPU server ( http://blogs.forrester.com/richard_fichera/10-09-21-little_servers_big_applications_intel_developer_forum). Along with many observers, I noted that the original SeaMicro server was well-suited to many light-weight edge processing tasks, but that the system would not support more traditional compute-intensive tasks due to the performance of the Atom core. I was, however, quite taken with the basic architecture, which uses a proprietary high-speed (1.28 Tb/s) 3D mesh interconnect to allow the CPU cores to share network, BIOS and disk resources that are normally replicated on a per-server in conventional designs, with commensurate reductions in power and an increase in density.

18 months later SeaMicro, again with support from Intel, has extended this architecture to the Xeon CPU, and has introduced the SM1000-EX, based on the Intel Xeon E3-1260L, a 45W quad-core design targeted at low power single socket servers, currently widely deployed in HPC environments. The resulting system can be configured with up to 64 CPUs, for a total of 256 cores in 10U. While impressive, this is not actually leading-edge density - there are other dense-pack servers that can deliver equal or higher core density with Xeon CPUs. What is significant is the power consumption - SeaMicro manages to do this on an aggregate power budget that comes out to a claimed 55W per core, only 10W over the power required for the core itself. In contrast, a conventional server design today would require at least 2 - 3X the power of the core itself, giving the New SeaMicro design a substantial edge in energy efficiency.

ITIL Adoption: 5 Steps That Can Help With Success

Stephen Mann — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:16:57 +0000

ITIL, the IT service management (ITSM) best practice framework, is now in many ways bigger than its "master" -- IT service management. From its origins in the UK government, its use has grown rapidly in the last decade and ITIL continues to dominate corporate thinking in IT operations, IT support, and IT service delivery best practice.

There are many potential benefits from ITIL adoption, particularly around productivity, service quality, business reputation, and cost savings. However, ITIL is fraught with adoption challenges that could be prevented or at least minimized through better planning and execution.

The key ITIL adoption challenges and pitfalls (at a very, very high level)

Focusing too much on the reactive elements of ITIL and ITSM (for some, however, this might be enough).
Overstating ITIL and ITSM adoption levels - "We do ITIL."
Overstating ITIL and ITSM maturity - where IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) organizations often think that they are more advanced than they actually are - "We have a super-duper service catalog."
Not focusing on the customer and business outcomes.
Lacking momentum post technology implementation project.
Noticeable dissatisfaction with traditional service desk tools.

With people-related challenges to be found in most if not all of the above.

Want more detail on the challenges?

These are explored in greater detail in the Forrester report from which this high-level extract is taken:

Planning Road Map: Adopting ITIL

If you don't have access to Forrester's online content (it's behind the Forrester.com pay wall), more information on the above (albeit in a more disjointed fashion) can be found in previous Forrester blogs:

BMC To Acquire Numara Software: A Few Thoughts From Your Favorite ITSM Analyst

Stephen Mann — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:20:22 +0000

OK, the second part of the title is probably untrue. But hopefully Forrester IS your favorite place for IT service management (ITSM) analysis and opinion.

My colleague Dave Johnson (who is well worth following from a Twitter and blog perspective BTW) wrote an immediate reaction to the BMC announcement yesterday. Of course as analysts we are pre-briefed on such things and having had time to think about the announcement I offer the following somewhat random thoughts and opinions:

BMC Acquires Numara Software In A Mid-Market Makeover: What It Means For Customers

David Johnson — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:19:16 +0000

BMC has a golden opportunity to take a different track with Numara than it has for past mid-market acquisitions (see Magic Solutions), and it must do so if it hopes to build on this one and drive new revenue for the long haul. Numara enjoys a massive installed base of customers with its Track-It and Footprints product lines in the small and mid-market. They have been hard at work rounding out their portfolio to include Client Management (software management, systems management, and OS management), and other areas. Numara has been on a journey to re-invent itself and has been succeeding. Further, we believe that the culture of the Numara organization and BMC's will align well, as long as Numara is given the autonomy and investment they need to grow their portfolio and momentum in the field.

BMC Will Need Time To Work
Numara customers should expect relatively little change in daily operations for the first few months, as BMC aligns the organizations. If history is a reliable guide, BMC will typically give a larger acquisition such as this the opportunity to remain mostly intact, and inject key people and processes to help align the acquired organization with the BMC culture and ways of doing business. If this holds true for Numara, customers should see it as a positive step.

“We Need To Talk About ITIL”

Stephen Mann — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:12:07 +0000

I need to say something. I need to say something about ITIL in light of all the "poking" I have done via various mediums (such as the What Next For ITIL? and Giving Back To The IT Service Management Community blogs). The fact that ITIL is an easy target; and that breaking something is far, far easier than creating something. Hopefully, we all appreciate that it isn't really that difficult to pick fault with just about anything, even if it is nigh on perfect (oh, and that is not intended to be read as "ITIL is perfect"). But as the oft-quoted senior manager quote says: "Don't bring me problems, bring me solutions."

I have great admiration for the creators of ITIL (or the IT Infrastructure Library as was) even though I do think that ITIL v3 became bloated, and potentially confusing, misdirecting, and demotivating. And, having only dipped in to my digital copy of ITIL 2011 I can't yet comment on the latest incarnation of the IT service management (ITSM) best practice framework.

So what do I really want to say? Or "for heaven's sake man, please cut to the chase."

ITIL-bashing doesn't work but we continue to do it

This might be an overly-dramatic statement but a lot of us do it.

I'd like to think that most, if not all, of us do it for the right reasons: we want I&O organizations to be better at managing IT service delivery and at enabling their parent businesses via technology. However, I can't help think that WE need to change as much as ITIL needs to change.

Let's look at some "facts" (OK, "facts" might not be the right word):

2011 Retrospective – The Best And The Worst Of The Technology World

Richard Fichera — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:39:11 +0000

OK, it's time to stretch the 2012 writing muscles, and what better way to do it than with the time honored "retrospective" format. But rather than try and itemize all the news and come up with a list of maybe a dozen or more interesting things, I decided instead to pick the best and the worst - events and developments that show the amazing range of the technology business, its potentials and its daily frustrations. So, drum roll, please. My personal nomination for the best and worst of the year (along with a special extra bonus category) are:

The Best - IBM Watson stomps the world's best human players in Jeopardy. In early 2011, IBM put its latest deep computing project, Watson, up against some of the best players in the world in a game of Jeopardy. Watson, consisting of hundreds of IBM Power CPUs, gazillions of bytes of memory and storage, and arguably the most sophisticated rules engine and natural language recognition capability ever developed, won hands down. If you haven't seen the videos of this event, you should - seeing the IBM system fluidly answer very tricky questions is amazing. There is no sense that it is parsing the question and then sorting through 200 - 300 million pages of data per second in the background as it assembles its answers. This is truly the computer industry at its best. IBM lived up to its brand image as the oldest and strongest technology company and showed us a potential for integrating computers into untapped new potential solutions. Since the Jeopardy event, IBM has been working on commercializing Watson with an eye toward delivering domain-specific expert advisors. I recently listened to a presentation by a doctor participating in the trials of a Watson medical assistant, and the results were startling in terms of the potential to assist medical professionals in diagnostic procedures.

Why Is Buying An IT Service Management Tool Like Buying A Car?

Stephen Mann — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:51:42 +0000

It sounds like the start of a bad Christmas cracker joke. Maybe the title of this blog should actually be, "Why Should Buying An IT Service Management (ITSM) Tool Be Like Buying A Car?" but let's see where this goes. I'll deliberately avoid talking about salespeople.

I sometimes talk about new application development in the context of acquiring a car: in that the business often says "we want a green car" to IT rather than saying "we want a means to get from A to B that is aesthetically pleasing." What I realized responding to a Forrester client inquiry this morning is that the same is true in selecting an ITSM tool.

How should one buy a car?

Let's look at ITSM tool selection in terms of needing a new means of transport/business support, as you might not actually need a car:

Olympics 2012 – Is Your I&O Organization Ready? – Roundtable

John Rakowski — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:40:14 +0000

The news this week in the UK has been awash with articles in relation to the potential problems that the Olympics 2012 could bring with reports of transport chaos, security rehearsals happening near Forrester's London office to secret security documents being left on a train which detail policing measures. This is undoubtedly a unique occasion but with many eyes watching the UK this coming summer it's something the planners simply have to get right.

At Forrester, we believe that IT functions need to seriously prepare for the Olympic period also and so we will be holding a half day, collaborative event for our FLB members and interested prospects on Wednesday, 22^nd February 2012 from 12:45 - 4:30pm at Forrester's London office to explore strategic and tactical solutions to these risks. This session will be led by Senior Analyst Dave Johnson, a former software executive with 15 years of industry experience focused on client management and related operational processes and tools.

So why does this matter to you?

Enterprise Risk Management

Social IT Support: Didn’t We Do This In The 1990s?

Stephen Mann — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:27:46 +0000

A lot continues to be said about the impact of "social" on IT support and for some it is now "so 2009." To me, it was inevitable in 2009, and I wonder how far we have moved on in reality. Yes, some IT service management (ITSM) tool vendors have added in shiny new capabilities inspired by the adoption of mainstream social facilities such as Facebook and Twitter; but how many IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) organizations really understand social (and how social will impact IT support)? This, however, is the meat for another blog from the Forrester Community deli - today I only have time to drop a few sourpuss-thoughts in "virtual ink."

So why am I being such a sourpuss?

Firstly, I am burdened by "the collective history of the ITSM community." How often have we seen a great ITSM idea murdered in its execution? Consider the word "execution" here - it seems somewhat appropriate methinks:

What did we learn with the "knees-up" that was CMDB adoption in the late 2000s? It was an expensive party that many would love to forget.
How many I&O organizations are now buying service catalog technology rather than adopting service catalog management best/good practice that is supported by technology?

Are we not destined to follow suit and buy social technology without seeing the bigger, people and even process-encompassing, picture? Ooh shiny technology anyone? Followed by mass distraction? Ooh technology is a weapon of mass distraction.

Our inherent technology-bias aside, think about the potential adverse impact of social IT support on the business. Think about the knowledge management failures of the early 2000s (sorry, I know you don't like to admit to them or any other IT-related failures). Think about the behaviors of, and impact on, people:

Are You Sleepwalking Through Twitter?

Stephen Mann — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:33:26 +0000

In September 2009 I wrote a "blog" called "Great ITSM and ITIL People to Follow on Twitter." In stumbling upon it again yesterday I couldn't help wonder:

What had happened to some of the Tweeters on the original list?
Who do I now follow that I didn't way back then?

In doing this I couldn't help feel that, while I value Twitter as both an information resource and a workspace, I have been somewhat sleepwalking through it the last two years.

Why am I sleepwalking through Twitter?

It seems a strange thing to admit to, doesn't it?

I literally "work" in Twitter these days and I would lose a dimension of my capabilities and "personality" without it (or a similar social environ). But the fact that I still place a heavy emphasis on the Tweets of the people below, that an updated list would not include that many more Tweeters, and that I didn't realize that a few of the Tweeters listed are no longer actively Tweeting is quite scary to me.

My conclusion is that I have been very lazy in my use of Twitter (heaven forbid that people think that "number of Tweets" is a sign of Twitter proactivity).

So what should I do?

My original thinking from nine months or so ago (when I realized that Twitter was becoming a little incestuous in terms of my following of people) was to follow more Tweeters. I think I have nearly doubled the number of people I follow but I am still in the same place in many ways.

For information, my current ratio for @stephenmann is:

Following = 767
Followers = 2119

It doesn't seem bad to most people and I use a list to pull out the Tweets of my "most influential" people. But this, I now realize, only accentuates the above … it really is lazy and incestuous (but I would argue that it IS social).

How Do You Value IT Service Management Tool Verification Or Certification Schemes?

Stephen Mann — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:14:39 +0000

In response to a number of Forrester client inquiries and as part of the #Back2ITSM activities, before Christmas I polled a number of IT service management tool vendors about their views on IT service management tool verification or certification schemes such as PinkVERIFY and the OGC ITIL Software Scheme (others are available but these are the main two I receive inquiries on). I have still to analyze the vendor responses having given a response deadline of the 16th January 2012 but thought it wise to get the customer point of view on the value of such schemes.

So where do you stand on the worth of such schemes?

So:

Do you know what the PinkVERIFY and the OGC ITIL Software Scheme schemes are?
Do you place little value in a tool being verified by such a scheme?
Is verification helpful but the lack of it is not a concern in a tool purchasing decision?
Do you consider verification a key part of ITSM tool selection?
Would you not even consider an ITSM tool without such an "independent opinion" on tool capabilities?

Please give your response to this single question in the poll to the right (under the photo of the ugly chap).

Hopefully, the possible responses suitably differentiate between the possible opinions a purchaser of a new ITSM tool might have of a prospective tool having or not having a verification or certification. The results of both polls will appear in February.

Finally, as the poll is quite restrictive, feel free to add opinions or comments in the blog facility below.

Please check out my latest blog ... http://blogs.forrester.com/stephen_mann

From The Coal Face: Real World IT Service Management And ITIL Adoption Sound Bites

Stephen Mann — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:28:59 +0000

Remember 2011? It seems a long time ago already.

At the start of August, I wrote a speculative blog called Giving Back To The IT Service Management Community which was somewhat of a personal plea for anyone involved in IT operations, IT service delivery, IT support, etc. to "give back" to the larger community. This highlighted (or reminded us of) the need for the creation of lower-level, more granular, and ultimately more practical best practice information that is freely available to IT service management (ITSM) practitioners; as a quick start mechanism and/or to prevent the continued reinvention of the wheel by organizations wishing to better themselves. It all looked good with over three thousand unique views on the Forrester Blog site alone.

In late October (yes, I know I am slow), I published ITSM Practitioner Health Check: The ITSM Community Strikes Back with an associated survey hoping that hundreds if not thousands of ITSM practitioners would offer their views as to where we, as a community, need most help. The results?

ITSM Practitioner Health Check: initial results

Firstly, I need to temper my expectations: the survey was open for two months and plugged by many on Twitter and by organizations such as the itSMF UK, the SDI, and Hornbill but still only 149 people started the survey. Why did I say "started," because only 76 completed the two "meaty" questions.

New Year's Resolution for I&O Professionals: Lead Consumerization From The Front

David Johnson — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:40:16 +0000

Step into my office, fellow I&O professional, and join me on a brief but rich journey of imagination. Imagine you're a business jet sales sales rep. Now imagine that this morning you went to the garage where you keep your company car and for the second time in a month, the key fob won't open the doors and you have no other way in. You have a big airplane deal on the table with the head of an investment bank in the city in 1 hour, and it's a 50 minute drive. Just then…as if to mock your dilemma…a voice from the car says "I'm sorry Dave, you do not have access to this car. Would you like to request access from the car's owner?" "IT'S MY CAR", you shout! You think of your boss and what she's going to say: "You should have allowed more time, Dave. Remember, YOU are responsible for your quota. Everyone has the same challenges. It's up to YOU to think ahead."

After an hour, the door unlocks and the car's voice apologizes. "I'm very sorry for the inconvenience, Dave. The motor pool coordinator forgot to add your name to the list of sales reps with company cars after the sales re-org last week. It has been fixed now." $%&#! you yell. You missed the client meeting and the deal, and you will also now miss your quota. To make sure it NEVER happens again, you start making other transportation arrangements. In fact, you think the new Land Rover Evoque fits your style and perhaps you don't need the company car after all. You're being paid on results, and excuses -- no matter how legitimate -- don't count.

IT Infrastructure

Giving Back To The ITSM Community: We Move, If Slowly, But With Purpose

Categories:

A Late New Year’s Resolution: Be Nice To A Supplier And See What Happens

Categories:

Pushing The Envelope - SeaMicro Introduces Low-Power Xeon Servers

Categories:

ITIL Adoption: 5 Steps That Can Help With Success

Categories:

BMC To Acquire Numara Software: A Few Thoughts From Your Favorite ITSM Analyst

Categories:

BMC Acquires Numara Software In A Mid-Market Makeover: What It Means For Customers

Categories:

“We Need To Talk About ITIL”

Categories:

2011 Retrospective – The Best And The Worst Of The Technology World

Categories:

Why Is Buying An IT Service Management Tool Like Buying A Car?

Categories:

Olympics 2012 – Is Your I&O Organization Ready? – Roundtable

Categories:

Social IT Support: Didn’t We Do This In The 1990s?

Categories:

Are You Sleepwalking Through Twitter?

Categories:

How Do You Value IT Service Management Tool Verification Or Certification Schemes?

Categories:

From The Coal Face: Real World IT Service Management And ITIL Adoption Sound Bites

Categories:

New Year's Resolution for I&O Professionals: Lead Consumerization From The Front

Categories: