The BSM market place is full of dirty little secrets…just like many other maturing markets. Vendors are
using dirty little secrets too make up for their shortcomings or just too gain market share at their customer’s expense. It is a sad truth and indicative of the technology market as a whole. Surely, you don’t believe that Microsoft and Seinfeld are going to make something soft and chewy that will solve your particular problems anytime soon! 
So, when choosing a BSM product whether it be HP, IBM, BMC, NimSoft or FireScope make sure it embraces simplicity, affordability and aggregation. These are key components to assembling a BSM solution that will help your enterprise meet the goals that BSM can provide when properly implemented. Too many solutions out there are really a port or a half-hearted attempt to take several products and mash them together into a single solution. This is usually due to the pressure to get to market a integrated solution to the market shortly after a acquisition. Too often the customer pays dearly for these efforts and the vendor make future promises to offset the customer’s discontent.
Another sad story you often see out there is the one where a BSM vendor announces a feature or set of features six months or a year out to attempt to soften another vendors latest offering, this marketing ploy is often misleading and in no way benefits the customer yet it is commonplace today.
If you focus in on employing a simple product (this does not mean “not powerful”) that meet your needs without clinging to a couple of nice to have features that you may never use. This is the old Microsoft Office bloatware adage “You have to pay a 100% for MS Office, yet I only ever used 10% of the features”. This does not make sense in this day and time. Choosing an affordable BSM solution is another important step to BSM bliss, as no one likes “buyer’s remorse”, yet so many customers of the Big Four have encountered just that. This is not me saying it…but the press has reported numerous stories of customers unhappiness with their solutions. This does not mean that all of their deployments are unsuccessful…the press justs points out that there have been increasingly more poor deployments and increasing customer unhappiness. A lot of this is due to high pricing which would then require a strong deployment to equate to customer happiness…this is not the norm…but more and more often the exception. Therefore, you should really do a strong comparison of the BSM solutions before settling on one. Don’t let the big names misguide your decision. Instead make the best decision based on the solution and how it meets your requirements. This is a much safer bet…and don’t be mislead…it is a bet!
Lastly, there is aggregation..this has become increasingly more important as most companies that employ BSM, either upon onset or later down the path have needs to incorporate or aggregate more data from other sources like databases, applications or through web services, yet many solutions only allow you to do this through extensive and expensive professional services from them or their partners. So, you should attempt on the front-end to fully define your requirements and incorporate other business stakeholders requirements into your decision. This will allow your to make an “Apples to Apples” comparison and make a reliable and accurate decision when selecting a BSM solution. Remember…they are often intentionally hiding the additional costs, thereby ensuring additional revenue for them in the future Not all companies employ these methods….so it is word to the wise.
Remember…Simplicity, Affordability and Aggregation….Dont Settle For Less!
