1.  The level of scrutiny each dollar spent on technology is unprecedented.  your better have your game face on.   The road is littered with failed hopes and  broken dreams of software sales folks.

2.  Software that helps companies cut or limit costs are king.  All others should expect a longer close cycle and revenue shortcomings.

3. Beware if your model requires professional services to be 2 to 3 times the original software cost.  Potential customers have wisened up to this approach and it is low hanging fruit for them to trim.

4.  If you are not providing your software in a form that allows for quick evaluation and implementation at a fair price…well watch out…cause your competitor is or will be soon.

5.  Simplicity…Simplicity…Simplicity!  If I have to explain this to you…then it is too late Roadkill!

In the words of Bob Dylan “The times they are changing”, so buckle up for the wild ride, because it isn’t almost over…it is just beginning.

Good luck…some of you are going to need it!

Cheers

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!

BMC is employing yet another BSM strategy…does this mean that the old strategy
was losing steam???  Readthe article on BMC new positioning and decide for yourself.  In my opinion, The old guard continues to acquire or revise their service management strategies to fight off emerging competitors and ensure their message continues to resonate with their audience.  This space is fun!

Creating the Mindset for BSM from C-level to System Administrators

The first step to a successful BSM strategy should be building consensus from the Executive suite down to the Network Operations Center (“NOC”), this consensus will help get everyone thinking and positively contributing to the project.   This positive momentum is crucial as you will be asking many of these people to change the way they manage the IT operations from a reactive, siloed nature to a proactive real-time environment.  This change is not trivial and should be addressed from the start.  As the old adage goes “We built a paperless environment and made it mandatory, yet most everyone is back using their old paper-based processes.”  This is true for many technologies…so be pro-active…because if you get buy-in and implement correctly you environment will be.

A key ingredient to this mindset is to start considering everything from the perspective of the business.  At the onset of every IT project, every IT incident, every change plan, the first question that should be answered is “How will this impact the business?”  This isn’t just for the CIO to answer; every member of IT needs to understand their role in supporting the business as a whole.

Planning your IT/Business Strategy

When planning your strategy be sure to define the Key Performance Indicators (“KPIs”), so that you can gauge the results and value of the project on an on-going basis.  This will allow you to measure and address any shortcomings or capitalize on any potentials opportunities.   One thing about BSM; if it is implemented effectively…more people and business areas will want inclusion as it should deliver highly visible results that are clear to members outside of IT.  So, including capacity planning is another important component during your planning stage.    Additionally, it is important to change the way you talk and describe your service management capabilities, as it is a different paradigm…it is important to describe the benefits and evangelize them to your organization.

Traditional IT metrics have focused on the negative: number of outages, incident response times, policy violations.  With BSM, the focus needs to change to how IT is driving the business and enhancing revenue.  This will create a positive image of you and your IT Operations team as you begin to see the positive results and report using the KPIs on the positive benefits being derived through your correctly deployed BSM solution.

If you are using a Configuration Management Database (“CMDB”) for the storage of your Assets/Configuration Items (“CIs”), it would be advantageous to integrate and pull the CI information describing the assets connected to your network from the CMDB and integrate into your BSM product, thereby ensuring the latest information and any changes to those assets are reflected in your KPI(s).   BSM rules the day!

Model Your Services

This is one of the most important steps in a successful implementation as it provides the baseline for success.   By modeling and logically grouping services, you can have all of your assets grouped geographically because each location is managed by a different group of people. Or, you may combine disparate systems that interoperate to provide a single business service.  There are numerous ways to logically group assets or CIs, so they can reflect dependencies and/or have SLA(s), as well as, other guidelines associated with the logically grouped service thereby reducing complexity and ensuring expanded availability, performance and security.  Be sure that you model each service as completely as possible so no unexpected issues arise.   An ideal starting point for modeling your services is ask members outside of IT to describe how they consume IT and identify what IT assets are required to deliver these services.  Strong modeling = Great results!

Implement tracking and reporting

It is important that whatever BSM solution you go with delivers full tracking and auditing, so any changes that might affect or may have impacted a given service can be reviewed or captured accordingly.  The importance of this capability cannot be overstated…don’t buy a BSM solution without it.  Buyer’s remorse is the worse sort of Scorn! ☹

In today’s world anything other than AJAX-enabled real-time reporting is just not acceptable.  Having reports that continually update themselves so the latest information is available to augment your decisions or enhance your reporting needs is the key to making you’re the king of your domain.  There is nothing worse…than going to a meeting and having your peer or boss legitimately question the integrity and validity of your data.  May times it is due to expired or outdated information based on report creation or inability to retrieve the latest updates prior to going to a meeting or presentation.   Be a star…go real-time!

Btw…our head of marketing co-authored this post…as he needed to contribute on feels strongly about this subject.   It is greatly appreciated…enjoy!