Business Service Management Hub

The Hub Commentary

Unclear requirements, ambiguous priorities, lack of resources and unrealistic timelines are all notable reasons for failed projects.   But these are only a few…check out other obstacles that cause many projects to crash and burn and the strategies to recover those failed projects.

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Failed projects are costly, so a sound project recovery strategy can pay off handsomely. A new study from project management firm PM Solutions, “Strategies for Project Recovery,” says the average American company manages $200 million in projects each year, with perhaps one-third of those, or $74 million worth, at risk of failing. But action strategies can salvage faltering projects about 75% of the time.  Read more…

The Hub Commentary_

Accenture research indicates 40% of all cloud knowledgeable business will use the cloud to drive new revenue over the next 5 years.  This is a shift from just leveraging it operationally currently to cut costs on infrastructure for irregular surges in capacity requirements or moving from an old system to a new one that is Software-as-a-Service based.

This is a typical approach and cycle, go after the low hanging fruit first to cut costs before a strategic use is put in place.  This should serve as a wake-up call to IT operations that it is coming and will you be ready to monitor, manage and communicate effectively when the infrastructure requirements are ready for production operations.  Monitoring, managing and measuring complex mixed environments will require one of three choices to be made:  1) Seek to an integrated, single vendor that has the platform to manage the infrastructure, 2) Build the integration yourself across your heterogeneous environment or 3) Seek an integration platform that is your manager of managers.

I find what was old is new again.  I’ve read many papers and sat through many analyst presentations as of late that call for the integration platform that will enable IT operations to stitch together the fabric of the infrastructure in order to continue to communicate technology as services.  Now more than ever it is important to get to measuring and communicating technology as services as it only gets harder in these mixed environments.

I agree with the parting comment by the author, Jeanne Harris, smart IT executives will jump on their preparation to not only define new revenue generating avenues, but also operations to support and manage the new services without delay.

How ready are you to manage services in the cloud?

Michele

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If an IT leader works for a company that isn’t named Amazon, Google or Facebook, chances are it hasn’t gotten a big revenue boost from the cloud. It’s much more likely that the company has used the cloud to cut costs, replace a standalone software application or back up older documents.  (Read Full Article…)

The Hub Commentary

All things in moderation yes…but I’m convinced a healthy dose of “March Madness” can actually give a boost to office and employee morale and reduce some workplace tension.   Just don’t let it get too carried away and I bet you might even find that filling out a tournament bracket and following your favorite team(s)  improves productivity and gets some adrenalin pumping in your ever hardening veins.

Randy

Nearly one third of bosses say that the NCAA Basketball Tournament activity should not be allowed in the workplace, but 80% of employees say that major sporting events such as “March Madness” present no distractions from work duties.  Read more here