VitAL Magazine September-October 2012

vital

Sponsoring VitAL’s 30 Leading IT Service Management Providers.

page 43-60

Inspiration for the modern business Volume 6 : Issue 1 : September / October 2012

Software licensing The benefits of best practise

Risk management The changing world of IT outsourcing

First among equals IT making a difference in the charities sector FEATURE FOCUS: Lifecycling your way through the evolution of IT Service and Support: 34-37

leader

IT winners Leader W

ith the London Olympics and all its triumphs but a recent memory and the cheers of the home crowd urging Team GB to victory after victory fading in my ears, perhaps it’s time to reflect on the near hysteria that infected parts of the media in the run up to the games. Not since the turn of the millennium – it seems to me – had there been such a sustained and high-pitched chorus of pundits preparing us for melt down – both in terms of IT and communications and the transport infrastructure. Of course I can chuckle now with 20/20 hindsight, but people were urged to stay away from the centre of the City and put any remote working / mobility strategies they had into practise in an all out attempt to avert network failure.

It’s probably too early to report whether a) anybody took any notice, and b) if they did take any notice, did it make a significant difference. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Central London was quieter than normal – even for the height of summer. What we do know is that the IT infrastructure managed to shoulder the burden of the millions tweeting and pinging pictures of Usain Bolt to all and sundry, which must be a relief to everyone.

I would be interested to hear about any individual or company’s Olympic remote working/mobility triumphs over the coming weeks and months. Do get in touch if you have a story to tell.

I am still something of an evangelist for the silver bullet panacea that is remote working made possible through the more widespread availability of broad(er)band. Less traffic, less pollution, less congestion on the transport networks, better work/life balance, what’s not to like? I have already received a few press releases trumpeting the Olympics as a turning point for this revolution, judging by the timing of them though I suspect many may have been written well before the Games actually began, so we won’t read too much into that!

One more thing... I would like to draw your attention to the 30 Leading IT Service Management Providers section in the back of this issue. This is a guide to some of the top supplier to our industry which I hope you will find a useful aid when researching potential ITSM and IT partnerships.

Until next time...

Matt Bailey, Editor

If you have any thoughts, feedback, or suggestions on how we can improve VitAL Magazine, please feel free to email me matthew.bailey@31media.co.uk

www.vital-mag.net

September / October 2012 : VitAL 1

vital Inspiration for the modern business

VitAL : Inspiration for the modern business

vital

contents

Contents 6 News

Sponsoring VitAL’s 30 Leading IT Service Management Providers.

page 43-60

Inspiration for the modern business Volume 6 : Issue 1 : September / October 2012

The VitAL Cover Story

8 First among equals Matt Bailey With the charity sector expected to take a lot of the strain in ‘austerity Britain’, Matt Bailey speaks to Andrea Kis, service delivery manager at Macmillan Cancer Support about how IT is helping them to improve their essential work.

Software licensing The benefits of best practise

Risk management The changing world of IT outsourcing Volume 6 : Issue 1 : September/October 2012

First among equals IT making a difference in the charities sector FEATURE FOCUS: LIFECYCLING YOUR WAY THROUGH THE EVOLUTION OF IT SERVICE AND SUPPORT: 34-37

Editor Matthew Bailey matthew.bailey@31media.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)203 056 4599 To advertise contact: Grant Farrell grant.farrell@31media.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)203 056 4598 Production & Design Toni Barrington toni.barrington@31media.co.uk Dean Cook dean.cook@31media.co.uk Editorial & Advertising Enquiries Tel: Fax: Email: Web:

+44 (0) 870 863 6930 +44 (0) 870 085 8837 info@31media.co.uk www.vital-mag.net

Printed by Pensord, Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood. NP12 2YA © 2012 31 Media Limited. All rights reserved.

VitAL Magazine is edited, designed, and published by 31 Media Limited. No part of VitAL Magazine may be reproduced, transmitted, stored electronically, distributed, or copied, in whole or part without the prior written consent of the publisher. A reprint service is available.

Opinions expressed in this journal do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or VitAL Magazine or its publisher, 31 Media Limited.

VitAL signs – life in a world with it

13 Cows, phones and money Steve White How do businesses know that they have reached the point where they are doing too much with not enough? Steve White finds out..

VitAL management

14 Leveraging personal technologies for your business Antonia Watson Antonia Watson, senior director technical infrastructure at Avenade offers her three steps to effectively manage the consumersation of IT.

16 A favourable comparison Matt Bailey As a ‘value added’ service for insurance, financial and other suppliers, comparethemarket.com has certainly made sure its brand is well recognised.

But, as a business where “most roads lead to IT”, Matt Bailey asks the company’s IT director, James Lomas what the challenges are for keeping the show on the road 24/7.

ISSN 1755-6465 Published by:

20 Managing risk in a changing model

VitAL Magazine, Proud to be the UKCMG’s Official Publication ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark, and a Registered Community Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce, and is Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

PRINCE2® is the Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce MSP® is the Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce

George Davies While it is boom time for the outsourcing industry, there has been a shift from single large outsource companies to smaller niche specialists. George Davies, CEO MooD International reports.

Subscribing to VitAL Magazine

VitAL Magazine is published six times per year for directors, department heads, and managers who are looking to improve the impact that IT implementation has on their customers and business.

For a FREE annual subscription to VitAL Magazine please visit: www.vital-mag.net/subscribe September / October 2012 : VitAL

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COntents

Contents VitAL support

24 Can you outsource ownership?

34 Lifecycling your way through the evolution of IT Service and Support

Noel Bruton This issue Noel Bruton tackles outsourcing and the concepts of responsibility and ownership.

With the advent of BYOD, businesses still need to manage their IT assets if they are to control data, align IT processes and deliver timely and appropriate support to all endusers and avoid a disparate range of support services to an increasingly desperate workforce.

BMC reports.

26 Best practice for managing software licenses Seann Gardiner Proper software license management has a number of benefits including saving time and money, but it is an important area that is often overlooked.

Seann Gardiner, sales director, Dell KACE reports.

30 Shifting to the cloud: truth and lies about latency

VitAL planet

38 Green IT: Good for the planet, good for the bottom line Matt Rhodes IT can lead the way to a leaner and greener future. Matt Rhodes, commercial services manager at IT outsourcing specialist Quiss Technology, looks at the issue and explains what options exist for sustainabilityminded IT managers, under pressure to green their systems.

Jelle Frank van der Zwet With the flexibility that the cloud offers, applications can be located pretty much anywhere. That is the beauty and freedom of the cloud, but this flexibility comes at a price. The resulting latencies can be unpredictable. Jelle Frank van der Zwet, cloud marketing manager at Interxion explains what to consider when moving applications to the cloud.

VitAL eyes on

33 Big data and small elephants – a DIY approach Jonathan Westlake This ‘Eyes on’ column is a work in progress report from Jonathan Westlake on what he has researched and chosen to use for his ‘big data’ project – Hadoop from Apache.

43 THE 30 LEADING IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT PROVIDERS VitAL’s essential guide to the top suppliers of products and services to the IT Service Management sector.

64 Secret of my success John Lunt, managing director, Certero.

www.vital-mag.net

September / October 2012 : VitAL

5

news

Cloud bypasses IT department A

survey from Cordys and Vanson Bourne of 200 business and IT decision makers in the UK has revealed that nearly half (41 percent) of UK IT managers believe a part of their business has already adopted a cloud-based solution, bypassing the IT department.

When UK business decision makers were quizzed about moving to the cloud, 44 percent admitted that they had already done so.

Almost two-thirds put the move to the cloud down to getting the systems they need up

and running more quickly. Cost was also a critical factor, with just under half saying “it’s cheaper” and one third citing the pay as you go price model as the reason for the shift.

Corroborating the belief of the IT managers surveyed, 23 percent of UK business decision makers agreed that they had adopted cloud technologies in order to bypass the IT department.

“In the current economic and competitive environment, the business often needs to make rapid decisions which can leave IT struggling

to keep up,” explains Matt Davies, director at Cordys. “Business users are increasingly turning to cloud-based solutions that offer them the speed and user experience they are looking for, whether or not this is sanctioned by IT. To avoid being faced with an IT infrastructure that is even more difficult to manage and integrate effectively, IT must stay one step ahead.

Ensuring that they are deploying agile and usercentric solutions that meet genuine business needs can help IT departments to maintain control of their estate.”

Big Data is the future End users still don’t trust the cloud T

he IT industry has made little progress during 2012 to reassure end users about their legitimate concerns about migrating to the cloud, according to research from IT recruiters Robert Half which found that a quarter of CIOs and IT directors in the UK have no plans to move to the cloud because of concerns about data security, service continuity and ease of management.

Late in 2011, Claranet conducted extensive research into the barriers to cloud adoption which yielded remarkably similar results.

The poll of 300 senior IT decision-makers found that data security was the biggest concern, with 46 percent of respondents saying they were afraid of losing in-house control over their systems and data. The same proportion in the Robert Half survey cited security as the biggest barrier to cloud adoption.

This new research found that 36 percent of users saw service continuity as the main barrier, while 32 percent cited data integrity.

In Claranet’s research, 35 percent said service reliability and 28 percent said ‘confidence over where data is stored’ were their biggest concerns.

“The similarity between the two sets of research, conducted some nine months apart, shows how difficult the cloud industry is finding it to answers customers’ concerns about cloud computing,” said Michel Robert, Claranet’s UK managing director. “End users are continuing to cite these same areas of concern, which suggests either that there are too few services out there in the market that provide solutions to these problems, or that there has been a collective communications failure by the industry. While cloud computing is never going to be perfectly suited to every organisation, a quarter of IT directors dismissing it out of hand is surely too great a proportion for the industry to ignore.”

6 VitAL : September / October 2012

T

he Pew Research Center’s fifth annual ‘Imagining the Internet Survey’ asked 1,021 internet and technology experts and other internet users a series of questions to gauge their feelings towards the future of big data, and how they envision the digital landscape in 2020 against the mighty volume of data humans and machines will be producing.

According to the report, on the face of it, experts are split as to whether our big data future looks rosy. 53 percent of respondents foresee a positive digital scenario in 2020 where big data is drawn together and utilised as a means of improving social, political and economic intelligence. Many positive respondents suggest that ‘now-casting’ (real time data analysis and forecasting) and ‘inferential software’ will enable new understanding of the world and extend the limits of our known future. Optimists suggest that that these tools and complicated algorithms will inform and improve fiscal policy, increase corporate transparency and productivity, and encourage innovative business modelling.

However, 39 percent had a rather more negative view of the future. The ‘distribution of harms’ may be impossible to avoid, suggesting that big data will be exploited by those with baser human instincts, and that rather than enabling the majority, we will become a disenfranchised many controlled, monitored and segregated by a powerful few. Moreover, the immediacy of big data will mean that incorrectly interpreted data could have massive and unconsidered consequences.

“If we heft the Minority Report style bogeymen to one side,” says Andy Richardson of Influential Software, “what really interests me in the Pew report is its findings on the readiness for companies to utilise big data effectively and wisely. Respondents continually return to the issue of correctly handling data. I concur, eight years does seem too short a time have mastered big data to such an extent that we can extract any useful knowledge from it. Combined with complicated interoperating variables, accurate prediction still seems questionable. We have to be able to use data, or it is valueless.

And we must move to a position where our skill and judgement matches our digital fluency.” www.vital-mag.net

news

IT isn’t keeping pace with business needs I

T departments’ inability to keep up with the needs of their organisation is costing British companies, according to a new independent survey of 1,457 British office workers.

In the survey, commissioned by Hornbill Service Management, 53 percent state that corporate IT is failing to keep pace with the needs of the business. Some are taking drastic steps to resolve this: 40 percent state that they will use personal devices without getting permission from, or informing, IT in order to improve productivity.

They also provide a clear benefit: workers state that using personal devices would allow them to save on average nearly two hours per month through working more effectively and efficiently. While this may seem small, it translates to over £2 billion worth of work per year nationwide.

“Technology doesn’t stand still: from social networks to apps to tablets, new devices and ways to use them are flying at the workforce at a breakneck pace,” said Patrick Bolger, chief evangelist at Hornbill. “This data shows that if the IT department can’t adapt to these changes and support new devices and ways of working, it won’t only be unable to keep pace with the needs of the business.

It could also become divorced from the needs and expectations of users, meaning that they take more and more into their own hands.

The IT department needs to ensure it is working with its users, either by supporting their personal devices, or by offering the same capabilities on corporate devices. By doing this it can keep pace with expectations, as well as unlocking previously untapped productivity for the business as a whole.”

These findings were even more pronounced among younger workers between the ages of 16-24 and 25-34. 64 percent of 16-24 year olds and 60 percent of 25-34 year olds believed that work IT

was failing to keep pace with the needs of the business. Almost half of each group admitted to using personal devices without informing or seeking permission from IT. The survey also investigated at what point workers felt the IT department should take responsibility for supporting a personal device. More than half of respondents believe that, as long as a device is used for work at least 20 percent of the time, it should be supported. Indeed, 38 percent stated that IT should support all devices regardless of how much (or little) they are used. Only 15 percent said that the IT team should ensure a device was used for work 51 percent or more of the time before supporting it.

“IT departments need to work with their users to gauge at what point a device needs to be supported,” said Bolger. “While supporting any and every device might be impractical, the department should make crystal clear at which point it will support devices and ensure that users understand this. It can then put processes in place both to guarantee that level of support and to ensure it doesn’t over-stretch itself.”

house, my rules Olympics spur the demand My SaaSID suggests solution to social media blocking – for cloud computing A

W

hile the scare mongering about transport meltdown in London in the run up to the Olympics may have been somewhat over the top, the Government’s urging of London-based businesses to consider options in the area of flexible working including employing remote working techniques this summer seem to have had an impact.

Research suggests that while one third of the businesses encouraged flexible working during the Games, companies also had to put contingency plans in place to ensure continuity in business operations. In the run up to the games Chris Papa, managing director at Qubic, commented, “The demand for cloud computing is currently witnessing a rise because businesses, big and small, require easy access to round-the-clock high speed and secure communications to ensure continuity in business operations during the games. Remote working is one way of working flexibly, which in turn can ensure a ‘better work-life balance’, especially for those with children. Cloud computing technology has empowered employers and businesses to equip their staff with all the tools they need to do their jobs effectively outside of an office environment.”

www.vital-mag.net

wealth of new research has revealed that more than half of European CIOs block social media sites, with UK CIOs exhibiting the highest levels of social media restriction in the workplace. Two recent studies by Easynet and Ipanema Technologies and an earlier work by Iron Mountain, found that the majority of CIOs block access to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

While CIOS report that blocking access is the simplest way to address the compliance, security and reputational risks posed by employees using social media during work hours, human resources experts warn of the impact on staff morale and customer service when employees are deprived of their social media information feed. Gartner has warned that lack of engagement on social media channels can lead to loss of customers. Clearly, bosses must weigh up the benefits of social media against the risks of vicarious liability if a member of staff uses social media for inappropriate posts or to engage in cyber bullying, whilst using a company provided device.

“The real issue here is that CIOs don’t yet know how to control browserbased applications in the workplace, so it’s easier to block access than pick up the pieces after a damaging Tweet or Facebook update,” comments Ed Macnair, CEO of SaaSID. “If corporate security is extended to manage and audit use of social media applications, employees can get their information fix, while being aware of their responsibilities to their employer’s brand. If you know that your work time posts are being recorded for posterity, then you are more likely to be professional online.”

September / October 2012 : VitAL 7

cover story

8 VitAL : September / October 2012

www.vital-mag.net

cover story

First among equals With the charity sector expected to take a lot of the strain in ‘austerity Britain’, Matt Bailey speaks to Andrea Kis, service delivery manager at Macmillan Cancer Support about how IT is helping them to improve their essential work.

T

he charities sector is often referred to as the ‘third sector’, a position which some involved find a little galling, giving the impression that it is trailing some way behind the other sectors, private and public. In the run up to the 2010 election, UK prime minister David Cameron put the ‘Big Society’ at the heart of his vision for the UK, and while many didn’t really understand this vision, a key part of it seemed to be a bigger role for philanthropy in general and charities in particular.

Just like in every other sector, IT has a crucial role in the charities and many of them have been sharpening up their on-line and social media profile to find new ways to encourage generosity in these hard times.

Andrea Kis is service delivery manager for Macmillan Cancer Support. She joined the organisation in 2010 having working in IT in a number of business sectors, including the dizzy heights of investment banking. While the list of IT partners she uses now is more than satisfactory, the situation hasn’t always been so rosy. “Some people I have dealt with while I have been at Macmillan have told me, ‘don’t worry, we work with everyone from large banks right down to charities’, and you pick up on little words like ‘down to’,” says Kis. “I have worked in IT in investment banks and other big organisation, don’t come here and patronise me because I work for a charity! We are trying to move away from terms like ‘third sector’, I am always conscious of it, but that aside, it is very rewarding working for an organisation like Macmillan.”

Macmillan has been focussing on IT and Andrea Kis is driving change through the www.vital-mag.net

organisation. “Last year we went through a big change,” she explains. “The IT department used to report to the finance manager and be part of Finance. After a re-structure we are now part of the Corporate Resources Directorate, which also includes HR, Legal, Secretariat and Facilities. So we now feel that we are playing a more important and central role than we were under Finance. We are now more at the heart of things and it gives us a closer relationship with the other members of the Directorate. We are all here to support Macmillan staff whose role is to help people affected by cancer.”

Of course, buy-in at the highest levels is important for any IT organisation. “We have a fantastic head of the Directorate with a very good understanding of all areas including IT and the importance of IT in a charity, or any corporation’s life,” says Kis. “This understanding helps us with our budget, and our projects. I think this is refreshing compared to how some organisations work.”

IT for charity Maintaining good relationships with the various divisions at the charity is a key part of Andrea Kis’s role. “I see myself partly as a business relationship manager because I represent the IT department out in the charity,” she says. “I meet with people from all levels in the company and I always make sure I visit all of our 11 offices around the UK on a regular basis. I could just sit in my office in London and meet with senior managers and tell them how we are meeting all our KPIs and how everything is fine, but when I visit an office in person, that’s when I really get to see what’s going on.”

I could just sit in my office in London and meet with senior managers and tell them how we are meeting all our KPIs and how everything is fine, but when I visit an office in person, that’s when I really get to see what’s going on.

September / October 2012 : VitAL 9

cover story

I am ITIL compliant, I won’t call myself an expert because I don’t have the point and the badges, but I have a very good understanding of it and I know how to use it without having to open a book and say ‘this is how it should be’.

10 VitAL : September / October 2012

External relationships are also important. “We do use a range of suppliers and I have reached a stage where I have great confidence in all of them,” says Kis. “We have a fantastic hardware supplier, a fantastic supplier providing our IT Service Management software, ICCM, and a new telephony supplier since February this year, and it’s made a massive change. I genuinely feel I can rely on them, they really are partners. Before we settled on these suppliers, we used to have problems with some that were used to dealing with massive corporate clients and it seemed like our issues never took priority. It could be really tough fighting our way through. Because we are a charity and can’t always spend as much as some companies, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be treated equally.”

Tough times Everyone is under financial pressures these days and of course the charities sector – which relies on the generosity of the public for its income to a large extent – is no different.

“We are very conscious of how we spend our money,” says Kis, “because it is all donated by the public, whether it is someone’s ten pounds or a larger donation. For example, we wanted to give powerful, lightweight business laptops to our mobile workers, but we couldn’t because the money wasn’t available,, so we had to compromise on a more cost effective solution. Occasionally a supplier will give us all the functionality we need for the money we have available, but it is a challenge. We have to be creative with our spending.”

With Macmillan now a relatively large organisation, it has had to adopt a more corporate outlook in its policies and procedures. “While there is a more relaxed atmosphere here at the charity perhaps, we have also had to be very corporate,” says Kis. “When we run a project, I do the project management and we do it by the book; our IT Service Management is done professionally

and proficiently. Anyone could come in here and take away our working methods and apply them anywhere else. It’s not charity specific.

We work in the same way as everyone else, but our aim is always to help people rather than to make money.”

Systems and service Macmillan like many other organisations has a cautious approach to the cloud. “We are a little way away from cloud adoption,” says Kis. “We do use Citrix servers and we do give people the opportunity to access Macmillan applications and systems via virtual desktops, but I wouldn’t qualify it as fully cloud.”

With a large number of staff out on the road though it is important to offer access to essential systems wherever they are, “I can log in with a secure PIN and access my email and other Macmillan systems and this is the same for our mobile workers,” explains Kis. Macmillan is a fully ITIL compliant organisation. “We use incident management, request fulfilment, change management and problem management,” says Kis. “Problem management is in fact just going live at Macmillan in the next couple of months. I am ITIL compliant, I won’t call myself an expert because I don’t have the point and the badges, but I have a very good understanding of it and I know how to use it without having to open a book and say ‘this is how it should be’.

“I like ITIL, I think it is a very good framework and I believe that when IT people understand ITIL, it can really help them,” says Kis. “We recently had a problem management workshop with industry expert Barclay Rae. We realised that key players in the IT department didn’t really know what problem management is – they know it is an ITIL process, they know it is something we are soon going live with – but I thought it was very important to sit down and talk about it, not the process flow, not the systems – we have a very good ICCM system to support it – I wanted people to really www.vital-mag.net

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cover story

Andrea Kis Service delivery manager Macmillan Cancer Support Andrea Kis is service delivery manager for Macmillan Cancer Support. She joined the organisation in 2010 having working in IT in a number of business sectors.

Macmillan is a charity set up to reach and improve the lives of everyone living with cancer and to inspire millions of others to do the same. To achieve this, it provides practical, medical, emotional and financial support to people as well as pushing for better cancer care for people affected by cancer. It has offices all over the United Kingdom and also works with volunteers who play a huge part in the services it delivers to the community.

In 2011 the charity celebrated 100 years of service to people affected by cancer. www.macmillan.org.uk

I wanted them to understand that we need to tackle the root cause of any problems, rather than just fixing an issue that ticks a KPI. We should be proud to show how many issues we don’t have!”

12 VitAL : September / October 2012

understand it. I wanted them to understand that we need to tackle the root cause of any problems, rather than just fixing an issue that ticks a KPI. We should be proud to show how many issues we don’t have!”

As already mentioned, Macmillan has adopted ITSM software from ICCM. “Before we got the system we had no way – apart from manually going through every contact made with the IT team – to spot a trend,” says Kis. “When we put in e-Service Desk, the first thing we did – which was a superquick win from day one – was to separate incidents – ie, reports of anything that breaks down or is faulty – from requests. That made a massive difference because the Service Desk was able to channel the enquiries in a more effective way. That meant that they went to the right support teams faster, they got a quicker and better resolution; and we were able to report on them, to see how many incidents had been logged about a certain application.

“Now we are at a stage where we can take this even further,” adds Kis. “We can now determine and implement a Service Catalogue and we can work on defining our service portfolios.”

But these wasn’t the only quick wins for Macmillan, the charity was also able to implement a self-service portal. “When we went live with the Service Management tools,” says Kis, “We also went live with a self-service portal because the two are really the same, with one end being what the customer sees and the other being what we see. Our customers love it.”

Another quick win Macmillan experienced was with its change control process. “We are able to see which services work, which services

are affected, which systems are affected, what outages we have had, and then I can either approve changes or not and schedule them for the most appropriate time,” explains Kis. The charity is now working on implementing a full CMDB (configuration management database), so it can add in and name every single IT related item owned by the charity, who it’s assigned to, who it is used by, what is the cost associated and the licensing implications.

“All this is built into the system,” says Kis, “we just need to add the information in.”

Business relationship management Central to Andrea Kis’s approach to IT is her attitude to business relationships. “We need to have great relationships with our customers, to talk them and understand what they need.

We need to be honest – if it’s bad news, it’s bad news, but they need to know so they can work around it.

“When I started in IT I was often the only IT person it the team, I always thought I had to be tough and almost take on a macho personality to get my point across,” she remembers, “but then I thought, I will just be who I am and see the funny side of things – while being strong and level-headed. I don’t need to know how to install a new server of fix a computer, but I know what the customers want and how systems work and I think that has more value, and I know the value of strong business relationship management – it is a very key feature of a service manager’s role. I always say that I am best friends with my suppliers, but, if I send out an email which says I am not happy with what’s happening, I expect there to be a few nervous people at that supplier.” VitAL www.vital-mag.net

VitAL signs: Life in the world with IT

Cows, phones and money How do businesses know that they have reached the point where they are doing too much with not enough? Steve White finds out that the best laid plans...

I know what the

T

he simple question being asked across the land: “how can we do more with less” is a

perfectly reasonable question to ask in a capitalist

customers want and

society, and is being asked by both businesses and families. But how do we know that there is nothing more to cut – that we have gone too far?

how systems work and I think that has more value, and I know the value of strong business relationship management – it is a very key feature of a service manager’s role.

www.vital-mag.net

For the White family, we have found that our planned camping holiday, not at a recognised camp site but in a field, has been cancelled by the farmer with a week to go because the crop is late and won’t be harvested in time.

Our ultra-low-cost holiday preparation has turned into a scramble for somewhere else to stay.

How do businesses know that they have reached the point where they are doing too much with not enough?

Since the UK is at the intersection between capitalism and a recession (which may or may not represent the start of a ‘regression to the mean’ for the relatively rich UK against mean world income) we are beginning to see edges being detected.

The reduction of the price that milk processors are prepared to offer to their suppliers was complained about and accepted by the farmers, until the edge was detected. The point where the price of production and sale met is an edge – cross it and the supply chain flips into instability.

We are also seeing edges being detected in companies, and it may be interesting to speculate that the recent public-facing IT difficulties at RIM in the spring and RBS, O2 and Nationwide more recently are just the beginning of a series of edge detection adventures that have been lined up by C-Suite executives and that we’ll see in the news.

Decision makers are squeezed between ‘Features’ and ‘Shareholders’ and take strategic decisions to, for instance, move people to lower cost physical locations, remove headcount, reduce funding and reduce wages.

However, there appears to be no reduction in features being offered by these companies – locked into a feature war, the marketing departments are continuing to require more complexity. The ‘world’ is providing an ever more complex IT environment to support, ever more channels to handle.

In terms of product portfolio management, the volume of projects seems to be out of step with the investment and in terms of the time-cost-performance triangle, performance is compromised.

Is edge detection a bad thing? How else would the decision makers know that they have reached the edge – that they have cut slightly too much?

I believe some of the edge detection ability depends on the distance between the decision makers and the service providers? Where structure and direction is being required by a distant head office, and the decision making is a long logical or physical way from business operations, then it’s a way for that distant group to hear the edge has been detected in a remote location through the media. When decision making is close to operations, they will know that the edge is close, and may be able to pull back from the edge having detected the early warning signs.

I predict that we’ll see a lot more edge detection over the next few months, and I keep my fingers crossed that while the edges have so far caused communication and banking inconvenience, an edge doesn’t result in deaths or injuries.

The White family will find somewhere to stay, but it won’t be quite the same as it would have been, and it’s going to cost a lot more. An edge has been detected! VitAL Contact Steve White at: stevescolumn@vital-mag.net

September / October 2012 : VitAL 13

vital management

Leveraging personal technologies for your business Antonia Watson, senior director technical infrastructure at Avenade offers her three steps to effectively manage the consumersation of IT...

W

hen Avanade recently conducted a global survey of over 600 C-level executives into the use of consumer devices in the workplace, the results highlighted without a shadow of a doubt that personal smartphones, tablets and laptops have become an intrinsic part of everyday office life. In fact, over 88 percent of those asked said that employees were currently using personal computing technologies in the workplace for business purposes.

With so much of the recent debate focused narrowly on whether or not this so called ‘consumerisation of IT’ is being embraced by businesses globally, the key issue that is perhaps attracting less attention than it deserves is how businesses should be embracing the trend.

Just like any technology trend, the consumerisation of IT requires a combination of people, processes and tools to ensure new technologies are safe and secure for a business environment. Enterprises have an opportunity to transform the role of IT from a reactive, risk-mitigation function into a strategic enabler that leverages the breadth of today’s powerful consumer technologies to drive business productivity – however, this process hangs on certain key steps being completed.

Understand and optimise No company is starting with a blank slate when it comes to personal devices in the workplace.

Before addressing any kind of ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) policy, companies must first assess the penetration of the trend within its own IT infrastructure.

As a vital starting point, IT leaders need to conduct a thorough audit to assess and understand the impact of personal technologies on their organisation. They need to ask questions like, what employee 14 VitAL : September / October 2012

segments are using personal technologies in the enterprise and how are they using them? Where do they work from and what devices and applications do they need to do their job?

Armed with this information, they should then develop a data-driven plan that enables their company to fully optimise BYOD for their workplace. This includes identifying and prioritising employee segments, defining work responsibilities and access requirements, and aligning the applications and devices that, if implemented, could improve productivity. This step also includes identifying training that can help accelerate implementation and improve business performance.

Build and extend Once enterprises have a clear picture of the requirements of their employee population, the current state of consumer technologies coming into their company and a plan for how they will align with the future state, they should start building the core applications and services needed to enhance employee performance.

Today, the value of consumer technologies is vastly underleveraged. Most employees do not have access to the same business data on personal devices like tablets as they do on their company-issued computer. IT has an opportunity to create a continuity of experience on these devices and provide user experiences that leverage the diverse capabilities of these technologies.

Further, the majority of enterprise applications are not optimised for mobile devices. IT can take the lessons learned from the consumer app store model and apply them to meet the specific needs of their own business environment. An enterprise app store should not only provide employees with a central

portal to request an application across any number of devices – from laptops and desktops to tablets and smartphones – but should also have built-in approval processes and workflows.

Manage the change Part of this process requires creating intelligent policies that clearly outline how employees can use their personal technologies in the enterprise. For most organisations, this will require a significant cultural shift. IT leaders will have to relinquish some control and employees will have to recognise that they are accountable for the way they utilise their personal technologies in the enterprise.

Additionally, they may need to be open to some level of monitoring and management of personal devices and technologies. These policies and practices should be reinforced by frequent formal and informal communications between IT and employees.

Furthermore, with the ever-changing portfolio of devices, IT should consider expanded security solutions which address endpoints more broadly. Implementing security technology for specific devices, platforms or operating systems will likely be fragmented, incomplete and short-lived. Enterprise device management capabilities and application distribution technologies should extend across all platforms and handle a diverse set of end-points.

The accelerating consumerisation of IT trend offers incredible opportunities to create strategic advantage and business empowerment for enterprises. IT and business leaders must examine how consumer technologies are impacting their company today and then, build a roadmap that enables the organisation to capitalise on the benefits these technologies can bring to the workplace. VitAL www.vital-mag.net

vital management

A favourable comparison As a ‘value added’ service for insurance, financial and other suppliers, comparethemarket.com has certainly made sure its brand is well recognised. But, as a business where “most roads lead to IT”, Matt Bailey asks the company’s IT director, James Lomas what the challenges are for keeping the show on the road 24/7.

c

omparethemarket.com is a titan in the price comparison website arena. Launched in 2006 as an insurance comparison site, it now offers car insurance quotes from over 85 providers, but its full portfolio also includes home, pet, travel and life insurance as well as comparisons of energy and credit providers.

The ‘price engine’ phenomenon has certainly taken on a life of its own in the last few years, perhaps because of the clever advertising it uses to implant its urls into customers’ minds, and comparethemarket.com has been especially successful in this area with its memorable ‘comparethe meerkat’ saga subversively attracting potential punters.

James Lomas has been IT director at the company since July 2011. He previously ran IT at Bennetts insurance, which is also part BGL (the company that owns comparethemarket. com) and before that held a number of senior roles in a variety of companies, but his background is technical, he started out as an analyst programmer.

“The difficult part isn’t necessarily the technology,” explains Lomas. “The most important thing is to have a user interface that is easy for our customers to use – that’s the trick. But in an Internet business like ours most roads do lead to IT. So here, IT is definitely at the front and middle of the business, not confined to the back office as if often the case.

Traditionally when you walk into an IT area you are confronted with a sea of faces; we have structured IT around Product Teams, which are clearly signed, and give our Product Owners a clear line of sight.”

And as you would expect with a business like comparethemarket.com, IT forms part of the frontline operation. “We have very close relationships with the marketing and digital areas and also the commercial area,” confirms Lomas.

16 VitAL : September / October 2012

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“It’s about putting the customer first; if we do that they will use and come back to our website because we are making it easier for them to save time and money.

Our approach, tools and techniques mean that we can rapidly deliver changes driven by the customer feedback without compromising quality – if we can continue to deliver this, happy days!”

Challenges In the market comparison business, organisations live and die on their sites’ user friendliness; customer experience is crucial. “It is always very much a case of prevention is better than cure,” says Lomas.

“Monitoring is crucial, but if we want to give our customers a first class experience we need to make sure that our site is accessible through a wide variety of desktop and mobile devices running different operating systems and browser versions; the challenge here is keeping up with the pace of new releases and updates. We have invested in automated testing to help us with this process. We have a number of testing tools, tools like: nUnit, Jasmine and Selenium. There is a certain amount of pressure to have a site that is always available for customers to compare and buy, so trying to build right-first-time quality using these testing tools and Go (our continuous delivery tool) and site monitoring are all the things we bring to bear to make sure the site is always available.”

When it comes to best practise Lomas likes to keep an open mind. “Historically we haven’t use ITIL,” he explains, “but we are now starting to introduce ITIL lite. Additionally, we try to use creative problem solving techniques, to get to the root cause of any IT failures and stop them reoccurring.”

In an ever-shifting IT landscape it is a challenge to stay at the cutting edge. “The advent of HTML5 promises to makes it easier for us to enable customers to ‘compare’ across multiple desktop and mobile devices,” says Lomas. “It has many attractive features and also offers lightweight pages that require less processing power, but only some of the standards have been established and others may not be agreed for a couple of years. So for now the challenge of supporting a site across the many versions of Android, for example, still exits.”

Social media Another important part of this shifting IT landscape is social media. “Social media in the comparison market is very interesting,” Lomas says. “The feedback from our customers is that they currently prefer to keep their social lives and household finances quite distinct, so integrating comparethemarket.com with social networks is not really something people are looking for. Do customers want to publish on their Facebook timeline that they got a great deal on a credit card? Probably not.”

However attitudes may change and we are constantly thinking about how we can 18 VitAL : September / October 2012

make it easier for customers” says Lomas.

“If you change the use case though to comparethemeerkat.com, our meerkats have built up quite a following on Facebook.

Aleksandr Orlov has over 800,000 ‘likes’ and Sergei has got over 35,000 – I’m hoping that Sergei will soon catch up!”

An exciting environment Looking at the IT industry as a whole, Lomas thinks that it is an exciting place to be at the current time. “The growth in mobile devices has given application development a real shot in the arm,” he says. “The downside is that it means that the process of recruiting great people into IT is tougher than it has ever been. We know that great people want to explore the possibilities offered by leading technologies and we have adopted: C#, .Net 4, MVC 4 HTML 5, MongoDB and RabbitMQ. Collaboration and innovation are both words that we constantly use and are at the core of our Agile and Product Team philosophy. All this creates a lively, dynamic work environment; if you walk into the offices, the buzz is palpable.

“On top of that we try to create a culture of innovation and let individuals know that they’ve got the licence to innovate – which isn’t the case everywhere in the industry. Here the development team is absolutely hard-wired into the decision-making process.”

Step change Over the past eight months, comparethemarket.com has seen step change in its ability to deliver projects on time.

“Project credibility is difficult to achieve, but we have got to the point where we have built a track record of delivering projects – improved credit card, loan, energy and life customer journeys – we have them all close to the estimated date,” says Lomas.

“And with our Agile approach and tools we can incrementally change our products based on user feedback and behaviour on a daily basis if we want to. Compare that to other companies that may only have quarterly releases.”

In future Lomas sees the comparethemarket. com IT organisation continuing on its current trajectory. “It’s about putting the customer first; if we do that they will use and come back to our website because we are making it easier for them to save time and money.

Our approach, tools and techniques mean that we can rapidly deliver changes driven by the customer feedback without compromising quality – if we can continue to deliver this, happy days!” VitAL www.vital-mag.net

vital management

Managing risk in a changing model While it is boom time for the outsourcing industry, there has been a shift from single large outsource companies to smaller niche specialists. George Davies, CEO MooD International reports.

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t is a boom time for the outsourcing industry. Analysts are predicting that we are about to see the biggest wave of outsourcing since Thatcher’s days. While the Government - which is particularly looking to use SMEs as outsourcing partners - leads the charge with big contracts in the public sector, the private sector is also changing.

Over the past few years the outsourcing industry has seen a sea change in what clients are looking for. Where previously they were happy to award large contracts for long periods to a single outsourcer, there has been a shift in the preferred approach. Clients are now looking for niche suppliers, who are really ‘best of breed’ and specialise in a particular industry segment. This change is an opportunity for both clients and outsourcers, but also brings with it a new set of challenges.

The reason for a change to multiple outsourcing suppliers is being driven by this desire for specialist capabilities and the agility which niche companies are able to offer. A larger number of smaller suppliers also means an improved position for negotiation, as it allows companies to change suppliers more easily if something isn’t working out, rather than being locked into a ten year contract. However the increase in suppliers means an increase in complexity and loss of control for executives.

Rolls Royce, which in March finalised its change from a single vendor to a multiplevendor strategy, addressed this challenge by appointing CapGemini as a service integrator.

Service integrators The role of a service integrator is to ensure that the specialised IT outsourcing services provided by a number of vendors will operate effectively together. Rather than the client having to deal with multiple outsourcers, the prime service integrator monitors all the 20 VitAL : September / October 2012

suppliers to ensure objectives are being met. Appointing a prime service integrator to oversee the multiple vendors is a good start, but further steps should be taken for outsourcing relationships to succeed.

A successful outsourcing arrangement occurs when clients have a clear understanding of how outsourcing effects business performance. Managing risk is a huge concern. If you are with an existing single large outsourcing contract, how do you move to a multi-source delivery? And how do you track progression and performance?

Changing suppliers always brings with it the inherent risk of something being missed or falling between the cracks during the handover. To paraphrase you really need to, ‘Mind the gap’. It’s almost enough to put companies off changing suppliers at all. The same software that is used to monitor the providers you already use can be harnessed to ensure a seamless transition to new, multiple suppliers. Access to dynamic and up to the minute information across a range of business functions is critical to managing complex contracts and limiting risk, especially when making significant changes to your outsourcing set-up.

Measure and manage Whether looking to change suppliers or not, as the saying goes, you cannot manage what you’re not measuring, and surprisingly the measurement of outsourcing suppliers if often very poor. When data on measurement is given, it has often taken a team of people a long time to compile and is already months out of date. This leads to backward looking reporting, rather than providing information that will help the business respond in a timely manner and move forward. Putting in place a mechanism to performance manage contracts www.vital-mag.net

vital management

This has been seen in the problems G4S had ahead of London 2012. When they were unable to supply enough security staff, the client – in this case the Government – had to step in and use the army to plug gaps in the supply of security staff. In this case both sides have been under fire for these failures due to the sheer scale of the contract, but this is not always the case.

Businesses often having to bear the brunt of customer anger over the failure of supply of a service, when it actually a failure of their outsourcer.

22 VitAL : September / October 2012

is so important to the successful delivery of services. Clients should insist on evidence of how this will be managed at tender stage, and suppliers must provide effective and efficient reporting that evidences the achievement of delivery, way ahead of potential performance issues on contracts.

The technology for up-to-the-minute reporting exists in the form of outsourcing performance management software. This is effective because it has the ability to model the client’s actual business operation and the business components that constitute the environment, for example, processes, projects, risks and issues, systems assets, and very importantly, the relationships and interdependence between them. This enables managers on either side to have a day-to-day business view on what is happening, the latest status, and to find the root cause of any problems.

Traditionally, the only information the client gets is what the supplier tells it. This fails because there is no independent assessment and no collaborative environment for decision-making concerning the future direction of the service.

By linking business processes to the key data of an organisation, the outcomes and effect of any changes can be managed.

This offers suppliers the opportunity to show they are at the sharp end of delivery and give clients confidence that they can manage risk when moving their business from a single big supplier to multiple specialist providers. When multiple suppliers are then tightly coupled with the outcomes and capabilities sought after, resource, cost and timeline can be completely understood by both supplier and client alike and managed accordingly.

Adding innovation In a research report done this year by Accenture entitled Achieving High Performance in BPO, they found that one of the eight practices which high-performing BPO relationship had was using technology as a business enabler. The report found that savvy customers saw the technology used in their outsourcing relationships as a way to add innovation to their business, not just as one of the ‘nuts and bolts’. One of the key value-adds identified by the clients in a high performing BPO relationship was the analytics capabilities integrated into the services.

These analytics can be made to measure for a company to analyse and benchmark the most important data, and can be applied to multiple outsourcing providers.

Another way this technology can be used is in forecasting. Various scenarios can be run through software so executives can see what the impact of different decisions will have on the business. For example, if a company was planning a marketing and advertising push in America on a particular product, they would be able to forecast the impact that this may have on demand and subsequently what this would mean for their contact centres in another part of the world. This would enable them to keep the company looking after their contact centres in the loop on potentially needing additional staff.

Shifting the risk With this move to multiple suppliers many clients are also looking to move more of the risk to the outsourcer. Business outcomes payment means that the client only pays for the results generated. This can mean danger for both sides. The supplier can lose money if they fail to generate the required outcomes. The problem for the client is that they lose control of the process by which the business objectives are met. If something goes wrong they can suffer from reputational failure. This is because even though the failure may be on the side of the supplier, the business is ultimately responsible.

This has been seen in the problems G4S had ahead of London 2012. When they were unable to supply enough security staff, the client – in this case the Government – had to step in and use the army to plug gaps in the supply of security staff. In this case both sides have been under fire for these failures due to the sheer scale of the contract, but this is not always the case. Businesses often having to bear the brunt of customer anger over the failure of supply of a service, when it actually a failure of their outsourcer.

Economic concerns and the pursuit of alternative options, such as cloud, are key limiting factors for outsourcing demand.

Business keeping a tight reign on discretionary spending is also currently a barrier to consulting growth. But it’s also an opportunity for suppliers to show their smarter thinking and value-added services. Being able to report in real time and in a business-led way on what is happening in outsourcing contracts is a key way that suppliers can demonstrate their value.

So while clients need to ask for it at the tender stage, suppliers also need to embrace risk measurement to help show their clients the benefits they bring. VitAL www.moodinternational.com www.vital-mag.net

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vital support

Can you outsource ownership?

This issue Noel Bruton tackles outsourcing and the concepts of responsibility and ownership.

T

here’s a supermarket I know of that has a problem with milk spillages. In the rough and tumble of shopping, these things happen. A puddle of milk will then gather under the chiller, and if not cleaned up, this congeals over time – indeed several days into a greasy, bacteria-harbouring goo that then has to be scraped all too publicly away.

Of course the store has a cleaner, and she will dutifully and efficiently clean anything she is instructed to clean. She knew about the growing puddle and that it had been there for weeks – but did not clean it because nobody told her to. It is not for her to judge what are the store’s cleaning priorities. It is not her function to make decisions, she merely follows orders. She doesn’t work for the supermarket – all the cleaners are outsourced.

So is this a flaw in the employee or a flaw in the outsourcing relationship? The store’s floor manager may voice his exasperation when he hears of the milk puddle, how it has for weeks been on show to any customer who may cast a glance in the right direction, threatening the store’s reputation, adding to his stress when he wonders if he has to do everything himself. But he knows there is little he can do about it but react to the local situation. The outsourcing contract was drawn up by head office hundreds of miles away, drafted by administrators, worded by expensive lawyers, chamfered and chipped by column-minded accountants who may never have seen a puddle of milk and might never conceive of the circumstances under which it could form.

competing – profit centres. Both are trying to achieve the same thing of minimising the cost and thereby maximising the profit that can be extracted from the service under discussion.

Ultimately, one must take from the other – all we are essentially doing is deciding which one and how much.

The best that most outsourcing arrangements can hope to achieve is to agree on the service level. One party needs the job doing, and has approached outsourcing because it wants to reduce costs in that area – the other will provide the service, but at the minimum compliant cost in order to maximise profit. This is quintessentially putting the service quality at risk. The only defence is to build quality into that all-important service level.

But in any job where human action is required, quality is inherently difficult to govern, because much of it rests on the choices made by the employee delivering the service.

That means the employee must take some ownership of the job. But therein lies a risk – for if the employee makes choices, he may thus in action deviate from the provisions of the prescribed service levels, thereby waste carefully-costed effort dealing with a matter not catered for in the outsourcing agreement and so in effect, robbing resource from matters that were catered for. In other words, for that cleaner to act on her initiative might actually constitute a breach of the Service Level Agreement, by jeopardising the service level elsewhere. In the case of the in-store cleaner, initiative is allowed for, but it must be taken by the service customer, not the provider.

Competing for profit

IT Support

An outsourcing agreement is a business arrangement between two competing – yes,

While the lessons of initiative and outsourcing may be taken from supermarket hygiene,

24 VitAL : September / October 2012

they are equally at home in IT support - my pet subject and one that has been dealt some bruising blows by decisions made by people who do not understand IT support. Look at any IT department of any size - now look at each of its workgroups and list them in order of likelihood of outsourcing. More often than not, top of the list will be the Service Desk. There are far more likely candidates in any IT department, but it almost always comes down to that one.

Some reasons for outsourcing the Service Desk include the difficulty of guaranteeing service standards over many sites, especially if the sites are international. Serving extended working days also strengthens the case for sending it out. But quite often, at the heart of it lies a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of IT user support that has now been with us since the late 1990s – or to put it another way, since ITIL first made the monumental error of misinterpretation that led to this fad, while proudly displaying its massive bias towards large companies and presuming that IT helpdesks and corporate customer call receipt centres were operationally identical.

In that error, this writer believes ITIL-inspired outsourcing has by now probably cost companies billions in IT user productivity lost by the under-provision of IT support.

Rule One of outsourcing is never to outsource a strategic or ‘core-business’ resource, for to do so would be to put your ability to produce revenue in the hands of a company with a different, possibly competing revenue motivation – in other words, the risk is too great, potential commercial suicide.

However, sometimes it makes sense to put into the hands of expert external providers, those necessary supporting roles, like cleaning, catering, security, that require specialist skills www.vital-mag.net

vital support

and tools that are cheaper to bring in than to develop and maintain internally.

I suppose we’ve been asking for it, by calling ourselves ‘IT Support’ for there’s that key word, ‘support’, so that’s obviously a supporting role, ergo non-strategic, ergo let’s outsource it and get the headcount down so the balance sheet looks better. And the outsourcing company specialises in this stuff, so they’ll do a better job, won’t they? And we can nail them down with a Service Level Agreement that will make them responsible (a key concept) for delivering a service to the prescribed level.

Fatal flaw Seems a reasonable line of thought, but it has a fatal flaw. In the term ‘IT Support’, it sounds like it’s a service for fixing problems with technologies and devices. It’s technical, and we don’t need computer technicians. The thing is, the term was always wrong. It never was about IT Support. If it had been, then the Service Desk and its associated prospects for outsourcing might have been a good idea, but in fact, as anybody who works on a support desk will tell you, it’s rarely about fixing machines and the Service Desk was the wrong solution to the problem even when it was invented, and the truth about first-line IT support is that outsourcing it is rarely a good idea. And that is because it’s not IT Support – it’s IT User Support – people not machines, and their productivity not their tools.

Supporting people’s productivity necessitates a set of skills and philosophies way beyond mere machinery maintenance and almost always difficult if not impossible to be properly provided by the resources of another company – although having built some very successful support outsourcing arrangements, I concede that exceptions are possible.

It all comes down to this issue of responsibility. Indeed, that can be outsourced and enshrined in a legal document. What can rarely go with it, however, is the idea of ‘ownership’, and that is all important. With responsibility, the operative can concur that there is a contractual expectation on him to carry out a service function. But with ownership, www.vital-mag.net

the operative does the job because it’s a problem he has taken on board emotionally, he can’t stand the idea of it not being done. And for that emotional connection, that pride, that technician wanting to help this user because this user is ‘one of us’, you need internal staff on the same payroll, part of the same effort.

One of us Why do you need this? Because when the user calls in with a technical problem, the outsourced technician may fix the broken computer and comply responsibly with contractual service levels. But the in-house technician will see past that, to the actual nature of the problem, which is that one of us is unable to work and what needs to happen is that they get working again. And that’s what the business needs, because users working is what makes the corporate bottom line. Keeping your employees producing is about as strategic and core-business as it gets. Outsource that at your peril.

If you must outsource something from IT, take a look at those developers. Specifying business systems is pretty strategic, but code cutting? Spewing lines of C++ and painting screens in an application builder is pretty commodity these days.

OK, perhaps that was harsh – but only to highlight the difference. For years, we have mistakenly outsourced a strategic resource and I believe it has cost us dearly. Meanwhile, code-cutting has become so mundane and ubiquitous, that it has become the more likely candidate for outsourcing. But tradition (and ITIL) can often keep us thinking that it is still the late 1980s and we’re still dominated by an IBM mainframe. The world has changed, and this is just one way IT has not.

How to make IT support outsourcing work? It’s a mix of co-location, management, measurement and structural flexibility, and too big a topic to tackle here. Another time. VitAL Noel Bruton is a UK-based consultant and trainer who advises companies on the practicalities of IT User Support management and improvement, and the author of best-selling books on all aspects of IT service delivery. See more of his work at www.noelbruton.com.

An outsourcing agreement is a business arrangement between two competing – yes, competing – profit centres. Both are trying to achieve the same thing of minimising the cost and thereby maximising the profit that can be extracted from the service under discussion. Ultimately, one must take from the other – all we are essentially doing is deciding which one and how much.

September / October 2012 : VitAL 25

vital management

Best practice for managing software licenses Proper software license management has a number of benefits including saving time and money, but it is an important area that is often overlooked. Seann Gardiner, sales director, Dell KACE reports.

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anaging software licenses effectively is an important function to have, whatever the size of the company.

Understanding the correlation between license agreements and installed software is critical, as is the knowledge of unauthorised programs, including games and peer-to-peer programs, which can wreak havoc across an entire network.

Proper software license management has a number of benefits including saving time for IT staff as well as saving organisations money in resources and potential fines for non-compliance. However, it is often overlooked.

The reason for this is because software license management is becoming an increasingly complex issue. IT teams are finding it difficult to keep pace with this rate of change and the business support for investment here can be difficult to get unless there is a team of auditors on the doorstep.

The proliferation of different license types and the vendor’s practice of creating new tools to detect license violations are all presenting challenges. Staying compliant is becoming a tougher goal to achieve.

26 VitAL : September / October 2012

Good management Good management involves managing all approved licenses including paid licenses, cloud-based software, virtual machines, open source, freeware, shareware and shelf-ware. The growing use of virtualisation and cloud technologies is also making this more complex.

Staying on top of software license deployment and usage is a good way of saving money because businesses can re-use or reallocate assets to employees that need the software most and eliminate those that are not needed. With this in mind, consider the following strategies for managing software licenses: 1. Set a policy If an organisation does not have an application licensing policy that encompasses all approved and supported software, now is the time to create one. The policy must govern all software usage including which versions and platforms are supported. The policy document should also articulate when obsolete software is no longer supported and how this should be managed. www.vital-mag.net

revitalise your service desk

Se f rv ree To ic g 01 e D cop et a 18 es y o 32 k re f th 4 0 po e 62 rt 0 cal l

vital management

With Windows XP approaching end of life, being able to automatically get visibility of installed software is important because it makes the migration to other operating systems such as Windows 7 easier.

An accurate inventory means IT can anticipate possible compatibility issues and can plan to upgrade or replace applications as part of the migration.

The poIicy should include categories for software that: • Can be purchased by license type; •W ill be supported by IT and on which specific devices; •W ill not be supported by IT but is not prohibited; • I s prohibited from being installed on company property.

A tight license policy may stipulate that all software purchase requests be made to the department manager. The policy should also be clear whether employees may or may not buy software directly, charge it to their expense accounts or download software from the internet without approval.

2. Take inventory of all software All installed software should be accounted for including usage statistics. By identifying rarely used licenses, these can be made available to other users before the IT team buys any new licenses. Under-used licenses also suggest that there is either inadequate training on the software or that a tool has become obsolete and is no longer worth the investment.

For example, with Windows XP approaching end of life, being able to automatically get visibility of installed software is important because it makes the migration to other operating systems such as Windows 7 easier. An accurate inventory means IT can anticipate possible compatibility issues and can plan to upgrade or replace applications as part of the migration.

3. Retire old applications Bloated application portfolios increase IT complexity, raise support costs, make migrations more difficult and multiply the risk of conflicts. Gartner recommends that enterprises review their software portfolios at least annually and retire applications that are not in use or are redundant. Retiring unused or redundant applications is not just an opportunity to save on license costs. It can also help to tackle the personal productivity and business impact that ‘old’ IT assets can have.

4. Collect records of software licenses For organisations with decentralised purchasing of software, this task may be challenging. Businesses should retain documentation of software purchases centrally

28 VitAL : September / October 2012

including license agreements. The repository can be used to manage the purchases, costs, depreciation, warranty and support information. This can also be accomplished through systems management technology which can automate the process of software license inventory and records, eliminating manual, error-prone methods.

5. Run regular reports Running regular reports and matching licenses to installed software can be used as proof of license compliance for an audit.

Taking the right approach to systems management includes using automatically generated reports to monitor usage of software, identify unused licenses (which can then be allocated to different users) or over-usage (which requires new or reassigned licenses).

6. Communicate policy to employees While setting up a policy is one thing, it won’t be followed if users don’t know it exists. It is therefore important to communicate the policy to employees, including clear guidelines for compliance, how it will be enforced and penalties for violations.

This can be established by including regular self-assessments and performance reviews. Alongside this, organisations should develop training programmes to educate staff about license policies and how to use approved software.

7. E nsure latest approved versions are running Only the latest approved versions of software should be running on user machines.

Implementing automated patching and distribution processes will keep systems up-to-date in a scalable and efficient way.

Auditing the software assets should show all versions that are installed and any old versions can be remediated.

8. Act on policies to enforce compliance Businesses should remove software from old computers when the same licensed software is installed on replacements. As part of this, organisations can have a blacklist of applications that cannot be installed to prevent users from installing unapproved software on company machines. Organisations www.vital-mag.net

vital management

By linking license compliance with activities designed to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO), financial savings and higher productivity can be achieved. This can help make software license compliance part of broader strategic efforts for IT asset management and reduce the TCO.

www.vital-mag.net

can remove demonstration copies of software when a license hasn’t been purchased and ban unauthorised copies for employees’ own use or distribution. It makes sense to have some level of automation to re-check installed software for ongoing license compliance.

9. Make license compliance strategic By linking license compliance with activities designed to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO), financial savings and higher productivity can be achieved. This can help make software license compliance part of broader strategic efforts for IT asset management and reduce the TCO. 10. Keep up with user requirements for software With the prolific use of iPhones, Android and other smartphones as well as iPads and other mobile devices, employees want to link their devices to corporate systems. This bring your own device (BYOD) trend affects how organisations plan out their IT strategy.

IT needs to support this requirement because the alternative is that users resort to unsupported software. The practice of users breaking the rules can be avoided by understanding their requirements from the start, where possible. This may involve securing additional budget to handle management of mobile and user devices, so that policies can be implemented correctly from the start.

Software compliance management Good software compliance management that includes support for mobile devices, can free up an IT team’s time and resources to concentrate on fulfilling other more strategic business challenges. Whether it be tracking software usage, its distribution or getting visibility of all software installed across the network, automating software compliance is a necessary step to saving time and money.

This therefore gives IT more of a business case to support any investment.

Taking a more centralised, automated approach to software licence management doesn’t just enforce license compliance to save time. It also strips out inefficiencies that help IT make savings for the business. VitAL www.kace.com September / October 2012 : VitAL 29

vital management

Shifting to the cloud: truth and lies about latency With the flexibility that the cloud offers, applications can be located pretty much anywhere. That is the beauty and freedom of the cloud, but this flexibility comes at a price. The resulting latencies can be unpredictable.

Jelle Frank van der Zwet, cloud marketing manager at Interxion explains what to consider when moving applications to the cloud.

W

hen it comes to measuring applications performance across our local enterprise network, we think we know what network latency is and how to calculate it. But when we move these applications off premise and on to private or public infrastructures (the cloud) there are a lot of subtleties that can impact latency in ways that we don’t immediately realise.

What does latency mean for deploying and or migrating applications to the cloud and how can you both track and measure it? The goal is to both manage and reduce latency to ensure the best performance of your applications in the cloud.

So what are the potential pitfalls?

Distributed computing In the days when everything was contained inside an enterprise data centre, it was easier to locate bottlenecks because the enterprise owned the entire infrastructure from source to destination. But with the rise of Big Data applications built using tools such as Hadoop, the nature of applications has changed and is a lot more distributed.

These applications employ tens or even thousands of computer servers that may be located all over the world, and have varying degrees of latency with each of their internet connections. And depending on when these applications are running, the latencies can be better or worse as other internet traffic waxes 30 VitAL : September / October 2012

or wanes to compete for the same infrastructure and bandwidth.

Virtualisation adds another layer of complexity Today’s modern data centre isn’t just a bunch of rack-mounted servers but a complex web of hypervisors running dozens of virtual machines. This introduces yet another layer of complexity, since the virtualised network infrastructure can introduce its own series of packet delays before any data even leaves the rack itself.

Many corporations have begun deploying virtualised desktops and that introduces yet another source of latency. If not designed properly, you can experience significant delays with just logging into the network, let alone running your applications on these desktops.

It isn’t just about ping One of the major problems with measuring latency and using tools such as traceroute is that applications don’t usually use the same protocols as ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol). In fact, most don’t have anything to do with ICMP, the protocol behind ping and traceroute. But most modern applications and networks don’t give much priority to ping packets, and so the best way to measure and understand latency is to measure the performance of the same protocols that your www.vital-mag.net

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These applications employ tens or even thousands of computer servers that may be located all over the world, and have varying degrees of latency with each of their internet connections. And depending on when these applications are running, the latencies can be better or worse as other internet traffic waxes or wanes to compete for the same infrastructure and bandwidth.

32 VitAL : September / October 2012

applications use: HTTP, FTP and so forth.

This brings us to our next layer of complexity: QoS (Quality of Service).

In the pre-cloud days, Service Level Agreements (SLAs)and QoS were created to prioritise traffic and to make sure that latency-sensitive applications would have the network resources to run properly. These agreements were also put in place to ensure minimal downtime by penalising the ISPs and other vendors who supplied the bandwidth and the computing resources.

But with the rise of more cloud and virtualised services, it isn’t so cut and dried. For one thing, the older SLAs typically didn’t differentiate between an outage in a server, a network card, a piece of the storage infrastructure, or a security exploit. But these different pieces are part and parcel to the smooth and continuous operation of any cloud infrastructure.

Knowing the Infrastructure A final complicating factor is in trying to track down the actual infrastructure that is running your cloud applications. To really understand latency, you should know answers to questions such as: • Are your VMs stored on different SANs or different hypervisors, for example?

• Do you have any say in decisions that will impact your own latency?

• How many router hops are in your cloud provider’s internal network and what bandwidth is used in their own infrastructure?

Public cloud It isn’t just poor latency in the cloud but the unpredictable nature of the various network connections between your on-premises applications and your cloud provider that can cause problems. What is needed is some way to reduce these daily or even minute-by-minute variations so you can have a better handle on what to expect.

Clearly, the best available option is to directly connect to a public cloud platform. One way that Amazon has managed to provide a more consistent network experience than Internet-based connections is through their product called Direct Connect. This is where a dedicated network connection can be established between your network and one

of the Amazon Direct Connect locations, rather than having to send all traffic over the public internet.

In a nutshell, the key benefit is that traffic is no longer subject to the unpredictability of the general internet, and so basic metrics such as bandwidth and latency will be far more predictable. For the connection from the customer’s premises to the Direct Connect locations these metrics will be subject to strict quality of service guarantees, ie, a bandwidth of X with a defined maximum latency and an SLA for the connection. For the connection from the Direct Connect locations to Amazon Web Services cluster in your region, you can expect improved network characteristics.

Direct connect options like Amazon, but also Windows Azure, offer to build a hybrid solution that uses both on-premise and cloud-based resources. Application code and data can be stored in an appropriate on- premise location according to regulations, privacy concerns, and a measurement of acceptable risk, while solution components requiring the features and pricing model of cloud computing can be migrated to the cloud.

Managing the unpredictable Relying on the internet for application connectivity in the cloud introduces a degree of variability and uncertainty around bandwidth, speed and latency. This can be unacceptable to many large and medium sized enterprises, which are increasingly putting the emphasis on end-to-end quality of service management. Using dedicated connectivity to cloud providers overcomes this and hooking up via carrier neutral data centres and connectivity providers can also have benefits in terms of costs, monitoring, troubleshooting and support.

As you can see, there’s a lot to consider when moving to the cloud, and cloud latency isn’t just about doing traceroute and reducing router hops. It has several dimensions and complicating factors. But latency in itself does not have to be an issue; it’s the unpredictability of latency that really causes the problems. If you take into account these possible pitfalls when moving applications to the cloud, it is possible to avoid them and deliver a service to be proud of. VitAL www.interxion.com www.vital-mag.net

VitAL eyes on

Big data and small elephants a DIY approach Direct connect options This ‘Eyes on’ column is a work in progress report from Jonathan Westlake on what he has researched and chosen to use for his ‘big data’ project – Hadoop from Apache.

like Amazon, but also Windows Azure, offer to build a hybrid solution that uses both on-premise and cloudbased resources.

Application code and data can be stored in an appropriate on-premise location according to regulations, privacy concerns, and a measurement of acceptable risk, while solution components requiring the features and pricing model of cloud computing can be migrated to the cloud.

www.vital-mag.net

I

n the last ‘Eyes on’ I covered the topic of big data which has moved one could argue from the hype stage to something more concrete. This has somewhat been helped by the adoption of big data technology such as Hadoop by Microsoft but also exposure by other big IT players including IBM and HP. You will recall that big data is not a replacement for relational databases but a perspective of how to use multifaceted views or data insight of large datasets from many sources. The aim is to improve decision making and transparency by the segmentation of data. The data in question can be defined as structured and unstructured.

Good examples of unstructured data are blogs; word documents; email messages; RSS feeds; audio files in contrast to structured data examples of databases and XML. I am at the start of a big data project and hence at the strategic stage. Plenty of strategic advise can be found on Oracle /IBM’s website about strategic issues but I’m after a DIY open source approach which can be used by organisations like a university but can also translate to small firms as well who will not have the financial clout for a package approach.

So this ‘Eyes on’ is a more of work in progress to date report on what I have researched and chosen to use which is Hadoop from Apache. This is a batch (not online) approach and that makes sense to me as I am trying to solve problems where I have a lot of data which does not fit into tables and I am not looking for an real time solution. The integration of different types of data enables me to run analysis offline and I feel it is question of balance of how much time to spend on analysis as opposed to getting to grips with social media; responding to emails

and better student record keeping. The open source approach also appeals to me as a method for small businesses/limited budget organisations that may be able to use a big data approach to segment data further than techniques such as email campaigns and contact databases.

Although my use of Hadoop is at the experimental stage there is a realisation that as part of a big data strategy there is a need to integrate it into the overall infrastructure and analysis of the my organisation rather than being a splinter project.

In conclusion, I think big data does represent something to address and which can add value. I have been involved with data since the early 1980s and have grown up on traditional structured data but the culture has now changed... a proliferation of channels and shared data in a free form is in abundance.

The challenge is to capture this data and harness to make it pay. Statistical analysis of unstructured data has to have an end product ie, how it is interpreted. Hadoop appears to provide a vehicle for just that, why not take a look? VitAL

Useful reference/resource: Hadoop http://hadoop.apache.org/ September / October 2012 : VitAL 33

vital management

Feature sponsored by

Lifecycling your way through the evolution of IT Service and Support With the advent of BYOD, businesses still need to manage their IT assets if they are to control data, align IT processes and deliver timely and appropriate support to all end-users and avoid a disparate range of support services to an increasingly desperate workforce. BMC reports.

34 VitAL : September / October 2012

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Feature sponsored by

or a noisy user fad, as their organisations preferred to embrace the consumerisation of IT in a controlled manner, with full company ‘asset’ ownership.

So in some organisations, especially those where no acceptable use policy exists, endusers and IT will be on the verge of a mobile civil war! But given that revolutions can be bloody, a controlled evolution of the desktop should be acknowledged by IT as being the most conducive way of satisfying staff demand for mobile devices where end-user productivity gains become the obvious benefit.

The clamour for BYOD therefore can only ever be a barometer, not the rule, as to the appropriate level mobile devices need to be deployed. Businesses still need to manage their IT assets if they are to control data, align IT processes and deliver timely and appropriate support to all end-users and avoid a disparate range of support services to an increasingly desperate workforce.

Upwardly mobile staff

S

“

orry, you want to run the Company’s CRM system on your i-phone and you think you need a different license?”

“Yeah that’s right, it’ll be great for planning my week on a Sunday evening at home. Booting up my laptop at home is such a pain. I still use my laptop at work and occasionally I take my tablet when travelling but my phone is what I use most when I’m visiting customer sites, it’s the best tool for the job I do.”

“Okay, I get that, but you’ve been issued with a laptop and that is the device we support.”

Today there will not be a single IT support analyst in the land that has not had this conversation several times over, although this does not mean that bring your own device (BYOD) is alive and well and wholeheartedly accepted by business and their IT organisations. In fact at a BMC FootPrints user event held in Central London earlier this year, most of the attending IT managers dismissed BYOD as either policy forbidden www.vital-mag.net

One of the primary reasons why the debate around acceptable BYOD use is both ranging and topical is not because businesses fail to understand the benefits, it has more to do with the economic reasons why many companies cannot afford to ‘writeoff’ the existing desktop just yet, due to market realities and commercial pressures on IT budgets. Consequently end-users in all organisations are attempting to force adoption, whether it is a simple case of wanting to run a mobile-client for e-mail or connecting to business applications.

The masses (including C-level executives) are revolting and the drive will be there, in every organisation.

So surely the easiest thing to accept should be BYOD? Well not always and the reasons are simple. The moment an end-user ‘donates’ their device and starts accessing company systems and data, how does a support organisation manage and control an asset they do not own? How do they mitigate against data loss and, significantly, how do they manage a support burden which could be extremely time-variable and fluid?

One of the primary reasons why the debate around acceptable BYOD use is both ranging and topical is not because businesses fail to understand the benefits, it has more to do with the economic reasons why many companies cannot afford to ‘write-off’ the existing desktop just yet, due to market realities and commercial pressures on IT budgets.

September / October 2012 : VitAL 35

vital management

Feature sponsored by

“Over the next three years, the shift to a mobile-centric model will accelerate, with the installed base of smartphones and tablets tripling from 2012 to 2014. We are now in the early stages of a dramatic shift in the user experience.”

Gartner February 2012.

If a support organisation agrees to configure and provision email and CRM access to an individual’s own Blackberry, how do you predict the frequency against which those same services will need to be provided again when the individual moves to an iPhone instead?

Without control six, 12 or 18 months become the new support lifecycle.

For support organisations, mobile devices present an IT lifecycle management challenge, one that for many is possibly best managed by strategically ignoring BYOD to ensure a procurement policy which allows policycompliant choice for the end-user. This revolution needs to become a vibrant evolution if the many operational pitfalls of BYOD are to be avoided and the optimum new desktop standard is adopted – best for the business (productivity) and loved by the end-user (choice and satisfaction).

“Over the next three years, the shift to a mobile-centric model will accelerate, with the installed base of smartphones and tablets tripling from 2012 to 2014. We are now in the early stages of a dramatic shift in the user experience.” Gartner February 2012.

The Economist report ‘Beyond the PC’ of October 2011 also alluded to this, as the research illustrated that last year smartphone and tablet shipments moved ahead of the PC (desktop and laptop) for the first time.

This growth has mostly been fuelled by consumer purchases to date but exponential growth of over the next few years will be due to business purchases. By 2013/14, mobile device shipments are expected to be double that of the desktop.

Standardise best practice So let’s face it, why wouldn’t a business want to embrace everything about the consumerisation of IT and deploy more mobile devices? For many employees the freedom to choose their preferred ‘desktop’ (whether traditional or mobile) is a real benefit and being instantly familiar with ‘hardware’ potentially reduces many of new staff on-boarding issues always being logged with the IT help desk. Although the wary IT support manager will always want to guard against too much end-user selfdiagnosis as familiarity will always breed a level of pseudo-knowledge.

That said we should not lose sight of the need to take a strategic approach to minimise the impact of embracing mobile devices as 36 VitAL : September / October 2012

the new desktop. Despite the high levels of end-user acceptance and the perceived productivity gains, security and data loss remain a primary C-level management concern. Various reports and research papers have this typically at between 60-70 percent, where the thought of infected personal devices is stated as the greatest risk.

Over-the-Air (OTA), as the new corporate network of choice, places different challenges on network teams and from within IT, increasingly, the pressure to support mobile devices is placed upon those in Security (37 percent), the IT Help Desk (24 percent) and Endpoint Management (23 percent). These demands will have a hugely onerous impact on IT in organisations allowing BYOD, rather than in those managing and controlling the release of company-issued mobile devices.

The larger the organisation and BYOD could come with a high level of chaos. In the words of Despair Inc, “When the winds of change blow hard enough, the most trivial of things can turn into deadly projectiles!”

Allowing BYOD will present multiple operating systems, varying end-user requests and mixed competencies to IT support which may in turn conflict with an organisation not geared for additional end-user burden. Therefore in order to mitigate any negative impacts it will become increasingly important for IT organisation to consider their IT procurement preferences, moving forward in much the same way as they have always done for the traditional desktop.

Arguably with IT departments striving to do more with less resource, the need to quickly standardise on mobile devices is the only way to meet the demand half-way and guarantee achievable service level agreements to the organisation.

Mobility rides a different lifecycle Choice is a dangerous thing and the consumerisation of IT and the desire for the latest and greatest device immediately presents a different lifecycle model for IT to manage. Smartphones and tablets will move through rapid periods of development in shorttime, which will see the number of businessrugged and capable devices increasing which in turn will drive yet another deployment wave.

Consequently this will see IT managing more change and procurement requests than ever before. There may even be some sectors where business image may even be www.vital-mag.net

vital management

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considered customer-important and the type of deployed devices may represent competitive edge. Regardless of the reasons this will see the accepted three to five year lifecycle for a traditional desktop reduce to a few months.

Despite the shortened lifecycles the services to be provided to the end-user remain very, very similar and will be familiar to all in IT support, as concluded it’s the frequency that changes.

Consequently the IT lifecycle management of these devices also moves through very similar processes: Asset: Discovery and identification (including self-registration), end-user directory profiling and access management; Configuration: Provision and access to company systems, web services and applications; Monitor: Usage, configuration changes and policy settings Security: Encryption (Device and File Documents), data security, geo-locate and remote lock and wipe; Update and Back-up: Application and system revisions, archiving and back-up; Decommission:Back-up, wipe and clean, recycle or destroy.

Delivering IT services and responding and fixing support requests are often two very different scenarios. Defined processes dictate good service delivery while knowledge becomes everything to the first line support team, especially if they are not going to be overwhelmed with requests. Knowledge needs to be compiled quickly to support this new breed of remote worker; knowledge will be necessary for self-help and critical for remote support.

This singular potential impact on support capability is another reason why careful consideration needs to be given to companyissued devices in order to break adoption down into bite-size chunks for everyone as it will help those in IT support to manage the volume and velocity of requests.

Moving IT Service & Support to a new level The mobile workforce is here to stay and their expectations are unlike anything IT has experienced before and there is a need to for IT to change now as data management and security now has shared emphasis on the help desk. As the old adage “it grew legs and walked away” is more applicable now www.vital-mag.net

than ever before as the desktop becomes mobile. When a device is lost a member of staff ceases to be productive and data is at risk and everyone is looking at IT to respond and resolve the issue.

Giving IT visibility to understand usage patterns and user behaviour will become key to delivering the support services the organisation now needs while reducing vulnerabilities and security threats.

Those charged with the design and delivery of support services should take note and budget for an addition to their IT support toolkit. For the same reason most organisations have invested and integrated IT asset management in order to manage the desktop population so mobile device management (MDM) provides the visibility, control and management to deliver an enduser experience of effective productivity and mobile working efficiency.

In short MDM, when integrated with the IT service desk, ensures a company’s mobile assets are maintained to a compliant standard, its resources (information and data) are secure; end-user productivity is extended and allows those in IT support to deliver expeditiously.

“Remember if you cannot see what you are supposed to be supporting, then downtime becomes an inevitable outcome”.

For IT the first evolving steps are critical if the civil war with device-addicted staff is to be averted: • Determine whether IT can cope with the cross-platform support complexities of BYOD; • Commit to an IT procurement policy which is both attractive to end-users and pragmatic to business requirements; • Predict the lifecycle management impact on all IT support services and use this to test resource loading and optimisation; • Do not compromise SLAs by reluctantly accepting a mass influx of mobile devices; • Invest in IT support tools to discover, control and securely manage the new desktop; • Commit resources to compiling/authoring a knowledge base suitable for self-help presentment and support group use; • Correlate the true needs of the business for mobile devices against the desired needs of staff and ensure new device roll-outs are in pace with IT’s ability to support. VitAL www.bmc.com

The larger the organisation and BYOD could come with a high level of chaos. In the words of Despair Inc, “When the winds of change blow hard enough, the most trivial of things can turn into deadly projectiles!”

September / October 2012 : VitAL 37

vital planet

Good for the planet, good for the bottom line IT can lead the way to a leaner and greener future.

Matt Rhodes, commercial services manager at IT outsourcing specialist Quiss Technology, looks at the issue and explains what options exist for sustainability-minded IT managers, under pressure to green their systems.

38 VitAL : September / October 2012

www.vital-mag.net

vital planet

The increasing adoption of mobile technologies is allowing employees to connect with their work systems, colleagues and critical applications from home, thereby offering the potential to significantly reduce the emissions associated with commuting.

40 VitAL : September / October 2012

T

here is no doubt that it is fashionable to be green right now. Over the past few years, emphasis has grown on creating a greener and cleaner energy economy and IT is one area that has been pinpointed as being in a unique position to lead the way.

Cloud computing has been the topic of many discussions recently, but its potential as a solution to the sustainable future of IT is one of the more interesting discussions in which it features.

It is worth noting at this point however, that green IT shouldn’t merely focus on lowering energy consumption as the single principle that ticks the ‘environment saved’ box. Green IT is about more than that. Any reduction in IT resources that has no effect on the ability of the IT system to perform the functions for which it is designed should be seen as part of a sustainable IT solution.

Cloud, BYOD & mobility The Cloud, or more accurately, the concept of cloud computing, offers organisations greater efficiency and agility in the delivery of their IT service, based largely on the principles of ‘economy of scale’. Organisations only pay for what they need, scaling up or down as their requirements change. This is an efficient way of working and reduces the hardware required too, when combined with the growing phenomenon of bring your own device (BYOD), which sees many employees using their own devices for work use.

In the same vein, the increasing adoption of mobile technologies is allowing employees to connect with their work systems, colleagues and critical applications from home, thereby offering the potential to significantly reduce the emissions associated with commuting.

Any organisation opting for the cloud on the basis of its environmental credentials has to be careful that the service provider chosen shares the same commitment to green IT. The pursuit of green IT becomes a little pointless if the service provider has data centres full of old, inefficient, under-used servers running up huge energy bills.

Cloud services rely on huge data centres, which in 2011, already accounted for almost 1.5 percent of global electricity consumption, with some estimates expecting this to quadruple in the next ten years. So it is essential that we look to maximise server usage through virtualisation. Traditionally servers have run at only 15 percent capacity, wasting large amounts of energy to power them and space to house them – space which also requires more cooling, lighting etc.

Virtualisation Virtualisation enables multiple ‘virtual’ servers to be run on a single physical server, using its capacity far more efficiently. This allows the number of physical servers to be reduced along with the associated energy usage. It also ensures the servers occupy a smaller and potentially more energy efficient space.

Server technology has progressed significantly and the recent introduction of the HP ProLiant Gen8 servers, with their enhanced energy efficiency is a big step forward in reducing emissions from IT infrastructure.

This new generation of servers performs all the usual high-tech wizardry you would expect, but come with a vast array of internal heat sensors that help the server alter the output of its internal fans to help minimise power usage.

Servers also require a small temperature band in which to operate at their optimum and the cooling systems used to ensure data centres remain within this range, can chew up a lot of energy. Yet many data centres are running unnecessarily cool, with many keeping server inlet temperatures near to 18 degC, when in actual fact modern server design and airflow architecture means the temperature range could easily be nudged up to around 25 degC as recommended by Google’s data centre managers.

For many this might seem a scary proposition. But with monitored airflow analysis and the latest generation of intelligent servers, a rise in temperature of this order can deliver significant energy savings, through a cooling system used less and servers drawing less power too. www.vital-mag.net

vital planet

The Cloud has a part to play, but it is not the game changer many think it is. The future isn’t green IT, but efficient IT. What we have to work towards is delivering infrastructure and systems that operate much closer to capacity and offer the ability for scaling up or down quickly to minimise any wastage.

42 VitAL : September / October 2012

The memory in the servers has also been re-engineered to utilise 1.35 volts, rather than the traditional 1.5 volts. Taken in isolation, these savings seem minimal, but when they are all added up HP believes they have increased power efficiency by ten percent. Imagine if the entire world ran these servers, just how much energy we could save?

e-waste Unfortunately, throwing out old servers to replace with new energy efficient ones, can give us another headache; one dubbed e-waste. Most of the redundant servers, computers and other electrical appliances end up in landfill sites, or being incinerated, both solutions that present a problem for green IT. The growing solution is for much of the usable, slower and less efficient IT hardware to be recycled back into roles within developing countries, hungry for cheap technology.

The use of less efficient hardware is a small price to pay in comparison to the landfill dumping of tons of potentially toxic technology, capable of having a far more immediate adverse effect on the environment.

Power management Many organisations will believe they are already doing enough, with PCs and monitors going to sleep at night, but even here there is a huge opportunity to cut energy consumption and save money. Many organisations rely on the power management solutions bundled with their systems, but never really know what energy their systems are using.

Modern power management software allows IT administrators to track power usage and cut consumption with hard-wired policies that enforce energy saving measures. Some even allows working PCs to cut their consumption and the good news is that this can be applied across all hardware with a single installation

and users will not detect any change in their working environment.

Again the savings to SMEs running 25-100 computers may not get the finance director too excited, but the savings for our environment and our aspirations for a more energy efficient future should not be underestimated.

Efficient IT The Government recently introduced the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, legislation aimed at improving energy efficiency and cutting emissions in large public and private sector organisations, but Green IT has some way to go before it becomes a core strategy for many smaller organisations – but it’s high time it did.

In conclusion, the Cloud has a part to play, but it is not the game changer many think it is.

The future isn’t green IT, but efficient IT. What we have to work towards is delivering infrastructure and systems that operate much closer to capacity and offer the ability for scaling up or down quickly to minimise any wastage.

This switch to new infrastructure and a new approach that delivers greater efficiency, including virtualisation, can just as easily be done on-premise. This means the most significant energy reduction solutions are available to almost all organisations without them having to evaluate the suitability of cloud services as well as trying to introduce new measures to reduce their energy usage.

The key elements of efficient IT is that it will use less energy, fewer resources, optimise the supply chain and deliver viable end of life solutions for obsolete hardware. This ensures that sustainable IT is a by-product of utilising the technology and systems organisations need to prosper, rather than greening IT to tick a few boxes on a CSR report at the expense of optimising the IT system. VitAL www.quiss.co.uk www.vital-mag.net

30 Leading

IT Service Management Providers

30 Leading ITSM Providers

Welcome to VitAL’s guide to some of the top suppliers to the IT Service Management sector.

Focussing on the top suppliers

F

or a little light end of summer reading, what follows on the next 15 pages or

so is VitAL magazine’s essential annual guide to 30 of the leading IT Service Management providers.

We envisage that 30 Leading IT Service Management Providers should be an essential guide to any IT professional about to consider the purchase of an IT Service Management solution.

Inside you will find details of the purveyors of the latest and best in this every widening and growing area.

Finally our thanks go to BMC Software for being our headline sponsor and to all the companies that are included in the section.

We hope you find the 30 Leading IT Service Management Providers both highly useful and highly useable.

Happy reading

Matt Bailey, VitAL Editor

44 VitAL : September / October 2012

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30 Leading ITSM Providers

A word from our sponsor...

BMC Software – Delivering choice in IT Service Management

B

MC Software delivers the industry’s leading IT service management application family – built on over 20 years of expertise in IT support software. Our solutions help IT support teams deliver outstanding service in organizations of all sizes. Whether you’re just starting out or managing a complex support operation – there’s a BMC ITSM solution for you.

We recognise the onerous demands placed on IT support teams and the systems they use vary greatly from organisation to organisation and that’s why one size does not fit all when choosing ITSM software. The BMC choice serves the needs of a wider range of IT service management customers.

Choosing cloud?

We all know that Cloud is one of the hottest topics in ITSM right now. But did you know that BMC has the fastest growing Cloud IT management solution in the world? It’s tailormade for organisations between 500 and 5,000 employees in size.

The modern technology environment brings new challenges to IT support teams — and new requirements for IT service management systems. BMC Remedyforce Service Desk represents a cost-effective, contemporary, and best-practice response to the challenges of delivering high-quality service support – delivered on a true cloud platform.

BMC Remedyforce Service Desk enables you to exceed expectations and deliver interactive IT support services — accessible anywhere, anytime. Remedyforce is built on the world’s most trusted and scalable cloud platform – Force.com from Salesforce.com.

Remedyforce will allow you to manage evolving complexities across suppliers, consumers, and third parties, and do so while leveraging built-in best practices across key ITIL® service management processes.

For those facing a bigger challenge For organisations looking to gain better

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control of larger and more complex IT support operations, or for those looking to achieve the very highest levels of best practice alignment – BMC Remedy ITSM represents the most comprehensive and flexible IT Service Management solution on the market.

Armed with out-of-box ITIL processes for a faster deployment and IT business management for a tighter grip on cost, the market-leading IT service management suite is available both on premise and in the cloud. Reduce complexity and make support, change, asset, and request management a seamless integrated process – even in the most challenging of technology environments.

BMC Track It! For 20 years Track-It!® help desk and asset management software has been the leading choice for smaller businesses searching for helpdesk applications. In fact, over 50,000 customer sites worldwide have installed a Track-It! help desk. It’s even won numerous industry awards!

At the heart of the Track-It! family is TrackIt! Help Desk which provides you with a 360 degree view of your incidents, problems and change requests. It helps you automate and streamline your IT support processes so that you can respond and deliver resolutions to end users more quickly than ever before including mobile help desk access.

automating the entire ownership experience.

FootPrints solutions integrate the processes that manage IT, not just the data generated by those processes.

As a flexible and modular solution, FootPrints is the ideal set of IT service and operations management building blocks that scale to provide a solution in-step with your organiSation’s needs and maturity.

BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite For larger organisations, the BMC Remedy IT Service Management (ITSM) suite has been consistently recognised as leading the field with its unparalleled depth of capability and sophistication. Aimed principally at larger organizations or those facing a more complex IT support challenge, BMC Remedy ITSM is available both as an on premise or hosted solution.

BMC Remedy ITSM covers the full range of service support capabilities: Incident, Problem, Change, Service Request, Asset lifecycle, CMDB and Service Level Management on a single integrated and flexible workflow platform. The opportunities to extend your investment are practically limitless – with cutting edge solutions for mobility, discovery, performance and IT cost and business management and more…

BMC FootPrints

Business runs on IT. IT runs on BMC Software.

The BMC FootPrints® family of on-premise IT Management products and solutions streamline, automate and improve IT operations. Designed with needs of mid-sized organiSations in mind, FootPrints is an awardwinning range of IT Service Management, Desktop Management, Lifecycle Management, Security and Compliance solutions.

FootPrints also enables you to leverage your legacy IT management solutions and empowers IT teams to optimize the management of PC’s, mobile devices, software and IT infrastructure by simplifying and

Business runs better when IT runs at its best.

That’s why IT organizations – from the Global 100 to the smallest businesses – in over 120 countries rely on BMC Software (NASDAQ: BMC) to manage their business services and applications across distributed, mainframe, virtual and cloud environments. With the leading Business Service Management platform, Cloud Management, and the industry’s broadest choice of IT management solutions, BMC helps customers cut costs, reduce risk and achieve business objectives. www.bmc.com

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30 Leading ITSM Providers

alemba Alemba develops vFire, the innovative ITSM solution. Our cutting-edge approach to software design combined with a commitment to old-fashioned customer service has fuelled a dramatic expansion of high profile organisations trusting us to provide solutions for their ITSM software requirements.

With a revolutionary new design approach, Alemba has transformed the way support staff will interact with their ITSM software.

Although easy and fun to use, vFire Officer contains deep IT Service Management functionality with, for example, the ability to view dependency diagrams of workflows and access to a Change Calendar with powerful filtering options.

Fully supporting core ITIL processes such as Incident, Change, Configuration and Service Level Management, vFire Officer ensures that support staff have access to all the information they need to successfully support their customers.

vFire Officer is designed to allow support staff to access and update their calls with the minimum amount of training and hassle. Unlike many other tools, all unnecessary functions have been removed allowing first time users to find their way around with little or no training. This is especially useful for second and third line staff that may be occasional users of the software and who frequently shy away from using the same tool as the service desk.

Entry Level Price: £35,000

Alemba Ltd, Technology House, Church Road, Shottermill, Haslemere, Surrey, GU27 1NU T: +44 (0)203 479 7900 E: info@alembagroup.com www.alembagroup.com

APMG Established in 1993, APMG has continually developed and adapted its accreditation processes with three clear objectives: • To ensure the market has absolute confidence in the services provided by our accredited organisations.

• To help our ATOs develop and extend the market for their services.

• To ensure that, while our accreditation processes remain rigorous and demands a high standard, we do not place unnecessary burdens on those we accredit.

What Makes Us Different?

Rigorous Assessment Our Accredited Training Organisations (ATOs) have gone through the most rigorous assessment process in the industry. We review their policies and procedures, their training materials, and the proficiency of their instructors.

Local Pricing Structures We are a global organisation, aware that different geographies have different economic conditions and we price our exams according to local pricing structures.

Service Orientation Our ATOs only pay for the number of exams candidates sit – we do not charge for candidates who booked an exam but do not turn up on the day. We’ll also accommodate candidates who book late, so ATOs can allow them to take the exam without prior notice to us.

APMG aims to deliver the highest, most responsive level of service in the industry.

Seeking out opportunities We invest in new technologies, striving for continual improvement of our methods. From developing new ways to take exams on-line to letting our ATOs inspect the effectiveness of their instructors and the pass rate of their students.

A wide portfolio Our portfolio of qualifications includes the Best Practice qualifications of ITIL® and PRINCE2®. In addition we offer a host of specialist management qualifications such as Change Management, Agile Project Management and the Service Desk Institute qualifications.

Our Commitment Means Your Success Our commitment to high standards means that all candidates, no matter where they take their examinations, can be assured that the certification they have earned is consistent with every other candidate and represents a level of training unsurpassed in the industry.

ITIL ® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries.

PRINCE2® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries.

MSP™ is a Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce.

M_o_R® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries.

P3O® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce.

Number 12, The Valley Business Centre, Gordon Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP13 6EQ T: +44 (0) 1494 452 450 F: +44 (0) 1494 531 952 www.apmg-international.com

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30 Leading ITSM Providers

Axios Systems The latest, most powerful software from the most established ITSM provider With the release of our assyst10 software in 2012, Axios Systems is once again setting the gold standard for ITSM solutions. Purposebuilt, our enterprise software transforms IT departments from technology-focused cost centres into profitable business-focused service teams. Our 750 clients benefit from the most functionallymature ITSM solution on the market, with a proven track record spanning over 20 years for delivering measurable results in large organisations across the globe.

Comprehensive and flexible to deliver real value Designed for SaaS and on-premise, assyst brings to market the latest in real-time dashboard technology, social IT management, mobility, reporting, resourcing and forecasting – offering a series of solutions and templates that enable an immediate return in the form of customer satisfaction and cost reduction. assyst also provides integrated functionality to support ITAM governance and standardisation within a single, rapidly deployable, application. As an out-of-the-box solution, assyst delivers value faster than any other enterprise-class ITSM software available today.

service to help devise, activate and realize an ITSM strategy based on ITIL best practices. As part of this, all client-facing staff are ITIL® foundation qualified and all consulting staff are ITIL® Service Manager (Expert / Master) qualified.

Best in class In addition to recognition from leading organisations, including Gartner, Ovum and Forrester Research, who noted Axios has “robust, scalable offerings that could meet the majority of service management needs for the largest and most complex organisations,” we have, likewise, been honoured by the Service Desk Institute, PINK and HDI. Axios Systems was also ranked in the top 1% of software companies for financial stability by Dunn & Bradstreet.

Boost your business with assyst

Consultancy and support from the experts in ITIL®

assyst fits the needs of large organizations faster than any other enterprise ITSM solution available today. As an all-in-one ITIL® solution, assyst supports the full ITIL® spectrum without lengthy module integration projects. The research and development of assyst is fundamentally driven by Axios’ customer base, ensuring they continue to gain value year-on-year.

We take pride in our complete ITSM package, ensuring our clients get the best solution for their business. That’s why we provide a range of product-independent best practice consulting and training

Find out more about how you can optimize your IT and gain a vital business edge with assyst at www.axiossystems.com

Number of sites: United Kingdom – 1 Globally – 20

Global Headquarters: Axios Systems plc, 60 Melville Street, Edinburgh EH3 7HF T: 0131 220 4748 F: 0131 220 4281 E: assystuk@axiossystems.com www.axiossystems.com

biomni Biomni is the pioneer of user-centric Service Catalogue solutions which make IT self-service a simple realty for business customers.

Enabling the business to consume their vital IT needs quickly and without complexity helps drive business productivity gains and achieve overall business objectives. Biomni also helps IT departments deliver and support an ever-increasing range of physical devices, software and cloud/virtual infrastructures.

As the leading innovator of Service Catalogue software that is ‘independent’ of the Service Desk or any other technology, Biomni’s customers benefit from an unparalleled solution that actually addresses the business customer rather than trying to serve their needs via a technical agent-focused toolset. As more and more Enterprises and Service Providers see the benefit of ‘consumerising’ their IT services, the need for an on-line actionable Service Catalogue has never been stronger. But many are still struggling to get their own Service Catalogue projects off the ground for many different reasons; unable to ‘sell’ the vision internally, not sure of where to actually start, cannot identify a tangible ROI to name a few.

Biomni are uniquely placed to tackle these common challenges that are hindering Service Catalogue adoption and, as such, have made significant steps to bridge the gap between ITIL Service

Catalogue education and actual customer adoption of an on-line solution. Biomni’s Front Office Essentials programme is a wholly unique offering that enables any IT organisation to easily define, manage and publish its own IT Service Catalogue for FREE. From experience, we know that Service Catalogue is not necessarily a ‘quick win’ and the ROI for an on-line tool comes with the cost saving accrued from Service Request Automation. That is why we give our ‘Essentials’ solution to our customers for free and help them on their own journeys to Service Catalogue maturity.

Our Front Office Express and Enterprise editions enable you to take your published Service Catalogue and make it Actionable with Service Request and Request Fulfilment processes. Upgrades are simple and quick, as is administration of the entire solution; no coding or programming at all.

Uniquely, Biomni approach the challenge of Service Catalogue from the Business user, rather than a Technical Agent. Our solution has not grown from a Service Desk tool, it’s evolved directly from Business demand; hence business user adoption of our solution is unmatched.

We have well over 1.8 million users are in production worldwide at leading global Service Providers and Enterprises and we partner with some of the world’s leading technology companies.

Biomni Ltd, York House, 23 Kingsway, London WC2B 6UJ T: +44 (0)20 7557 4200 F: +44 (0)20 7557 4201 E: info@biomni.com www.biomni.com

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30 Leading ITSM Providers

bomgar Today’s IT support organisations are challenged to handle an increasingly remote and mobile workforce. People and systems are dispersed far beyond the network, where access barriers can complicate the support process. Plus, end-users are working from a wider variety of devices and operating systems, further increasing platform complexity. Traditional remote access tools do not offer the security or flexibility required by today’s security-conscious organisations. That’s why they need Bomgar.

Bomgar is the worldwide leader in secure remote support solutions.

Bomgar frees service desks from the inefficiency of traditional phone-based and on-site support by making support more responsive, reducing incident resolution time, and bridging the geographical and technological barriers between end-users and IT. Providing support via Bomgar helps IT organisations respond faster, increase the productivity of current staff, improve security, and resolve incidents more cost-effectively.

With Bomgar’s award-winning solution, support technicians can securely access and manage nearly any system, including Windows, Mac, Linux, BlackBerry, Android, the iPhone, iPad, and most Windows Mobile devices. Bomgar also enables support organisations to access and fix unattended systems, such as kiosks, POS systems, servers and routers.

No matter what systems a company supports, the Bomgar appliance keeps system access and data completely secure, because it sits

behind the customer’s own firewall and security measures. All aspects of the Bomgar solution are designed with security in mind.

• Architecture: Centralised, security-hardened appliance never passes data or system access through a third-party.

• Authentication: Integrates with existing identity management and authentication methods.

• Access Controls: 50+ permissions can be administered individually or through group policies.

• Audit: Full audit trail of session events and video recording.

Bomgar also integrates seamlessly with most service desk solutions—including BMC Remedy, ServiceNow and Hornbill— enabling IT organisations to capture the remote support session data within the service ticket.

Today, more than 6,500 customers across 65 countries have chosen Bomgar as their remote support solution of choice, rapidly transforming their IT support functions and significantly improving operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Bomgar clients include some of the world’s leading IT outsourcers, systems integrators, software vendors, healthcare organisations, government institutions, colleges and universities and financial institutions.

For more information, please visit www.bomgar.co.uk.

Number of sites: Globally – 6,500

Bomgar UK Limited, Suite 4, Anglers Court, 33–44 Spittal Street, Marlow, SL7 1DB United Kingdom T: +44 (0)1628.480.210 E: info@bomgar.com www.bomgar.co.uk

capacitas Capacitas is a globally-recognized leader in consulting, managed services and training focused on the performance and capacity of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). It offers a range of services to its customers from advice through to fully managed services for performance assurance (including testing) and capacity planning and management.

best value solution to the customer. Whilst Capacitas has established relationships with many tools vendors, allowing product rental for use on a customer’s projects, we do not act as a Value Added Reseller. We can therefore offer the customer a truly independent solution, using any appropriate tool or tools that may be required in a cost effective manner.

Innovation

Experience

Capacitas has developed a number of innovative, industryleading processes built upon our in-depth understanding of the technical and organisational issues involved in performance assurance and capacity management. These processes are based on our own experiences, best practices and considerable research. We have a unique approach to endto-end modelling of the customer experience over a variety of technologies, utilising existing toolsets where possible to deliver fast inexpensive solutions. Once a model is built it is possible to identify shortcomings in software code and architectures, scalability issues, performance bottlenecks and appropriate upgrade requirements. This prevents end-user dissatisfaction, project delivery delays, costly upgrades and poor publicity affecting professional reputations.

Capacitas consultants specialise in the performance and capacity of ICT systems covering all major technology platforms and the complete end-to-end application lifecycle. Our consultants have worked in a broad range of industries including financial services, transport (airlines), retail, telecommunications and manufacturing. Capacitas consultants have a wide experience of tools and techniques for performance analysis, modelling, testing, capacity planning and management and so are not constrained to a particular product set. Most importantly all of our consultants have worked in, or established, capacity planning or performance management functions and so have authentic, real world experience.

Vendor Independence

Skills Transfer

Capacitas offers organisations with performance and scalability issues tailored solutions to best meet their requirements, rather than generic tools claiming to offer a solution to all problems.

Capacitas is vendor agnostic, meaning we can offer the

Capacitas offers the only comprehensive range of training courses covering the principles and techniques of performance and capacity management, many common technologies and best practice processes.

Capacitas, 69 Turnmill Street, London, EC1M 5RR, United Kingdom T: +44 (0) 20 7566 4869 F: +44 (0) 87 0052 0445 E: Enquiries@capacitas.co.uk www.capacitas.co.uk

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30 Leading ITSM Providers

dennis adams associates Specialised IT Management Consultancy

Catalyst for positive Improvement

Dennis Adams Associates provide Management Consultancy Services for medium and large organisations to deliver the true value of IT in Production.

Using our powerful consultative approach, we are able to help our clients refocus their IT Production department from a reactive “fire-fighting” culture to a focused pro-active team approach.

A Strategy-Driven Approach

We help identify immediate gains for action as well as mid and longer-term strategic improvements, and can then provide resources and skills to facilitate delivery.

Examples of the benefits our clients have seen include: • Reduction in service desk calls by introducing problem management.

• Improved accountability through capturing management metrics.

• Immediate identification of applications that consume excessive support resources.

• Projects recovered and benefits realised.

• More focused Management Governance and reporting.

• Better Strategic alignment.

• Stronger justification for IT production investment.

• Optimised IT Infrastructure utilisation.

• Reduction in team conflict and improved team motivation • A pro-active management culture.

Management Skills

IT Cost Challenge Efficiency

Our consultants are proven practitioners in IT and Executive Management roles, including Merger and Acquisition, Organisational Re-Alignment, Product Management, Technology Architecture, IT Production Strategy and Programme delivery.

IT Production costs are increasing at a relentless pace, due to the historical legacy of IT infrastructure that every company has to maintain and manage.

Industry Experience

There is an increasing need for Consultancy services that can help the CIO deliver improved effectiveness and efficiency.

Working with our client, we undertake a strategic yet pragmatic review of their IT Production landscape. We help identify the gaps in key areas: • Management Measures, Controls and Reporting • Optimal use of Appropriate Software Tools and Products • Processes and Procedures • Technology Capacity, Standardisation and Roadmaps • Team Management and People Skills • The IT Culture.

We have worked with organisations as diverse as Manufacturing, Banks, Insurance companies, Hosting and SaaS companies, and regional Government.

Our commitment to our client is from end-to-end; from Strategy to Implementation.

114 Pinner View, Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 4RL T: 0845 055 8935 E: info@dennisadams.co.uk

For many CIOs, this cost represents a large and increasing percentage of their budgets.

Dennis Adams Associates was formed specifically to address this challenge.

Our value contribution is that “We Understand Managing IT Production”.

www.dennisadams.co.uk Contact: Colin Shewry

e-warehouse The Service Desk has evolved over the years and we are all looking for the “Utopian Application” to manage our Help Desk requirements. We can offer you a true multi-layered Service Desk solution, a service desk application that can manage all of your service requests from any department within a single deployment.

Oxygen Service Desk and Oxygen Help Desk are used by small and large organisations in many sectors and have been deployed for a number of different service scenarios.

We can provide a broad range of professional Service Desk solutions all built around our award winning web-based application Oxygen.

As part of the service we can offer you full consultancy on how to set up your service desk and are there to help you through out the process until you are completely satisfied that your help desk is running how you expect it to be.

Whether you are supporting internal or external customers, Oxygen is aimed at the service desk where speed of deployment, ease of use, low cost of ownership and rapid user adoption are paramount.

Oxygen Service Desk gives you the Tool set to: • Prioritise and manage multiple tasks • Coordinate multiple services • Implement & automate process methodologies

• Deploy easily with simplified and flexible pricing • Remain flexible • Measure & report on performance Oxygen Enterprise Help Desk is our flagship Help Desk application and jam packed full of features, in fact we offer about 90% of the top four Help Desk software providers but at a fraction of the cost.

Whether you are looking to displace an existing help desk system because you are running on an antiquated version and the costs are inhibitive to upgrade or perhaps the support costs are too costly to entertain, Oxygen Enterprise could well be the Help Desk software solution you need.

Out of the box features include :• 100% Web Based • Incident & Event Manager • Request Fulfilment • Self Service Portal • SLA/OLA Management • Extensive Email Management • Quick Call Templates • Business Process Mapping • Problem & Change Management • CMDB Management • Service Reporting • LDAP & Active Directory Synchronization So why not visit oxygenhelpdesk.co.uk today and find out why organisations such as Virgin Holidays, Dominos’s Pizza, Fujitsu, Molton Brown, Leonard Cheshire and the RAC choose to implement Oxygen Service Desk.

Hampden House, Monument Park, Chalgrove, Oxfordshire, OX44 7RW T: 0845 299 7539 E: oxygen@e-warehouse.com www.oxygenhelpdesk.co.uk Contact: Andrew Hill

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30 Leading ITSM Providers

fgi FGI are a specialist International provider of IT Service Management, Project Management and Programme Management training and consultancy. We deliver end to end solutions designed to meet your needs and budget, focusing on your specific strategies and individual requirements of your employees.

FGI provide a full range of accredited examination training courses for ITIL®, PRINCE2®, MSP®, Agile Project Management, APM and Change Management, along with a substantial portfolio of Tailored Learning Solutions.

Whether the training is provided as a public schedule training course or a private on-site training course, we aim to deliver the highest quality service at a time and location that is convenient.

Exceptional Learning Experience Quite simply our aim is to provide our customers with training and consultancy – the way it should be. FGI courses are delivered by our team of experienced trainers either onsite at your premises, or at one of our dedicated training venues offering first-rate service and facilities, all at an affordable rate.

We structure our courses carefully to give your delegates the right balance of theory to get through the exam, and practical understanding to implement in the workplace. This has shown to achieve outstanding results and is reflected in our exceptional pass rates.

With FGI you can continue to work with the trainer that delivered your course to embed best practice within your organisation and overcome the operational setbacks that cannot be learnt from a handbook. From initial assessment through to continuous improvement programmes our consultancy services can save years in time and money spent developing processes and practices.

Leader in Tailored Learning By tailoring learning solutions to the exact needs of our clients, FGI is able to ensure that its client’s employees: • Gain an in-depth knowledge and understanding of best practice for project, programme and service management • Gain experience of applying this knowledge in interactive workshops ideally using the tools and procedures that they use within their own working environment.

Tailored learning has many benefits, both to the organisation sponsoring the learning solutions and the delegates themselves.

Delegates gain greater confidence in their own organisation’s processes and procedures, as they can better appreciate how they relate to best practice principles. This increases their buy-in to and use of tools and templates that the organisation has implemented, increasing the consistency and effectiveness of their performance.

Tailored learning can often be used in conjunction with traditional accredited training programmes, or indeed as a pre-cursor to establishing individual personal development plans.

Number of sites: United Kingdom – 15 Globally – 20 Entry Level Price: From £399 + VAT

FGI Ltd, Warwick Innovation Centre, Gallows Hill, Warwick, Warwickshire, CV34 6UW T: 01926 405 797 E: enquiry@fgiltd.co.uk www.fgiltd.co.uk

g2g3 G2G3 enables engagement through Simulations, Serious Games, Organisational Change Management (OCM), Communications and Contextual Learning programs. We help our clients grow their businesses and drive positive change by offering a human-centred approach to technology.

With many IT initiatives, too much focus is placed on technology and process, and not enough on people. G2G3 solutions use innovation to bridge that gap. G2G3 offers game-based solutions which drive transformation and create breakthrough understanding of the benefits of tools or best practices from the people perspective.

With expertise around ITIL, ITSM, Project and Portfolio Management, Business Continuity, Information Security, ERP, Cloud Computing and more, G2G3‘s solutions cut through complexity and create that ‘AHA’ moment around your technology, process or change initiative.

G2G3 solutions include:

exciting gamification solutions for IT enterprises to help drive service improvement or process or tool related activities.

Virtual Simulations G2G3 are experts in creating virtual serious games and simulations.

Our power lies in our ability to combine advanced 3D technologies with gaming dynamics and unsurpassed IT enterprise industry knowledge. Virtual simulations are ideal for marketing, education or cultural change purposes.

Organisational Change Management (OCM) The G2G3 OCM approach drives successful transformation through the delivery of a bespoke combination of G2G3 solutions, including Simulation, Communications Programs, Contextual Learning, Infographics and more. G2G3 offer specific OCM packages around tools such as ServiceNow.

In-room Simulations

Infographics and Knowledge Visualisation

G2G3 offers a range of high-impact, ready-to-go, in-room business simulations used to create readiness for change by bringing tools and processes to life in the context of the participants business.

These are available in a number of industry and subject variants.

G2G3 can also design and develop bespoke in-room simulations solutions to meet your specific requirements.

By combining collaborative consulting with information design, G2G3 can create a visual knowledge strategy that will deliver tangible results across your transformation, change or communication program.

Gamification

G2G3 is different from other vendors; we use our energy, enthusiasm and creative flair to create your competitive advantage. Our enviable list of clients include: Microsoft, BP, Intel, DHL, HP, Johnson & Johnson, Thomson Reuteurs and many more.

G2G3 are experts in Gamification – the act of applying game elements to non-game activities. G2G3 can design and create

Panama House, 14 The High Street, Lasswade, Midlothian, EH18 1ND T: +44 (0) 131 461 3333 E: info@g2g3.com www.g2g3.com Twitter: @g2g3 Contact: Linda King

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30 Leading ITSM Providers

hornbill Hornbill is an IT Service Management solution provider with a focus on the real people who make IT happen: our customers. We understand that the heart of the service desk is the individuals and teams who work hard to provide the best possible IT service to the business. With increased pressure on IT budgets and less resource, we know it isn’t easy, but in tough times, it’s even more important to demonstrate your value.

With almost two decades experience, we know what it takes to deliver practical ITSM solutions that enable service desk staff to provide a first-class service experience, and demonstrate tangible value back to the business.

Hornbill’s award-winning ITSM solutions are designed to match our customers’ needs and different levels of IT Service Management maturity. We know that one size doesn’t fit all, so customers have the freedom to choose the solution and deployment model that best serves their environment and budget.

Hornbill is the chosen supplier for over 650 customers across both private and public sectors. Customers range from large healthcare trusts and education bodies looking to streamline resources and cut costs through shared services to multinational high street brands keen to harness the power of technology to maximise their effectiveness and productivity.

We’re extremely proud to have been recently recognised as the Service Desk Institute’s IT Service Excellence Supplier of the Year. This award is extra-special because we were nominated by our customers – it was their feedback and great reviews that allowed us to be considered for the accolade and it made winning the award mean so much more.

Get in touch, or visit www.hornbill.com and ‘Let’s make IT happen’ for your business.

Our ITIL-compatible service desk solution, Supportworks ITSM, can be deployed on-premise, hosted or in the cloud with myservicedesk.com. We offer our customers flexibility, choice and the ability to migrate between solutions whilst retaining the value of licenses already purchased.

T: +44 (0)208 85828282

E: info@hornbill.com www.hornbill.com Twitter: @hornbill_sys

House-on-the-Hill Software House-on-the-Hill Software, first established in 1993, imparts extensive and comprehensive experience in the development, consultancy and training of the company’s service desk software tool: SupportDesk. Used within businesses of all sizes and sectors spanning over 40 countries, SupportDesk enables the provision of efficient, top-quality support, and excellent customer service.

Customisable, cost-effective and easy to use, SupportDesk can be hosted in the Cloud or implemented on-premise, enabling service desk agents to quickly resolve issues and competently manage services across multiple business areas.

Available in a variety of preconfigured solutions including IT Service Management, Customer Service & Support, Freedom of Information Management and more, SupportDesk is built using a modularbased architecture and has the flexibility to meet all configuration requirements. The solutions can be combined into a multifunctional, enterprise level service desk or configured to create a specialist environment designed specifically to suit your needs.

With SupportDesk you can: • Streamline support processes to save time and administration costs.

• Implement the highest level of service with a tool designed to support any customer base.

• Adopt expanding requirements with a modular based architecture.

Features and Functionalities of SupportDesk include: • ITIL compatibility with processes including Incident, Problem, Change, Configuration Management.

• Email Management and Workflow Engine to keep related parties in-the-loop.

• Network and discovery tool with integrated Software Licence Manager.

• KnowledgeBase function for quick access to solutions and the promotion of self-diagnosis.

• In-built intuitive report designer shipped with numerous pre-configured reports.

• KPI Monitor with dashboard facility for tracking performance progress in real-time.

• QuickCalls for the speedy input of call data.

• Customer Relationship Management for effectively tracking sales opportunities.

• Mobile SupportDesk to access the service desk from your PDA, Blackberry or mobile.

• Self-Service browser for end customers to manage their own tickets.

To learn more about SupportDesk from House-on-the-Hill, take a free trial or request a SupportDesk demonstration, visit houseonthehill.com.

• Support customers across multiple sites / time zones and effectively manage Service Level Agreements.

Number of sites: UK, Europe, Rest of World: Over 1500 SupportDesk systems sold worldwide.

Entry Level Price: Hosted – £25 per named service desk agent; On-premise – £300 per named login.

House-on-the-Hill Software Ltd, 127 Stockport Road, Marple, Cheshire, England SK6 6AF T: +44 (0)161 427 8988 E: info@houseonthehill.com http://houseonthehill.com/

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30 Leading ITSM Providers

ICCM Solutions Extraordinary Service Management ICCM Solutions enables some of the largest companies in the world to deliver extraordinary services. We provide out-of-the-box solutions include software and processes for IT service management, facilities management, human resources, legal and sales. Critically, our solutions are quicker to customise, integrate, adapt and extend than the competition – providing true business agility.

Our proven methodology starts with rapid adoption of standard processes that capture industry best practice. This establishes good service management, with consistency, governance and metrics. Our consultants help you define the roles and procedures both for operational efficiency and for effective continual service improvement and innovation. This enables you to deliver great service management and real business agility. Finally, our mentoring will help you deploy consistent shared services throughout your organisation, with processes optimised to deliver real competitive advantage. This realises extraordinary service management, and real business differentiation.

In addition to our extraordinary software, our clients benefit from our specialist consultancy services. Following solution deployment, our consultancy team provides comprehensive training, technical support and guidance, audits and mentoring, implementation services and project management. Our services support our agile methodology; making quick wins, justifying modifications using real metrics, and enabling communication and collaboration between end-users, service owners, and process designers.

Our solutions are aligned with the ITIL framework and our consultants are highly skilled in helping clients optimise ITIL to suit their individual needs and business strategy.

Our clients include: Admiral Insurance, BBC, British Transport Police, Endsleigh, Qualcomm, Telenor and Tesco.

ICCM was named a Gartner Cool Vendor in 2010.

ICCM service management solutions are built on the enterprisegrade BPM platform from Opentext. The Opentext platform provides scalable components and comprehensive integration capabilities, allowing us to focus on building great business solutions. Our BPM solution architecture gives far more flexibility than alternative vertical applications, this means that our clients can quickly customise, extend or create services, providing true business agility.

ICCM Solutions, Riverside Business Village, Swindon Road, Malmesbury, Wiltshire, SN16 9RS T: +44 (0) 1666 828600 www.iccm.co.uk

ILX Group As the leading International digital learning provider within the world of ITSM and Project Management, ILX Group provides products and services to clients globally.

As the world demands more mobile and technology led learning we strive to ensure that our enterprise and government solutions deliver the flexibility and quality we expect as individuals.

Our digital learning sets us apart from our competitors in many ways: by being truly interactive, engaging, across multi-devices and accompanied by rich and engaging learning tools that all help towards gaining accreditation. Moreover, our expertise in digital learning is also applied within the classroom environment to increase that particular learning experience and often to reduce the time needed away from the office.

Our commitment also goes beyond accreditation. Often both our course content and the tools we supply are used to effect back in the workplace, illustrating a key focus for us as an organisation to match learning skills with the ability to implement those skills afterwards.

This is something the ILX Consulting team work very closely with organisations worldwide to truly embed the learning methodology in order to gain effectiveness and ultimately impact ROI. With both internationally accredited ATO and ACO status, ILX Group delivers learning products and services in over 100 countries across 5,000 organisations worldwide and is a global leader in IT Service Management, Project Management, Business Financial Literacy and Implementation Consulting.

ITIL Experts As IT Service Management evolves and the framework continues to mature, organisations are discovering that the benefits reach beyond the IT department and are being adopted within different scenarios throughout the business. ILX Group is committed to building awareness and helping organisations mature towards adopting a more synergised approach to improving business capability.

We provide the full ITIL suite of products from Foundation through to achievements of the ITIL Expert status as well as products and services that help businesses achieve up to the internationally recognised standard ISO/IEC 20000.

OUR CORE PRODUCTS We are specialists in ITIL®, PRINCE2®, MSP®, APM as well as ISO/ IEC20000 and other organisation maturity models including P3M3®.

OUR SERVICES ILX Consulting helps organisations all over the world obtain an external accreditation which recognising both the capability of the individual but more importantly the maturity of the organisation as a whole: ILX Consulting is committed to, and continues to deliver tangible improvements in capability, productivity and customer satisfaction to a wide range of businesses and organisations.

ITIL®, PRINCE2®, MSP® and P3M3® are registered trade marks of the Cabinet Office

ILX group, 115 Hammersmith Road, London, W14 0QH T: 01270 611 600 E: training@ilxgroup.com www.ilxgroup.com Contact: Sam Sullivan

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30 Leading ITSM Providers

infravision InfraVision enables IT departments of large and mid-sized, profit and non-profit organisations to run their IT department as a business with a clear service portfolio for its customers. We will improve the transparency and the efficiency of your service organisation and align the services you deliver with your organisations’ core business.

InfraVision has many years of experience with ITIL, BiSL and ASL, which are the reference frameworks for setting up IT Service Management processes. The unique combination of ITIL knowledge on one hand and a thorough knowledge of IT Service Management, System Management, Network Management and Security Management software and implementation methods on the other hand, enables us to deliver quality projects within the defined budget and time. Unlike any other company, InfraVision has proved to be capable of turning the theory of ITIL into pragmatic best practice solutions for customers.

InfraVision Ltd. Delegate House, 30a Hart Street, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon, RG9 2AL. T: + 44 (0)1491 635340 F: + 44 (0)1491 579835 E: info@infravision.com

Kepner Tregoe Ltd. The key to maximizing service performance effectiveness and efficiency lies in improving the underlying quality and consistency of the thinking processes that individuals and leadership demonstrate.

Everything else flows from this.

In Daniel Kahneman’s book, Thinking Fast and Slow, Kahneman explains that our minds use two modes of thought: the automatic, instant, intuitive, involuntary responses provided by what he terms our “System 1” thinking; and then the more controlled, effortful, analytical and considered thoughts supplied by our “System 2” minds.

Most leaders and managers within organisations will use ‘System 1’ thinking wherever possible to minimise effort for, as we know, ‘effort’ is hard work and typically in short supply. This would be of little concern if we could trust our System 1 to deliver the thinking required for high quality problem solving and decision making but as Kahneman argues, such trust would be misplaced. He explains that the really scary part is that we cannot tell when our intuitive System 1 responses are based on sound judgement or when our System 1 is simply making things up.

The challenge comes when the issue that requires thought goes beyond our direct experience, or requires a team of experts to think coherently and drive actions.

It’s understood that an essential design feature of our associative thinking is that it represents only activated ideas, information that is not retrieved might as well not exist. System 1 excels at constructing the best possible story that employs currently activated ideas. The amount and quality of data on which the story is based is largely irrelevant, providing the solution feels logical and appealing. The entry point to effective and efficient System 2 thinking is clear, recognisable, learn-able and underpins a behavioural and cultural change to develop a thinking organisation.

KT’s approach to helping service organisations think more clearly in their complex environments is the ITIL® recognized, industry best practice for customer issue handling and Problem Management. We are experts in designing and supporting your integration of these thinking processes into your organisation. Process and practice make perfect.

A Major Incident Manager may have a rich experience of the foibles of a complex trading engine, or a Problem Manager may have a deep technical knowledge of a particular technical discipline. In both these situations, the way in which their “expert” System 1 minds instantly resolve related issues can probably be relied upon because they recognise the specific issue and can access pertinent ideas from directly relevant experience.

Number of sites: Kepner Tregoe operates worldwide.

Kepner Tregoe Ltd., Moorbridge Court, Moorbridge Road, Maidenhead SL6 8LT T: 01628 778776 E: European.Enquiries@kepner-tregoe.com

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manage engine ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is a Help Desk Solution integrated with Asset Management. ServiceDesk Plus delivers ITIL-ready service management out-of-the-box, including Incident, Problem and Change Management; Configuration Management Database (CMDB); Service Catalog; and more. ServiceDesk Plus integrates help desk requests and assets for managing organizations’ IT effectively.

The suite also has an integrated asset lifecycle management solution that supports automatic scanning of Windows, Linux and Mac systems. It helps you implement ITIL best practices and troubleshoot IT service requests faster. Customers can choose between an on-premise and on-demand service (SaaS).

Benefits of ServiceDesk Plus: Simple, Easy & Intuitive – Up and running within hours With ServiceDesk Plus, there are no consultant bucks needed to have the solution up and running. You can download and install ServiceDesk Plus in approx. 15 minutes and the configuration and deployment can be done within hours.

Built-in ITIL Framework We have defined about 80% of the ITIL processes templates such as Incident, Problem, Change Management, Service Catalogue and CMDB. Let ServiceDesk Plus take you through your ITIL enlightenment!

“ServiceDesk Plus is an ITIL wizard, makes ITIL easy” says Aaron Bockelie, Warner Bros.

Technicians love it At the end of the day, there are two things that count: the tool has to be efficient and the users should love it. ServiceDesk Plus delivers that!

“ServiceDesk Plus made the technicians more compliant and it delivers meaningful reports” says Kirk Patten, IT Director, RotaDyne.

Add-Ons, for additional customization!

It understands your need and aligns with your business. ServiceDesk Plus gives you an added advantage of customization and brings more functionality into your Help Desk solution through these Add-Ons; Change Management, Problem Management, Service Catalogue and CMDB. Makes it easy for you to maintain and manage an integrated Help Desk.

More than 15,000 IT managers worldwide use ServiceDesk Plus to manage their IT help desk and assets. ServiceDesk Plus is available in 23 different languages.

Download free 30-day trial from www.servicedeskplus.com About ManageEngine: ManageEngine <http://www.managengine.com/> delivers the real-time IT management tools that empower an IT team to meet an organization’s need for real-time services and support.

Worldwide, more than 55,000 established and emerging enterprises – including more than 60 percent of the Fortune 500 – rely on ManageEngine products – http://www.manageengine. com/products/ – to ensure the optimal performance of their critical IT infrastructure, including networks, servers, applications, desktops and more. ManageEngine is a division of Zoho Corp. – http://www.zohocorp.com/ – with offices worldwide, including the United States, United Kingdom, India, Japan and China. For more information, please visit http://www.manageengine.com/.

www.ManageEngine.com

Marval

• 250,000+ Marval users • 23 years of thought-leading IT Service Management and innovation • 15 PinkVERIFY ITIL® processes • 15 Cabinet Office ITIL process compliant processes • 11 customer ITSM project of the year awards • 9 customer service specialist of the year awards • 6 successful ISO/IEC 20000 Audits • 5 Continents served • 4 customer innovation of the year awards • 3 customer service desk of the year awards • 1 ITSM Lifetime Achievement Award • 1 supplier – MARVAL To improve your numbers, call this number: +44 (0) 1536 711999

T: +44 (0) 1536 711999 E: info@marval-group.com www.marval.co.uk Facebook: Facebook.com/MarvalSoftware Twitter: @marvalgroup

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Metron-Athene Metron athene® – the beating heart of 360® Capacity Management – zOS, UNIX, VMware, Linux, Windows – all virtual and physical systems capacity management in one location plus integration with network, storage, application, data center and unique business data.

Metron, an independent company, delivers Capacity Management solutions across the globe and has an impressive client list of Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 Companies.

Our expertise in this area is second to none; after all we literally wrote the book, having co-written and advised on the original Capacity Management processes and guidelines contained within the UK Office of Government Computing Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

Our 350+ man-years of experience are always readily available to help Companies meet the challenges of managing their physical and virtual environments. All that expertise has been built into our athene® capacity management software and services, developed and sold in the US, UK and through partners around the world Ensuring that adequate capacity in IT is planned for and provided is crucial, particularly when so many organizations are completely IT dependent. Poor capacity management can impact the business financially and have an adverse effect on an organization’s reputation.

along with dozens of servers (web servers, middleware servers, application servers, indexing servers, etc.) and potentially a group of databases or a big data warehouse? It’s possible that service level agreements are not being met even though each component piece appears to be working as designed. This is where 360° Capacity Management and athene® is important to the success of a service, to IT, and to the business.

Data can be captured and incorporated into a Capacity Management Information Store (CMIS) by using athene®.

Performance and capacity data can be captured from all the hardware resources that make up today’s complex infrastructure and Integrator Capture Packs have been developed for data coming from HP Performance Manager, Hyper-V, storage devices, network devices, Apache and IIS web logs, iSeries and many other data sources. Best of all athene® users can quickly create custom Capture Packs for their own business data.

Data stored in the CMIS can be used by athene® to report, analyze, trend and model the data to answer key capacity management questions, allowing organizations to plan for changes to their business.

Good performance and capacity data is available from most operating systems, databases, and server-based applications.

What happens, though, when a transaction spans the Internet

Head Office UK: Osborne House, Trull Road, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 4PX, UK. T: +44 (0)1823 259231 F: +44 (0)1823 334502 E: ian.upton@metron-athene.com Head Office US: 6320 Canoga Avenue, Suite 1500, Woodland Hills, CA 91367, USA. T: +1 818-227-5019 F: +1 818-227-5099 E: jan.fenske@metron-athene.com www.metron-athene.com

NetSupport Since 1989, IT departments have turned to NetSupport for help maximising the value and effectiveness of their IT spending. Today, in excess of ten million machines are supported by NetSupport technology.

Our downloadable Mobile Console app, compatible with Android phones and tablets, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Blackberry Playbook 2.0, will give you access to accurate, real-time asset data when you’re on the move.

NetSupport’s complementary software solutions deliver the tools needed to support the modern IT infrastructure, from powerful IT asset management and web-based ITIL helpdesk to market-leading service desk remote control.

ITIL Service Management

IT Asset Management If you are to make informed purchasing decisions, then information is key. Having an accurate inventory of your IT assets is critical when deciding whether to purchase more assets, redistribute current assets, or retire them completely. Providing the tools needed to effectively manage the ‘true’ cost of IT, NetSupport DNA is a modular solution that delivers powerful hardware/software inventory, licence management and more.

NetSupport DNA’s core inventory module also includes, as standard, real-time PC and system alerting and a unique energy monitor that provides a high level summary of potential energy wastage across your organisation. To this, you can add internet and application metering, software distribution and, to leverage even more value from your investment, NetSupport’s web-based ITIL helpdesk solution, NetSupport ServiceDesk, and market-leading remote control tool, NetSupport Manager.

Three-time winner of Network Computing’s Service Management Product of the Year award, NetSupport ServiceDesk helps you deliver fast, effective and measurable IT support. Web-based and fully compliant with ITIL standards, customers can log incidents online and track progress in real time while automated workflow processes backed by a wealth of reporting options improve your ability to manage and prioritise fault lists.

Service Desk Remote Control The ideal support tool for the modern business environment, marketleading remote control solution NetSupport Manager provides a single operator console that delivers a unified approach to the connectivity and management of multi-platform computers, including Windows, Mac®, Linux and mobile, across LAN, WAN or the internet.

Real-time visual thumbnails of all connected computers enable you to identify all activity across the environment and pinpoint where assistance is needed. With one click you can interact with the remote machines and utilise a range of desktop management tools, while a powerful scripting and scheduling suite allows you to automate repetitive tasks, running them at a time most convenient to you.

NetSupport, NetSupport House, Towngate East, Market Deeping, Peterborough, PE6 8NE T: 01778 382270 F: 01778 382280 E: sales@netsupportsoftware.co.uk www.netsupportsoftware.co.uk

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Nimsoft (CA) Nimsoft Leading the way in ITMaaS Nimsoft provides leading IT Management as a Service solutions within the CA Technologies portfolio. Companies and service providers of all sizes use Nimsoft to rapidly and easily implement essential monitoring and service desk capabilities necessary to manage today’s dynamic computing environments. In following, pl. find some highlights on our Service Management solution: The Complexity of Traditional Service Management Platforms It’s no secret that just about any vital business service, process, or function is now integrally entwined with IT, and it falls to the service desk to support and optimize the IT infrastructure that underpins the business. So, in a very real way, as the service desk goes, so goes the business. The challenge is that, while cloud, mobility, virtualization, and a host of other trends have ushered in more agility for businesses, the service desks in many organizations today still function as they had five, ten, or even fifteen years ago.

Nimsoft Service Desk: The Next Generation of Service Management Nimsoft Service Desk enables your organization to leverage sophisticated IT service management capabilities and tailor them to the specific needs of your business – without complex, labor-intensive coding, and all its time and budget implications. Nimsoft Service Desk equips you with action-based workflows built on ITIL standards, so you can manage, coordinate, and optimize all aspects of service delivery and increase customer satisfaction.

Key Modules Nimsoft Service Management: Incident Management Pre-packaged workflows make it easy to identify, register, prioritise, categorise, and track incidents reported to your service desk.

Problem Management Identify chronic service issues and prevent recurrences to eliminate the impact on the business.

Change Management Evaluate, prioritise, plan, test, document, and implement change requests using ITIL compatible best practices.

Configuration Management A consolidated and actionable view of devices, relationships, requests, alarms, incidents, problems, known errors, changes, and releases.

CMDB Manage configuration items (CI’s/Service Assets).

Knowledge Management Improve the quality of decision making using optimal and vetted information to resolve service issues.

Service Catalogue and Request Management Empower end users to help themselves, and provide an easy way for them to submit requests for services.

SLM Set, meet, and exceed your SLAs. Key Features • True multi-tenant SaaS • Built in best practices: don’t reinvent the wheel, leverage our real world experience and ITIL standards • Simple Implementation: Shorten your time to value • Seamless Upgrades: Make it possible to get the latest improvements without re-implementing.

For more information please visit: www.nimsoft.com

Nimsoft Fast Facts

› More than 1,000 customers in 36 countries; 450+ Service Providers

› More than 20,000 end-user environments monitored

by Nimsoft service provider customers

› Direct offices in USA, UK, Spain, Norway, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Benelux, Singapore, India, Latin America

› Headquartered in

Campbell, California

T: +49 (0)89 996 190 95 E: manoj.patel@ca.com www.nimsoft.com

Pink Elephant Pink Elephant is an independent continual service improvement and business transformation partner that delivers professional solutions that enable organisations to: •b etter align their services to the business • i mprove the effectiveness of their services • r educe the total costs of ownership of their services • reduce inherent risk of downtime • increase the positive perception of IT by your customers In short, “We want to work with you to make your organisation a better place.”

We have come a long way since those early ITIL days. Now the scope of our solutions cover the whole Service Lifecycle, from developing strategy and new organisation structures, Service Design, Service Transition and Service Operation through to Continual Service Improvement. And as well as ITIL we utilise, where appropriate, a number of frameworks and governance models: CobIT, Obashi, Lean IT, SFIA, Green IT, 6 Sigma and ISO standards.

Our Services include: Consulting – to help you transform your IT Services; As original contributing authors to all versions of the ITIL publications, we have amassed a significant understanding of how to implement best practices, and probably more importantly, how not too!

Service Desk and IT Support Services – the window through which your customers build their perception of IT Services; We focus on the people, processes and performance of Service Desks. Our solutions transform underperforming structures into high-achieving teams that win the respect of customers throughout organisations.

People – providing the people you require to deliver and support your IT Services; We provide advice on how to approach the organisational change that is required to transform from a technocentric culture to one which is service driven. Whether you need us to manage and staff an entire service desk, first line service desk analysts, process analysts or project and programme managers or some consultancy to make incremental improvements, we can resource your requirements.

Education – to help you build internal capability; Our portfolio covers the entire ITIL certification scheme from Foundation and Intermediate through to Management and Advanced levels. We provide a range of supplementary ITSM courses in key subjects such as COBIT, ISO/IEC 20000 and Software Asset Management.

All courses are designed to improve personal and professional development of those working in IT Service Management and are offered via classroom based Public Schedule dates, On-site delivery, e-learning and Instructor Led Online solutions.

Pink Elephant EMEA, Middelburg House, 9 Castle Street, Reading, RG1 7SB T: +44 (0)118 324 0620 F: +44 (0)118 956 8018 E: infoeurope@pinkelephant.com Website: pinkelephant.com Twitter: @pinkelephant_uk

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Purple Griffon Limited For the last 10 years Purple Griffon has been a leading supplier of Service Management training and Consultancy services. Over that time we have trained tens of thousands of individuals in thousands of companies worldwide, and assisted numerous companies to implement and improve the way that they do Service Management.

Training – We offer a pragmatic approach to Service Management as we realize that organisations and business needs vary and our trainers and consultants have built a wealth of experience to draw upon to help you. Our trainers are not ‘talking heads’, each has indepth practical experience in Service Management and can bring material and presentations to life with real life practical examples.

As well as classroom based training we offer e-learning and blended learning in Service Management and other complementary courses We also offer training for PRINCE2, MSP, M_0_R, ISO20000, ISO27001, Business Analysis, CobiT, CMMI and many more.

Consultancy – Each of our consultants have at least 15 years of practical experience in their particular specialism, and having undergone a series of assignments before with a number of different organisations will adapt seamlessly to your organisation and environment. Our consultancy is underpinned by an in-depth knowledge and application of industry best practice frameworks, standards and methods such as ITIL, ISO20000, CobiT, PRINCE2, ISO27001, PCI-DSS, eTOM and others.

Software – We can provide impartial advice on the sourcing, evaluation , selection and implementation of a whole range of service management software solutions, ranging from password resetting through to fully integrated service management solutions.

Managed Services – If you are looking to outsource some aspect of your service operation capability we can provide a fully managed service to take away the headache and allow you to concentrate on your core business function.

Recruitment – If you require trusted and experienced interim, contract or permanent staff we have access to thousands of candidates and can help to fill those important roles with qualified and experienced individuals.

Experience – We are working with a number of organisations across a number of market sectors, including Telecommunications, Logistics, Retail, Business Process Outsourcing and Food Production.

Contacting us – Call us today to discuss your requirements.

Training – call 01539 736828 or email us at sales@purplegriffon.com to discuss training requirements.

Consultancy – call 0800 0337 480 or email us at consultingservices@purplegriffon.com to discuss how we can assist you with your IT challenges.

Recruitment – email us at recruitment@purplegriffon.com to discuss.

Purple Griffon Limited, 1A Stramongate, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 4BH www.purplegriffon.com

realvnc RealVNC’s software is used by hundreds of millions of people around the world in both desktop and mobile platforms for remote access and control of one device from another. VNC® has an extensive range of applications, from providing IT departments with the ability to perform remote support and maintenance without needing to travel, to telecommuting and facilitating training across classrooms, offices or continents. The technology is used in every sector of industry, commerce, government and education.

In addition to providing remote troubleshooting, VNC is an essential tool for routine administration, maintenance and software upgrades for both desktops and servers. This can be done from home or a remote location in a different time zone, eliminating after hours trips to the office and reducing disruption to employees during the working day. VNC with an Enterprise license integrates industry-strength security, including system authentication and an encrypted connection.

With its simple peer-to-peer architecture, VNC with an Enterprise license comprises a lightweight VNC Server (host) application on the machine to be controlled and a VNC Viewer (client) component on the controlling machine. With no agents or centralised servers required, VNC with an Enterprise license enables trouble-free installation and use.

RealVNC’s groundbreaking collaboration with Intel has taken VNC to a new level by enabling users to connect to a VNC Server embedded directly onto the chipset of supported computers with Intel® Core™ vPro™ technology. VNC Viewer Plus connects directly to the VNC Server embedded in the hardware – no additional software needs to be installed on the operating system for full graphical KVM out-of-band access. IT professionals can remotely watch a full PC boot sequence, manipulate BIOS settings and reinstall an operating system without the need to take a trip to the console. VNC Viewer Plus provides a unique and highly effective approach to solving complex systems issues, ensuring reduced downtime and increased productivity.

One of the many benefits of VNC with an Enterprise license is its support for the widest range of operating systems to meet the needs of multi platform corporate environments, from Windows and Mac through to Linux. Using VNC, IT support teams no longer have to make desk-side visits in order to troubleshoot and fix problems; faults are resolved quickly, downtime is reduced and ticket throughput is increased. The result is improved IT productivity and better resource utilisation as technicians can spend more time providing expertise and support in other areas.

Learn more about how VNC can benefit your organisation by visiting www.realvnc.com.

RealVNC, Betjeman House, 104 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 1LQ, UK T: +44 (0) 1223 310400 E: enquiries@realvnc.com www.realvnc.com

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sitehelpdesk Our help desk solutions have been continually enhanced based on real world customer experiences over 10 years and was one of the first 100% web browser based helpdesks on the market.

Our core sitehelpdesk is suitable for any kind of support service such as IT, Facilities, Human Resources and is also used in many others in all kinds of organisations.

Then sitehelpdesk-IT enhances the core features by applying the best IT Service management software principles to meet the needs of an ITIL service desk. sitewebdesk is designed for customer support over the web and recognises the different needs of internal staff and external customers. The helpdesks integrate with our specialist modules for Service Level and Hardware and Software PC auditing software.

We are confident that our prices provide the best value on the market. Starting at a single Operator license at £450, with additional support staff licensed for £100 each for the core sitehelpdesk or £200 each for the more specialised sitehelpdesk-IT and sitewebdesk products… with volume discounts and concessions for Education, Charities and other Not for Profit organisations. We can even host it for you or provide the complete Software As A Service package in the Cloud for as little as £20 per operator per month.

Download a fully functioning FREE TRIAL from our website.

All our products are easy to install and even easier to use, requiring little or no consultancy which is why we have hundreds of satisfied and loyal customers around the world.

Or contact us to arrange a demonstration and to discuss your particular requirements further.

sitehelpdesk.com Ltd, Eagle House, Lynchborough Road, Passfields, Hants, GU30 7SB, United Kingdom T: +44(0) 207 419 5174 F: +44(0) 870 138 3824 E: sales@sitehelpdesk.com Contact: Bryan Taylor

Solisma Solisma is a leading provider of integrated service management solutions, with an increasing global reputation for the delivery of premium quality assessment, consulting and education services worldwide.

Our focus is on equipping and enabling consultants and organisations alike for success in service management. To this end, we developed Service Improvement Manager, the world’s most comprehensive tool for conducting your own compliance and maturity assessments and managing every aspect of continual improvement.

Service Improvement Manager Service Improvement Manager (SIM) is a unique cloud-based quality management solution that lets you accurately assess, measure and improve your processes, services and systems in a more cost-effective and pragmatic way.

Gain greater visibility and control. SIM provides you with the ability to measure and improve your capabilities against a range of frameworks and standards like ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000. Conduct self-assessments, plan your improvement initiatives, assign tasks to your team, manage risks, track your performance, report on progress, plus much more.

4 Assess: Assess your compliance, capability and maturity against a rapidly growing library of industry standards and best practice frameworks.

4 Baseline: Measure your compliance, capability and maturity, with an automatically-generated detailed gap assessment and improvement report 4 Benchmark: Compare your capability and maturity with your industry peers using our extensive global benchmarking database 4 Improve: Simplified improvement planning, execution, tracking and reporting. Ideal for individuals, teams and workgroups of any size SIM brings together our years of consulting experience and extensive knowledge into a unique cloud-based solution that lets you measure, manage and improve like never before… it really is “Continual Improvement – Made Easy”.

Start your free Service Improvement Manager trial today.

Visit service-improvement.com

Head Office: Level 6, 167 Queen Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia T: +61 3 9999 8242 E: info@solisma.com www.solisma.com

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Sunrise Software Established in 1994, Sunrise Software provides applications which underpin business processes across its customers’ organisations.

A privately held, UK based company, Sunrise has a highly successful track record in IT service management, customer service management and business process management with fully configured applications designed around best practice guidelines.

Available as either on-premise or Software-as-a-Service (SAAS) Sostenuto, Sunrise’s flagship product is totally web-based which harnesses modern technology with inbuilt resilience. Sostenuto is a comprehensive software tool which offers a high degree of flexibility, allowing organisations to change or introduce new processes through simple configuration.

There are three different variants to address different business requirements, each of which come pre-configured with workflows: Sostenuto ITSM available as ITSM2 and ITSM3 (ITIL2 or ITIL3 versions); Sostenuto CSM, a non-ITIL tool for customer service departments; Sostenuto BPM, which allows organisations to create their own applications.

However, due to the flexible nature of Sostenuto each of the Sostenuto ‘packages’ can then be fully customised and configured to suit the individual needs of your organisation – ensuring that you only get what you need, and not what we ‘think’ you should need.

In addition, we offer a range of capabilities and enhancements that enable you to go “beyond the Service Desk” and across the Enterprise, providing you with even more flexibility and increased productivity: • Self-Service Portal, Iguana: Enables you to empower your end users, giving them the chance to view, log and track their own incidents and service requests.

• Integration with third party applications: With Sostenuto’s ReST API your Service Desk can now talk to other external applications, such as Twitter and Outlook – helping to improve your response rates.

• Sostenuto Mobile: your technical and support team, users and customers alike will be able to access your Service Desk ‘Anytime, Anywhere’ on almost any device.

• Sostenuto Wallboard: A web-based portal that makes business critical KPI’s visible, by consolidating data from across multiple SQL based databases.

• Automated processes: Our powerful Business Rules Engine enables you to operate on a proactive, not reactive basis.

• Track performance: With configurable live management dashboards and a powerful reporting wizard, you can easily track the performance of your Sostenuto Service Desk.

Over 200 organisations use Sostenuto across the UK, with high profile users including Anglian Water, the NHS, Rugby Football Union and the University of Greenwich.

Sunrise Software Ltd, 50 Barwell Business Park, Leatherhead Road, Chessington, Surrey, KT9 2NY T: 020 8391 9000 E: enquiries@sunrisesoftware.co.uk www.sunrisesoftware.co.uk Twitter: @SunriseSoftware Facebook: sunrisesoftwareuk LinkedIn: Sunrise Software

techexcel TechExcel, a leading provider of IT Service Management software, has 2,500 customers in 42 countries and maintains offices in USA, UK, China and Japan.

ServiceWise is a customisable and comprehensive internal Helpdesk, ITSM and ITIL compliant solution. It can enforce business rules and optimise business processes regardless of the size of your organisation. Automate and streamline services and helpdesk activities with configurable workflows, process management, email notifications and a searchable knowledge base. Provide support from a browser by creating a customised self-service portal that matches the look and feel of your company’s website. The self-service portal includes online incident submission, status updates, online conversations and a knowledgebase. ServiceWise includes modules such as incident management, problem escalation and analysis, change management and asset management.

CustomerWise is an integrated CRM solution focused on customer service throughout the entire customer lifecycle.

Provide your support, sales, and marketing teams the necessary tools, processes, and information they need to meet customer demands and improve the customer’s experience.

CustomerWise allows you to refine sales, customer service and support processes to increase cross-team communication and efficiency while reducing your overall costs. Combine sophisticated process automation, knowledgebase management, workflow, and customer self-service to improve business processes that translate into better customer relationships.

AssetWise aids the process of monitoring, controlling and accounting for assets throughout their lifecycle. A single and centralised location enables businesses to monitor all assets including company IT assets, managing asset inventories, and tracking customer-owned assets. All asset changes, including maintenance information, trouble ticket data, status inventory, utilisation metrics and usage, are recorded in the central repository and linked to other Service and Support tasks. As part of the TechExcel Service Suite, AssetWise can be accessed by members of TechExcel.

CustomerWise and ServiceWise and provides a single version of asset truth for sales, service, help desk, IT, and other teams.

Number of sites: United Kingdom – 300 Globally – 2500 Entry Level Price: £1,500

Crown House, 72 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8TH T: +44 207 470 5650 Fax: +44 207 470 5651 E: emeainfo@techexcel.com

www.vital-mag.net

www.techexcel.com Contact: Gregory Andrews

September / October 2012 : VitAL 59

30 Leading ITSM Providers

vivantio Vivantio produces Vivantio Service Desk, a proven software solution for customer service and support teams. Recently voted Service Management Product of the Year at the 2012 Network Computing Awards.

The flexibility and scalability of the software is reflected in a diverse customer base which includes public sector organizations and corporate customers as well as small and medium sized enterprises. Independent case studies show time and again the capability of the application to increase productivity, save time and money, and ultimately improve levels of customer service. Customers include well-known organisations such as Yodel, RAC and the NHS. Vivantio Service Desk is ITIL compatible and covers a wide range of ITIL processes including Incident, Problem and Change Management. It also includes a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and a full audit history for Configuration Items.

The latest version also includes a powerful remote control feature, auto-discovery of software and hardware assets and a flexible web self-service module which can be integrated with a web site or intranet.

Turning data into information and thus enabling good decision making and continual improvement is where a good service desk really comes into its own. Vivantio Service Desk has customisable dashboards, built-in reports as well as a custom report builder, and the ability to integrate with business intelligence tools if necessary.

Vivantio Service Desk stretches beyond the traditional service desk application and includes features such as a Client Manager, making it ideal for supporting both internal and external customers. Suitable for IT, Customer Services, HR, Facilities Management and a wide range of other service areas.

Vivantio Service Desk was developed from day one for both on site installation and a software-as-a-service (SaaS) cloud solution. Not all SaaS solutions are the same. Vivantio is the most experienced SaaS provider in the Service Management market and offers a true multi-tenant SaaS architecture and ISO 27000 certified data centres.

Vivantio was launched in 2003 and is recognised as a pioneer in web-based customer service and support software. Our ITIL and service management experts have a wealth of experience working with a wide variety of customers. They will give you as much or as little help as you need to configure the system to meet your exact requirements.

Vivantio Limited, 25-31 Boulevard, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1NX T: 01934 424 840 E: enquiries@vivantio.com www.vivantio.com

vital online

Print Digital Online For exclusive news, features, opinion, comment, directory, digital archive and much more visit

www.vital-mag.net

www.31media.co.uk

60 VitAL : September / October 2012

www.vital-mag.net

Your route to success For a smarter way to further your IT service management career, follow our new career path to:

Find out more at www.bcs.org/vital © BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, is the business name of The British Computer Society (Registered charity no. 292786) 2012

01794/PDS/AD/0712

• understand your options for progression • identify your training and development opportunities • make the right decisions in your service management career

directory

Hornbill Systems

Ares, Odyssey Business Park, West End Road, Ruislip, HA4 6QD T: 020 8582 8282 F: 020 8582 8288 W: www.hornbill.com C: sales@hornbill.com E: info@hornbill.com Hornbill develops and markets ‘Supportworks’, applications for IT Service Management (ITSM) and business helpdesks. Hornbill’s ITSM & service desk software with a ‘Human Touch’, enables its customers to provide excellent service while benefiting from consolidation on a single technology platform.

InfraVision

Delegate House, 30A Hart Street, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon, RG9 2AL T: +44 (0) 1491 635340 F: +44 (0) 1491 579835 W: www.infravision.com C: Nigel Todd E: info@infravision.com BMC Software’s #1 partner for Service Desk Express and the Alignability Process Model, delivering rapid implementation of proven ITIL aligned processes, procedures, work instructions and tool settings, and transformation to service-led approach in only 12 weeks!

Monitor 24-7 Inc

PO Box 4530, Maidenhead, SL60 1GG T: +44 (0)20 8123.3126 W: www.monitor24-7.com C: Frank Huitenga E: frank.huitenga@monitor24-7.com Over 13 years of customer experience bundled in one solution to help centralise information, prioritise issues aimed to increase control, productivity and improve communication and service excellence.

100% focus on support and development of IncidentMonitor Service Management software, PinkVerified for 10 ITIL processes.

62 VitAL : September / October 2012

ICCM Solutions

Cedar House, Riverside Business Village, Swindon Road, Malmesbury, Wiltshire, SN16 9RS T: + 44 (0) 1666 828 600 F: + 44 (0) 1666 826 103 W: www.iccm.co.uk C: Kate Springer E: sales@iccm.co.uk One of the overriding directives of ICCM Solutions is the simplification of complexity in Service Management environments. ICCM provides a global client base with sophisticated ITIL aligned Service Management Solutions built on Business Process Management (BPM) Architecture, from Metastorm BPM®.

iCore

60 Lombard Street, London EC3V 9EA

T: +44 (0) 207 464 8883 F: +44 (0) 207 464 8888 W: www.icore-ltd.com E: sales@icore-ltd.com C: Greg Lake iCore is the largest specialist IT Service Management Consultancy in the UK. ICore has a long & impressive track record in delivering & embedding pragmatic IT service management, solutions, relying on the deep, real world experience of our mature & determined consultancy team.

Kepner-tregoe

NetSupport Software Ltd

Quayside House, Thames Side, Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 1QN T: +44 (0) 1753 856716 F: +44 (0) 1753 854929 W: www.kepner-tregoe.com C: Steve White E: swhite@kepner-tregoe.com Kepner-Tregoe provides consulting and training services to organizations worldwide.

We collaborate with clients to implement their strategies by embedding problem-solving, decision-making, and project execution methods through individual and team skill development and process improvement. Clients build competitive advantage by using our systematic processes to achieve rapid, targeted results and create lasting value.

Towngate East, Market Deeping, Peterborough, PE6 8NE

T: +44 (0) 1778 382270 F: +44 (0) 1778 382280 W: www.netsupportsoftware.co.uk C: Colette Reed E: colette@netsupportsoftware.co.uk NetSupport provides a range of complementary Remote Support and Service Management solutions that help organisations deliver a productive and cost effective IT support service. Products include multi-platform Remote Control solution NetSupport Manager, IT Asset Management suite NetSupport DNA and web based ITIL Service Management tool NetSupport ServiceDesk.

ManageEngine

Sunrise Software

ZOHO Corp, 4900 Hopyard Rd, Suite 310, Pleasanton, CA – 94588, USA

T: 925-924-9500 F: 925-924-9600 W: www.manageengine.com E: eval@manageengine.com C: Gerald A. Raja ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is highly customizable, smart and flexible Help Desk Software used by more than 10,000 IT managers worldwide in 23 different languages. It helps you to implement ITIL best practices on the go and restore your IT services on-time.

ManageEngine has a suite of software products in Enterprise IT management space like Network monitoring, Desktop Management, Applications, Logs, AD management, et al.

50 Barwell Business Park, Leatherhead Road, Chessington, Surrey KT9 2NY T: 0208 391 9000 F: 0208 391 0404 W: www.sunrisesoftware.co.uk E: welcome@sunrisesoftware.co.uk Sunrise Software provides applications which underpin business processes across its customers’ organisations.

Sunrise has a highly successful track record in IT service management, customer service management and business process management with fully configured applications designed around best practice guidelines. www.vital-mag.net

directory

TOPdesk

sitehelpdesk.com Ltd

APMG

61 Southwark Street, London, SE1 0HL

Eagle House, Lynchborough Road, Passfields , Hants GU30 7SB

Sword House, Totteridge Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, UK

T: +44 (0) 207 8034200 F: +44 (0) 207 8034215 W: www.topdesk.co.uk E: info@topdesk.co.uk

T: +44 (0) 207 419 5174 F: +44 (0) 870 138 3824 W: www.sitehelpdesk.com E: sales@sitehelpdesk.com C: Bryan Taylor

T: + 44 (0) 1494 452 450 F: + 44 (0) 1494 459559 W: www.apmg-uk.com C: Nicola McKinney E: nicola.mckinney@apmgroup.co.uk

TOPdesk Service Management software seamlessly integrates Facilities, HR and IT processes in a single 100% webbased tool. TOPdesk’s affordable and ITIL-compliant software has won several awards for user-friendliness. Secure more time for your colleagues and customers with TOPdesk.

Cherwell Software

Sitehelpdesk.com will take you to the forefront of service delivery with a suite of products designed to provide you with low cost web browser based action tracking and self-help, making your services instantly available 24 by 7.

Solisma

Lime Kiln House, Lime Kiln, Wooton Bassett, Wiltshire, SN4 7HF T: + 44 (0) 1793 858181 W: www.cherwellsoftware.com/contact Cherwell Service Management delivers ITIL v3 best practice ‘out-of-the-box’ including: Incident, Problem, Change, CMDB, SLA, Knowledge, SelfService and is PinkVERIFY certified. Our unique CBAT development platform empowers users to fully customise screens, workflow processes and develop additional business applications. The Cherwell solution is available via a standard license model or ‘On Demand’ SaaS service.

avocent landesk

Dukes Court, Duke Street, Woking, Surrey GU22 7AD

Service Improvement Made Simple!

Solisma is a leading global provider of ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000 courseware, training, consulting and assessment services, with a global partner network to help you quickly and cost-effectively improve your ITSM capability like never before. To learn more, contact us today or visit service-improvement.com

IT Service Management Forum

T: +44 (0) 1483 744444 F: +44 (0) 1483 744401 W: www.landesk.com C: Sarah Lewis E: sarah.lewis@avocent.com Avocent delivers IT operations management solutions that reduce operating costs, simplify management and increase the availability of critical IT environments 24/7 via integrated, centralized software. This includes Systems Management, Security Management, Data Centre Management and IT Service Management.

www.vital-mag.net

T: +44 (0) 207 193 2085 W: www.solisma.com E: info@solisma.com C: sales@service-improvement.com

As an accredited ITIL® Examination Institute, APMG offers our training organizations a range of benefits to help them demonstrate the quality and professionalism of their services.

Call us to find out how your business could benefit from our accreditation services.

Global Technology Solutions Ltd

T: 01288 355800 W: www.globaltechnologysolutions.com E: info@globaltechnologysolutions.com

“Taking the headache out of recruitment” Specialists in Service Management and Technical resource throughout the UK and globally.

We believe in “quality” not “quantity” when submitting cvs.

Let GTS manage your recruitment process and allow us to become your most valued solution provider.

e-Warehouse

.

150 Wharfedale Road, Winnersh Triangle, Wokingham, Berkshire.

RG41 5RG

e-Warehouse Ltd, Hampden House, Hampden House, Monument park, Chalgrove,Oxfordshire , OX44 7RW

T: 0118 918 6503 F: 0118 969 9749 W: www.itsmf.co.uk C: Ben Clacy E: ben.clacy@itsmf.co.uk

T: 0845 299 7539 f: 08717143802 w: www.oxygenservicedesk.com c: Victoria Eggleton e: oxygen@e-warehouse.com

Oxygen Service Desk is a process automation engine that simply interprets your pre-defined business processes and then mobilises the actual process, pushing work tasks to people and to systems, streamlining how the processes run across your entire department or organisation.

The itSMF is the only internationally recognised and independent organisation whose sole focus is on the on-going development and promotion of IT Service Management ’best practice‘, standards and qualifications. The forum has 14,000 UK members and official itSMF chapters in 44 countries

September / October 2012 : VitAL 63

secrets of my success

John Lunt Managing director, Certero

VitAL: Name, company and job title please? Married? Kids?

John Lunt: John Lunt, managing director at Certero – a leading specialist in software asset management and PC power management solutions. Married to my lovely wife, Dianne and we have two very inspiring twins, Rachel and Jack.

VitAL: What got you started in IT? JL: While working for BT in accounts, I became involved in a project to computerise the manual telex and private wires systems onto an SBC (small business computer). I seemed to have an aptitude for the task and ended up successfully completing most the work. This was noticed and I was offered a role in the Mainframe Computing section of BT, which I accepted. One of the best decisions I ever made.

VitAL: Was there any one person or organisation that was your inspiration?

JL: There are lots of inspirational icons in business, but does anyone really know them? There have been a few people who inspired me, but they are not famous. To pick a well know individual I would probably choose Steve Jobs mainly due to his vision and tenacity in pursuing it.

VitAL: What was your first IT job, what was your first major IT triumph?

JL: Mainframe Operations was my first IT role. One of my first major triumphs (to me) was also my most stressful, difficult but also rewarding. This was the completion of a complete mainframe re-engineer project, which took two years to complete.

Once completed it was copied by other organisations and it saved my organisation many millions of pounds year on year as

64 VitAL : September / October 2012

I am sure it did for the organisations who copied it.

There are lots of

VitAL: Did you ever make any embarrassing mistakes? What did you learn from them?

JL: I have made plenty of mistakes, but none I can recall as being embarrassing, disappointing some times, certainly. The main thing to learn is to not repeat them.

inspirational icons in

VitAL: What do you like best about your job?

JL: The ability to make things happen and seeing the benefits to our customers, Certero and its very talented teams.

VitAL: What is your biggest ambition?

JL: To grow old with my family and be healthy. Being able to look back and have many satisfying memories on the achievements and not to have too many disappointments to dwell on – contentment!

VitAL: What are your hobbies or interests?

JL: I love golf but I am terrible at it. I wish I had more time to practice and improve (one day!). Football – Liverpool are my team and I hope to be able to see their days of success return. Otherwise, time with my family, reading and travelling are things I enjoy the most.

VitAL: What is the secret of your success?

JL: Create great products that are wanted; be easy to work with, even in parts of the world where our cultures are very different.

Learn quickly and being able to listen. Work with brilliant people, build and maintain a ‘one team’ culture. It is true that a team is so much more powerful than a bunch of talented individuals.

business, but does anyone really know them? There have been a few people who inspired me, but they are not famous. To pick a well know individual I would probably choose Steve Jobs mainly due to his vision and tenacity in pursuing it.

VitAL: John Lunt, thank you very much.

www.vital-mag.net

DE BULIV SINER E S I NG S

VA LU E

THE IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT FORUM’S ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION

VISIONARY KEYNOTE SIMON WARDLEY

NOVOTEL LONDON HAMMERSMITH 5TH-6TH NOVEMBER 2012 This year’s itSMF UK conference celebrates 21 years of service management knowledge and vision. Highlights include: Experience-based sessions from Tesco Bank, The Co-operative Bank, Oxford University Press, DHL, Everything Everywhere, GCHQ, London Borough of Merton, NYSE Euronext and many more…

A keynote presentation from IT visionary Simon Wardley, voted one of the 50 most influential people in IT Our celebrated Service Management Industry Awards, hosted by the hilarious after-dinner speaker Dave Gunson Interactive discussions with all our dedicated special interest groups: Service Level Management, Transition Management, Service Design, Continual Service Improvement and Problem Management.

TO BOOK YOUR PLACE OR FOR MORE INFORMATION: VISIT www.itsmf.co.uk/Conference2012 EMAIL conference@itsmf.co.uk PHONE 0118 918 6500 TWITTER #ITSM12

AWARDS DINNER SPEAKER DAVE GUNSON

business

If only all Service Management decisions were this easy to make

Cherwell makes it easy.

Empower your users and customers.

Streamline and automate common service requests. Cherwell’s newest offering is a selfservice portal as you’ve never seen before!

Flexibility and agility. Things change – often. Thanks to Cherwell, there’s no need for consultants or developers to make changes. You can do it – it’s easy!

High ROI with lower TCO. Reduce management overheads, increase productivity, better use of resources, focus on what matters, streamline efficiencies, enhance your business value.

Portability and choice. Deploy on premises or as a fully hosted solution. It’s your choice at any time.

Anytime, anywhere access. Out in-the-field or away from your desk? Use the iCherwell app to keep track of calls and add notes to activities. Love the GUI! Social IT. Be where your customers are.

Use social media tools to prevent an influx of calls to the service desk. Then, you can focus on getting the job done.

Cherwell offers a fully integrated ITSM solution for internal IT and external customer support. 11 ITIL v3 PinkVERIFY accredited processes right out-of-the-box in one integrated platform. Choose as many, or as few, processes as you like without incurring additional license fees.

Find out why Cherwell says ‘yes’ to better business. Contact us on

+44 (0)1793 858181 www.cherwell.com

PROCESS COMPLIANT BRONZE LEVEL

ITIL® is a registered trademark of the Cabinet Office. The Swirl logo™ is a trade mark of the Cabinet Office.

The Service Catalogue Management, Change Management and Request Fulfilment modules within the Cherwell Service Management™ solution enjoy endorsement from the Official ITIL Accreditor.

Innovative Technology Built Upon Yesterdays Values