vital magazine - march-april 2009

VitAL : Inspira

tion for the m

ode

rn busine

ssVolum

e 2 : Issue 4 : March/April 2009

Volume 2 : Issue 4 : March / April 2009

Inspiration for the modern business

Feature Focus: avoiding the pitFalls oF service management. 28-31

Flexibility for strengthIn an unpredictable world

The virtual service deskBreaking down the geographical barriers

Dangerous data leaksstemming the flow

Service Management withThe Human Touch

Supportworks ITSM puts the customerat the heart of ITIL adoption, so peoplecan implement processes to improve service quality in line with the way the business wants to work.

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visit www.hornbill.com/humantouch for your copy

leAder

thomas J Watson was the president of iBm who oversaw the company’s rise to prominence in the 1950s. he famously said: “i think there is a

world market for maybe five computers.” Whether or not Watson actually said those words has been hotly disputed for some time, but one thing is clear, he may well have overestimated – by as many as four!

Much as I’d like to lay claim to this humorous and forward-thinking observation, any number of far more eminent minds have pointed out the irony of Watson’s alleged gaffe that is now not such a gaffe. With the advent of cloud computing and ‘Web 2.0’ – the same minds just keep these terms coming - we may indeed be going back to the era of the ‘main-frame’.

I fondly remember the novelty of sending out round-robin rude messages to all and sundry on my college’s Vax system from a dumb terminal in a computer lab (surely I’m not the only one?) And again the parallels and the

irony have been noted, although of course the web of interconnection takes in far more of the world these days than a few nerd-haunted, dusty college library rooms.

We do indeed live in interesting times for IT professionals, although you may think real seismic change is some way ahead, it’s always amazing how quickly things can change once the ball is rolling – especially if there is a clear financial incentive and especially in a global economic crisis. Necessity is the mother of invention.

There’s plenty of more practical insight on the subjects of cloud computing, virtualisation and software as a service, inside. These concepts seem to be impinging on all our areas of interest at the moment and hitting the news consistently too, especially in terms of nervousness over security. But, I suppose a degree of nervousness is to be expected with any novelty.

Anyway, after the lull of the deep mid-winter we’re coming out of hibernation with a packed programme of events in the IT industry. The Unified Communications Expo takes place at Olympia from 11 to 12 March (see page 60 for preview); while the Service Desk & IT Support Show (see page 55 for preview) is at the same venue on 24 and 25 April.

See you there!

1

leAder

back To The maIn-Frame?

If you have any thoughts, feedback, or suggestions on how we can improve VitaL magazine, please feel free to

email me [email protected]

March / April 2009 : VitAL

matt bailey

VitAL Focus Group Ad FP 1108.indd 1 17/10/08 15:25:18

contents

3


contents

6 news

The VITaL coVer STory10 you’re strong

if you’re flexiblebharaT Thakrar

how it professionals can be prepared for the ‘acts of god’ that could bring your company to its knees.

VITaL SIgnSLIFe In a worLD wITh IT15 gone and never

called me ‘mother’!STeVe whITe

steve’s been rummaging round some dusty cupboards and has discovered a time bomb.

VITaL ProceSSeS16 Virtualisation, has it hit

your desk yet?DaVID TIng

With economic concerns forcing businesses to take a hard look at costs across the enterprise there are now many reasons why desktop virtualisation is such a hot topic.

18 automatic for the peopleV baLaSubramanIan

automating the network configuration can ensure that device configurations remain compliant to various standards and regulations and could aid in minimising downtime and help the network stay in shape.

22 The virtual service deskLuIS FonT

virtual support will be an integral part of the future of the service desk, reducing costs, increasing productivity and enhancing revenue.

24 The desktop roadblockFrancIS carDen

tackling the challenge of integrating software as a service with other applications is tricky, but there is an alternative approach using the operating system.

28 avoiding the pitfalls of service managementmarTIjn aDamS

What are the common pitfalls that stop projects from succeeding and what makes a successful service management deployment?

editor Matthew [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)1293 934464group advertising manager Lorretta [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)1293 344465advertising SalesIan [email protected]: +44 (0)1293 934463 Production & DesignDean Cook [email protected] editorial & advertising enquiries 31 Media, Crawley Business Centre, Stephenson Way, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1TNTel: +44 (0) 870 863 6930Fax: +44 (0) 870 085 8837Email: [email protected] Web: www.vital-mag.net

Printed by Pensord, Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood. NP12 2YA© 2009 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.

ISSN 1755-6465

Published by:

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.

SubScrIbIng To VITaL magazIneVitAL 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.Subscription Rates: UK £30.00 per year, Rest of the World £60.00 per yearPlease direct all subscription enquiries to: [email protected]


contents

5

contents

VITaL managemenT32 Stemming the flow

of data leaksnIgeL hawThorn

companies that deliberately or recklessly lose confidential personal information can now be fined. organisations need to adopt a fully-layered data leak protection (dlp) solution..

VITaL DrIVe it hits the fairway

35 what’s the score?geraInT LewIS

pondering the relative merits of new technology versus the trusty pencil and paper when faced with a smelly duck pond.

36 Sleeping with the enemyLInDa kIng

it and marketing are worlds apart but closer than you think. now it’s time to kiss and make up.

40 Think small win bigbob DaLTon

independent certification for itsm should no longer be confined to larger companies. certification is an important differentiator for the smaller players too.

44 The united state of communicationsanITa marSh

there’s far more to unified communications than just improving productivity.

VITaL ProFILe46 Legally better

a leading law firm’s it team has increased service success rate from 60 to 92 percent with the installation of a new service management solution.

VITaL PLaneT50 Switch off… for good!

PauL STaTham

how desk-booking has become the most effective way to reduce your carbon footprint

52 Powering up energy-efficient data centresjameS grIFFIn

how to minimise the carbon footprint of your power-hungry data centre.

VITaL eVenTS55 The service desk

in the frontline

it professionals demonstrate their impact and worth to business at the service desk and it support show 2009 which takes place on 28th and 29th april at earls court.

60 united we standunified communications ’09 boasts high level speakers and the latest uc, voip and visual communications technologies, applications and hands-on demonstrations at olympia from 11 – 12 march.

64 Secrets of my success

this issue, peter hopton of verypc.


6

VitAL : March / April 2009

6

news

recession means cyberlaw is losing the battle with cybercrimethe Fourth annual mcafee

virtual criminology report has highlighted the need for a coordinated global effort to fight cybercrime. according to mcafee, the report revealed the extent to which cybercrime is winning the battle over cyberlaw and that a ‘massive and coordinated global effort’ is required to redress the imbalance.

In the report, cybercrime experts, including professor Lilian Edwards of the Sheffield Law School, warned that the recession is fuelling fraudulent activity, as

cybercriminals capitalise on a climate of consumer fear and anxiety. “The threat of economic attack is diverting political attentions worldwide and cyber security is not enough of a priority for real headway to be made against the perpetrators of online crime,” said the report.

Experts warned that unless significant resources are committed to international efforts to fight malicious cyber activity, there is a risk that cybercrime will impact consumer confidence, further hindering the speed of global recovery in 2009.

cloud computing triggers security upgradesa s u r v e y o f 47 0

organisat ions has found that 75 percent of them intend to reallocate or increase their budgets to ensure the security of cloud computing and software as a service (saas) within the next twelve months. interviews conducted with a panel of 20 chief information security officers (cisos) of large enterprises which covered the topic revealed that they are concerned about availability and security aspects of software services in the cloud. they were especially concerned about the lack of standards for working in the cloud, saas and secure internet access, all of them said that they would we lcome the development of guidelines in this area.

“This is the clearest indication that SaaS is well and truly here to stay,” comments Raj Samani of the Information Security

Systems Association (ISSA). “With any new technology however a risk assessment must be undertaken before allowing your data to be stored offsite (with a vendor). After all, you can transfer the burden of managing systems, but not the liability if something goes wrong.”

“There are many drivers that make externalisation almost inevitable as competitive new business models are underpinned by collaborative working and its ability to enable organisations to seize opportunities as soon as they arise,” comments Tamar Beck, group event director of Infosecurity Europe,the survey’s sponsor. “Cloud computing and SaaS appear to have a pivotal role to play in this new evolving environment where CIOs are challenged to add value to the business and CISOs required to ensure that new services are reliable and secure.”

preoccupied bosses ignoring health & safety

health and safety has become less of a concern to the uK’s employers as a result of the recession according to a survey

by national accident helpline. the survey found that 62 percent of employees believed that their employer was placing less emphasis on health and safety since the credit crunch hit.

Just over a third, 38 percent, believe that their employer remained as committed to workplace safety as ever. The figures come after the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed that 34 million work days – 1.4 days for every British worker – are lost annually as a result of work-related illness or injury.

National Accident Helpline legal director John Campbell comments: “Investing time and money to make your workplace as safe as possible may seem less important during a recession, but these figures show that there is a financial incentive to do so. Employees who have accidents because of poor workplace safety have every right to claim for compensation. Cutting corners on health and safety is a false economy as there will be costs to the business through lost man hours and sick pay. This could cost the business more in the long run.”


VitAL mag.indd 1 28/1/09 12:44:07

8


8

news

Health service system trial causes heartache, hard work and a £10m bill

the chieF executive of london’s royal Free hospital has revealed that technical

problems with the hospital’s e-records system trial had cost the trust £10m and meant fewer patients could be seen. andrew Way said the royal Free, one of a number of early adopters of the computerised medical records system, part of a £12bn it upgrade for the health service that aims to put 50 million patient records on a secure database by 2014, had caused “heartache and hard work”.

The project, restricted to England, has been one of the most controversial aspects of the ten-year IT programme, among the largest ever undertaken, which also involves an online booking system, digital imaging for X-rays and electronic prescriptions.

Mr Way added that the cost of the problems had meant that the hospital was unable to invest in new equipment. “I have personally apologised for the decision to implement the system before we were really clear about what

we were going to receive,” he said.He also said technical glitches had caused

more work for staff and meant out-patients’ bookings were taking four times as long. As a result, the hospital has had to employ another 40 administrative staff to handle the extra workload. The faulty system had also prevented the hospital from billing other parts of the NHS for treatment. But he said he still believed in the idea of replacing paper records with an electronic system, but it would need more work to get it right.

A Department of Health spokesman said: “Many elements of the programme are complete, and patients and clinicians are now beginning to see the benefits these systems bring to improve patient care. We are learning lessons from the deployment at the Royal Free, which now has an effective patient record system, and we expect these lessons to help us improve further deployments.”

Nigel Edwards, of the NHS Confederation, which represents most health service

organisations, commented: “This isn’t the first hospital to have very significant problems with implementation. Hospitals need to be able to tailor what they have got to their needs, rather than being given this one-size-fits-all solution.”

Industry specialists hail FacebookFolloWing last issue’s news that

a report from the demos think tank suggested that Facebook could be good for business, two industry specialists have stated that social networks could provide retailers with the opportunity to reach out to both staff and customers and can be more effective than email marketing campaigns.

Customer service specialist Derek Bishop believes that rather than focusing solely on the risks associated with social networking sites, retailers should also look at the benefits that can be gained by embracing web 2.0 as part of their customer strategy.

“Waitrose and Tesco employees used Facebook to complain about their customers, but on the same lines there are plenty of personal blogs out there about poor service customers have received from organisations. Those organisations that aren’t already tapping into this valuable ‘feedback mechanism’ need to wake up

and take action now, as valuable customer data is out there if you are prepared to look for it and tackle issues head on,”, said Bishop, MD of Abeo Consulting. He also says that organisations must accept that social networking sites like Facebook are a way of life for a growing percentage of the population and need to ensure the type of behaviour reported in the press is tackled within their internal policies to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

According to leading online intelligence service Hitwise, during November 2008 online retailers received 5.47 percent of their UK Internet traffic from social networking sites, such as Facebook, YouTube and Bebo, compared to November 2007, when just 4.3 percent of their traffic came from social networks.

instant alertssometimes it’s really important to

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Notify is built around a notification gateway which maintains connectivity with all desktop agents, irrespective of their location, and delivers notifications automatically to all connected agents immediately on receipt.

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10

coVer storY

competition, regulation and other predictable challenges make business

tough enough, but at least they affect all companies equally. What can really bring an organisation to its knees are the unpredictable and highly selective ‘acts of god and man’: floods, pandemics, terrorist attacks and the like have the potential to cripple a business while leaving its competitors unscathed.

The real issue is not simply an increasingly threatening external environment. Rather it’s the combination of external threats and the potential ‘fragility’ of some modern business systems. Both efficiency and customer focus – essentials in modern business – are highly dependent on the uninterrupted availability of computing and communications systems.

If your servers are down because of flooding, or key IT and call centre staff can’t get to work because of strikes or ‘leaves on the line’, your business can simply cease to function.

The bulldog spiritThis is transparently bad for your business and it’s highly frustrating for your staff. Fortunately, a recent study, undertaken in association with Ragnar Lofstedt, professor of risk management at King’s College London, has highlighted the importance of the ‘bulldog spirit’ among British employees in promoting corporate resilience, with 61 percent of staff saying it was their responsibility to help get things up and running again if a disaster struck.

So what can be done? The obvious answer

is ‘be prepared’. Think about what can go wrong and how your business might respond. As Gartner has observed, “Every enterprise should have a minimal plan in place to protect business operations in the event of reasonably anticipated threats”. Less obviously, but crucially, you also need to adopt flexible working practices – not just because employees increasingly expect them, but because they make your business much more resilient to disruptive events, large and small.

be flexibleThe key concept here is flexibility. As any wrestler will tell you, if you tense your muscles and lock your joints, you’re much easier to push

You’re strong if you’re flexibleThe barriers to success have always been high, and they are getting higher. bharaT Thakrar, head of business continuity at BT Global Services helps you get to grips with the unforeseen ‘acts of God’ that could bring you to your knees.

over than if you adopt a more flexible posture. It’s the same in business. If your business systems require people to be in specific places to do specific things, then they won’t be able to function when those places are unavailable or inaccessible. The good news is that, just as information and communications technology (ICT) is often credited with the ‘death of distance’, so, properly deployed, can it end the ‘primacy of place’ – the crucial impediment to flexible working.

The toolkit of flexible working technologies includes three basic components: secure remote access to company systems, so that staff can continue to work; access to office phone lines, so that staff continue to receive their calls; and conferencing, so that people

can continue to meet. Let’s look at each of these in turn.

Contrary to popular myth, accessing corporate networks from outside the office doesn’t have to mean an increased threat to key systems and data. Provided users are properly authenticated and encryption is used to prevent eavesdropping, then security is not an issue. In practice, well established networking protocols with the ability to address both requirements are readily available. Using them, staff can access the IT systems they need to do their jobs not just when they are in a company office, but from a host of other locations – homes, hotels, temporary offices and so on.

Those IT systems and the networks that connect them must themselves be resilient, of course. If the applications and databases employees need exist only on computers in buildings affected by problems that have forced them to find other places to work, the option to connect remotely could be of very limited use. This factor alone is a significant reason for businesses to consider outsourcing the operation of networks and data centres. Those offering such services commercially typically build in much greater levels of resilience.

Much the same applies when it comes to maintaining access to phone services. Here, IP telephony is the most flexible and resilient solution. The big difference between IP telephony and the ‘plain old telephone service’ we’re used to is that calls are no longer carried, point to point, in an unbroken stream along the equivalent of fixed wires; instead, telephone

conversations are ‘bundled up’ into packets and shipped across the internet much like packets of data. The bundling is done by a computer, equipped with a microphone, speakers and the necessary software, or by IP phones, which implement the same functions in a handset resembling a conventional phone.

The significance of IP telephony for flexible working is that it ends the fixed relationship between a line and a phone number. Instead, users can make any phone their own simply by logging in. And they can do this from any location that offers an IP connection to the corporate network – another office within the corporate headquarters, regional offices, wireless hotspots, or even employees’ homes. Suppose a fire closes your head office, or a major motorway accident prevents key staff driving to work – with IP telephony you can still be in business. Staff forced to work from home or go to another office will still be able to make and receive calls as if they were at their own desks.

Finally, although generally marketed as a means of saving on the cost of business travel, audio-, web- and video-conferencing really come into their own when a disaster makes travel very much more difficult. The classic examples are post 9/11, when US civil flights were suspended, and after the 7/7 attacks in London, which left many uncomfortable about using the tube.

As for IT systems, organisations should give very careful consideration to using services hosted on an operator’s network rather than in their own premises. As a rule, network

11

coVer storY


The toolkit of flexible working technologies includes three basic components: secure remote access to company systems, so that staff can continue to work; access to office phone lines, so that staff

continue to receive their calls; and conferencing, so that people can continue to meet.

coVer storY

12


operators design their infrastructure to deliver very high levels of availability, and, increasingly, are factoring in the likelihood of potential disasters when deciding where to locate new installations.

after the floodRecent events demonstrate the wisdom of such an approach. In July 2007, following days of abnormally high rainfall, it took the heroic efforts of 150 workers to prevent t he inundation of Gloucestershire’s main electricity sub-station at Waltham – precariously located within the flood plain of the River Severn. On that occasion the threatened total blackout of the county was averted. Next time they and the businesses that depend on the sub-station’s supplies may not be so fortunate.

But flexible working isn’t just about anticipating disasters. It’s also an excellent approach to business management in its own right, helping to create leaner, fitter and more responsive organisations. Hot desking,

which IP telephony makes very much easier to implement, reduces the demand for office space, the freedom to work from home can improve worker satisfaction, and conferencing can reduce business travel budgets by millions of pounds.

In BT, the majority of our 110,000 employees are now equipped to work flexibly, and do so as a matter of routine. This in itself is important: familiar with the technologies and services they need to connect from an array of different locations, they aren’t phased if they can’t get to a particular location.

Contrast this with the recent experience of the editorial team at Director, the Institute of Director’s magazine. Working on a special issue on flexible working, they decided to put it to the test. Unfamiliar with both the technical and cultural issues involved, they found it far from easy.

The message here is clear. Like any other business continuity strategy, it’s important that flexible working is well-rehearsed. A sudden – and likely wholesale –

change to an unfamiliar way of working will create problems all of its own.

addressing all factorsAnd flexible working isn’t just about mastery of a specific set of technologies. For it to work well, a wide range of factors must be addressed – supply chain management and health and safety compliance, for example – and its introduction often needs to be accompanied by a thoroughgoing top-to-bottom programme of cultural change.

Firms must also ensure they have addressed both the technical and human factors sides of security. Flexible workers may need to carry valuable corporate data with them, and this obviously needs to be protected against theft and accidental loss. Staff need not just to be told but to understand what they need to do to protect their business and its assets. Power-up password checking should be forced on, measures like encryption implemented and, depending on what’s involved, the ability to remotely ‘kill’ lost devices might also need to

Organisations should give

very careful consideration

to using services hosted

on an operator’s network

rather than in their own

premises. As a rule,

network operators design

their infrastructure to

deliver very high levels

of availability, and,

increasingly, are factoring

in the likelihood of

potential disasters when

deciding where to locate

new installations.

Give a man a fish, and feed him for a day.Teach him to fish, and you feed him for life.

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nasa is one organisation that runs its mission-critical systems on old

technology, because it has no choice. in 2002 a friend of mine sold nasa his eight inch floppy disk drive; nasa was vacuuming up the world supply of old equipment before it became scrap for the space shuttle – and it was looking, at the time, to extend the shuttle’s life to 2020. economic uncertainty will drive businesses to follow nasa’s lead – extending the life of hardware and software applications well beyond their natural life.

There was a hospital switchboard which developed a fault after 26 years of faithful and trouble-free service. Since the equipment was mission-critical, the contract called for on-site spares to be held, and the supplier found that the only spare part in the world was the one on site for 26 years, and as it happened it fixed the problem. More troubling for the supplier, the engineers working the fault were completely fresh to this technology and had to troubleshoot it from first principles.

It takes pressure on both sides of a lemon pip to make it fly, and if one side is the economic need to keep equipment running for longer with a dwindling stock of reliable spares, the other pressure will be that the more senior, near to retirement engineers are going to be a natural target for redundancy, “leave this year rather than hanging on for a couple more” the management will say in order to balance

the books and the more junior engineers will be left to maintain ancient equipment. This effect is multiplied because the baby boomers are about to retire anyway – again building pressure on the junior staff to maintain legacy systems. Those systems were installed, and the period of ‘Product Experience’ occurred, before knowledge management systems were really introduced – so the product experience is really in the heads of the more senior engineers.

Practically every telecom service operations manager I’ve spoken to has this scenario highlighted to them regularly and with increasing frequency. At this point you’d be thinking you know where this is going – that I have the solution – how about a really good troubleshooting process, just the ticket to replace the product knowledge that is on permanent gardening leave – but you’d be wrong. Whatever approach is taken, someone in the support organisation needs product knowledge, or the skills and experience to enable them to deconstruct the defective product and, using the models generated through years of experience, derive from first principles how that product was designed and worked. With the increasing complexity of interconnected systems there is neither the time nor the experience available to solve these problems, and we are going to have to brace ourselves for some high-profile failures in legacy infrastructure that can’t be economically fixed.

“Gone, gone and never called me ‘Mother’”

VItAl sIGns — lIFe In tHe world wItH It

15

Steve White has been rummaging in dusty cupboards and has uncovered a time bomb.

Flexible working – the financial benefits• The majority of BT’s 110,000

employees are equipped to work flexibly. Around 11,000 work from home.

• BT’s home workers avoid an average 4.4 hours of commuting a week, take 63 percent less sick leave than their office-based colleagues and are 20 percent more productive on average.

• Home working is one of the options that allows 97 percent of BT’s UK-based female employees to return to work after maternity leave – substantially more than the UK average of 47 percent.

• The reduced need for office accommodation saves BT around £60 million a year.

• Independent researchers found that BT’s use of conferencing services eliminated some 860,000 face-to-face meetings in 2006/7, cutting travel costs by £130 million and freeing time worth £100 million for more productive use.

be considered. Either flexible working solutions are secure or they shouldn’t be deployed.

Set out like this, the challenges may sound daunting. But don’t be put off. Across the world, enterprises large and small have demonstrated that flexible working is both good for business as usual and an excellent form of disaster insurance. As a strategy for business management, it’s a true win-win option. No organisation can afford to ignore it. www.asg.com

Across the world, enterprises large and

small have demonstrated that flexible working is both good for business

as usual and an excellent form of disaster insurance. As a strategy for business

management, it’s a true win-win option. No organisation can afford

to ignore it.


1616

Imagine how many

fewer headaches we

would have if we could

have a new copy of the

OS Image everyday -

and not have to suffer

through the ‘plaque’

build up that slowly

kills performance.

Virtualisation, has it hit your desk yet?

The discussion on desktop virtualisation, or hosted virtual desktop, is heating up. With economic concerns forcing businesses to take a hard look at costs across the enterprise, however, David Ting, CTO of Imprivata says there are many reasons this is such a hot topic.

VItAl Processes

17


VItAl Processes

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ITIL jigsaw, equipping you and your team with the tools to positively engage your senior management.

in our current cost-conscious world, the attractions of reduced it costs are obvious:

virtualisation significantly reduces the need for idle computing hardware and drastically lowers power consumption - especially in mission-critical environments like healthcare where machines need to be on 24 hours a day. lower power consumption comes from reducing the need to run lightly loaded but high powered cpus at each desktop and delivering desktop sessions for multiple users from a server that can be heavily loaded. most importantly, virtualisation frees up it from having to maintain large numbers of desktop systems that are largely user-managed. it also eliminates the need to constantly re-image machines that have degraded through common usage. imagine how many fewer headaches we would have if we could have a new copy of the os image everyday - and not have to suffer through the ‘plaque’ build up that slowly kills performance. This all sounds good. But, before diving headfirst into the virtualisation pool, it’s important to realise that the benefits of desktop virtualisation also lead to a new security challenges – especially around managing

user identities, strong authentication and enforcement of access policies. With user identities being relevant in multiple points within the virtual desktop, coordinating and enforcing access policies becomes far more difficult and error prone as all the systems have to be in sync. Since one of the advantages of having virtual desktops is the ability to dynamically create desktops specific to the user’s role within the organisation, having a centralised way to manage user identities, roles and access (or desktop) policies is critical in this new virtualised environment. Allowing users to only access tailored desktops specific to their role or access location can be tremendously valuable in controlling access to computing resources. Being able to leverage a single location for authenticating users, obtaining desktop access rights and auditing session related information is equally important, if not more so, than what we have in a conventional desktop environment.

While it is still some time out before adoption becomes common – security capabilities and limitations present a barrier to adoption – we’re beginning to see customers who need to address these issues – connecting

the user identity with authentication and policy link all the way from the client to the virtualised session and even to the virtualised application.

Desktop virtualisation has tremendous promise – however, until we can replicate the user’s current experience – and more importantly – make it easier to set and enforce authentication and policy in this environment, there’s still work to be done. www.imprivata.com


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VItAl Processes

netWorKs Form the backbone of the modern it enterprise. the components

of the backbone – the network infrastructure, are quite complex and varied with the presence of hundreds or even thousands of mission-critical edge devices such as switches, routers, firewalls and others from dozens of hardware vendors. enterprises make huge investments on procuring network infrastructure and employ highly skilled professionals to manage and administer the network infrastructure.

Managing the network is a challenging task as business continuity directly depends on network availability. Even a few minutes of network outage could have a rippling effect on the revenue stream as critical business

services get affected. And as business needs grow, network complexity also grows exponentially. The enterprise naturally puts the squeeze on the few network administrators mandating them with the responsibility of ensuring network availability. Not just network availability, but also ensuring security and reliability, optimising performance, capacity and utilisation of the network fall under the ambit of the administrators.

State of fluxBusiness needs are in a constant state of flux and administrators are required to respond to the needs often by configuring the network devices, which is a sensitive and time-consuming task. It requires specialized

knowledge, familiarity with all types of devices from different vendors, awareness on the impact of changes, precision and accuracy. Naturally, the highly skilled network administrators carry out the configuration changes.

Ironically, most of the configuration changes are repetitive, labour-intensive tasks, for instance, changing passwords and access control lists. Yet, as even minor errors in configuration changes to the devices in production carry the risk of causing network outage, the skilled network administrators spend a significant part of their time on configuring the devices. They find it hard to concentrate on strategic network engineering and administration tasks.

Modern enterprises depend on network availability. According to V baLaSubramanIan marketing analyst at ManageEngine DeviceExpert, ensuring that device configurations remain compliant to various standards and regulations could aid in minimising downtime and help the network stay in shape. Automating the network configuration management is the means to achieve this goal.

Automatic for the people

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CM

MY

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CMY

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Infrasolve ad Print.eps 5/6/08 17:23:08


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VItAl Processes


Besides, with increasing security threats to mission-critical network resources and serious legal consequences of information mismanagement, enterprises everywhere are required not just to follow standard practices, internal security policies, stringent Government regulations and industrial guidelines, but also demonstrate that the policies are enforced and network devices remain compliant with the policies defined. Ensuring compliance has become a priority for network administrators nowadays. This drives them take extra care while changing configurations.

Administrators also have to continuously monitor the changes carried out to the devices, as any unauthorised change can wreak havoc to the network. It is evident that administrators face pressures from multiple angles; but, how do they normally manage configurations? Let us have a look at some of the traditional network configuration management practices:• While carrying out changes, most of the

administrators document the proposed changes. They login to each device separately and carry out the change. In case, the configuration changes are not successful, they will turn the configuration to the previous working state by undoing the changes as recorded by them in the documentation.

• In big enterprises with a large number of devices, the administrators cannot follow the ‘change documentation’ process. Instead, they develop custom scripts to push configurations to multiple devices. With the enormous diversity of hardware vendors, the administrators develop numerous custom scripts to suit the syntax of each device type.

• Some others juggle with fragmented tools to do specific tasks in configuration management. They correlate the output from each tool manually.

• Still worse, some administrators follow the haphazard way of carrying out changes to live equipment without any management plan. When errors in configuration cause network outage, they end up wishing that they could move the configuration back to a proper working version. They manually troubleshoot the cause.

The limitations of the traditional approach The manual way of configuring the devices suffer various disadvantages and serious limitations. The following are prominent among the many: • The highly skilled network administrators

spend most part of their precious time on doing repetitive, time-consuming

configuration tasks. They get little time to focus on strategic network administration plans and tasks. This amounts to wastage of resource, cost and time.

• There is no provision to apply configuration changes in bulk to many devices at one go. Administrators have to logon to devices separately or at best execute many custom scripts to get the work done, which would be time consuming.

• Even simple tasks like rotating the passwords of devices, viewing access lists etc. could prove to be uphill struggles.

• As the number of devices grows, administrators find it difficult to respond to the business priorities that require frequent configuration changes. Possibilities for committing errors multiply.

• A trivial error in a configuration could have devastating effect on network security giving room for malicious hackers. The traditional approach has no provision to check configurations before deployment from the standpoint of security.

• Administrators lose track of configuration changes. As a result, configuration management becomes a daunting task. In the face of a network outage, troubleshooting becomes laborious. The mean time to repair (MTTR) climbs significantly.

• There is no way to control the access to device configurations based on user roles. No way to check/prevent unauthorized configuration changes either.

• The traditional practice has no scope to ensure accountability for user actions. When something goes wrong due to faulty configuration change or when a security breach occurs, it would not be possible to

trace the actions to a particular individual in the absence of audit trails.

• There is no provision to monitor and ensure compliance to government regulations, industry best practices and standards.

The way outConquering the complex, multifaceted operational and technological challenges of network configuration management is getting simpler nowadays with the availability of network change and configuration management (NCCM) solutions.

The NCCM solutions are designed to automate the entire lifecycle of device configuration management. The process of changing configurations, managing changes, ensuring compliance and security are all automated and the NCCM solutions prove to be powerful at the hands of network administrators.

Industry best practices such as Cisco’s ‘Gold Standard’ (which explains the recommended security settings for Cisco devices) and Government and other regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, EPHI, GLBA, PCI Data Security Requirements etc, prescribe a lot of ‘best practices’ . By complying with the best practices and policies, enterprises can avoid most of the network security issues.

By leveraging NCCM solutions, administrators can automate the entire compliance monitoring process, which will happen at all levels - on demand, automatically at regular intervals and whenever a change happens. Violations would immediately be escalated to the security personnel. Besides, comprehensive compliance reports could be generated for submission to compliance auditors. In addition, in the case of violations, remediation tips will also be offered. During planned configuration changes, NCCM solutions help check the syntax of the configuration changes for correctness before uploading them to the device.

NCCM solutions will also help put in place both proactive and reactive configuration management strategies. Proactively, administrators can reduce manual errors and prevent unauthorised changes; when something goes wrong, they can react to the contingency within minutes by getting to the root cause or by rolling-back to the previous working version.

Automating NCCM will not only help networks remain compliant to the policies, but also keep the network in top shape. Compliance to best practice will just become a way of life. With a good NCCM solution in place, enterprises can make best use of their network infrastructure, they can achieve increased network uptime and reduced degradation and performance issues. www.deviceexpert.com

Managing the network

is a challenging task

as business continuity

directly depends on

network availability.

Even a few minutes of

network outage could

have a rippling effect on

the revenue stream as

critical business services

get affected.

R A P I D R E S U LT S . L A S T I N G VA L U E .

We understand the complexity of consistently delivering high-quality, world-class service and support. With so many factors affecting Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), our Service Value Management model focuses on the six key drivers that contribute most to CLV: Strategy and Culture, Monitor and Control, Service Processes, People, Tools, and Organization.

WHAT IS CUSTOMER L IFETIME VALUE?

If you had to put a single dollar value on a customer, what would that be? That dollar value is Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), the present value of all future cash flows attributed directly to your relationship with that customer. Focusing on CLV allows you to make decisions that align your service organization with your company’s strategy and achieve your targeted bottom-line results.

THE SVM MODEL

This model brings clarity to improvement efforts by providing a logical framework for identifying the actions that can most influence CLV.

Strategy & Culture Vision, Competitive Advantage, Segmentation

Monitor & Control KPIs, SLAs, Dashboards

Service Processes Performance, Stability, Efficiency

People Development, Leverage, Leadership

Tools Selection, Alignment, Knowledge

Organization Structure, Motivation, Sustainability

F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N , V I S I T:

W W W. K E P N E R - T R E G O E . C O M / S E R V I C E VA L U E /

In today’s highly connected world, good customer support is just not enough; and one customer experience has the power to affect many others.

Service organizations need to transform from traditional customer support to customer service and from cost centers to profit centers.

S E R V I C E VA L U E M A N A G E M E N T SM

Customer Service as a Profit CenterSM

Service Value Management (SVMSM) is about more than providing your customers with high-quality and world-class support; it’s about transforming the customer experience. At Kepner-Tregoe (KT), we take a holistic, systematic approach to creating business value by making service a direct, profound driver of revenue and profit.


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VItAl Processes

in today’s tough economic climate, most service organisations will be seeking

more efficient and cost-effective measures, whether it’s an established business or new enterprise. every investment is expected to focus on meaningful near-term return. Budget cuts may be affecting staffing resources and customer management and keeping your customers and delivering customer satisfaction is more critical than ever.

With fewer deals, longer sales cycles and deeper discounts, new business opportunities need to be sustained. But new business is costly and not as profitable as keeping your existing customers satisfied. It’s vital that every interaction counts so customers renew service agreements continually and buy additional products and services.

Successfully expanding and supporting service organisations on the internet, today, does not require massive investments in IT resource and expertise. The internet can supports business applications delivered as software as a service (SaaS) as a simpler way for companies of all sizes in every security sensitive industry to access enterprise-grade tools. SaaS can help the service desk to deliver virtual remote support, cut costs, enhancing productivity dramatically. Remote support

enables the service desk to transcend the limits of a physical footprint to deliver support at all times if required, to any customer connected to the Internet, any place in the world.

The new service deskIn today’s on-demand economy, customers and employees need support that transcends international boundaries and time zones. Service desks that consider who they serve and can offer one single point of contact will help companies remain competitive and stand out from their peers. Customers that receive excellent service from your service desk are not only more satisfied but tend to be more loyal and open to repeat business and certainly referrals. Virtual support technologies can enhance customer satisfaction while lowering operational costs because employees don’t need to send in laptops and customers speak with an expert straight away. This kind of support isn’t a nice to have – it’s a critical business driver.

In fact, the service desk speaks volumes in terms of what’s important to the business, its customers and brand reputation in the market place. Fast growing businesses do not have the luxury of easily absorbing mistakes, especially in today’s economic climate. The virtual service

the virtual service deskVirtual support breaking down the geographic boundaries will be an integral part of the future of the service desk. LuIS FonT, CEO of NTRglobal explains how virtual service desks can play a key role in helping reduce costs, increase productivity and enhance revenue.

SaaS can help the service desk to deliver virtual remote support,

cut costs, enhancing productivity dramatically. Remote support enables

the service desk to transcend the limits of a physical footprint to deliver support at all

times if required, to any customer connected to the Internet, any place

in the world.

23


VItAl Processes

desk reduces costs and enhances customer satisfaction.

The next generationMany companies today provide customers and employees with minimal contact and support options. Companies instead continue to rely on traditional support methods that no longer satisfy their needs and preferences and may be costly to use.

But customer service and support doesn’t need to be compromised or commoditised based on a fear that the service desk is too costly or time intensive because next-generation, low cost solutions are available that are secure and easy to integrate into your service desk with little or no training. However, companies that adopt remote support technologies will have a powerful way to deliver a consistent, superior support experience, drive brand loyalty and more.

Virtual support centres enable service desk professionals to help employees and customers from wherever they are by logging on remotely using laptops, home computers or even mobile devices. With the right solution, companies can uncouple support personnel from centralised locations to best handle peak demands and resolve complex technical issues. According to research carried out by Gartner last October, more than 70 percent of large enterprise will use internet-enabled remote-control tools by 2012. This is particularly advantageous for businesses in which travel to distant or even international client bases and regional offices can be eliminated, saving time and operational expense.

The benefitsAside from enabling support across international boundaries, virtual support centres can enable organisations to save on

travel costs, maintain operational continuity and promote flexibility. Some of the benefits of deploying a virtual service desk include: 1. Cost control. Virtual centres enable service

desk professionals to work from multiple locations, either regional offices, partner sites, from home or even while on the move. This avoids the need to build expensive facilities such as call centres as well as unnecessary travel costs. For example, international travel and tourism services company, Transhotel, was able to reduce its IT travel costs by 90 percent as a result of deploying a virtual support centre.

2. Operational continuity. Avoiding downtime is of paramount importance for any service organisation. A virtual support centre means that remote agents will not be affected if a physical centre becomes unavailable for

some unforeseen reason, allowing them to continue to deliver excellent service.

3. Scheduling flexibility. Workforce limitations and restrictions are reduced if you have more service desk professionals spread across more geographical locations that are mapped to your customers and partners’ places of business.

These benefits are already being enjoyed by business leaders that have evaluated the advantages of seamlessly integrating technology, processes and people to enhance the service experience. Those keen to capitalise quickly on the virtual and global opportunities available to them will do well to follow the leads of these businesses if they are to enjoy sustainable and profitable growth in today’s rough economic environment. www.ntrglobal.com

In fact, the service desk speaks volumes in terms of what’s important

to the business, its customers and brand reputation in the market place.

Fast growing businesses do not have the luxury of easily absorbing mistakes,

especially in today’s economic climate. The virtual service desk reduces

costs and enhances customer satisfaction.


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VItAl Processes

soFtWare as a service (saas) is gaining in popularity. some obvious benefits

are cost savings, ease of administration, no need to do mass upgrades, and centralised support. But with saas come challenges that many organisations are just now grappling with. information Week, in January this year, addressed integration in an interview with sap’s ceo, James mcdermott. their article says, in part: “a company that tries to avoid tough integration issues with saas

will be left trying to integrate hosted software from a variety of vendors using middleware from yet another vendor.” it then adds mcdermott’s thought, “they’re discovering ‘maybe software as a service wasn’t so cheap after all.’”

And a recent report from Gartner Research projects that cloud computing applications, or, in Gartner’s terms, SEAPs – service-enabled application platforms – are still in an early phase of development. To paraphrase the

report, from now until 2013, SEAP technology will be “opportunistic and architecturally simple application development among Global 2000 enterprises.” Meaning, SaaS won’t replace most sets of desktop applications anytime soon, presenting the integration dilemma.

Lack of integration presents some very real challenges for organisations adopting SaaS applications. For example, a shift of 1,000 call centre agents signs on to the centre’s new

the desktop roadblockThe challenge of integrating software as a service (SaaS) applications with other enterprise applications using traditional approaches is a very real one. FrancIS carDen, founder and chief evangelist of OpenSpan offers an alternative approach that uses the common denominator between all applications, cloud and desktop alike: their interaction with the operating system.

VItAl Processes

24

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VItAl ProcessesVItAl Processes

25

SaaS CRM application. It displays in a browser, is easy to use and works well. But to process an inbound customer call, an agent must do an account lookup in a legacy mainframe application (requiring a time-consuming, separate login), which displays in a separate window. Information in the mainframe window must be copied and pasted into the SaaS CRM application to continue. Data from the CRM application then must be copied and pasted into the Notes window to keep a journal of the call. The agent must keep track of compliance-critical lists of information from a printed notebook, with no on-screen prompts or records.

For this call centre, moving to a remotely-hosted CRM application may have solved some budget and infrastructure problems, but the need to switch between multiple applications and tedious manual processes continues to degrade productivity, and clearly compliance and data integrity could be an issue. why traditional integration won’t workTraditional integration approaches rely on either available APIs or connectors, or access to applications’ source code for coding purposes. In some cases, undertaking traditional integration projects will be effective. In many cases, however, it will not. There are several reasons why SaaS presents some very real challenges to traditional integration techniques:• Lack of, or minimal depth of APIs.

Integration with SaaS applications is limited to functionality or data exposed by the SaaS vendor’s developers. You no longer own or even have access to the underlying source code.

• Reliance on SaaS vendors. Any non-standard integration projects will depend on your vendor’s development schedule, not your own.

• Core applications change. Enterprise desktop applications are upgraded and previous SaaS integration APIs or code are invalidated.

It was once thought that service orientated architecture’s (SOA) adaptability and custom focus would solve problems like this. But changes to the architecture can ripple across different areas and require costly and time-consuming work, such as recoding previous solutions.

So presentation-layer integration, which comprehensively integrates all applications on the user desktop, remains a key challenge, and an important one for productivity. Virtualised and SaaS applications can be delivered to the desktop, but they are still used in Windows-native interfaces. If those interfaces don’t

function together, then the human operator is the integration tool. If your key business objectives include things like better customer service, a 360°customer view, better up-sell and cross-sell or other goals that can be measured in terms of productivity or capacity, then putting the integration burden on the user could be a less than optimal solution. Then add the subjective factors like training new users in complicated, labour-intensive tasks.

Second integration approachThe good news is that there are other integration approaches that don’t require APIs or access to source code for development purposes. One approach in particular is ideal for the world of cloud computing.

Presentation-layer integration is quickly gaining popularity because it tackles the integration challenges of the cloud head-on. The one common denominator across all

To paraphrase the report, from now until 2013, SEAP

technology will be “opportunistic and

architecturally simple application development

among Global 2000 enterprises.” Meaning,

SaaS won’t replace most sets of desktop applications anytime soon, presenting the integration dilemma.


26

VItAl Processes

ACCREDITED BY

GLOBALLY QUALIFIED?

VISIT US ON STAND 536

AT THE SERVICE DESK

AND IT SUPPORT SHOW

With ISEB your qualifications will be recognisedin over 50 countries worldwide.

ISEB is part of the British Computer Society (BCS) and is a worldwide exam body. With over 380,000 exams delivered worldwide in over 50 countries, ISEB continue to lead the way in exams for IT professionals.

Our qualifications allow candidates to learn new skills in specific business and IT areas which measure competence, ability and performance. This helps to promote career development and provide a competitive edge for employees.

For further information: www.iseb-exams.com

BUSINESS ANALYSIS

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

INFORMATION AND SECURITY

IT GOVERNANCE

ITIL/IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT

IT ASSETS AND INFRASTRUCTURE

SOFTWARE TESTING

SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT

ToPDF:Layout 1 18/02/2009 13:11 Page 1

applications – cloud or 15-year-old client/server applications running on a desktop and everything in between – is that every application and application graphical user interface (GUI) delivered to a user ultimately interacts with that user’s operating system. By harnessing the power of this communication, integration projects can be rapidly simplified and expedited, and more importantly, extended to the world of cloud computing.

The technology can be implemented quickly for fast ROI (weeks or months, not years), with a small footprint, and is fully compatible with Windows, host system, Java, Web, PowerBuilder, and even DOS applications – desktop and virtual. The technology is highly iterative and changes to solutions are centrally-managed and easy to deploy.

Typical use casesPresentation-level integration technology has been implemented in a diverse mix of enterprises and institutions: contact and sales centres for telecommunications, financial services, IT outsourcing, and insurance; retail banks, middle and back offices, and mortgage operations; warehousing and logistics, and others. Some brief summaries of actual deployments:• A global telecommunications company

linked disparate legacy and web applications and automated a series of desktop processes used by 16,000 call centre agents. Average handling times (AHT) dropped by nine seconds, saving

an annualised average of more than $18 million.

• A large retail bank with 1,000 branches armed tellers with customised up-sell and cross-sell offers by enabling a 20-year-old DOS application and a web application to consume web services and pass a customer account number to a logic engine. The server side then returned a customised offer while the customer was being assisted by the teller. Closes increased by 50 percent.

• A leading UK-based bank automated a difficult series of disjointed processes running both web and desktop applications in its fraud unit, removing human intervention from the loop. The bank doubled its fraud case resolution capacity without adding additional employees. Data errors went to nearly zero as well.

To Sum upCloud applications still face integration hurdles at the user level, simply to weld disparate applications together in ways useful and meaningful to the user. Cloud computing might save an overall enterprise money up front, but users can incur unintended costs with manual workarounds in order to make their job-dependent arsenal of applications work in concert. However, the tools exist to use your existing applications to integrate, extend, and enhance cloud services and virtualisation... Proceed to the cloud, but don’t let the desktop be your roadblock. www.openspan.com

For this call centre, moving to a remotely-hosted CRM application

may have solved some budget and

infrastructure problems, but the need to switch

between multiple applications and tedious

manual processes continues to degrade

productivity, and clearly compliance and data

integrity could be an issue.

ACCREDITED BY

GLOBALLY QUALIFIED?

VISIT US ON STAND 536

AT THE SERVICE DESK

AND IT SUPPORT SHOW

With ISEB your qualifications will be recognisedin over 50 countries worldwide.

ISEB is part of the British Computer Society (BCS) and is a worldwide exam body. With over 380,000 exams delivered worldwide in over 50 countries, ISEB continue to lead the way in exams for IT professionals.

Our qualifications allow candidates to learn new skills in specific business and IT areas which measure competence, ability and performance. This helps to promote career development and provide a competitive edge for employees.

For further information: www.iseb-exams.com

BUSINESS ANALYSIS

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

INFORMATION AND SECURITY

IT GOVERNANCE

ITIL/IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT

IT ASSETS AND INFRASTRUCTURE

SOFTWARE TESTING

SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT

ToPDF:Layout 1 18/02/2009 13:11 Page 1


28

VItAl MAnAGeMent

so What are these pitfalls? anything that stops you having a successful

service management adoption, these include, but are not, as they say, limited to: apathy; lack of a plan; lack of management support; no dialogue with the business; no understanding of processes; and getting too hung up on itil. When you understand what some of the pitfalls are, you can begin to avoid them.

The must-haves of service management

1. Vision and sponsorship. Leadership from the very top of both IT and the business will help to ensure the success of developing true Service Management

2. Have a plan. Have one which includes why you are doing this and what the benefits will be. The plan is the journey, understand what the destination looks like, or how will you know when you have made it? Seventy five percent of implementation consultants would never have started a project if they had known the outcome at the start. Ten percent of organisations surveyed said they identified real objectives before the project. Only one percent checked attainment.

Avoiding the pitfalls of service management

(or learning from the mistakes of others)

All service management projects are unique, but all will face similar challenges. marTIjn aDamS, business development and marketing manager at InfraVision, looks at the common pitfalls that stop projects

from succeeding and details what makes for a successful service management deployment.

Feature sponsored by:

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VItAl MAnAGeMent


Once you have identified the services the business wants, work out

which elements of your infrastructure – some physical, some logical –

are needed to deliver those services, and how they are interdependant.

These elements will be the beginning of your Configuration

Management Database (CMDB).

3. Understand what services you provide, they must be the services the business wants. Move away from a break-fix culture to a service-based culture – not easy this one, you are asking people to leave their comfort zones. Like it or not, IT’s role is to support the business in its day-to-day work, nothing more. This is achieved by delivering consistent services that the business needs to function; email, Internet access, an HR system, storage etc and this next part may come as a shock; they really don’t care how you do it, as long as you deliver the service and they can do their job. They don’t care if you use HP or CA, Unix or Microsoft and they definitely do not care how many routers, switches etc you need to provide the service. I know, it’s weird isn’t it!?

4. ITIL SchmITIL. Support of the business is achieved through properly aligned IT processes. Most people immediately chant ‘ITIL’ at this point. ITIL is not a dogma, it is part of the journey and helps you recognise what you should be doing through best practice, not dictating how you should be doing it. ITIL sets the high level guidelines and leaves it to you to make it fit in your organisation – don’t get hung-up on ITIL. Do get hung-up on delivering the required services to

the business, consistently and as efficiently as possible.

5. Know your infrastructure. Once you have identified the services the business wants, work out which elements of your infrastructure – some physical, some logical -are needed to deliver those services, and how they are interdependant. These elements will be the beginning of your Configuration Management Database (CMDB). While we are on the subject of CMDB, let’s get something clear, a CMDB:• is not the holy grail;• does not have to have all its data in one

location, it could be spread across several locations and sites;

• is not simply a list of all the hardware and software you think you have – that is an asset register which may be a subset of the CMDB;

• can start out with just your VITAL elements and their inter-relationships, let it grow over time. Managing your CMDB should not be an onerous task. If it is, check you aren’t trying to keep track of too many items- track the beach, not the grains of sand it is made up of;

• should be managed through change management and not just populated by an inventory tool (although such a tool is

great to validate your CMDB and show you information where you are not interested in its history).

6. Clarity and simplicity of processes, procedures and work instructions. Ensure that the processes you create are logical, straightforward and serve a genuine purpose, or they will not be used. Each process should break down into its component procedure, which in turn should break down into individual, clear and concise work instructions so that at any point, the user knows exactly what should be done next, by whom and by when.

Processes are the root of all evil if you get them wrong but they can be the route to success when they are right – the toolset just becomes a vehicle for following your processes.

The easiest way of defining processes is to take one of the process models readily available in the market such as the Alignability Process Model (APM) from BMC Software. APM contains proven ITIL-aligned processes and procedures that have been honed through years of experience in well over 200 organisations globally. Most organisations find at least an 80 percent fit between the processes, procedures and work instructions


30

VItAl MAnAGeMent

within APM and what they need to do as a business. It is far quicker to identify and amend the remaining 20 percent than start drawing up your own on a blank canvas. Result – reduced risk and massive time and money savings in development and deployment.

Danone is one of the companies that implemented the Alignability Process Model and SDE and managed to do this in 66 percent of their planned time and budget. Michael Kollig, the IS Director of North East and Central Europe for Danone was really appreciative of the time savings, the reduction of risk and the method of roll out of the project.

7. Clarify roles and responsibilities. Ensure every member of the IT team understands the

role, and often roles, they have to play, what is expected of them and, importantly, what is not expected of them. Workshops and training will go a long way to providing this, as long as it is in an environment of openness. Few people respond well to change and the whole project can blow up if this is not handled well. Allow people to voice concerns, many based on rumour and fear, then clearly dispel rumour and allay fears.Do you know that the majority of time in service management implementations is spent in customising the tool again and again? It should be spent training and raising awareness.

8. Standards of delivery. Now you know the services the business wants, you know the items critical to the delivery of those services, now you can start thinking of the level of availability of each service to the business, based on how critical to the business the service is. This will ultimately lead to a service level agreement (SLA) between IT and the business. Initially, only run the SLA internally – ie, don’t tell the business how well (or not) you are going to perform. It is wise to have some visibility of IT’s capabilities before setting expectations with the business, under-promise and over-deliver.

9. Communicate the adoption of a service culture to your customers. Some customers have achieved a sense of anticipation by anonymously pinning countdown notices to display boards in the office, without saying what they are counting down to. In the last few days they added the name of the project, an email on launch day to the customers relates


Ensure that the processes you create are logical, straightforward and serve a genuine purpose, or they will not be used.

Structure of the Alignability Process Model (APM) processes broken into procedures which contain Work Instructions

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VItAl MAnAGeMent


what has arrived, and what it will mean to the business. But do not forget; at the end of the day our customers want the highest quality of service for a reasonable price.

10. Ensure reporting requirements are fully met. This is best achieved by addressing reporting requirements right at the start of the project. Understand what the KPIs are, and establish a method of monitoring them. At least one of these should offer an insight to costs. Your service management tool should have at least a number of these KPI reports available out of the box, for every process.

11. Review the adoption of service management three months after go-live. To do this, it is imperative that the project goals and milestones were established as part of the plan. Then you can reflect on the project itself, and the results of the completion of the project. Eighty percent of service desk implementations do not realise the ROI expected.

Many times organisations simply forget to measure performance before the project, making it really difficult to know what has been achieved.

Jean-Marie van Cutsem, service manager of Allianz, Belgium had the foresight to have an independent capability maturity model (See diagram 2) measurement done before and after the project. Within 14 weeks they managed to move from a level between zero and one to between three and four. Their meteoric rise was due to careful implementation of the APM and Service Desk Express. They enjoy well

managed processes and awareness across the team of how everything fits together from the first detection of an issue, through resolution to reporting.

Implementing your service management tool set should take you to a CMM score of at least level 1.5, adding process mapping and CMDB takes you way beyond three and the results will be a smoother running business, many fewer unplanned outages and a view of where issues arise from and what needs to be improved to prevent them – what would you pay for that level of insight?

other points to ponderSelf service reduces interaction with service staff and significantly lowers the cost of interactions when compared to direct contact, but bizarrely self service increases customer

satisfaction – go figure. But there may be a cultural point, some customers insist on personal service, eg lawyers, private bankers – for them it is all about relationships and their favourite member of IT– this requires a mindset change, efficiency and getting back to performing business at best speed and cost is a far better agenda.

The amalgamation of similar activities makes a service management investment much more cost effective – consider bringing facilities management, HR and customer service into the service management fold. You will be amazed how many similarities there are, and how many benefits can be had through consistent approach to service, and there may be some interesting insights given through trend analysis. www.infravision.com

it is imperative that the project goals and milestones were established as part of the plan. Then you can reflect on the project itself, and the results of the completion of the project.

The capability maturity model, showing how adoption of various best practices and thereby increasing your CMM score, moves organisations from chaos towards a predictive service management environment.


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stemming the flow of data leaks

In light of news that the information commissioner is to be given new powers to fine companies who deliberately or recklessly lose confidential personal information, nIgeL hawThorn, Blue Coat Systems EMEA marketing VP looks into the need for organisations to adopt a fully layered data leak protection (DLP) solution.

VItAl MAnAGeMent

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the current criminal Justice and immigration Bill states that the information

commissioner now has the power to levy fines on those who recklessly lose confidential or personal information. the level of fines, which is still to be decided, could run to millions of pounds and, at a time of economic woe, it’s a shame that the government has had to enforce (or threaten) legislation and large fines, but perhaps necessary to get the attention it deserves. Furthermore, organisations trading on a global scale will also need to implement the best policies for worldwide customers and suppliers – bringing uK legislation and ruling in line with the best in the world simply accelerates this process. With heightened awareness of the value and vulnerability of personal and financial information collected by businesses and governments, more states in the us are now enforcing legislation to require consumer notification when there are security breaches involving such information. in 2006, 35 states and the district of columbia introduced legislation addressing security breach notification. indeed the acts in the usa that demand customer be told is the right way to go.

All this is proving to be a real headache for organisations that operate globally as they not only have to comply with requirements from other countries but also ensure that they meet European Union Law. The current EuroSOX Institue mandate states that companies operating within the European Union have to comply with the confidentiality of information and therefore the prevention of leakage. It therefore makes sense for organisations to adopt a layered data leak protection (DLP) strategy that complies with differing legislation laws and monitors encrypted traffic. With an integrated data leak prevention solution, enterprises can both monitor network activity, data usage and prevent users from transmitting or copying data in violation of the

current Criminal Justice and Immigration Act that was brought into place in May this year.

It is therefore critical that UK businesses are aware of this so that they can deploy a DLP solution that is content-aware as well as granular enough to deploy different policies for different legislation on the information it contains and how, when and where that information can be used.

The current approach to DLPThe good news is that most organisations are waking up to the fact that they need to implement DLP capabilities. An Osterman Research survey that was conducted in April last year found that 53 percent of mid-sized and large organisations will very likely or definitely invest in DLP capabilities through the first quarter of 2009. Furthermore, the same survey found that 68 percent of organisations plan to have some form of DLP capability in place by the end of 2009. However, even using a fairly broad interpretation of DLP capabilities, which would include products that don’t provide true DLP functionality, only 49 percent of organisations have so far deployed these capabilities.

This suggests that organisations are well aware of the need to monitor their inbound communications for spam and malware. This, despite the fact that 27 percent of organisations in the same survey reported that during the previous 12 months data or information was accidentally or maliciously leaked from their organisation. One of the key reasons that they have not yet deployed effective DLP systems cannot be explained by the fact that many decision makers are not aware of the potential risks they face. The fact is they probably don’t even know it has happened. Another survey carried out by emedia earlier last year, revealed that 94 percent of companies admitted to being powerless to prevent confidential or

At a time of economic woe, it’s a shame that the Government has had to enforce (or threaten)

legislation and large fines, but perhaps necessary to get the attention it deserves.


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sensitive information being sent outside of the organisation. Thirty two percent said they were blissfully unaware that a leak had taken place. All of this points to a worrying new trend for IT management, particularly in the light of the growing body of legislative and compliance directives emerging in the wake of the spate of security gaffes by government bodies reported over the last twelve months.

Many employees will often accidentally send confidential data in an email – such as credit card numbers, social security numbers or other confidential information – without realising that the data needs to be encrypted during transmission to comply with legislation. In addition, the rise of ‘Web 2.0’ applications represents further worries for potential for data loss. MySpace, Facebook and the like are open to hidden malware installed on endpoints that has harvested personal information like credit card numbers quietly uploading this content via http/https.

So what should organisations do? In the wake of the recent change to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, one of the first steps an organisation should take is to monitor all avenues through which employees may communicate. This includes email, instant messaging systems, wikis, blogs, personal webmail accounts, USB devices, message boards and other tools. The appropriate policies should be established and systems should be deployed so that a company’s risk can be mitigated as much as possible.

Secondly, another route decision makers may want to take to solve the data breach problem is to audit the current state of file management

within the organisation. Doing so, will reveal the extent of the risks that an organisation faces and will help to make real the problem to IT management, as well as senior line-of-business decision makers. In many cases, this will help an organisation to realise that the risks and problems it faces are not merely a potential, theoretical problem, but are instead a real and present business danger that it must address. While this is not always a necessary step given the abundance of evidence that exists for the data breach problem, it may be required by some organisations in order to convince senior managers of the extent of their own company’s problems.

outbound communicationBased on the suspected level of data breach, organisations that deploy systems that monitor outbound communication should take the appropriate action. For example, an employees’ instant message that contains what looks like a social security number may warrant nothing more than a popup window on the sender’s display that reminds them of a corporate policy against sending this information through an instant messaging client. On the other hand, an email that contains an attachment with proprietary information sent through an employee’s personal webmail account may warrant immediate redirection of the message to a compliance officer or supervisor for further review before the message is sent. In short, suspected data breaches should trigger only the appropriate actions of discarding messages, quarantining them for further review, copying them to a supervisor, requiring encryption, archiving them, etc. Incident management is a key component of any system, since each

suspected data breach should be handled with the right level of enforcement. For example, in a large organisation it would be impractical to route every suspect email to a compliance officer or supervisor for review.

The appropriate level of inspectionBased on corporate policies, the role of the employee in the organisation and other factors, content should be inspected based on the appropriate policies. For example, certain employees may require different levels of outbound content inspection and data retention than others – a broker/dealer’s email to a client may trigger a different set of policies compared to a clerical staff member’s email to the same client. Certain recipients of an email may trigger different policies based on the company’s history with those recipients. A CEO’s email to an external auditor should trigger different inspection and retention requirements than those triggered by a marketing staff member’s email.

It is important to expend the appropriate level of computing resources necessary to satisfy corporate and other policies in order to maximise the performance of electronic communication and management systems. For example, performing very deep content inspection on every message that flows through the corporate network is simply not necessary in many cases. However, inspecting content flowing through key threat vectors, such as removable storage or encrypted webmail channels, is critical.

what’s the score?

geraInT LewIS, IT manager for the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) at its prestigious headquarters The Belfry, near Birmingham, ponders the relative merits of new technology versus the trusty pencil when faced with a smelly duck pond.

VItAl drIVe. It HIts tHe FAIrwAY


DLP for SSLIt is critical that businesses move towards SSL-encrypted traffic on their network for greater security and data protection. The good news is this appears to be happening, in 2007, Enterprise Strategy Group estimated that SSL-encrypted application deployments had increased by 50 - 55 percent. Despite this, more SSL traffic on the network inhibits the effectiveness of a data loss prevention solution.

Therefore organisations need a layered DLP strategy that can monitor not just email and IM traffic but also the encrypted traffic that is increasingly finding its way onto the corporate network. With an integrated data leak prevention and secure web gateway solution, enterprises can both monitor network activity and data usage and prevent users from transmitting or copying data in violation of company policies. This integrated, layered approach to preventing the leak of sensitive data provides protection for data in motion (on the networks), at rest (on servers and at endpoints) and in use (at endpoints and media).

It is clear that with the recent change in legislation and the prospect of further change in the future, an integrated data leak prevention solution is a must for enterprises so that they can both monitor network activity and data usage and prevent users from transmitting or copying data in violation of compliance and legislation. www.bluecoat.com

In the wake of the recent change to the Criminal Justice and Immigration

Bill, one of the first steps an organisation

should take is to monitor all avenues through

which employees may communicate. This

includes email, instant messaging systems,

wikis, blogs, personal webmail accounts, USB devices, message boards

and other tools.

With all of the developments in the game of golf over the past 20 years,

one area of the game still remains in the darks ages – keeping score.

When you stand on first tee, with you King Cobra LD driver designed by the same team responsible for the Ferrari 599 GTB and your Pro V1 golf ball developed with support from NASA, you still have to check that you’ve got your scorecard and a sharpened pencil. Why given how far the game has moved on are we still using the same equipment to keep score that the pioneers of the game in the beginning of the last century used?

I have now seen the future and it is web based! VPAR is at the forefront of on-course scoring system suppliers and I was lucky enough to see its system in use at Burhill golf club recently.

I was not brave enough to rescue my clubs from the back of the garage and attempt to hack my way around the course, my golfing exploits are restricted to crazy golf on holiday with the ‘Dangerous Brothers’ (my two sons aged 7 and 3). The on course scoring is provided via a mobile phone unit, one provided to each group as they set off.

Scoring is very intuitive via the on-screen system, with live updates available on all units and also on the first and 18th tees and also in the clubhouse.

It gives a ‘big time’ feel to the day as, just like the big boys on the European Tour, you know instantly where you stand on the leader board and also how important the tricky six-footer that you are standing over is. It also gives you the opportunity to keep an eye on your fellow competitors’ on course score and the opportunity for some good natured ribbing

as you see your them tumble down the leader board as a result of a poor hole.

At the end of the round, the unit is returned to the scorer and the competitors can make their way to the bar to watch the live leader board update as the scores come in off the course.

Of course the old fashioned score card and pencil still have one thing in their favour. They are fairly indestructible. As someone who has seen his fair share of dropped and soaked mobile phones and measuring devices on course, including one unfortunate pro who managed to drive his golf trolley – complete with mobile phone and measuring device – into the smelliest duck pond in Ireland.

You can always rely on the pencil to carry on writing.

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despite the leaps and bounds of technological advancement, it and

technology related departments have an enduring perception of being ‘nerdy’, often dull, and rarely exciting.

IT is a brand which today screams more about servers, hardware and endless acronyms, than the reality of the exciting future promised from the limitless possibilities offered by technology. Despite being ‘accepted’ as an organisational function, the general cross-organisational perception of the IT department and the CIO is often negative, with the true contribution and importance of IT projects to the business often unseen, unheard and significantly underestimated.

At the opposite end of the organisational spectrum to IT is Marketing: a department often viewed with disdain by those on the technical side of the business; a department seen as being driven by gut and creativity, with little or no regard to budget or process. Rarely do organisations truly integrate marketing as a mindset throughout the entire business. Because of this, relationships between

the IT department and Marketing have traditionally been strained, with little mutual understanding around activities, goals and shared synergies.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The IT department and the Marketing department can have a very healthy, mutually beneficial relationship. Marketing has much to offer IT, and likewise, IT has much to offer Marketing. Exploring and exploiting these synergies will not only positively impact the business and create more successful IT project initiatives, but will elevate brand IT and Marketing, as well as the personal careers of all those involved.

understand the power of brandLet’s start with brand. A brand is much more than a logo; it is a promise of performance and a signature of reputation. There are clear links between strong brands and strong performance. The importance of brand now spreads beyond the traditional confines of marketing, and IT leaders must consider both the brand of IT, as well as their own personal brands. Improving the perception of both can

Marketing has much to offer IT, and likewise, IT has much to offer Marketing. Exploring and exploiting these

synergies will not only positively impact the business and create more successful IT

project initiatives, but will elevate brand IT and Marketing, as well as the personal careers of all

those involved.

IT and marketing, worlds apart but closer than you think. LInDa kIng of G2G3 explains why they should kiss and make up.

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sleeping with the enemy

have a significant and positive impact, not only internally within the organization, but also externally.

E.ON, a leading European energy organisation, launched a new IT help desk facility. In considering how best to create maximum interest and uptake around these new facilities, the decision was taken to undertake a marketing- and brand-led approach. A marketing consultancy was engaged, and quickly created a branded launch programme, which included a logo, tagline, podcasts, posters and branded promotional items in order to make a strong statement about the new IT help desk and its services all across the business. The launch was highly memorable and a resounding success.

There are many tools and techniques that IT can borrow from Marketing to successfully build the brand. On a personal brand level, every member of the IT department can create strong and up-to-date professional profiles on sites such as Linkedin, Ryze, Ziggs and others. Network, network, network! Build strong relationships and join relevant groups and associations. Make yourself accessible, visible and (even more) personable. Also, be open to opportunities outside the confines of the organisation. For IT leaders, talk to the business media (yes, please do! Ed) and participate in opportunities which allow you to highlight your success. Be innovative and forward thinking in your communications, while using the technologies at your disposal - blog, podcast and vodcast. Become more visual in your approach, using infographics as opposed to text to communicate complex information. Also, love them or loathe them, social networking sites are here to stay. The Internet provides powerful networking opportunities to assert you and your department’s presence online and reach more

potential customers, business partners and employees. Leverage Facebook, Twitter and other similar sites to create and maintain a strong brand image of IT.

creating successful IT projectsMarketing techniques can not only help improve the standing and position of brand IT across the organisation, but also help drive the success of IT projects and change initiatives. One of the most important (and overlooked) aspects of success is communication. IT leaders and project managers need to realise this and understand that communicating early and often is vital to an effective project or change effort. The problem with many communications typically generated by IT is that they are very ‘corporate’ in terms of

content and delivery mechanisms, therefore often perceived as nothing but corporate jargon that’s way too easy to tune out. To rise about the ‘noise’, IT leaders and project managers should look to implement simple marketing communications techniques, and ensure that all project communications are treated like a marketing campaign, with communications that are targeted, engaging, stimulating and effective.

DHL, a leading global logistics organization, took this approach when implementing a global rollout of ITIL best practice


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IT leaders and project managers need understand that communicating early

and often is vital to an effective project or change effort. The problem with

many communications typically generated by IT is that they are very ‘corporate’

in terms of content and delivery mechanisms, therefore often perceived as

nothing but corporate jargon that’s way too easy to tune out.


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VitAL : January / February 2009

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processes. The importance of the success of this strategic project was recognised, and marketing was used as the key driver for success. A branded marketing programme called ‘Olympus’ was created to promote the goals of the project, which included innovative communication techniques such as simulation, e-newsletters, infographics, video previews and communication roadshows. Excitement and commitment were generated globally, and the project was very successful. The project won a ‘Project of the Year’ award from the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF) for its innovative approach, transforming what would otherwise have been considered a dry subject matter into inspirational and compelling content which crossed geographic and organisational boundaries.

IT can reciprocateMarketing can also benefit significantly from increased collaboration. Despite the frustrations voiced between the two departments, they will often have successfully collaborated on a variety of initiatives, including web sites or CRM systems. However, IT has much more to offer. Greater collaboration could provide Marketing with many more powerful tools - for example, improved web presence, tools for measuring marketing effectiveness, customer data warehouse and analysis, improved business intelligence, eCommerce improvements and many more. The positive impact of this increased collaboration on Marketing, and ultimately on customer acquisition and retention, could be significant.

appreciate the processThere is also often frustration expressed between the IT department and the Marketing department with respect to the processes connected to formal collaboration initiatives. Marketing may feel that IT has far too much process, while IT may feel that Marketing has little or no respect for process, with frequent last minute change requests being given to IT from Marketing. The answer is to create clear and mutually agreeable processes around collaboration projects. IT and Marketing representatives may also benefit from participating in an IT process-based simulation. These innovative simulations utilise gaming dynamics to bring to life the importance of process to IT and the business, and will allow Marketing and business representatives to walk a mile in the shoes of IT.

kiss and make upLast, but by certainly no means least, the personal perspective. Focus must be placed on the one-to-one relationships between the IT leaders and the Marketing leaders. Both must

learn to respect each other’s differences, and appreciate the differing expertise that each brings to the table. Not only this, but they must make a visible display of their strong partnership. Forging a trusting relationship around common goals and representing themselves as a united team will create a positive behaviour model for their respective teams.

In these difficult times, it is vital that IT builds a brand that reflects the reality of the significant contribution it makes to business. It is time for IT and Marketing to focus on the benefits of a partnership rather than continue the animosity of the past. www.g2g3.com

Focus must be placed on the one-to-one

relationships between the IT leaders and the

Marketing leaders. Both must learn to respect

each other’s differences, and appreciate the

differing expertise that each brings to the table. Not only this, but they must make a visible

display of their strong partnership.


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VItAl MAnAGeMent

iF you spend too much time watching the news or reading the business pages,

it would be easy to start believing that the current recession is pervasive and that business everywhere is declining rapidly. While this economic slump is clearly having an impact in key sectors such as financial services, property and retail, the reality for many organisations is that their current levels of activity are still strong, and the existing market downturn creates a real opportunity to innovate and differentiate themselves from their competition.

With business getting tighter, the smarter companies are those who are investing in the solutions and resources that allow them to be more competitive, more efficient in

delivery, and more capable of delivering customer service levels that are superior to their competition. For some, this might involve investment in key areas such as IPT, unified communications or datacentre consolidation and presence - whatever the area of investment though, the focus is on quantifiable ROI and unlocking business value, rather than simply the deployment of next generation technology.

Differentiation through added valueIt’s entirely right that technology providers should look to differentiate their portfolio by providing added value solutions based on more complex offerings - such as Cisco Advanced Technologies, for example. These

projects tend to be more complex, margins on contracts are consequently higher and price competitiveness is less fierce than it is at the commodity end of the market. However, for more complex opportunities, there is also a danger that adding advanced solutions – such as unified communications, security, network and application performance management, contact centre and datacentre services to a portfolio can have unforeseen implications with regard to areas such as capital investment and recruitment, as well as training and sales support.

With these complex technologies increasingly becoming available to small- and medium-sized organisations, there’s a pressing requirement – from both the customers’ and

think small win bigIndependent certification in key areas like quality, information security and ITSM should no longer be confined to just larger companies, says Intact Integrated Services’ managing director, bob DaLTon. Many smaller IT solutions providers are now finding that certification is providing an important differentiator in today’s increasingly competitive market conditions.

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the solution providers’ perspective – for strong processes that allow them to scope and deliver their business propositions efficiently, and ensure that their solutions are delivered to the highest standards of customer satisfaction.

For channel organisations particularly, these higher-value opportunities highlight the need for clearly established and replicable processes to support the development and implementation of more complex solutions. Contracts invariably feature service level agreements (SLAs), but SLAs work so much better when they are actually underpinned by rigorous quality processes – backed by structure service management capabilities such as ITIL.

While vendor certifications and accreditations reflect the necessary skills, there’s often a significant gulf between basic technical skills and the real world ability to design, test, implement and operate solutions based on complex technologies. That’s why I would always encourage organisations – even given today’s more challenging economic circumstances – to invest their time and resources on securing those certifications that are available to confirm their ability to deliver against the most exacting standards.

In addition to ISO 9001 quality management, I believe there are significant benefits that can also be achieved by working towards and adopting ITIL-based IT service management and ISO 14001 environmental management systems certification. We embarked on this process ourselves, so we acknowledge that there can be significant internal costs and resources that are taken up by going down the certification route, not least in the ongoing commitment needed to make sure that standards-based initiatives such as ISO 9001 and ITIL are maintained and become an integral part of how a business operates each and every day.

Fortunately there’s a strong upside – once costs and resources used are balanced against the undoubted competitive advantages that can come from having core business processes that are fully and independently certified by the BSI,

the leading UKAS-accredited organisation. It’s this re-assurance that can help differentiate an IT solutions provider, enabling them to give full responses to customer tenders that demand the highest standards of quality, information security and IT service management capabilities. Being able to deliver against these demanding standards also encourages customers to, in turn, show real confidence in your capabilities and processes.

Translating standards accreditation into a business assetHaving gone through major quality, service management and environmental accreditation programmes myself, I certainly understand the need for organisations to strike a bottom line balance between investing in standards and processes, and reaping their benefits. If ISO certification is to prove successful, then it’s essential that organisations recognise the

scale of the process in front of them. It typically requires hands-on senior management involvement, and the right level of resources allocated to the task. The process demands management attention, but also appropriate buy-in and support from employees, right across an organisation.

The right expectations also have to be set. Quality certification can help manage a business by streamlining processes, strengthening your brand in the marketplace and also opening up new opportunities. However there are also costs involved, with operational expenses going up because of expenditure on systems and more time spent on processes and checks. Longer term though, the benefits and payback are evident in areas such as reduced staff training, improved inventory procedures and more effective service management, and that is increasingly important in a downturn economy where all bottom line savings are valued.

Investing in specialist supportSpecialist consultancy and process management resources can play an important role in helping to unlock such savings, particularly for smaller organisations such as channel businesses that typically won’t have a professional quality manager in place. External consultancy and services can play a key role in planning and driving forward a company’s quality management implementation, mentoring internal project champions and guiding the company in the right direction.

Also, given the complexity involved, accreditation projects such as ISO 9001 implementations can take anything from nine to 18 months to complete. Specialist professional support can help here in shortening the timeline from start-to-finish. Time to certification is obviously a variable, but expert help in ensuring that companies are on track and avoiding pitfalls can clearly be invaluable, especially with those projects where a major success factor is how closely companies are aligned to their project goals.

ITIL is another certification area that is

While this economic slump is clearly having an impact in key sectors

such as financial services, property and retail, the reality for

many organisations is that their current levels

of activity are still strong, and the existing market downturn creates a real opportunity to innovate

and differentiate themselves from their competition.


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proving a powerful differentiator for IT solutions providers, with full certification clearly signalling a company’s ability to effectively manage major IT infrastructure, service delivery and service support contracts. Originally a public sector initiative, ITIL has been successfully adopted by the corporate sector but is often seen as less appropriate for smaller organisations.

For many smaller providers, however, ITIL-certification can prove a powerful competitive differentiator, confirming their ability to deliver a structured services approach to the growing number of customers who increasingly require more formal service certification. While the process of adopting and implementing ITIL certification can be time-consuming, the benefits for a smaller organisation are that there are typically less staff and processes involved, and this can lead directly to more streamlined support processes and more efficient IT operations.

addressing higher value opportunitiesAchieving ITIL-based processes, ISO quality management certification and support for environmental standards is already helping organisations to address higher value business opportunities. Effective adherence with these standards can also play a part in helping to ensure compliance and reduce the longer-term risk of penalties and litigation.

To achieve these kinds of benefits, however, smaller organisations need to consider a number of key service improvement issues. If they can find an organisation or partner that has already addressed these issues, then there’s a strong chance they can accelerate their internal procedures and benefit from a fast-track approach to advanced process management and adherence. Three key areas where this can help include ensuring effective risk assessment, targeting best practice, and support for documentation drafting, which can consume significant resources when undertaken internally.

With risk assessment, for example, businesses need to carry out detailed reviews of specific security threats and vulnerabilities within their organisation’s systems, and then examine their potential business impact. This should not only address IT, but also extend to all the other sensitive and mission-critical information that is held within a business.

It’s also important that organisations map their current systems and processes against those that are recognised as best practice within their industry. Here a structured gap analysis programme can highlight the key differences, and serve as an important first step towards achieving ISO certification.

While it’s entirely possible for organisations to research and draft all their own ITIL or ISO documentation, it makes a lot more sense to source expert help here as the specialists understand exactly the right kind of wording and process-related approach that works best. Again, the benefit for smaller organisations is that they don’t have to use their own executive resource on developing standards submissions.

Delivering structured certification supportOver the last two years my company has secured its own ISO 9001 quality management, ISO 27001 information security management, ISO 20000 ITIL-based IT service management, BS25999 business continuity and ISO 14001 environmental management systems certification. Having gone through many of these processes ourselves, we’ve certainly seen the value in certifying aspects of our business, and are convinced it can be a powerful market differentiator.

It’s this investment that has allowed the company to expand its services proposition to offer a series of white label solutions that partners can use to increase their own service portfolios. We have developed a portfolio of relevant certification service offerings for our own channel customers, primarily in the Cisco channel.

For channel firms that have previously thought accreditation programmes such as ISO quality management and ITIL service management were not right for their business, our advice would be to think again – they might be missing out on a significant opportunity for growth. www.intact-is.com

ITIL v3’s focus on customers and outcomes makes business sense says EMC’s DaVID Percy, senior manager for programme delivery (EMEA), Resource Management Software Group.

retaining customer focus with itil v3

itil v3 was published, with much fanfare, in may 2007. it replaced the service delivery and service support books of itil v2 with five – strategy, design, transition, operation

and continual service improvement. some of the changes in v3 are hugely important, but the positioning of the service catalog at the centre of everything is vital.

Now organisations can clearly align themselves with the business by agreeing a service portfolio that describes what customers use, in business language. Conversations between IT and the business can be about ‘email’ or ‘the intranet’ rather than server X or firewall Y. IT still gets to describe its environment in these terms; the technology part of the configuration management database (CMDB) or more accurately configuration management system (CMS) is still present and is linked to the business services it provides.

With similar intent, the focus on desired outcomes, rather than slavish adherence to a set of processes is a more nuanced, but still vital, way for ITIL v3 to help us better align IT with the business.

The message in ITIL v3 is impressively simple – IT is there to provide services to the business; they are the customer, our reason for being. ITIL v3 gives us the tools to ensure that we are providing, in an efficient, cost-effective and sustainable way what our customers, the business needs. www.infra.co.uk

Time to certification is obviously a variable, but expert help in ensuring

that companies are on track and avoiding pitfalls can clearly be invaluable, especially with those projects

where a major success factor is how closely

companies are aligned to their project goals.


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currently, the unified communications strategies of most organisations only

focus on using capabilities like presence, voice integration and collaboration to improve employee productivity. however, there’s more to unified communications than just improving productivity. enterprises should also be focusing on communications-enabling their customer-facing process, such as service, collections and sales to ensure they are fully leveraging the value that unified communications can provide.

Enterprises need look no further than contact centres for inspiration. Over time, the contact centre has developed the disciplines that enterprises can apply to their unified communications strategy to ensure that the customer is part of the equation. And by applying processes such as routing, reporting, queuing, workflow, workforce management and scheduling, monitoring, training and coaching across all customer-facing employees, companies can now ensure that their unified communications strategy brings them the desired results of improved productivity and satisfied customers.

engaging external knowledge workersIt’s an approach that’s particularly beneficial when it comes to extending service capabilities beyond a contact centre. For, according to recent research, contact centre agents require assistance from knowledge workers in other departments on over 10 percent of calls. Sometimes from technical specialists, other times advice from financial, insurance, legal, retail or casualty experts, or senior managers.

Without unified communications, attempting to make contact with external knowledge workers is problematic. First, because agents rarely know the availability or whereabouts of knowledge workers, meaning that they frequently struggle to find the right people in a timely manner. And second, because when

outside experts are involved, research suggests that calls can take approximately two-and-half minutes longer than those handled exclusively in the contact centre.

With a unified solution, incorporating real-time presence and instant messaging capabilities, the problem is dramatically simplified. Agents no longer have to search for knowledge workers, explain the customer’s situation, call the customer back, and introduce the customer before they can finally transfer the call. Rather, they can simply transfer detailed notes about the issue at-hand to the knowledge worker along with the call, shortening the transfer process and preventing anyone from having to repeat information.

changing the cultureThere are clear advantages to taking well-honed processes and applications and extending them to all customer-facing employees. But successfully implementing unified communications isn’t just about technology.

Extending calls from the contact centre out to the enterprise may require significant process

change as well as a culture shift on the part of knowledge workers who are currently not customer-facing. First, these individuals must learn the customer service skills needed to meet key KPIs and deliver excellent customer experiences; and second, they need to schedule some portion of their day (or week) to handle these calls, which will often require them to prioritise work very differently.

UC can deliver value to customers by increasing first call resolution and decreasing the amount of time customers spend on hold. Ultimately, the more satisfied customers are, the more follow-on business they will conduct, and the more often they will refer that company to their friends, family and colleagues. www.aspect.com

What is uniFied communications?there are various definitions for unified communications, all of them with a common theme – helping employees access the right people on any device at the right time.

Forrester research, for instance, describes unified communications as: “the combination of presence and availability with voice, video, email, and instant messaging, which makes it easier to communicate via the most optimal path with employees, customers, and suppliers and ultimately streamlines business processes.”

the true importance of unified communications is that it offers a method to integrate communication functions directly with business applications. gartner group refers to this as: “communications-enabling business processes” and states that: “unified communications offers the ability to significantly improve how individuals, groups and companies interact and perform”.

Forrester research states that under the umbrella of unified communications technologies are: communication applications (ie business telephony, mobile devices, audio and video, unified messaging, desktop call control) and collaboration applications (ie email, calendars, im and presence, web conferencing, directory integration).

the united state of communications

Successfully implementing unified communications isn’t just about technology.

Making the case for unified communications, anITa marSh, marketing manager, Europe and Africa for Aspect Software says there’s far more to it than just improving productivity.

Alignability is the newest innovation in Service Management systems since moving to Browser Based toolsets. It may signifi cantly reduce the time needed for an ITIL implementation project from 12-18 months to 12-14 weeks. ITIL gives guidelines to organisations who want to defi ne their service management processes. However, processes are not enough; they have to be completed with the details of how to carry out those processes in work instructions to give a real practical advantage for

the employees. The Alignability model fi lls the gulf between the theory of the ITIL framework and the hands on use of your service management tool, delivering measurable returns from day 1. The Alignability Process Model is the distillation of the experience gained from over 200 companies in 30 countries. It is a practical instrument that has been developed over the past 10 years. Come and speak to customers that have rolled it out.

Complete implementation of ITIL in 12 weeks?

Optimal service management with BMC Alignability

Interested? Visit InfraVision at stand 824!InfraVision Ltd Delegate House, T + 44 (0)1491 635340, [email protected], www.infravision.com


legally betterA leading law firm’s IT team has increases service success rate from 60 to 92 percent with the installation of the Supportworks ITSM service management solution. Halliwells’ head of IT service, john SaLT tells the story.

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halliWells is the fastest growing commercial law firm in the uK, with

offices in manchester, liverpool, london and sheffield. the firm has grown rapidly in recent years, with considerable investment in technology, including crm software.

With such rapid growth and increased numbers of personnel, the firm has continued to invest in its IT infrastructure. With over 1,000 staff across its offices, it is vital that technology helps the firm to maintain characteristics of its success from when it was a smaller firm, such as its ability to respond rapidly to change, while gaining all the benefits of its increased size. The company has placed significant emphasis on developing a ‘follow me’ environment in its new headquarters located in Spinningfields, Manchester, following a relocation from five disparate offices in the city.

At the heart of this new working environment is IT and to support the systems that are so critical to its business operations, Halliwells has invested in Hornbill’s Supportworks IT service management (ITSM) software.

Ticking every boxThe IT team uses the new ITSM system both for the service desk and as key management tool to administer effective IT support. The system also played a central part in the success of the recent move to its headquarters.

“Hornbill’s Supportworks ITSM ticks every box for us,” said John Salt, head of IT Services at Halliwells. “We are using it for all aspects of our IT service management – not least incident, problem and change management. We have seen significant efficiency gains since using the system.”

Halliwells short-listed potential suppliers to two, and selected Hornbill’s solution for its advanced functionality, ITIL compatibility and the reporting features. The company intends to apply for ISO 20000 certification before the end of the year and is now almost halfway towards achieving this goal.

“We reviewed Hornbill and Touchpaper in the most depth, and really liked Hornbill’s

product. It was the most advanced tool that could give us everything we wanted. We liked the human aspect of the user screens – the end-user photos were surprisingly well received,” explaines Salt. “When we saw the ITSM version we knew it was the right product for us – we knew that we wanted to go down that route.”

The new solution replaced an existing web-based call logging system. While the team could log calls on the previous system, these were assigned directly to a member of the team, with little visibility to anyone else. If that agent was off for a number of days then calls could go unnoticed, with no automatic escalation flagging that the calls were not being dealt with. From the management perspective it was difficult to gain an overall view of quantity of calls and speed of resolution, let alone assess who was working on what.

Invaluable management toolThe new system is proving to be an invaluable management tool, not just for the support team but across the department. “We always knew it would be used for far more than the logging of support issues of course,” he says, “but we’ve been surprised at just how far-reaching a management tool it is. In a service environment it’s too easy for your infrastructure or application management teams to work on ‘the most recent request’, rather than to focus on work that might be more important but currently less visible. But by logging in the system all releases, changes, problems, incidents and other tasks, it’s easier to maintain lists of everything we need to work on, then see what our current priorities really are. And then as business priorities change, we can increase efficiency by re-prioritising accordingly.

“It’s also encouraged us to become a lot better at tracking and communicating progress on work, thanks to the diary features. And everything is tied together, as ITIL suggests, so for example when you complete a change

halliwells’ it department retains top awardA host of Hornbill customers in the legal sector were recognised at the Legal Technology Awards 2009. Halliwells was named City/National IT Team of the Year for the second year running, claiming its success was greatly assisted by implementing Supportworks as part of its IT strategy. The company won the accolade for a number of new systems developed and in addition to the Team win, was Highly Commended in both the City/National IT Director category and Most Client Focused Law Firm.

The Legal Technology Awards are presented in association with the Legal Technology Journal and recognise and celebrate excellence in the provision and implementation of technology solutions for the benefit of legal practice. John Salt, head of IT Service at Halliwells commented: “We had a two-part strategy for 2008, and Hornbill’s Supportworks was of central importance to the ‘service optimisation’ part. In particular our Continual Service Improvement programme relies on the powerful way we can generate metrics from the data within Supportworks. Thanks to the ease with which it supports our processes, all the records (such as incidents, problems and changes) get entered, so those metrics come to life. We’re the first to achieve City/National IT Team of the Year for two years running and Supportworks’ role has been crucial to both years. We would like to commend Hornbill for making such a good product and providing the service to support us.”

“Hornbill’s Supportworks ITSM ticks every box for us,” said John Salt, head

of IT Services at Halliwells. “We are using it for all aspects of our IT service

management – not least incident, problem and change management.

We have seen significant efficiency gains since using the system.”


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Business BeneFits

• Call logging enables calls to be assigned teams and prioritised.• Easy-to-use screens with call history and user photos improve call handling

and customer satisfaction.• Adoption of ITIL has introduced new efficient working practices.• Reports highlight and identify common problems and issues.• Allocation of resources and priorities enable SLAs to be met.• Improved resolution of calls/meeting SLAs reduced fix times and increased

user productivity.

request you can resolve the underlying problem and then all the incidents that related to that problem.”

Using the data in the easily customised reports, Salt has been able to set team targets and improve working practices, enabling the teams to work more effectively.

meeting SLas“Before Supportworks ITSM we had only about 60 percent success on meeting our SLAs. Now we are meeting them at levels of 92 percent. This of course has a direct benefit to the business – time literally means money when you charge by the hour. If a partner’s productivity is hampered for a few hours that can represent, say, up to a thousand pounds worth of loss of time recording. Speed is vital to support their profitability,” says Salt.

The IT team is also using it for change management. Staff update their own change requests and the reports are generated automatically. Using it has reduced the administration involved and it is easier to update the changes.

Reports on recorded issues have also enabled the IT team to identify common problems and incidents and identify patterns. The team regularly updates the knowledgebase with notes and personal research, building a central repository that all IT staff can then tap into. Individuals are assigned a half day a week to write up notes and input the data, to ensure that information is captured centrally and is not lost as personnel move on.

Notes on problem management are ‘blogged’ in the call diary so that different members of the IT team can easily follow up the history of a problem and different approaches that have been tried. Salt is also impressed with Hornbill’s online user forum. “Hornbill’s Support Forum is a great facility – people can post questions, share information, experiences and ways of working – almost like

Facebook. It is a great way to show how the system is being used as a tool and how we can continually improve what we do.”

easy to useThe system’s usability has been invaluable according to Salt, who is in no doubt that the recent relocation to a flagship eight story building was managed smoothly with its help.

The IT team knew that during the first week in the new building the number of support calls would be high. They created a temporary enterprise-wide service desk, manned by the training team who took calls on any move issues, whether facilities, IT, training or other support issues. Salt trained the ‘front-line’ on Supportworks ITSM, which he claims took “no more than ten minutes to get them going”.

The IT department itself was split up into small teams distributed across each of the

eight floors, with an escalation team kept centralised so that they could deal with issues remotely or be deployed to where they were needed most.

Looking to the future, Halliwells plans to make full use of its new ITSM sytem for asset management to replace the current manual system for tracking company assets including Blackberrys and mobile phones, and then beyond to extensive configuration management of its IT environment.

“It has surpassed our expectations – it is a great service desk and IT management tool. Its flexibility has really enabled us to increase our efficiency as to how we track, manage and resolve calls. Now we are able to identify issues and problems to help us meet our SLAs. There is no doubt that we have demonstrated the value of IT to the business and our customer satisfaction has certainly increased,” concludes Salt. www.hornbill.com


SupportDesk CSS provides organisations with a


radiators, air conditioning units, fans, lights, computers, telephones, shredders,

laminators, printers, scanners, photocopiers – an endless list of appliances that have converted offices into the biggest energy guzzlers and polluters in the country. some companies insist on a strict no car policy to reduce c02 emissions, others focus their attentions on waste reduction by keeping

paperless offices and recycling, but most organisations will at least try to ensure that computer equipment is switched off overnight to cut back on wasted energy.

chained to the deskAn organisation can reduce its energy consumption by up to 10 percent by switching off appliances overnight, but why stop there?

Evolving technology has provided us with the luxury of remote access to emails and servers, allowing many companies to embrace the era of flexi-working. If previous technologies chained us to our desks, the likes of WiFi, VoIP, VPM and laptops have set us free. But having implemented flexi-working policies, many companies still insist on providing their predominantly offsite employee workforce

switch off… for good! According to PauL STaTham, managing director of RNM Systems, desk-booking has become the most effective way to reduce your carbon footprint.

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With the pressure of expensive under-utilised real-estate, a less than favourable economic

outlook, and the impact of our office on the

environment, more and more organisations are responding by

implementing smart working practices,

where employees can reserve a workstation as

and when required.

The advances in workspace management software can now bring order to smart working.

These applications can include desk booking, meeting room booking, green travel solutions, and high security visitor management. These

solutions now allow the users to directly book the resources they need where they want them for

when they want them and provide the central reporting and real time data on how the space and resources are being utilised.

with permanent desk spaces in their buildings, resulting in empty desks and low occupancy levels.

Empty offices are bad for the environment. Ventilating, heating and powering unused desks see us needlessly fritter away energy and increase our carbon footprint. Buildings Research Establishment figures show that the heating, lighting, ventilating and air-conditioning of office buildings accounts for nearly 50 percent of the UK’s 153 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. Furthermore, with office utilisation at around 40 percent, our offices are potentially responsible for 52.5 million tonnes of excessive CO2.

Smart workingThere is also a business case for avoiding low occupancy. It is not only debilitating for staff morale to work in a soulless workspace, but it is also not very cost-effective to maintain. For example, a company in the City of London with 500 employees assigned to 500 workstations where occupancy is at 40 percent on any working day is wasting over £3 million each year on under-utilised space through the cost of servicing the 60 percent of the office that lies empty.

With the pressure of expensive under-utilised real-estate, a less than favourable economic outlook, and the impact of our office on the environment, more and more organisations are responding by implementing smart working practices, where employees can reserve a workstation as and when required.

Using the latest technology to allow desks and rooms to be booked in advance by the employee and then asking them to confirm

that the required space is in use on the day, enables the space to be managed more efficiently. Also providing confirmation that the booked resource has actually been used means that real-time space utilisation reporting is possible and space planning can be managed much more accurately.

Sustainable officesThere have always been people who don’t want to share a desk or check into a meeting room. Yet this attitude is changing as employers and employees understand the moral need to operate more sustainable offices. Today, doing work in a modern office is not about owning a particular desk or having dedicated meeting rooms for each department, but having guaranteed access to the right kind of facility for getting the work done.

The advances in workspace management software can now bring order to smart working. These applications can include desk booking, meeting room booking, green travel solutions, and high security visitor management. These solutions now allow the users to directly book the resources they need where they want them for when they want them and provide the central reporting and real time data on how the space and resources are being utilised.

The overall effect is clear and compelling. With an advanced software package an organisation can raise office utilisation, reduce its energy bill, reduce its carbon footprint and, in the process, make huge real estate savings by divesting under-utilised space whilst providing a more vibrant and exciting working environment for its staff. www.rnmsystems.co.uk


With ever-increasing demand for uK data centre space there is mounting

attention turning, in these energy conscious times, to the carbon footprint they leave behind. We depend on data centres to power the many technologies we use such as internet services, for music and video downloads, and internet telephony and increasingly companies are turning to isps to deliver

the communications services to connect up distributed offices and remote workers. however their rising energy consumption – both the it consumption such as the servers they house and the supporting infrastructure equipment required such as the fans, pumps and the air conditioning systems required to cool the centres – has drawn negative attention of late and with good reason: in

fact the carbon emissions from the it industry are now almost comparable to that of the aviation industry.

The ideal of data centres being ‘green’ in the true sense of the word is, perhaps, an unrealistic objective and there is also the issue of making the services themselves affordable and commercially viable. However there are steps that planners and designers can take

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Powering up energy-efficient data centres

computer aid laptops are particularly in demand

in rural areas of the developing world where

the electricity supply is unpredictable, as is the case in the maasai area

of tanzania where simba (pictured) lives.

Drawing on his organisation’s own experience of constructing a state-of-the-art data centre jameS grIFFIn, head of hosting strategy at Star explains how it is possible to minimise the carbon footprint of these power-hungry buildings.

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to ensure that these centres are as power efficient as possible, use every metre of space efficiently, while also meeting the demands of cost-efficiency and maintaining high levels of performance.

a changing industry The levels of power consumed by data centres hit the news recently with findings of a study revealing that an average Google search generates the same level of carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle. With headline-grabbing statistics such as these and a growing public consciousness, there are now signs that the IT industry is beginning to recognise the environmental impact of data centres and is taking steps to raise awareness on practical measures. The European Code of Conduct for Data Centres, published in 2008 was an initiative developed to encourage best practice to improve efficiency and to encourage the industry to lower energy consumption without hampering mission critical functions. It is a voluntary initiative which aims to inform and stimulate data centre operators and owners to reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner without hampering the mission critical function of data centres.

It’s a welcome development in driving more efficient use of power: with high densities of hardware the power consumption of a data centre can be as high as 20, 24 and 40 kilowatts per rack. Electricity consumed in data centres, including enterprise servers, ICT equipment, cooling equipment and power equipment, is expected to contribute substantially to the electricity consumed globally in the near future. In fact according to a recent McKinsey Study, already, the world’s 44 million servers consume 0.5 percent of all electricity.

Savings from the outside-inThe most common mistake made when designing a data centre is to focus exclusively on what goes on inside the IT suite, whereas it is key to look at the overall efficiency of plant systems – as enormous amounts of power can be lost before it even gets near the IT suite.

There are ways to challenge the industry norm of losing between 50-60 percent of

power from outside the building. It’s all about getting more power into the data centre in the most efficient way. For example, we were able to save up to 117 tonnes of carbon a year simply by finding an efficient flywheel driven UPS (uninterrupted power supply). This could make significant savings, as amongst other things, it can eliminate the need for batteries, which require cooling and consume valuable space. Also by operating, managing, monitoring and tuning a single system from one vendor, instead of a mixture of components from various suppliers, it is possible to positively impact on power efficiency. By thinking innovatively we were able to achieve our objective of 7KW of cooled power per rack.

The physical environment of the data centre must be strictly controlled – air conditioning is central to maintain the temperature and humidity range so maximising cooling efficiency is also key to saving energy. Again, here it’s important to think smartly about what needs to be cooled – and not wasting energy on equipment that doesn’t require

cooling. ‘Free’ cooling systems, which reduce the need to power chiller units, can also be an attractive and cost effective solution for centralised cooling systems.

In striving to use every metre of space efficiently, nothing should be kept in the data centre that isn’t absolutely core to its operations; for example we moved phone systems and tape libraries, so that these wouldn’t take up space and, likewise, wouldn’t require cooling.

The rise of virtualisation has added a new dimension to the ‘green debate’. Virtualisation lets one computer do the job of multiple computers, by sharing the resources of a single computer across multiple environments. Some experts argue that virtualisation is a key enabler for green data centres; the most obvious effect is reduction in not just the number of servers, but the total area that needs to be cooled. Physical rather than virtual servers require ten times more rack space and significantly more energy in terms of power, along with the cooling and necessary backup generators for failover.

The supporting infrastructure equipment required such as the fans, pumps and the air conditioning systems required to cool the centres – has drawn negative attention of late and with good reason: in fact the carbon emissions from the IT industry are now almost comparable

to that of the aviation industry.


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Learning from experience Being able to draw on our own experiences of building a state of the art data centre has given us a new perspective on the ‘green’ arguments surrounding data centres. We recognise that a data centre has to balance the needs of being commercially viable – that is being able to provide services at a costs that is competitive with the market with the level of service that our customers expect. For example, a truly green data centre would not, in reality make any money as services would be delivered at twice the price of a traditional one.

However, there are measures that we have taken which have balanced environmental considerations with commercial practicalities. To address the list of goals that we set ourselves at the outset, we’re implementing a series of measures that break with traditional methods. In order to make the most efficient use of space we’ve installed moveable walls which – combined with the custom-manufactured server racks – mean that we can re-purpose the racks pace for either co-location or hosting purposes or any mixture of the two. To address the cooling problems associated with such a high density of servers we’ve attached cable

trays to the top of the racks rather than in the floor cavity improving the efficiency of cooled air flow and making use of the ambient air temperatures for free cooling.

Another issue was determining whether to put anti-freeze into the water cooling system. Mindful of the possibility of freezing temperatures – due to the efficiency of the externally located free-coolers – we originally thought it would sensible to add anti-freeze to protect from seizures in extreme weather conditions. However, we discovered that adding anti-freeze had a detrimental effect on the cooling efficiency and meant once again the magic figure of 7KW of power/rack was compromised. The cost of this power/density loss vastly exceeded the cost of replacing the coolers, leading us to eliminate the Anti-Freeze and deal with the need to replace radiators should the situation arise.

every little helps The construction of the data centre itself clearly has a direct impact on how successfully it manages power consumption and the cooling required. Straightforward measures can be made such as using low-emission building materials, carpets and paints and ensuring

that ‘brushes’ are fitted at doors and other holes are filled so that less energy is lost needlessly.

Similarly the responsibilities of cutting carbon emissions do not start and finish with data centre owners. Manufacturers of components and hardware are also, albeit indirectly – contributing to their environmental impact and, as the Code of European Conduct recommends, manufacturers of IT hardware or air-conditioner components must also work towards developing specific materials to help raise user awareness of energy efficiency issues, or introduce or encourage the use of high efficiency products.

All these measures can help in the drive to create a less wasteful, more environmentally aware industry; yet there is one important, final element which must be incorporated and that’s tracking how it is performing. Monitoring is an essential part of running a more green data centre; there is little purpose in taking these power saving measures if you are not able to monitor what is going on with the systems and power consumption per rack so that any issues can be quickly identified, diagnosed and dealt with. www.star.net.uk

Some experts argue that virtualisation is a key enabler for green data centres; the most obvious effect is reduction in not just the number of servers, but the total area that needs to be cooled. Physical rather than virtual servers require ten times more rack space and significantly more energy in terms of power,

along with the cooling and necessary backup generators for failover.

VitAl’s indispensible guide to The Service Desk and IT Support Show 2009

Henri Cash comments: “The current emphasis is on making existing systems work smarter, and along with a host of first-time companies, many exhibitors will be launching upgraded versions and new modules. It should make for an excellent opportunity to catch up with existing suppliers and compare the latest products.”


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In these tough times, the service desk has been thrust into the frontline

Business alignment, world-class service delivery and best-practice it service

management – these themes have been at the heart of the service and helpdesk profession for many years. never before, however, have they been so important as organisations feverishly cut costs to improve efficiencies.

The IT service management role is still poorly understood, yet is as vital as ever. Delivering the services, keeping business on its feet and changing perceptions are essential responsibilities. The opportunity exists now. It all starts with you.

These issues are at the heart of this year’s Service Desk & IT Support Show, the UK’s leading event for IT service management, helpdesk and support professionals. Taking place on 28th & 29th April at Earls Court, it’s where the industry meets, exchanges

ideas, learns about current developments and picks up the latest news in IT service management.

For two days visitors can meet over 100 suppliers, can assess the latest tools, and grow their skills and knowledge at the biggest ever programme of seminars, case studies, workshops and keynotes all devoted to today’s technical challenges and management issues. And because of their popularity last year, the theatres have been upgraded and are 25 percent bigger.

Seminars and workshopsIn the keynote sessions, Gartner’s Rob Addy will discuss the impact of virtual desktops on the IT support industry. As the use of thin-client based desktops is becoming increasingly

prevalent, it is anticipated that they will have a significant impact upon the way support is delivered. Meanwhile Bev Rowney, head of support at British Gas, will present a powerful argument for non-fiscal reward programmes to ensure organisations achieve the superior level of support they need without having to spend more money during these difficult times.

One of the UK’s keenest observers, Malcolm Fry, looks at what can be learned from other organisations, addressing his unique brand of comment to the early-century touring circus! Industry guru Noel Bruton leads a panel that will fiercely debate the future of ITIL and address the benefits of the alternatives.

The exhibitionThe exhibition will feature the industry’s most innovative and trusted suppliers demonstrating the latest service desk, remote support and CMDB tools. Event director Henri Cash comments: “The current emphasis is on making existing systems work smarter, and along with a host of first-time companies, many exhibitors will be launching upgraded versions and new modules. It should make for an excellent opportunity to catch up with existing suppliers and compare the latest products.”

green ITAs power and IT efficiency, or Green IT, moves up the agenda, sections of the event deal specifically with the implications to IT service management and offer a framework on which service managers can draft their responsibilities. Exhibitors from the worlds of virtualisation and SaaS will be on hand, and a selection of seminars are dedicated to the benefits these new technologies offer the service desk.

Never before has there been such an occasion for IT professionals to demonstrate their impact and worth to business, to raise their profile and show just how they underpin the effectiveness and efficiency of all company operations as at The Service Desk and IT Support Show 2009 which takes place on 28th and 29th April at Earls Court.

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Seminar Theatre 1 – Tuesday 28 apr 2009 10:15–11:00 great leadership in adversityDiscover the key characteristics of great leaders. jennifer macniven, chairperson for Service Desk Institute, Scotland & Northern England

11:15 – 12:00 Support schoolRemote support passes the Camden Test. Lee carn, technical team leader, London Borough of Camden

12:15 – 13:00 ITIL – The new eraAre we now ready for v3? ken goff, principal consultant, KGM

13:15 – 14:00 The big event How event management can change your business. David crane, division director, ICCM

14:15 – 15:00 cloud-sky thinkingAOL masters the transition of IT support in a virtualised world. Tom Thornton, transition project manager, AOL Broadband & gary collins, CIO, Intercept

15:15 – 16:00 Is it the end for ITIL?Why the concept of ITIL may have gone in a false direction. noel bruton, independent consultant

16:15 – 17:00 I can’t get no justificationHow Service Portfolio Management can lead to more focused services and staff. matthew burrows, head of consulting, BSM Impact

Seminar Theatre 2 – Tuesday 28 apr 2009 10:30 – 11:15 Show me the moneyCreating the ideal business case for support funding. andy baldin, VP EMEA, LANDesk, an Avocent company

11:30 – 12:15 The next levelThere’s room for improvement at the second tier of ITIL maturity. Siobhan guest, problem manager, CGI Information Systems & Sue Southern, consultant, Southern Assignments

12:30 – 13:15 Location, location, location

How Knight Frank brought central service home. Phil hurcom, problem manager, Knight Frank

13:30 – 14:15 Do we need all these elephants?Stimulating assessment of what the circus can teach us about IT support. malcolm Fry, independent service management analyst

14:30 – 15:15 I am not a number!Why staff motivation cannot be driven by metrics alone. john Fahey, training consultant, STI

15:30 – 16:15 a helping handHow to double support capacity and save money. David banes, director of development, AbilityNet

Seminar Theatre 1 – wednesday 29 apr 2009 10:15 – 11:00 The people-side of ITILEmpowering staff to make the changes. Simon Dennis, head of service improvement, Fujitsu

11:15 – 12:00 building the true service deskManaging 40 business processes with one service desk. Liz reeves, customer first manager, Mid-Devon District Council

12:15 – 13:00 making time for efficiencyNo panic – the new wave of technology presents no fears. mark Sutherland, president, Kaseya

13:15 – 14:00 Service desk For SaleHow to sell your services and gain more support. jo johns, head of training & consultancy, Marval

14:15 – 15:00 The best health check everHow ISO/IEC20000 has transformed CSE Global Systems’ healthcare business. kate Stead, service director, CSE Global Systems

15:15 – 16:00 money can’t buy you love!A strategic assessment of the link between performance and remuneration. Tony ranson, consultant, Service Desk Institute

People“With recruitment and training budgets under pressure, company directors and department heads are focusing on their most vital assets, namely people,” says Jennifer Macniven of HBOS. Along with Rosemary Gurney, she gets to the very heart of making the most of existing employees with sessions on leadership, management, team motivation and training featured throughout the programme.

SDI Personal and Team Development zoneThe Service Desk Institute (SDI), sponsor of the event, will preside over a timely new feature, The SDI Personal and Team Development Zone. Founder director Howard Kendall explains: “It’s where visitors can meet and network with the most experienced HR practitioners in the industry and get tips on leadership and management matters as well as advice on the issues that concern them most. They will also be able to catch up on the latest industry salary survey which takes an in-depth look at the correlation between remuneration and performance.”

building a solid business case“As important as dealing with today, is preparing for the future” says Henri Cash. “An essential seminar on Tuesday focuses on building a solid business case for IT service management improvement, while case studies from Knight Frank, London Borough of Camden, Mid-Devon District Council, and AbilityNet consider issues ranging from the role of automation and remote support, to creating a centralised IT service operation.

“Meanwhile visitors can take part in real-life service management scenarios; simulation exercises run by the itSMF, building a service operation, and NLP workshops are just part of the hands-on programme.”

computer says “no!”The rising concern that interaction with the customer is driven by process rather than the desire to deliver best possible service is addressed in this year’s White Paper ‘Computer says “No!”’ Based on a survey of 7,000 industry professionals, this study is the focus of Tuesday’s Breakfast Briefing, and all pre-registered visitors will be able to collect a

complimentary copy from sponsors’ Hornbill Systems and SDI’s stands.

InfoseceuropeThe move to Earls Court coincides with that of InfosecEurope, the information security event. Once again all visitors to each show can pass freely between events without the need to re-register. And for those with a security bias, there is a dedicated ISACA session on how linking COBIT and ITIL methodologies to help guarantee IT integrity and security can tighten and streamline IT services.

“Organisations are seeking to achieve more with less,” Cash concludes. “This is putting considerable strain on IT departments and specifically the service desk, with the real risk that delivery levels will drop, business relationships will suffer, and hard-won ground will be lost. The Service Desk and IT Support Show is one of the best ways to take stock of these considerations to ensure continuing progress, job security and business excellence.”

And it all starts with you.

For more information on free entry to

The Service Desk and IT Support Show

2009 and to register in advance for

fast-track entry and news updates

please visit: www.servicedeskshow.com

seminars & workshopsBook your places at Seminar Registration on the day. Places are allocated on a first come, first served basis.

workshopsTuesday 28 apr 2009

10:45 - 12:30 configured and ready – itSMF workshop. Getting to grips with the CMDB.

12:45 – 14:30 an abc of IcT – workshop. The Attitude, Behaviour and Culture of ICT – getting it right. Dave jones, head of service delivery, Pink Elephant

14:45 –15:30 Lessons from the front line The free flowing service desk. alex D Paul, product manager, AdventNet

wednesday 29 apr 2009

10:45 –11:30 ‘Pick up’ your service catalogue today – workshop. Learn how to map and share information about IT services. john murnane, senior manager, EMC Infra

12:45 – 13:30 itSmF simulation workshop – Real life scenarios demonstrating the value of ITIL.

14:45 – 15:30 all Prince, no Pauper – Prince2 and ITIL workshop. Managing projects is central to delivering effective, valuable services. David Tomlinson, senior consultant Trainer, FGI


58

VItAl eVents

A unique offering from RMS Services Limited, the Aware product range supports full life cycle asset management for corporate organisations. With a modular approach the solution delivers• Agentless Discovery & Auditing of both hardware and software assets• Configuration Management by capturing of key configuration files• Configuration Management System (CMDB) with integrated Technical Services Catalogue• Software Licence Management to cater for the full range of licence agreements• Cradle to Grave Management providing support from procurement to disposal.

For more than a decade House-on-the-Hill has provided complete service management solutions for over 500 businesses worldwide. Specialists in comprehensive solutions for any size business on time and in budget, House-on-the-Hill produces one of the most customisable and flexible service management tools on the market.It is this uniquely scalable approach that has made House-on-the-Hill a favourite in the UK and across the world. House-on-the-Hill: Pink Verified, scalable and easy-to-use service management solutions at a realistic price.

contact: tim roche; tel: 0161 449 7057; email: [email protected]

aware Stand 540/842

Digital Fuel is the leading provider of service management software solutions for IT and business services. Meet with us at Booth 314 to see how our software solutions help improve business results from IT, Telco, HR, and F&A services at such global companies as BT, Cisco, Cognizant, Computacenter, CSC, Cummins, Dell, Deutsche Bank, GE, IBM, Nestle, O2, Procter & Gamble, Siemens, SITA, Steria, Telefonica, Wipro and many others.

learn more about digital Fuel at www.digitalfuel.com or call us today on +44 (0) 800 756 9970.

Citrix GoToAssist is the fast and effective remote support solution proven to improve call resolution time and reduce travel and support costs. Secure, easy-to-use GoToAssist remote support technology lets users view and control client computers without any software pre-installation. GoToAssist Express is purpose-built for individual support providers, enabling them to sign up online and set up in minutes to support both PC and Mac users. GoToAssist Corporate is a comprehensive support solution for multi-agent organisations that enables team collaboration and escalation and provides advanced management, monitoring and reporting tools.

Web: www.gotoassist.co.uk; email: [email protected]; tel: 0800 011 2120

iccm provides revolutionary software and superior services to organisations aspiring to Best practice service management.

iccm’s forward-thinking approach blends their first-class service desk tool with the functionality of business technology in the

form of metastorm Bpm®. this collaboration delivers unparalleled service management capabilities across all global industries

and business functions.

Digital Fuel Stand 314

citrix Stand 640

Iccm Stand 610

special focus – driving efficiency with end-to-end itsm.

EMC is demonstrating how out-of-the-box integration between its ITIL v3 PinkVerified ITSM solution Infra and EMC’s Smarts Application Discovery Manager (ADM) delivers the ‘holy grail’ of CMDB accuracy through rapid population and continual CI updating, with automated mapping of services to CIs and the infrastructure. Pre-book a demonstration to receive a free 1GB USB Memory Stick (while stocks last!).

email [email protected] or visit stand to book. plus free prize draw – win a sony reader e-Book.

ISEB is part of the British Computer Society (BCS) and is a worldwide exam body. With over 40 years’ experience ISEB continues to lead the way in exams for IT professionals. We have delivered over 380,000 exams in over 50 countries and our portfolio of qualifications covers eight major subject areas (including ITIL / IT service management).

Our qualifications add value to professional careers by providing both the means and the platform for recognition and enhanced career development.

emc Stand 830

ISeb Stand 536

Hornbill can help you put the customer first! Visit stand 300.• Win an iPod Touch 8GB: prize draw from 10am, every hour. Attend a presentation on “IT Service Management with a Human Touch” to enter.• “Computer says “No!” Is service delivery becoming robotic? Are we losing the human touch?” Collect your free survey white paper.• See a demonstration of Supportworks ITSM solutions - find out how to improve service delivery, benefit the business and put the customer first.Learn about the challenges and successes of ITSM: attend the seminar ‘Location, location, location’ presented by Hornbill customer, Knight Frank on Tuesday 28th April in the Theatre 2 from 12:30 to 13:15.

hornbill Stand 300

house on The hill Stand 316

ManageEngine is the leader in low cost enterprise IT management software. The ManageEngine suite offers enterprise IT management solutions including Network Management, HelpDesk & ITIL, Bandwidth Monitoring, Application Management, Desktop Management, Security Management, Password Management, Active Directory reporting, IT Assets Management, VoIP reporting, and a Managed Service platform. ManageEngine products are easy to install setup and offer extensive support, consultation, and training. More than 30,000 organisations from different verticals, industries and sizes, including three out of every five Fortune 500 companies use ManageEngine to take care of their IT management needs cost effectively. ManageEngine is a division of AdventNet Inc. for more information please visit: www.managemeengine.com.

manageengine Stand 730


VItAl eVents

NetSupport specialises in the development and promotion of commercial software packages to manage and support local and wide area computer networks. Its flagship products are the highly successful NetSupport Manager Remote Control and PC Management application and NetSupport DNA, offering advanced Enterprise Asset Management. At this year’s event NetSupport will be showcasing the latest update to NetSupport DNA (version 3), which incorporates the introduction of Mobile Device support in the product’s ITIL compliant Helpdesk component.

contact: colette reed ([email protected]

netSupport Software Ltd Stand 934

pink elephant is a global professional services organisation and world leader in it management best practices. the company exists

to optimise it services, specialising in improving the quality of it services through the application of best practice frameworks, such

as itil, which has service desk at its core. come and visit us on stand 420 at this year’s service desk & it support show to see our

attitude, Behaviour & culture (aBc) of ict and how it can impact your services.

Pink elephant Stand 420

A powerful solution combining out-of-the box functionality with a modular approach designed to overcome the challenges of supporting an ever changing corporate environment.• Service Management - fully supporting ITIL including Incident, Problem and Change Management and a CMS/CMDB.• Service Availability - advanced Event Management, Availability and Capacity Management alongside a Technical Service Catalogue with Fault Failure Matrix.• Asset Lifecycle Management - hardware and software asset management from cradle to grave management and including agentless discovery and auditing.

rmS Services Limited Stand 842/540


vital magazine is a B2B journal designed specifically for senior professionals who are keen to understand the impact it has on the modern business. covering various topics that include it & Business service management, vital magazine is a ‘must read’ for any individual concerned about today’s business processes.

31 media, crawley Business centre, stephenson Way, crawley, West sussex, rh10 1tntel: +44 (0) 870 863 6930 Fax: +44 (0) 870 085 8837 email: [email protected] web: www.vital-mag.net.

VitaL magazine media Partner


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VItAl eVents

united communications ’09 sees the introduction of the visual

communications expo as a new and separate part of the exhibition looking at communicating through visual mediums delivered by the cloud. according to the organiser, the show gives visitors the opportunity to expand their knowledge of unified communications through a variety of seminars and by speaking to technology vendors directly on the exhibition floor.

For those looking to delve deeper into the technology’s effects in real terms, Nortel’s Applications Alive features live demonstrations of UC technology in real life situations covering retail, healthcare and education. And anyone looking for a hands-on experience to prove that video conferencing far exceeds the sum of its parts, the Microsoft Community event will see end users, resellers and experts demonstrate this intuitive collaboration system in the familiar browser-based environment.

Key speakers to look out for include: • Dave Armstrong, head of product &

marketing, Google Enterprise, EMEA – The consumer in your business: How their expectations are driving how your business communicates.

• Ian Robin, director, Skype for Business – Consumer to SOHO and beyond, don’t get left in the slow lane – Skype as a business tool

• Mark Spencer, created the open source PBX solution Asterix in 1999 and is founder and CTO of Digium – Unified developers and unified communications.

• Jim Burton, founder and CXO of CT Link, LLC and co-founder of UC Strategies.com – How to justify a unified communications solution in these troubled economic times

• And a keynote speech from Bruce Morse, VP unified communications software at IBM.

Jim Burton, founder of CT Link, said: “We are at an exciting stage in the evolution of unified communications and one that fits with the global economic environment. We started with solutions that integrated or united the silos of communications; often referred to as ‘click to

communicate’. Now enterprises are starting to integrate communications into business processes. This is presenting compelling ROIs, often in less than a year, while also providing a competitive advantage and improved customer service.”

Companies exhibiting at the show include Nortel, Tandberg, ShoreTel, Cisco, BT, SMART and IBM. The exhibition floor provides visitors with the opportunity to meet with over 100 different suppliers and view over 500 of the latest products in the UC arena.

Richard Edwards, information management practice director, Butler Group said: “Unified communications can be of great benefit and value to organisations, especially given the current economic climate and the increasing need to cut costs. But IT and business

managers must be aware of the options and possibilities before embarking on unified communication and collaboration projects.”

“UC 08 was a great success, we saw many of our customers and partners at the event, and shared some great ideas between us as to how Nortel could help with cutting costs, improving revenues and getting ever closer to customers. I look forward to having more interesting discussions about how Nortel can help our customers at UC 09,” comments John Mann, leader, unified communications, EMEA, Nortel.

Attendance to the event is free, and will also have access to the new Visual Communications Expo as well as the ever popular VoIP for Business. www.ucexpo.co.uk

United we standUnified Communications ’09 boasts high level speakers and the latest UC, VoIP and visual communications technologies, applications and hands-on demonstrations. The show, which incorporates VoIP for Business, takes place from 11 – 12 March 2009, at Olympia, London will explain everything there is know about next generation business communications according to the organiser.

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helpdesk Internal/external

unit 4 charlton business Park, crudwell road, malmesbury, wiltshire, Sn16 9ru T: + 44 (0) 1666 828 600 F: + 44 (0) 1666 826103 w: www.iccm.co.uk c: kate colclough e: [email protected] ICCM supply Service Desk software created within Metastorms™ leading process improvement architecture. This collaboration delivers unparalleled Service Management capabilities across all industries and business functions. By developing its technology from the process up around the ITIL® framework ICCM’s software allows customers to tailor processes around their company’s actual needs.

Iccm SoLuTIonS

150 wharfedale road, winnersh Triangle, wokingham, berkshire. rg41 5rg T: 0118 918 6503 F: 0118 969 9749 w: www.itsmf.co.uk c: ben clacy e: [email protected] 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.

IT SerVIce managemenT Forum

customer Service & call centre Solutions

Third avenue, globe business Parkmarlow, buckinghamshire SL7 1ey T: +44 (0) 1628 898 888 F: +44 (0) 1628 898 777 w: www.kana.com c: warren holtman KANA helps the world’s best known brands master customer service experience. Our solutions help companies create consistent, knowledgeable conversations with customers across every channel; phone, email, chat, and web. KANA’s clients report significant increases in customer satisfaction and loyalty.

cuSTomer SerVIce neTwork

general Training

Suite a1, kebbell house, carpenders Park, watford. wD19 5be

T: + 44 (0) 20 8421 5330 F: + 44 (0) 20 8421 5457 w: www.ukcmg.org.uk c: Laura goss, ukcmg Secretariat e: [email protected] is an independent, non-profit, user group organisation targeted at improving members’ knowledge, skills and abilities in Capacity Management and related IT service management disciplines. We achieve this through a combination of events including, a three-day Annual Conference and networking between end-users, consultants & suppliers

ukcmg

news, Views,Strategy,

managementcase studies

and opinion pieces

To advertise in VitaL contact Ian Trevett on

+44 (0)1293 934463


vital-mag.net

yourVitaL

magazine

Industry body / association

north Star house, north Star avenue,

Swindon, Sn2 1Fa

T: +44 (0) 1793 417596

w: www.bcs.org

c: Suky kaur Sunner

e: [email protected]

BCS is the leading professional body

for those working in IT. We have over

65,000 members in more than 100

countries and are the qualifying body for

Chartered IT Professionals (CITP). Please

go to www.bcs.org to learn more.

bcS

west house, west Street, haslemere, Surrey gu27 2ab T: +44 (0) 1428 641616 F: +44 (0) 1428 641717 w: www.richmondsupportdesk.com c: Simon armstrong e: [email protected] Richmond Systems service management solution Richmond SupportDesk enables rapid implementation of enterprise wide support based on ITIL® best practices.Richmond SupportDesk maximises the efficiency of your support operation and raises service levels for internal IT Service Management and Managed Service Provider environments.

rIchmonD SySTemS

IT Service management consultants

warwick Innovation centre, warwick Technology Park, gallows hill, warwick, warwickshire, cV34 6uw

T: +44 (0) 1926 405 777 F: +44 (0) 1926 405 778 w: www.fgiltd.co.uk c: jayne neal, Sales manager e: [email protected] FGI are leading suppliers of ITIL®, PRINCE2™ and ISO20000 training and consultancy. Our dedication to these core competencies allow us to provide the highest quality service. We work with your organisation to understand and develop the most effective training programmes.

FgI


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IT Service management consulting Training

chester house, 76-86 chertsey road, woking, Surrey, gu21 5bj T: +44 (0) 1483 221222 F: +44 (0) 1483 221500 w: www.foxit.net e: [email protected]

Fox IT is a global independent Service Management specialist having undertaken transformation engagements in over 50 countries. Recognised as the premier supplier of Consultancy, Education, Solutions and Accelerators, Fox IT has the most extensive ITIL based ITSM and Governance practice in the world.

FoX IT


Prudence Place, Proctor way, Luton, bedfordshire. Lu2 9Pe

T: 01582 488242 F: 01582 488343 w: www.wardownconsulting.co.uk c: rosemary gurney e: [email protected]

Wardown Consulting was established to help businesses capitalise from the substantial benefits that IT Service Management can deliver. Our consultants boast a wealth of industry experience and are accredited to deliver ITIL v2 and v3 training.

warDown conSuLTIng


127 Stockport rd, marple, cheshire Sk6 6aF T: +44 (0) 161 449 7057 F: +44 (0) 161 449 7122 w: www.houseonthehill.com c: Tim roche e: [email protected] in providing comprehensive solutions for any size business on time, in budget and uniquely tailored to your needs, House-on-the-Hill produces SupportDesk; the most flexible service management solution on the market. House-on-the-Hill provides comprehensive solutions for over 500 businesses worldwide.

houSe-on-The-hILL SoFTware

IT Service management Systems

60 melville Street, edinburgh, eh3 7hF

T: +44 (0) 131 220 4748 F: +44 (0) 131 220 4281 w: www.axiossystems.com c: jenny Duncan e: [email protected]

Axios Systems, a leading provider of IT Service Management solutions, uses a customer-centric approach to ensure customers can align their Service and Support with the overall business goals. Axios is headquartered in the UK, with 12 offices across the world.

aXIoS SySTemS

atlantic house, Imperial way, reading. rg2 0TD

T: + 44 (0) 118 903 6824 F: + 44 (0) 118 903 6282 w: www.pinkelephant.com c: Frances Fenn e: [email protected]

Acknowledged worldwide as niche, independent, IT Service Management Education and Consulting providers. Having trained more people than any other company in ITIL related subjects since 1987, we have contributed to all 3 versions of the ITIL books.

PInk eLePhanT

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: [email protected] 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.

kePner-Tregoe

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: [email protected] improves your service organisation, delivering value to your company’s core business. The unique combination of ITIL process knowledge and thorough knowledge of Service and System Management Software enables us to deliver successful implementation within the defined budget.

InFraVISIon



50 barwell business Park, Leatherhead roadchessington, Surrey. kT9 2ny T: +44 (0) 208 391 9000 F: +44 (0) 208 391 0404 w: www.sunrisesoftware.co.uk c: angela Steel e: [email protected] is a leading independent provider of service management software solutions for IT and across the organisation, with a customer base of over 1000 blue chip and public sector organisations.

SunrISe SoFTware

IT Service management consultants

60 Lombard Street, London. ec3V 9ea T: +44 (0) 207 464 8414 F: +44 (0) 207 464 8888 w: www.icore-ltd.com e: [email protected] iCore is the UK’s largest independent service management consultancy. From best practice alignment, governance, outsourcing and contract consulting to ITIL training and recruitment — our range of high quality services help to ensure our clients optimise ROI through the deployment of efficient and effective IT service provision methods and sustainable controls.

Icore

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vital-mag.net

news, Views, Strategy management

case studies and opinion pieces

your VitaL magazine

To advertise in VitaL contact Ian Trevett

on +44 (0)1293 934463


Dukes court, Duke Street, woking, Surrey gu21 5rT T: +44 (0) 1483 744444 F: +44 (0) 1483 744401 w: www.touchpaper.com c: Louisa maguire e: [email protected] over 20 years’ experience, Touchpaper is one of the most established international providers of IT Business Management (ITBM) solutions (covering IT Service Management, Customer Service Solutions and Network & Systems Management). Touchpaper serves 1,800 customers and 3 million users.

TouchPaPer SoFTware

1 newmans row, Lincoln road, high wycombe, buckinghamshire, hP12 3re T: +44 (0) 1494 465066 F: +44 (0) 1494 464756 w: www.tesseract.co.uk c: mark montgomery e: [email protected] Tesseract’s Service Centre is a true web product using Microsoft.Net Technology and as a browser based product supports multiple databases, allowing for a ‘zero footprint client’. Running on an IIS server the system also supports remote communications via the internet. The system can be hosted to reduce installation costs.

TeSSeracT


31 media, crawley business centre, Stephenson way, crawley, west Sussex, rh10 1Tn

T: +44 (0) 870 863 6930 F: +44 (0) 870 085 8837 w: www.31media.co.uk c: grant Farrell e: [email protected] The VitAL Focus Groups are peer to peer discussion forums that take place at regular intervals throughout the year and provide a solid platform for senior IT professionals to discuss, debate, and hopefully resolve some of their key challenges.

VITaL FocuS grouPS

Publications, events, conferences


31 media, crawley business centre, Stephenson way, crawley, west Sussex, rh10 1Tn T: +44 (0) 870 863 6930 F: +44 (0) 870 085 8837 w: www.31media.co.uk c: Lorretta walsh e: [email protected] the european software tester is a publication designed specifically for individuals and organisations aligned with software testing. With independent, practical, and insightful editorial T.E.S.T aims to inspire its readers and provide its advertisers with a clearly defined route to market.

TeST magazIne


31 media, crawley business centre, Stephenson way, crawley, west Sussex, rh10 1Tn T: +44 (0) 870 863 6930 F: +44 (0) 870 085 8837 w: www.31media.co.uk c: grant Farrell e: [email protected] Customer is a UK based magazine for senior professionals who are committed to ensuring their businesses are totally customer centric. With a pragmatic editorial approach Customer aims to bring clarity and vision to a sector that has become increasingly complex.

cuSTomer magazIne


connaught house, Portsmouth road,

Send, Surrey, gu23 7jy

T: +44 (0) 1483 213 200 F: +44 (0) 1483 213 201 w: www.infra.co.uk e: [email protected]

Based on ITIL best practice, EMC’s IT Service Automation & Operations solutions deliver end-to-end IT Service Management, visibility and control by enabling and improving the Service Desk function, service-centric CMDB population and federation, as well as key processes.

emc

Sword house, Totteridge road, high wycombe, buckinghamshire, uk

T: + 44 (0) 1494 452 450 F: + 44 (0) 1494 459559 w: www.apmg-uk.com c: nicola mckinney e: [email protected]

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.

aPmg

Qualifications and accreditations

Qualifications and accreditations

First Floor, block D, north Star house, north Star ave, Swindon, wiltshire, Sn1 3jj

T: +44 (0) 1793 417655 F: +44 (0) 1793 417559 w: www.iseb-exams.com e: [email protected]

ISEB is part of the British Computer Society (BCS) and is a worldwide exam body.

Respected by employers for over 40 years ISEB have delivered over 380,000 exams worldwide in over 50 countries and continue to lead the way in exams for IT professionals.

ISeb

64

secrets oF MY sUccess

VitAL : March / APril 2009

peter hopton’s company verypc was founded in 2004, its aim to provide an ethical it solution, reducing energy consumption and providing a more sustainable product. it launched its first greenpc in 2005, based on the amd turion processor. last year the company grew substantially, acquiring new customers from good energy to esher college. in June it moved to a new factory at parkwood springs in sheffield, which was opened by secretary of state for the environment, the rt hon. hilary Benn mp and the former home secretary, the rt hon. david Blunkett mp.

The company applied for, and was awarded the ‘Made in Sheffield’ mark for its products. Sheffield being a protected name under law, the process involved an inspection by the Sheffield Company of Cutlers, to ensure that a significant state change had occurred in the city.

In tribute to receiving the mark, Hopton ordered the first ‘Made in Sheffield’ Treeton PC to be sold at auction in aid of St. Luke’s Hospice, the favourite charity of the Master Cutler.

vital caught up with peter hopton recently to ask what is the secret of his success.

Vital: Name, company and job title please? Peter hopton: Peter Hopton, 27yrs old, Managing Director of VeryPC. I’m married with one daughter who was born on 27th December last year.

Vital: Married? Kids?? Peter hopton: I’m married with one daughter who was born on 27th December last year. VitaL: What got you started in IT?

Ph: My Dad got me a Commodore 64 when I was very young, then when I was 11 at school I got to fix a broken 386 PC. I got my GCSE in electronics when I was 14, and built my first PC for profit at about the same time.

VitaL: Was there any one person or organisation that was your inspiration?Ph: Digital (DEC), their kit was out of this world, leading edge. In fact I think it’s a great shame they got bought out by Compaq. I had a Digital Hi Note 2000 laptop and it was awesome at least five years ahead of its time!

VitaL: What was your first IT job, what was your first major IT triumph?Ph: I lived in Virginia (US) for a bit when I was 17. While we lived there, I ran my own computer business with my dad helping out as the front man. My real triumph was having my own business customers and making quite a good go of it.

VitaL: Did you ever make any embarrassing mistakes? What did you learn from them?Ph: Well, I think it was a mistake going on Dragons Den, I thought I could educate people about the environmental impact of IT. Instead it was like watching the highlights from a football match, where all they show is the goals for the opposition! Two hours in the ‘Den’ edited down to 10 minutes!

VitaL: What is your biggest ambition?Ph: To be the next big IT manufacturer, but at the same time to have a huge impact on reducing global climate change. IT worldwide

is operationally responsible for two to three percent of carbon emissions which is approximately the same as the aviation industry – but this percentage doesn’t include the manufacturing and recycling effects in either. What’s interesting is the growth in carbon emissions; while aviation is static, IT is growing and will be twice as bad as aviation by 2020.

‘Green IT’ is a concept that comprises ‘smart ICT’ and ‘eco-efficient IT’. Smart ICT involves changing the behaviour of people so they act in a more eco-friendly way – teleworking, teleconferencing, that sort of thing. Eco-efficient ICT provides business with exactly the same or better performance from their IT equipment, but in a much more energy efficient way. We have to offer an alternative without a change in behaviour that significantly reduces CO2 emission, reduces cost and gives the user real green credential.

VitaL: What do you like best about your job?Ph: I get to do everything I want to, I get a varied work life and I get a lot of pressure which is something I thrive on.

VitaL: What are your hobbies or interests?Ph: Er.... computers? More specifically, inventing and innovating.

VitaL: What is the secret of your success?Ph: Understanding the market, the product and innovating as much as possible.

VitaL: Peter Hopton, thank you very much.

Peter Hopton VeryPc

“it was a mistake going on Dragons Den, I thought I could educate people about the environmental

impact of IT. Instead it was like watching the highlights from a football match, where all they

show is the goals for the opposition!”

Tel: +44 (0) 118 918 6500

Fax: +44 (0) 118 969 9749

Or visit our website

www.itsmf.co.uk

by the members for the members

The only internationally recognised and independent organisation dedicated to IT Service Management. It is a non-profit-making organisation wholly owned and principally operated by the members.

itSMF is global with chapters around the world, giving members access to a network of industry experts and peers all ready to exchange ideas and experiences to avoid duplicating mistakes and improve service management.

Regular regional meetings and an Annual Conference & Exhibition plus web-based facilities combine to provide a rich and rewarding learning experience. Plus there are huge savings to be made when purchasing best practice materials.

The itSMF benefits IT service professionals at all levels within an organisation. It provides the latest industry information, facilitates knowledge sharing and helps members during every phase of the IT Service Management process.

helping develop & promote best practice & standards in IT Service Management

743 - advert (vital).indd 1 16/9/08 10:15:16

Vista compatible Complete Asset Management

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With full AD integration, optional ITIL-based Helpdesk and market leading Remote Control, there has never been a better time to see how NetSupport DNA can save you money and time. Download a 50 user trial copy today.

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For more information and to download a free 30 day trial please visit www.netsupportdna.com

vital magazine - march-april 2009

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