I had a few precious moments to browse some research on what the big gorillas may have planned as ITIL V3 gets ready to storm the beaches, and I must say the hair on the back of my neck is standing up again.
Many clients are still wrestling with establishing cross-functional processes, and some have not even addressed IT service management best practice at all. After a ‘shock & awe’ campaign of CMDB bombardment, get ready for the next wave – ITIL V3.
One analyst sees the potential for “the categories of ITSM, business service management (BSM), application lifecycle management, service desk, and IT portfolio and asset management to blend into a single category which we are calling ‘service lifecycle management’.”
The blood’s in the water on this one. For many, the ‘shock & awe’ of CMDB madness has barely worn off and the water’s still rising. Before you reach for the ITIL V3 lifeboat, there may be some things to consider.
All the gorillas have been on a spending spree, loading their guns for the next campaign. Their marketing machines are ramping up into high gear, but it will be up to us (again) to see whether they’ve properly digested their meals or have regressed to their slovenly ways.
Before ITIL V3 is let loose on us, I thought I’d offer a few humble comments. We are sure to hear more new buzzwords, as well as the trusted old standbys like “correlation” and “root-cause”.
Yes, I’m going to talk about ‘monitoring’ (again). There is already a blurring of the lines between stress testing, optimization, monitoring, diagnosis and administrative tools. The pending blitzkrieg may obliterate any rational segmentation of these differences, and if you don’t want to be eaten alive pay attention…
There have been service oriented monitoring products for several years now that have taken a back seat to the CMDB madness. There are a few things you need to make sure of as the new bombardment begins:
1. Make sure that the monitor can automatically establish time-varying thresholds. Without this capability, the scope of what you’ll be able to monitor will be too limited to provide significant value.
2. Understand the licensing policy. Insist on a ‘universal’ license, not a per CPU, per platform or (worst of all) per application plugin model.
3. Beware of ‘root cause’ claims. Force suppliers to demonstrate this capability in your environment, and watch carefully how they set up the monitor. Too much time orchestrating, writing rules and limiting testing alternatives should raise some red flags.
4. Don’t confuse ‘integration’ with effectiveness, ease of use and rapid deployment. SaaS alternatives can separate the men from the boys on this one. If the monitor can be set up and proven as part of a SaaS engagement, now they’re walking the talk. Force this issue!
At the heart of this new wave of V3 goodness is a need for intelligent service oriented monitoring. Leveraging the core ITIL Support and Delivery processes in a service lifecycle approach will be attractive; clearly customers have provided some input.
But as the hype increases don’t forget what you need to do, which may be much more down to earth than the pounding drumbeat that is coming. With blood already in the water, staying on top of the basics can keep you from being bitten.