The Evolution of Business Service Management - Part 1: Defining BSM

Welcome to the first posting in the “The Evolution of Business Service Management” blog series. So, we will begin with a definition of Business Service Management (“BSM”) and then cover the fundamentals of BSM in my next posting. My definition of BSM is derived from my recent experience as the Global CTO for one of the largest private equity companies. In this role, I continually saw that each of our seven + data centers, as well as, in the IT operations of most of our portfolio companies the proliferation of siloed point solutions each covering two or less of the elements of a critical service. For example: In one of our Asian data centers we had three network management products, eleven host or device-oriented point tools, five network monitoring products and at least five security products. Most of these were either not being actively monitored or they were not adequately performing the function in which they were purchased for. For that matter, three of these items were not even installed (“shelfware”). Needless to say this seems to be common amongst medium and large businesses, since most IT organizations do not have a cohesive strategy around monitoring and managing their critical services nor do they fully understand the business impact of the loss or degradation of these service(s) to the organization. BSM is both a strategy as well as, a framework within several service management strategies like ITILfor linking business processes and data with the critical IT services, so their true business impact both good and bad may be determined. This helps management understand the strategic value of their investments in technology and plan for its impact on the organization.  For more on BSM

Please note that even the analysts are having a hard time determining  a single concise definition of BSM.  This is because th idea of strategically aligning your IT organizations operational goals with the Company strategic goals in an actionable way has been a trial of errors till recently.   There are numerous vendors out there now trying to come up with a definition of BSM that closely relates to their current management or monitoring products versus producing a solution that aligns itself with the idea of true BSM.  So when selecting a BSM product be careful and do your homework. 

So, after reading this post and my definition of BSM…it is easy to understand how important BSM is becoming for IT organizations around the globe. The linking of corporate strategic goals and objectives with the IT operations in a measurable and actionable way is quickly becoming another major step in maturization process for world-class organizations.