* Call for feedback on coverage
Recently, it occurred to me that I’ve never written a column asking you about what you want to read. Once this realization hit me, I felt it was long overdue.
This is not a contest – but I will share some of the better ideas. Certainly, I intend to take you up on what you want to read. Send e-mail to:
Another reason this has come to mind is that Enterprise Management Associates has been finalizing its research plans for 2003, and so we are considering where the hot areas for coverage are. Here are few thoughts to stimulate your own thinking.
EMA will continue to investigate organizational issues (such as help desks vs. op centers, or application management vs. network management) from the perspective of processes, tools and cultures. One simple way to look at it is, if you’re going to manage services, you have to manage infrastructure. But then, who’s actually organized to manage “infrastructure”? More generally, we will be examining what kind of guidance you should look for in addressing the number one investment you make in management – people, organization and processes.
EMA believes that “managing to the service” is becoming a critical demark between the past and the future. Research indicates that while 100% of IT executives believe service-level management (SLM) is important, only slightly more than 50% have some strategy in place, most of which is network-centric. It’s clear there’s work to be done. And with the number one gating factor to SLM being “complexity” (for which you may substitute the word “fear”), it’s also clear that a big part of the effort is in establishing comfort, process and priorities.
Is return on investment going to be as big in 2003 as in 2002? If so, how will it be different? EMA has some views here (witness Mike Jude’s column last week), but I’d like to hear yours.
How should you set your purchasing priorities when it comes to management software? What should you look for? What are you already doing when you buy management products, and how is it different than before?
I’ve written about some hot market areas, but what do you see as hot? What do you most need and care about?
This is also a time when there are some clear winners in the management marketplace, and what seem to be a growing number of turnarounds. What’s separating the winners from the losers? Is there a consistent formula for success for independent software vendors? What should you be aware of in this shakeout if you’re a customer hoping not to get trapped with a dead-end company?
How will the security marketplace evolve vis-à-vis mainstream management (the FCAP in FCAPS)? Is the move to integrate security as an extension of mainstream services a major or minor trend?
What about integrating storage, wireless, and voice over IP into broader “infrastructure” management strategies? Will any of these really heat up in 2003?
Will asset and inventory planning see strong new levels of investment? How do these relate to service-level management and service-level agreement planning?
We’re also looking at operations support system vendors and OSS dynamics. Where is that marketplace going? How will OSS providers move into the enterprise in 2003? What about vice versa?
Finally, we’ll also be looking at outsourcing management services. When should you do it and how? How is it different today than in the past?
Let me know your thoughts. What do you want to read about?
