US-based business service management company Managed Objects has appointed local ICT service management services and solutions specialist NSS as a premier business partner in SA.
NSS Director Lynda Odendaal confirmed the appointment and said Managed Objects - which introduced the concept of business service management along with the first software to deliver it in 1997 - was recognised by the global analyst community as having the methodology and software as "best in class".
Based on Managed Objects` Formula software - which works by relating networks, systems, end-users, applications, and even business metrics to the services that IT delivers - the company has implemented business service management (BSM) solutions worldwide.
"The product will further help our customers to monitor, manage and report on the availability and performance of online trading, customer relationship management, corporate e-mail and many other services," Odendaal said.
BSM, she explained, helps IT to align itself with the business, as well as to manage its support priorities within a business context.
"Delivering BSM takes tools that not only indicate the availability and performance of business services like online trading or an SAP environment - but that also pinpoint how technology is impacting those services," she said. According to Gartner, this approach offers five key benefits:
* Visual representation of the dependencies between business processes, business applications and the IT infrastructure (servers, storage, networks, middleware and databases). This gives the IT operations group an understanding of the business impact of a component outage or job slowdown so it can better prioritise operational tasks.
* Reduced downtime and shorter problem resolution time because IT support focuses on solving the correct, high priority, business-relevant issues.
* Operational efficiency because operators can use a single console for viewing the status of business services as well as for displaying IT infrastructure views.
* Business service views can be customised and enabled for viewing by business users, thus giving the line of business a better understanding of how the IT infrastructure is performing.
* Greater credibility with the business by demonstrating the IT operations group`s understanding of how it supports business processes and by improving communications.
While aligning the IT and the business can be a complex process, there are many ways to find significant value in days or weeks. In fact, most of our customers use Formula, our business service management platform, to address their most pressing challenges, like prioritising problems, monitoring the end-user experience or consolidating consoles.
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