Analytics holds a promise of so much more. It should be able to pinpoint the most important “things” (config, people, process) that are the difference in how effective IT really is (cost, availability, security, etc). What is the determining factor…across all this big mess that is my IT infrastructure…that is most important in determining which service is more available? Etc… Very cool space with mature technology that has never been applied to understanding IT complexity…

You’ve been busy! Good information - keep up the good work.

Since this is a continuation of the another post on the categories, I’ll respond here.

Virtualization is disruptive. It is important to recognize complete shifts in paradigms. I think Virtualization is a game changing event in IT that simplifies many tasks (which isn’t all good by the way) and complicates others (ex: troubleshooting). It’s your model, so, I’ll leave it to you…it is more of a theme or thread that runs through and impacts everything.

In terms of the skill set required, I agree there is a difference skillset (and thus level of skill/individual) required to perform the tasks you mention. However, I was trying to convey the relationship of Configuration to the other aspects. There is only one reason something is available, performant, secure, etc. — you are serving up a configuration that results in those things. The complexity of the configurations is increasing in many ways which complicates many of the other functions. What “part” of the stack is unavailable? It isn’t the simple “ping” it used to be….

Help Desks are evolving as is the role and skill of the people responsible. I’m an ex IT guy. The help desk people used to have very little value and skill to an oranization. That is NOT the case today. When moving to a Service Desk model and adopting process models like ITIL, these groups are getting very senior and skilled IT folks that understand the broader Service Delivery model. The game is changing…

Okay, now my view on Analytics. In terms of where it should and could be applied, it most definitely spans both the functional ares as well as the Infrastructure categories. That is the whole idea. Take data that would traditionally be in a silo and put it together in a way that begins to see how they ***relate*** to each other. How does my CM change/process impact security, performance, availability…and how did that impact my ability to respond (service desk, etc). True analytics looks for how people respond to technology including how the process responds…very, very cool and compelling stuff.

Yeah, I’m a bit passionate and opinionated about this!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Randy