Virtual Sprawl -- Rapid server virtualization has set the stage for a new malady known as 'virtual sprawl.' Here's what Wall Street firms are doing about it.
Penny Crosman. Wall Street & Technology. New York: Sep 2008. Vol. 26, Iss. 9; pg. 20. Accessed Via Proquest Telecommunications Database.
With the increasing amount of virtualization IT being implemented in the financial services industry, Wall-Street firms are encountering a new managerial problem labeled “virtual sprawl”. According to Crosman who writes for Wall Street & Technology, Virtual Sprawl refers “To the condition in which IT managers and, in some cases, even end users have been installing virtual machines all over the organization, creating a chaotic mess that is hard to manage.” Virtual sprawl came about as a response to “server sprawl”, a condition in which an organization has too many physical servers in use.
Virtual sprawl has proven to be problematic as many applications are not getting the server, storage and memory that is necessary to run efficiently. Virtual sprawl makes it difficult for companies to keep track of all of their systems and many times forces companies to buy more software than they really need. Additionally, virtual sprawl has also increased costs in maintenance fees as it is becoming more difficult to troubleshoot machines which move around and run multiple operating systems. Virtual sprawl is particularly problematic in the financial services industry. Functions such as algorithmic trading, financial modeling and simulation software are suffering in wall-street firms due to a lack of connectivity and communication between applications. While it is important to insure that each application has the proper memory and communication necessary to be used with other devices, the article mentions that the process is often overlooked and can be very difficult to manage on a large scale.
Part of the solution to virtual sprawl has been the development of IT mapping software which provides a “visual map” of every function of virtual applications to insure that devices are set up correctly and communicate properly with one another. Unfortunately, IT mapping software has limitations, as it does not track performance of the devices, just how they interconnect with one another. The solution to this problem has been the very recent development of configuration monitoring tools, which take data from virtual machine performance software (VMWare) and queries that information in order to develop a complete view of the virtual environment and allow IT experts and specialists to configure applications as needed. Once this type of software is implemented, it allows managers to be able to monitor and configure virtual environments on one physical machine cutting costs and creating efficiency.
Finally, the article discusses how virtual environments are still superior to physical machines as it saves energy and dramatically reduces costs. This type of technology also allows companies like Wachovia to improve their “green-initiatives” while increased performance at the same time.
This article primarily focused on the development of software to combat the virtualization problem. While I mentioned configuration-monitoring tools, other forms of software are also being discussed and researched. For instance software tools for IT discovery, configuration management, provisioning, dispatching of servers, and inventory management are all listed as methods for solving this issue. While these ideas are beginning to be researched, configuration monitoring tools seem to provide the most efficient interface to interlink virtual IT systems because it allows adjustments to every system to be made from one physical machine.
I personally believe that despite the problems with virtualization, the movement towards a decrease in both paper and machine trails will continue to be demanded in the competitive financial services industry. In an environment where the accurate processing and calculating of large amounts of data means everything, systems must be virtualized in order to compete. However, I agree with the article that virtualization is not an excuse for just setting up virtual systems in a hodgepodge fashion. Instead, it is vital that the network fundamentals of virtual systems are mapped out and tracked consistently in order to prevent any future IT meltdowns. Fortunately, the development of applications like the ones discussed in this article are allowing IT managers to prevent such problems.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Future in IT
Modern day global competition and economic integration have placed a tremendous amount of pressure on the financial services sector to upgrade its information technology. Today’s consumers have become much more IT savvy, and as a result, expect to be presented with services and tools that build on their intricate comprehension. Society has developed an insatiable demand for knowledge that technological developments are unable to fulfill in its entirety; however, competition pushes the industry to try.
Based on the subsequent information, it is not surprising that the underlying strategy utilized by the financial services sector will not change drastically in the future. Future objectives will continue to target existing customers and aim to acquire new ones. According to articles published by CRM Magazine and USBanker, both prominent publications that discuss the latest issues and trends in customer relationship management and banking, the next generation in financial services will focus on upgrading information capabilities to better satisfy their customer’s changing needs.
Accordingly, current customer dissatisfaction in the financial services’ information technology is rooted to a lack of compatibility amongst systems, an excessive amount of required account logins, the inability to view holding in a single view, and scattered information. Future services will be designed to improve consumer satisfaction and correct inefficiencies. Ultimately, consumers can expect to see services that not only complement one another, but also the end users’ needs. Services are being designed to meet customer’s expectations in high quality content, personalization, and instant information.
In addition to adding availability, accessibility, quality, and timeliness, consumers can expect innovations in technology itself. Today Mobile Money Ventures LLC and SK Telecomm announced that it would provide Citibank Hong Kong with a new service platform that would support mobile banking and mobile stock trading. Through their phones, customers will now be able to manage their account, transfer money, make payments, time deposits, manage their portfolio, and buy and sell stocks. Consumers can expect more innovative products from Citibank in the future. The company is currently working on developing products for consumers that use public transportation to commute, manage their money online, and want more convenient retail banking experiences. The company’s goal is to “be everywhere its customers need it to be.”
While I am a major supporter of mobile banking, I am skeptical of mobile stock trading. Although it illustrates modern society’s strong ability to innovate and accommodate consumer needs, I fear that individuals will abuse the technology. Currently grade school children are being introduced to virtual stock exchange simulators and people are trying to get rich from their self-provoked beliefs that they too can become a successful day trader. In my opinion, implementing mobile stock trading technology will give rise to more day traders, which could potentially intensify individual financial problems.
Both articles accurately illustrate the growing trend toward customer satisfaction strategies. In my opinion, it is difficult to identify where more focus should be placed in the future; however, it is apparent that the role of people will be far less transactionally- focused and more strategic. But when it comes to cutting out human interface, will society be able to identify when we have gone too far?
“The Future of Financial Services." 1 Jan. 2004: 4,6+. ABI/INFORM Global. ProQuest. 30 Oct. 2008
“Next generation online channel reporting for banking and investment firms: companies must evolve information and account management capabilities to retain and grow customers” CRM Magazine. 1 March 2007.
“Mobile Money Ventures Powers Mobile Financial Services for Citibank Hong Kong”. Market Watch. 30 October 2007.
Based on the subsequent information, it is not surprising that the underlying strategy utilized by the financial services sector will not change drastically in the future. Future objectives will continue to target existing customers and aim to acquire new ones. According to articles published by CRM Magazine and USBanker, both prominent publications that discuss the latest issues and trends in customer relationship management and banking, the next generation in financial services will focus on upgrading information capabilities to better satisfy their customer’s changing needs.
Accordingly, current customer dissatisfaction in the financial services’ information technology is rooted to a lack of compatibility amongst systems, an excessive amount of required account logins, the inability to view holding in a single view, and scattered information. Future services will be designed to improve consumer satisfaction and correct inefficiencies. Ultimately, consumers can expect to see services that not only complement one another, but also the end users’ needs. Services are being designed to meet customer’s expectations in high quality content, personalization, and instant information.
In addition to adding availability, accessibility, quality, and timeliness, consumers can expect innovations in technology itself. Today Mobile Money Ventures LLC and SK Telecomm announced that it would provide Citibank Hong Kong with a new service platform that would support mobile banking and mobile stock trading. Through their phones, customers will now be able to manage their account, transfer money, make payments, time deposits, manage their portfolio, and buy and sell stocks. Consumers can expect more innovative products from Citibank in the future. The company is currently working on developing products for consumers that use public transportation to commute, manage their money online, and want more convenient retail banking experiences. The company’s goal is to “be everywhere its customers need it to be.”
While I am a major supporter of mobile banking, I am skeptical of mobile stock trading. Although it illustrates modern society’s strong ability to innovate and accommodate consumer needs, I fear that individuals will abuse the technology. Currently grade school children are being introduced to virtual stock exchange simulators and people are trying to get rich from their self-provoked beliefs that they too can become a successful day trader. In my opinion, implementing mobile stock trading technology will give rise to more day traders, which could potentially intensify individual financial problems.
Both articles accurately illustrate the growing trend toward customer satisfaction strategies. In my opinion, it is difficult to identify where more focus should be placed in the future; however, it is apparent that the role of people will be far less transactionally- focused and more strategic. But when it comes to cutting out human interface, will society be able to identify when we have gone too far?
“The Future of Financial Services." 1 Jan. 2004: 4,6+. ABI/INFORM Global. ProQuest. 30 Oct. 2008
“Next generation online channel reporting for banking and investment firms: companies must evolve information and account management capabilities to retain and grow customers” CRM Magazine. 1 March 2007.
“Mobile Money Ventures Powers Mobile Financial Services for Citibank Hong Kong”. Market Watch. 30 October 2007.
Treasury and IT link for monitoring financial firms
The Department of Treasury issued a document asking all banks, insurers, and financial services companies to implement new information technology systems to provide "real-time" data all of their operations to be able to monitor them more accurately.
These new technologies would force all of the companies involved to spend a good deal of money on new technology, but would hopefully be able to prevent issues like the sub-prime mortgage crisis or at least better prepare us for it. The exact dashboard that they are referring to is not named in the article.
This new technology would clearly not fix the current problems but I do believe for these companies to adopt new technologies that are even believed to be able to help us see these types of situation's coming then it makes perfect sense for them to take that money and invest it in this technology. The article mentioned it would almost "instantaneously" make them aware if any issues were going to come up. Although I do not believe this technology is the solution to all of the problems it is a step in the right direction.
http://web.ebscohost.com.proxyau.wrlc.org/ehost/pdf?vid=11&hid=16&sid=c848d53f-b4b6-44ac-97c4-a7ed49a90c70%40SRCSM2
These new technologies would force all of the companies involved to spend a good deal of money on new technology, but would hopefully be able to prevent issues like the sub-prime mortgage crisis or at least better prepare us for it. The exact dashboard that they are referring to is not named in the article.
This new technology would clearly not fix the current problems but I do believe for these companies to adopt new technologies that are even believed to be able to help us see these types of situation's coming then it makes perfect sense for them to take that money and invest it in this technology. The article mentioned it would almost "instantaneously" make them aware if any issues were going to come up. Although I do not believe this technology is the solution to all of the problems it is a step in the right direction.
http://web.ebscohost.com.proxyau.wrlc.org/ehost/pdf?vid=11&hid=16&sid=c848d53f-b4b6-44ac-97c4-a7ed49a90c70%40SRCSM2
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Stressed-out bankers get a forum to share the pain; Social Web site benefits from executives' jitters
This article talks about MeettheBoss.com, a social networking site, similar to Facebook and MySpace, but specifically designed for top financial executives, CEOs and other C-level positions. The reason I chose this article is because there will be a workshop and feature presentation of MeettheBoss.com at the FST (Financial Technology Services) Summit, which will be held between November 5 and 7, 2008, and is one of the places where the hottest topics in technology and next generation financial services will be discussed at the executive level.
One of the more interesting points in the article is the issue of registering in the website – it is almost completely exclusive, with 20,000 of its initial members invited, and any new applicants put through a rigorous screening process of checking titles, positions, place of employment and managed budget. According to the article, this screening process has already lead to the rejection of two-thirds of applicants so far, while the intended maximum usage of the website is topped out at 50,000.
A second interesting facet of this executive networking site is that it offers numerous technologically-enabled services to its members, such as online and conference call meetings, shared document storage similar to Google Docs, extensive mobile services and even the ability to utilize the website for internal company networking. All of these services are intended to spike interest in the website and maximize utility for busy professionals who don’t have the time of an average college student to sit in Facebook.
Finally, the website still has only one advertiser as of today (which is the software company CA) and has yet to unleash its full potential for profits from both advertising and links to the parent company (GDS) which publishes business-to-business magazines aimed at top-level executives. The implications of this rather strange initial strategy for making profits are discussed below.
The website has garnered huge attention during this financial crisis from executives who seek a less public vent for their worries and at the same time an informed conversation with colleagues across the industry. Considering that MeettheBoss.com has just become popular enough to be prominently featured in a mainstream newspaper article (the International Herald Tribune), some thought-provoking questions can be raised about the way the financial world is run behind closed URLs.
For one thing, it is safe to assume that executives of competing financial institutions will not openly share with each other their companies’ strategies for developing next generation services. However, it is not difficult to imagine that there will be some influences to their decision-making process stemming from interactions within the website – be they meetings and discussions in which several executives participate, new advertisements from firms trying to push for a revolutionary software or service, or even a casual chat between online buddies like Robert Steel (CEO of Wachovia) and Lloyd Blankfein (CEO of Goldman Sachs) – both of whom are supposedly registered, although the website keeps member identities strictly confidential to outsiders. Ultimately, we could see this website as a birthplace for unpolished ideas that can later result into cutting-edge services.
Aside from member and advertiser-based influences, we can also look into the parent company’s intention to link much of MeettheBoss.com to its executive magazines, possibly creating a situation in which a CEO might become as likely to habitually browse through carefully placed pre-paid articles, just as a typical Facebook user is likely to add an outside-sponsored application that will tell him/her how many other users think he/she is hot. In this case, instead of a birthplace for ideas, the website will function as a sieve for other companies’ ideas that get translated into the financial world.
Last but not least, a social networking site, not excluding one at the level of MeettheBoss.com, offers the potential of forging alliances. Given the lack of trust between financial institutions in the current situation, “personal” contact and interactions might be just the remedy for restoring cooperativeness between financial firms. At the same time, this could also result in partnerships that aim to develop new products and services jointly.
In the end, there seems to be huge potential for MeettheBoss.com to impact the next generation of financial services, just as MySpace and Facebook have impacted online interactions. This is quite possible, even in spite of MeettheBoss.com’s limited membership compared to these other social networking sites.
And let me be the first one to congratulate the Obama supporters in the class.
Main Article: Stressed-out bankers get a forum to share the pain; Social Web site benefits from executives' jitters
Author: Eric Sylvers - The New York Times Media Group
Source: The International Herald Tribune
Date: November 3, 2008 Monday
Database Accessed: Lexis-Nexis Academic
Other Sources: http://www.fstsummit.com/program.asp
One of the more interesting points in the article is the issue of registering in the website – it is almost completely exclusive, with 20,000 of its initial members invited, and any new applicants put through a rigorous screening process of checking titles, positions, place of employment and managed budget. According to the article, this screening process has already lead to the rejection of two-thirds of applicants so far, while the intended maximum usage of the website is topped out at 50,000.
A second interesting facet of this executive networking site is that it offers numerous technologically-enabled services to its members, such as online and conference call meetings, shared document storage similar to Google Docs, extensive mobile services and even the ability to utilize the website for internal company networking. All of these services are intended to spike interest in the website and maximize utility for busy professionals who don’t have the time of an average college student to sit in Facebook.
Finally, the website still has only one advertiser as of today (which is the software company CA) and has yet to unleash its full potential for profits from both advertising and links to the parent company (GDS) which publishes business-to-business magazines aimed at top-level executives. The implications of this rather strange initial strategy for making profits are discussed below.
The website has garnered huge attention during this financial crisis from executives who seek a less public vent for their worries and at the same time an informed conversation with colleagues across the industry. Considering that MeettheBoss.com has just become popular enough to be prominently featured in a mainstream newspaper article (the International Herald Tribune), some thought-provoking questions can be raised about the way the financial world is run behind closed URLs.
For one thing, it is safe to assume that executives of competing financial institutions will not openly share with each other their companies’ strategies for developing next generation services. However, it is not difficult to imagine that there will be some influences to their decision-making process stemming from interactions within the website – be they meetings and discussions in which several executives participate, new advertisements from firms trying to push for a revolutionary software or service, or even a casual chat between online buddies like Robert Steel (CEO of Wachovia) and Lloyd Blankfein (CEO of Goldman Sachs) – both of whom are supposedly registered, although the website keeps member identities strictly confidential to outsiders. Ultimately, we could see this website as a birthplace for unpolished ideas that can later result into cutting-edge services.
Aside from member and advertiser-based influences, we can also look into the parent company’s intention to link much of MeettheBoss.com to its executive magazines, possibly creating a situation in which a CEO might become as likely to habitually browse through carefully placed pre-paid articles, just as a typical Facebook user is likely to add an outside-sponsored application that will tell him/her how many other users think he/she is hot. In this case, instead of a birthplace for ideas, the website will function as a sieve for other companies’ ideas that get translated into the financial world.
Last but not least, a social networking site, not excluding one at the level of MeettheBoss.com, offers the potential of forging alliances. Given the lack of trust between financial institutions in the current situation, “personal” contact and interactions might be just the remedy for restoring cooperativeness between financial firms. At the same time, this could also result in partnerships that aim to develop new products and services jointly.
In the end, there seems to be huge potential for MeettheBoss.com to impact the next generation of financial services, just as MySpace and Facebook have impacted online interactions. This is quite possible, even in spite of MeettheBoss.com’s limited membership compared to these other social networking sites.
And let me be the first one to congratulate the Obama supporters in the class.
Main Article: Stressed-out bankers get a forum to share the pain; Social Web site benefits from executives' jitters
Author: Eric Sylvers - The New York Times Media Group
Source: The International Herald Tribune
Date: November 3, 2008 Monday
Database Accessed: Lexis-Nexis Academic
Other Sources: http://www.fstsummit.com/program.asp
USAA
Next generation financial services is an interesting way to categorize USAA. Although USAA provides services and products which may be considered ahead of their time,....it is a service exclusively available to military personnel from this generation as well as those previous.
United States Automobile Association (USAA) is a fortune 500 financial services company focused on providing banking, investing, and insurance services to those who serve or served in the military.
USAA provides amazing and competitive insurance and savings rates to its customers who reside around the world. Along with standard banking features, some of the features USAA provides include free and unlimited fund transfers to any US bank and the ability of members to deposit checks by simply scanning them! USAA "Deposit@Home" allows members to scan their checks to usaa.com and have immediate access to their money. Scanning technology is not revolutionary, it is rather the application of such technology to the banking industry which has revamped the necessity of a brick and mortar locations. Traditionally most who visit brick and mortar bank branches do so to deposit checks, not with USAA. USAA is leading the charge in implementing technology to eliminate the need for the traditional branch. In saving branch operational costs USAA is able to dedicate more funds to increasing savings rates and making insurance and other products more affordable for its members
Deposit@Home is just one of the USAA services which enable them to have ONE physical location. This location is at the bank's headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. Some of the other services which enable its large online presence is ATM fee rebates, free standard checks for the life of the account, free online bill pay, and bank-by-mail services.
It is through its online features that USAA has been able to differentiate itself from other financial institutions. The ways USAA fully utilizes technology will soon be common in the banking industry although I am positive that they will continue to innovate and re-define the way financial services are available to its customers.
Sources:
www.usaa.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAA
United States Automobile Association (USAA) is a fortune 500 financial services company focused on providing banking, investing, and insurance services to those who serve or served in the military.
USAA provides amazing and competitive insurance and savings rates to its customers who reside around the world. Along with standard banking features, some of the features USAA provides include free and unlimited fund transfers to any US bank and the ability of members to deposit checks by simply scanning them! USAA "Deposit@Home" allows members to scan their checks to usaa.com and have immediate access to their money. Scanning technology is not revolutionary, it is rather the application of such technology to the banking industry which has revamped the necessity of a brick and mortar locations. Traditionally most who visit brick and mortar bank branches do so to deposit checks, not with USAA. USAA is leading the charge in implementing technology to eliminate the need for the traditional branch. In saving branch operational costs USAA is able to dedicate more funds to increasing savings rates and making insurance and other products more affordable for its members
Deposit@Home is just one of the USAA services which enable them to have ONE physical location. This location is at the bank's headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. Some of the other services which enable its large online presence is ATM fee rebates, free standard checks for the life of the account, free online bill pay, and bank-by-mail services.
It is through its online features that USAA has been able to differentiate itself from other financial institutions. The ways USAA fully utilizes technology will soon be common in the banking industry although I am positive that they will continue to innovate and re-define the way financial services are available to its customers.
Sources:
www.usaa.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAA
Cloud Computing: The Artificial Intelligence Axons of the IT Galaxy
It is hard to imagine that not long ago computers were human. The word’s original meaning was literally a person that solved equations, using a mechanical calculator. Companies employed these large metal structures to do number crunching, and serve as a data center mainframe. Now they are disappearing all together, technology shifts to meet the demands of today’s society, submitting to various mutations as the years pass.
The original computer platform, referred to as the mainframe, has been ousted by minicomputers, giving way to the personal computers, now being offset by hand held devices with Smartphone architecture, completely disrupting the computing structure through this sequence. Computing is taking on yet another role, becoming more centralized, turning into a “cloud”, incorporeal and exploited when and where it is required.
The establishment of this cloud is more than a platform shift; indisputably modifying the information technology industry to such an extent that the way people work and companies function, will allow digital technology to infiltrate every niche of the economy and of society. This is not some technological nirvana that the IT industry is using to concoct new buzzwords to keep people interested, but instead a rampant term that has spread avariciously. Cloud conferences, cloud blogs are such an obsession that it may have peaked already. Gartner, a research firm, claims that cloud computing will transgress through a “trough of disillusionment”, entailing a stage in which the hype cycle of technology will fail to meet the expectations of consumers. However, the possibility of the term may already seem passé; but the cloud is going to continue to grow from an amalgamation of cut-rate power processors with ubiquitous networks. Data centers become factories delivering computer services as an online service with wireless networks connecting to such software. This disaggregates computing into component services, turning into an “internet of things” used by billions of different devices. With financial institutions creating computing grids, they will be able to link software as a service over the internet. Such computing cloud operators like Amazon and Google engage in this IT system. However, it seems that all firms will soon have no choice but to switch their infrastructure as well.
In my mind, cloud computing is just a service oriented architecture that companies have been flirting with for quite some time. The main issues at hand are dealing with the security of information. Firms essentially trust their second most valuable currency, data, in the hopes that it has not replicated or outsourced to entities that they do not want that privilege extended. The article says that companies will not be able to link service to the enterprise firms due to the security issues and conformity compliances that it faces, but firms already use their most valuable currency, money, to cloud computing services such as banking. People put trust into banks hoping that they keep an eye on their money. This same trust needs to be instilled by the Googles, Amazons, telco’s, etc. This notion is not impossible, but it is an action that needs to be taken care of before large firms buy in. For now, you will not have to bid farewell to a data center that models a raised floor, cooling data center for its IT department, until a reliable cloud model ascends.
"Let it Rise." Economist.com. 23 Oct. 2008. http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12411882.
The original computer platform, referred to as the mainframe, has been ousted by minicomputers, giving way to the personal computers, now being offset by hand held devices with Smartphone architecture, completely disrupting the computing structure through this sequence. Computing is taking on yet another role, becoming more centralized, turning into a “cloud”, incorporeal and exploited when and where it is required.
The establishment of this cloud is more than a platform shift; indisputably modifying the information technology industry to such an extent that the way people work and companies function, will allow digital technology to infiltrate every niche of the economy and of society. This is not some technological nirvana that the IT industry is using to concoct new buzzwords to keep people interested, but instead a rampant term that has spread avariciously. Cloud conferences, cloud blogs are such an obsession that it may have peaked already. Gartner, a research firm, claims that cloud computing will transgress through a “trough of disillusionment”, entailing a stage in which the hype cycle of technology will fail to meet the expectations of consumers. However, the possibility of the term may already seem passé; but the cloud is going to continue to grow from an amalgamation of cut-rate power processors with ubiquitous networks. Data centers become factories delivering computer services as an online service with wireless networks connecting to such software. This disaggregates computing into component services, turning into an “internet of things” used by billions of different devices. With financial institutions creating computing grids, they will be able to link software as a service over the internet. Such computing cloud operators like Amazon and Google engage in this IT system. However, it seems that all firms will soon have no choice but to switch their infrastructure as well.
In my mind, cloud computing is just a service oriented architecture that companies have been flirting with for quite some time. The main issues at hand are dealing with the security of information. Firms essentially trust their second most valuable currency, data, in the hopes that it has not replicated or outsourced to entities that they do not want that privilege extended. The article says that companies will not be able to link service to the enterprise firms due to the security issues and conformity compliances that it faces, but firms already use their most valuable currency, money, to cloud computing services such as banking. People put trust into banks hoping that they keep an eye on their money. This same trust needs to be instilled by the Googles, Amazons, telco’s, etc. This notion is not impossible, but it is an action that needs to be taken care of before large firms buy in. For now, you will not have to bid farewell to a data center that models a raised floor, cooling data center for its IT department, until a reliable cloud model ascends.
"Let it Rise." Economist.com. 23 Oct. 2008. http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12411882.
Next Generation Asset Management
Next-Generation Asset Management
Evolution To Becoming All-Inclusive
by Joe Rudich
PROCESSOR: February 29, 2008 • Vol.30 Issue 9
http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2Fp3009%2F33p09%2F33p09.asp
According to Wikipedia IT asset management (ITAM) is a way of combining business practices that join financial, contractual and inventory functions to support life cycle management and strategic decision making for the IT environment. Meaning, what would be cost effective and important when creating/ retireing IT. This definition is important to better understand what changes the article is calling for.
IT services have become a corner stone in today’s business environment. The article states that usual idea of IT is that it is the “cost center of a company.” but according to Dennis Drogseth, vice president of EMA (Enterprise Management Associates), managers need to change their minds and see that IT is a necessary internal provider of the critical services a business needs to exist.
One key element is to turn IT asset management into a way to measure the true value of what services are provided, and not just the cost of the components that are used to create the IT. Showing this value requires accounting for cost and performance and will require, what EMA calls “next-generation asset management”. NGAM is to offer a way to move away from current “cost center” ideal and include quality, cost and demand of IT in the business.
NGAM is a way to create a foundation for IT planning, choosing the best way to invest based on complete knowledge of assets, not just the tangible aspects normally affiliated with IT, but on true current needs of the business. NGAM allows a way to monitor the actual cost for running and creating IT. This combines with management disciplines, service accounting, telecommunications and resource management. This change will require new organizational, process, and political models for NGAM to be viable. The old IT asset management models will have to be removed and new ones will have to take their place.
In essence, this article is a new generation of IT asset management, ITAM, which takes into account the physical costs of IT but intangible areas which are not measured by the current finical ideals. In a way, it’s about putting the cost of creating, using and retiring IT into the total costs of creating IT. This is a service asset management companies are working toward for companies to take into account the full costs to a company to create a greater measurable cost analysis to help companies and their bottom lines.
This will allow companies to create new programs and services the most cost effective way. By expanding the variables of cost, a better model of cost attribution is created. This utilization of cost could allow for the company to realize the correct price to charge for a service or if creating and implementing a program would actually be detrimental to the company.
These changes make sense, while they do call for a long and tedious process to occur; in the long run the closer cost is defined and realized the greater the ability to run and manage the company would occur.
cite for wikipedia:
Wikipedia contributors, "IT asset management," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=IT_asset_management&oldid=249709786 (accessed November 5, 2008).
Evolution To Becoming All-Inclusive
by Joe Rudich
PROCESSOR: February 29, 2008 • Vol.30 Issue 9
http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2Fp3009%2F33p09%2F33p09.asp
According to Wikipedia IT asset management (ITAM) is a way of combining business practices that join financial, contractual and inventory functions to support life cycle management and strategic decision making for the IT environment. Meaning, what would be cost effective and important when creating/ retireing IT. This definition is important to better understand what changes the article is calling for.
IT services have become a corner stone in today’s business environment. The article states that usual idea of IT is that it is the “cost center of a company.” but according to Dennis Drogseth, vice president of EMA (Enterprise Management Associates), managers need to change their minds and see that IT is a necessary internal provider of the critical services a business needs to exist.
One key element is to turn IT asset management into a way to measure the true value of what services are provided, and not just the cost of the components that are used to create the IT. Showing this value requires accounting for cost and performance and will require, what EMA calls “next-generation asset management”. NGAM is to offer a way to move away from current “cost center” ideal and include quality, cost and demand of IT in the business.
NGAM is a way to create a foundation for IT planning, choosing the best way to invest based on complete knowledge of assets, not just the tangible aspects normally affiliated with IT, but on true current needs of the business. NGAM allows a way to monitor the actual cost for running and creating IT. This combines with management disciplines, service accounting, telecommunications and resource management. This change will require new organizational, process, and political models for NGAM to be viable. The old IT asset management models will have to be removed and new ones will have to take their place.
In essence, this article is a new generation of IT asset management, ITAM, which takes into account the physical costs of IT but intangible areas which are not measured by the current finical ideals. In a way, it’s about putting the cost of creating, using and retiring IT into the total costs of creating IT. This is a service asset management companies are working toward for companies to take into account the full costs to a company to create a greater measurable cost analysis to help companies and their bottom lines.
This will allow companies to create new programs and services the most cost effective way. By expanding the variables of cost, a better model of cost attribution is created. This utilization of cost could allow for the company to realize the correct price to charge for a service or if creating and implementing a program would actually be detrimental to the company.
These changes make sense, while they do call for a long and tedious process to occur; in the long run the closer cost is defined and realized the greater the ability to run and manage the company would occur.
cite for wikipedia:
Wikipedia contributors, "IT asset management," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=IT_asset_management&oldid=249709786 (accessed November 5, 2008).
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