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Many IT departments and organizations are attempting to deploy an IT Performance measurement and management framework. The need is clear – you can only manage, if you can measure, and measure the right metrics. While this is a popular adage, its relevance has not diminished on us after years of involvement with performance measurement and management. We identify 4 key value elements in an ideal blueprint of a performance measurement framework:

1. Knowledge – A good blueprint for performance measurement should include clear guidance on what to measure, and how to go about measuring it.
2. Access and Manage data – Ability to access, manage and transform data is a crucial capability required from a proper performance measurement framework. After all, it is about ability to transform data into useful information which leads to cause-and-effect analysis in the end.
3. Measure and Analyze – Reporting and data analysis capabilities are obvious, but critical requirements from a performance measurement framework. Being able to perform statistical analysis on the gathered data can enhance the value of measurement exercise multiple-folds.
4. Share and Collaborate – Geographically and functionally distributed organizations will benefit from high-end presentation, publishing, sharing and collaboration capabilities – this is again a very important requirement to make the performance management process and practice successful. Ability to access data when, and in the format that users find most useful is crucial, along with their ability to collaborate to improve the reports as well as to draw better interpretations from the reports and scorecards.

So let’s apply this framework on Metricus, and test the quality of framework it offers:

1. KNOWLEDGE – Metricus contains a library of more than 1000 well defined and mapped Metrics and Measures, and hence organizations receive an enormous amount of guidance to select proper KPIs and Metrics whether they are trying to measure processes related to best practice framework like ITIL or COBIT, or they are trying to measure the financial performance of their IT Services, or in fact the performance of their various projects. The value proposition related to “knowledge” is further enhanced by availability of ITpreneurs subject matter experts for ITIL, COBIT, ISO/IEC20000, ISO27001, Project Management and other best practice frameworks – who can help organizations using Metricus in making intelligence choices around choice of KPIs and design of scorecards/dashboards.
2. CONFIGURATION (Access and Manage data) – This is the one of the most important value elements of Metricus – its strength as a full fledged business intelligence toolset (it competes and compares favorably in terms of price/value/complexity with other BI tools), and all of the data integration, configuration and data-management related capabilities. The toolset contains a full-fledged ETL (extract, transform and load) capability, along with the functionality to build connectors with all sorts of applications or data sources.
3. MEASUREMENT & ANALYSIS – Metricus allows flexible design of reports, dashboards and scorecards to make sure that the collected data can be measured and analyzed properly. With a full Report Builder capability built into the Metricus toolset, organizations can design and modify reports into various formats to enable trend analysis, metric correlation, drill down capability. Analysis capabilities are further enhanced through cause-and-effect diagrams provided for various KPIs, and the Six Sigma process control analysis that can be performed within the environment.
4. PUBLISHING & COLLABORATION – Metricus allows full Microsoft Sharepoint presentation, publishing and collaboration functionality. Users can convert the reports into excel, powerpoint and other popular document formats with the click of a button. Users can also control the way they access the data – they can subscribe to reports, or choose to receive them by email. Various types of notifications and alerts can be built into the system. The environment also allows full collaboration possibilities to receive feedback, and establish a continuous improvement cycle around how the data is measured and utilized.

The image below captures the most relevant “value elements” towards organizations looking to mature their IT performance management framework and processes. In order to manage the performance, you have to begin by being able to MEASURE the performance – that is where Metricus comes in.

The Metricus Value proposition evolved over 2009 and best be explained using the following diagram:

1. KNOWLEDGE – Based on the library of more than 600 well defined and mapped Metrics and Measures, organizations receive an enormous amount of guidance to select proper KPIs and Metrics whether they are trying to measure processes related to best practice framework like ITIL or ISO/IEC 27001, or they are trying to measure the financial performance of their IT Services, or in fact the performance of their various projects. The value proposition related to “knowledge” is further enhanced by availability of ITpreneurs subject matter experts for ITIL, ISO/IEC20000, ISO27001, Project Management and other best practice frameworks – who can help organizations using Metricus in making intelligence choices around choice of KPIs and design of scorecards/dashboards.

2. CONFIGURATION – This is the one of the most important value of Metricus – its strength as a business intelligence toolset, and all of the data integration, configuration and data-management related capabilities. The toolset contains a full-fledged ETL (extract, transform and load) capability, along with the functionality to build connectors with all sorts of applications or other data sources.

3. MEASUREMENT & ANALYSIS – Metricus allows flexible design of reports, dashboards and scorecards to make sure that the collected data can be measured and analyzed properly. With a full Report Builder capability built into the Metricus toolset, organizations can design and modify reports into various formats to enable trend analysis, metric correlation, drill down capability. Analysis capabilities are further enhanced through cause-and-effect diagrams provided for various KPIs, and the Six Sigma process control analysis that can be performed within the environment.

4. PUBLISHING & COLLABORATION – Metricus allows full Microsoft Sharepoint presentation, publishing and collaboration functionality. Users can control the way they access the data – they can subscribe to reports, or choose to receive them by email. Various types of notifications and alerts can be built into the system. The environment also allows full collaboration possibilities to receive feedback, and establish a continuous improvement cycle around how the data is measured and utilized.

To learn more about Metricus, please visit the Metricus website

A Japanese version of Metricus was introduced to the market today by the ITpreneurs Japan team. Offering localized products in the Japanese market is key for business success and as a result Metricus was translated into Japanese with the help of some of ITpreneurs’ partners. Metricus in Japanese is one component of the offering, the second component of the performance management offering includes a specific Module for JSOX that was developed by a Metricus partner. The JSOX module specifically addresses KPIs that help organizations to understand and manage their JSOX requirements. The full press release can be found here.

Trends in IT Performance Management 2009

For the second time, ITpreneurs is conducting a research project about the relevance of IT Performance Management in organizations and you are invited to participate in this survey if you are active in the area of IT Performance Management, are managing an IT department or if you are an IT consultant.

The objective of the study is to understand the relevance and maturity of IT Performance Management in organizations and to learn about the methods used and success factors for effective IT Performance Management. The survey only contains 10 questions, and will not take a lot of your time. Everyone who completes the survey will receive an IT Performance Management First Aid Kit (a digital guide to defining, measuring, managing and improving IT Performance in organizations). Thank you in advance for your support and participation.

Click here to start the survey

About ITpreneurs
ITpreneurs develops and delivers training solutions and implementation oriented toolset in the domain of IT management and IT Governance. Our on-demand IT performance management offering, Metricus, helps organizations achieve clarity on the performance of the IT organization. Metricus delivers Key Performance Indicators that are relevant to the business, and uses dynamic dashboards and advanced analysis capabilities that enable organizations to get control over and improve the IT function within the organization. It is our vision to enable effective IT decision making by providing an on-demand, cost-effective, and flexible approach to IT Performance Management.

ITpreneurs offers a work environment that values passion, hard work and creative problem solving. You’ll find an atmosphere based on mutual respect and trust, with opportunities to work side-by-side in cross-functional and regional teams. Above all else, we’re a company where what we do is based on our values of Pride, Intelligent Risk Taking and Entrepreneurship, Ambition, Openness, Innovation and Agility.

We offer career development opportunities and continuing education, with competitive salaries and benefits.

Job Description
The Metricus Sales executive will be responsible for outbound marketing and sales activities for the Metricus Product Category, and this position will carry an individual revenue target. This will entail executing campaigns, promotions, positioning, collateral and related enablement activities to do lead generation. On the more sales front, the role would include engaging with prospects, doing product demonstrations, ownership of the sales pipeline, and closing deals. In this dynamic role you will be working cross-organizationally, with a team across multiple countries/regions. You must be commercially experienced, familiar with the IT best practice domain, and enjoy selling.

Key Responsibilities and Outcomes

• Do lead generation activities involving website and campaigns
• Be the key contact for leads and prospects and perform sales support activities around opportunities to maximize chances of success.
• Perform demonstrations for prospects, and manage sales cycles including doing regular follow-ups.
• Develop sales proposals, templates, tools and other necessary collateral such as data sheets, brochures, cheat sheets, etc. required during a sales cycle.
• Perform regular sales training for regional business managers to increase their knowledge of Metricus products.
• Establish relationships with relevant stakeholders, such as Metricus Partners and ITpreneurs regional managers, to position and sell product successfully.
• Engage with prospects and manage the sales cycle from identification to closure for customers.

Required Skills and experience

• Tele-sales/marketing experience and aptitude
• Experience is software sales (services/consulting sales for IT might be beneficial)
• At least 2 years of full time commercial work experience
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent teamwork skills.
• Fluency in English (100% of the work will be in English)
• Required Skills and Experience
• Affinity to the IT sector / software as a service products is preferred (but not required)
• Bachelor’s/Masters degree

Behavioral Competencies

• Ability to Analyze and Solve complex Problems/issues
• Result Orientation
• Leadership
• Entrepreneurship (intelligent risk taking)
• Ability to working with others, especially remotely/virtually
• Ability to influence others - especially people at equal or more senior levels
• Initiative Taking

Employment Conditions
Compensation and benefits will be in line with your experience and profile. If you are interested in product marketing for information technology products, feel excited by this opportunity and meet the requirements for this job profile, then we would be very interested in meeting you. You can get in touch by contacting the below person:

ITpreneurs Nederland B.V.
T.a.v. de heer A.W. Woertman
Product Portfolio Director
Weena 324‐326
3012 NJ Rotterdam
Arjan.woertman@ITpreneurs.com

A Gartner study of 333 enterprises in the UK and US indicates a lukewarm reception of SaaS. “Our research findings did not exactly provide a ringing endorsement of SaaS, in fact I would go as far as to say that satisfaction levels among SaaS users are little more than lukewarm,” said Ben Pring, research vice president at Gartner. “Although macroeconomic factors would seem to favor SaaS providers, almost two thirds of respondents said that they planned only to maintain their current levels of SaaS in the next two years.”

SaaS providers are getting on average a 4.7 mark on a 7 point scale, which is not very convincing today. Gartner says that SaaS vendors have to seriously look at:

• Ease of deployment: avoid expensive consultants who need to be billed for integration
• Provide convincing better TCO: it has to be cheaper
• Demonstrate that SaaS is lighter, more intuitive, agile and modest

This makes a lot of sense for SaaS providers who are promoting scalable and affordable solutions that provide tactical fixes to organizations. We are encountering the same challenges with Metricus, where it is not immediately apparant what is the best possible fit for customers. How much integration does the customer want, when can you actually achieve a better TCO, and what does the product need to include to make it more intuitive, agile and modest for a customer. I believe this is a learning curve, that SaaS providers have to overcome and are overcoming. SaaS providers have to keep their eyes and ears open at all times, and listen to the customer to achieve this.

Here is how Metricus is trying to tackle the Gartner points:

• Ease of deployment: there are no consultants required to set-up Metricus, configuration is included. period
• Provide convincing better TCO: companies are spending an enormous amount of time and money on poor performance reporting now. This is not always visible to companies, and thus the cost are not always visible. we’ve build our pricing around a model that provides a lower cost than having 1 FTE work on Performance reporting for 1 day a week for a year. That must be convincing..
• Demonstrate that SaaS is lighter, more intuitive, agile and modest: Modular = scalable. No integration required = agile

In April ISACA presented their future strategy. You can view this presentation by ISACA’s International President Lynn Lawton here. I will not detail the key outcomes of this strategy, as you can read a short summary from the IT Skeptic here.

When it comes to IT Performance Management,  I am a strong supporter of the COBIT Framework. Process Measurement is strongly embedded in COBIT and driven top down by aligning business strategy with IT strategy and IT processes. For each of the 34 COBIT processes control objectives are defined and these are measured through forward looking outcome measures and backward looking performance indicators. The proper implementation of this model increases the ability to properly govern IT and take informed decisions.  In COBIT 4.1 the only element that I believe benefits from improvement is the quality of the KPIs provided. Many of the KPIs listed as examples are theoretical and difficult to practically implement and use.

In ISACA’s future strategy, IT Performance Measurement takes up an important element again. In the presentation a picture is presented where the IT landscape is presented, i.e. COBIT 5.  The business strategy is divided into Value Creation and the Management of Risk. Value creation is about the effective and efficient creation of value for the business, Risk management considers External (compliance) and internal (business risk). IT has to find a balance between these two and provide information to support this. Performance Measurement is critical as it provides an insight if goals are likely to be met, and evidence if objectives are actually met.  It will be interesting to see how this all materializes in COBIT 5.

Yesterday, we finally released the Metricus ‘IT Health Check’ Campaign. A campaign oriented at helping organizations understand their maturity and ability to measure IT Performance. In the past months we have learned that many organizations do not comfortable talking about their ability to measure their IT Performance, are not sure how good the quality of their data is, and have no idea what KPIs to use.

How does it work:

1. Organizations tell us what their pain points are or what the areas are that they would like to get assessed
2. A data file is submitted to Doctor Metricus, with data that the organization has available for the selected domain
3. This data file is checked by the Metricus team, and feedback is provided about the quality and maturity of the data file
4. If the data is workable, it will be transformed into Metricus and linked to IT best practice KPIs
5. The organization is provided with access to Metricus and uses Metricus to get clarity on their IT Performance
6. Reports, data analysis, scorecards and dashboards (the ECG of the health of the company) is available for 30 days

A Trident Capital blog posting from first of May triggered my attention as it included a good listing of the benefits of Business Intelligence in the cloud as well as a strong case for reduced TCO of BI in the cloud. Here is a summary of what is written, but with my own interpretation and relevance to BI in the cl0ud for ITSM (that sounds geeky, I agree).  I do not wish to plageriate, and all kudo’s for the posting go to Trident Capital

The Value of BI in the Cloud for ITSM

1. Cloud enabled collaboration: collaborative ITSM decision making can be enabled through cloud enabled business intelligence. ITSM performance reporting is primarily done today by having everyone look at the same excel sheets. On demand Business Intelligence can provide tailored dashbaords to various stakeholders, and actually allows users to work together on IT performance data, provide comments, initiate KPI improvement initiatives and more.
2. More efficient data analysis: Data collection, data analysis, loading and transformation are the most costly and time consuming aspects of business intelligence, yes also for ITSM related data. BI in the cloud can overcome this issue by deploying standardized data structures and KPIs. Metricus for example uses a set of KPIs that are developed by industry gurus. Standardized data structures are developed for these KPIs, making it incredibly easy for organizations to provide their data. Metricus tells exactly what data is required, and what KPIs can be populated with it. Organizations can simply make the match and check what data they have available and populate a Metricus template excel sheet wit hthis data.
3. The benefits of the network: Organizations who are active in the cloud, have the ability to share their data with peers, and benefit from benchmarking data. Benchmarking services obviously require specific conditions and rules around the use and ownership of data, but in the end, the cloud allows for collaboration.
4. Better application maintenance: Yes, managing and maintaining a BI application is costly and requires highly specialized data warehouse technicians. This is one of the reasons why IT shops are now sticking to time intensive and error prone excel sheets for the provision of performance information on IT operations and IT services. BI in the cloud centralizes this effort and removes this burdon for IT organizations.
5. Usage Optimization: This is line with the previous item; managing a BI application in the cloud ensures optimal usage of the BI application. The impact for the customer: lower costs… BI for ITSM can be offered as modular as required, in the case of Metricus, we are providing solutions specific to IT activities, IT processes, etc. allowing organizations to purchase a solution that addresses their pain points.
6. Easier to avoid customer lock in: Most ITSM tool providers are obviously trying their best to provide a lock-in with their customers, by offering comprehensive and ‘can do everything’ solutions. The measurement component of this however is in many cases pretty weak. Modular BI for ITSM now allows organizations to break out of the lock provided by these vendors, and purchase vendor neutral BI that sits on-top off these solutions
7. Innovation: Modular cloud solutions are new to the IT management space, and are driving innovation with new and innovative offerings.  In a recent post, I quoted a Forrester report that stated that ITSM vendors are catching up quickly though, and have to do so as well. For the time being, the market is fully open to innovative alternatives though.

Besides the value that BI for ITSM in the cloud offers, there obviously also is the TCO advantage. Trident provides a number of suggestions, which once more I apply to ITSM.

• Fewer personnel needed: No needto maintain a complex BI solution, AND organizations are freeing up resources that now are working on manual excel sheets, aggegating data from disparate sources, creating advanced formulas, and doing all sorts of other things, while they can be far more effectively deployed
• No upfront investment: Not a big upfront payment, and subsequent yearly software maintenance costs; typically applications in the cloud offer low monthly costs. For Metricus for example the price of one modele comes to $250 per month.
• Cheaper implementation: If you look at the data management discussion above, it becomes clear that the implementation time is reduced. Typically organizations should only worry about being able to deliver data, the vendor should do all the work in terms of qualifying the data, checking the quality, populating ITIL/COBIT and other KPIs, etc.
• No hidden costs: Like I stated above, typically there only is a low monthly fee, and no additional hidden costs for implementing, services, etc.
• Lower overall cost due to modularity: If you only need specific features or functionalities, or would like to address only specifical tactical issues - BI in the cloud allows you to start small and scale up when you require. This means that you are only paying for the things you need, and not for things you do not need. Is this not how everything in life is supposed to be?

In summary, BI in the cloud for ITSM provides specific value components to organizations that traditional BI solutions or on-premise solutions are not offering. This results in an overall better TCO as well for cloud BI solutions. On top of this, the majority of IT organizations are not using BI at all for managing the internal IT processes or activities; and thus even on-premise BI would be a giant leap for IT shops.