New Service Delivery Model for Cloud-Computing

Cloud computing has moved swiftly from being an idea to being deployed and used at a growing number of companies. As a result, the attention has shifted from how to implement a cloud environment to how to operate it effectively.

In majority of cases the companies needed to reinvent their service delivery models, the organizational processes, roles, and policies. What is interesting is that most companies have come up with the same basic model.  IT industries almost unanimously are looking to become more responsive to the needs of their clients.  They want to make IT a less of an obstruction to business initiatives, and increase the value it delivers.  There seems to have been three common challenges that most everyone has faced. 

1. The need to closely understand and manage the relationships across IT silos (servers, storage, network domains, etc.); due to the fact that cloud computing demands a more integrated and holistic approach; and unfortunately the typical IT groups today lack the organizational structure and processes to support this approach.

2. The old matter of: resistance to change.  Some of the resistance comes from application developers who are worried about job-security in the cloud-based automation of daily tasks; and some concerned about the limitations this might place on their input into technology decisions.   

3. The up-keep with the exponential growth of cloud-computing demands, having direct results on the technology’s success within the organization. 

As we realize, the traditional service delivery models does not address these challenges and it may even exacerbate the situation. In the old model, the IT organization is responsible for providing the business with a complete platform including infrastructure, middleware, tools, and applications and so on…. Then of course the IT is usually organized to many teams focusing on their particular component of the platform.  This of course creates silos that delay the cross-domain integration. 

At this point an “IT Business Analyst” works between the IT and business to deliver the platform to the business.  This body is pretty much responsible to represent the associated needs of the user and work with IT to ensure the delivery of the services and the correct translation of the needs.

As we all know of course the business requirements are dynamic, and hence the IT Business Analyst has to compete for attention in a time-constrained environment, which in turn in itself becomes a bottleneck in the process.

There is another method which requires no Business Analyst. Instead the users directly approach IT with their needs. IT then uses a series of demanding processes to understand and prioritize the overflow of requests. This creates low-value-added work to IT and limits timely and efficient response to the user.

So, both methods above in linking IT and User/Business, is slow in providing solutions. Users are frustrated in not getting what they want and IT is irritated by the mounting workload and the struggle to keep up.

As a result, these have been the driving force behind the development of cloud-environment’s new service delivery model that modernizes the interactions between IT and the user.

The new model includes three primary teams or roles:

•           The IT Cloud Team – being the heart of the model; usually a group of five or six who act as a COE (Centre Of Excellence) for cloud skills and knowledge.  The team members are selected from different IT areas, and also are people with knowledge and experience beyond their core field.  This team delivers IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) to users.  They create virtual data centres and construct service catalogues and images (Operating system, networking, storage, security resources), available to users; they also manage capacity, performance and availability.

•           Super Users – the receivers of the IaaS image; they are in position to help their peers use the cloud-computing resources.  They can even be a group of developers familiar with cloud image development.  They are actual end-users who have the technical skills to manage and work with cloud images. They also enhance the IaaS image into a PaaS (Platform as a Service) image for the business unit use, in helping their daily work activities. They will add whatever tools are needed by developers and business team. Once the image is completed, it will go into the service catalogue. They also allocate capacity within their business unit, determining the number of virtual machines to allocate to any given platform, or the number of images to be accessed by users, or how long they can be accessed, etc….

•           General Users – the consumers of PaaS images; these are the product developers, customer service engineers and so on, residing within the business unit who use the platform image to perform their daily tasks. General Users only interact with Super Users for their needs and not the IT team.

This model helps the organization overcome their key challenges with cloud-computing.  Hope this has been of some use.

Service Delivery

Service Delivery is the basis of judgment in any IT department.  Accepting the concept of proactive services when it comes to IT has some serious advantages. Instead of solely concentrating on monitoring and managing each component, we would be spending our time and effort on making sure that everything works harmoniously to provide a valuable and suitable service to the user.

Users are really always having been interested and concerned with what they are able to do; which is the end point of the Service Delivery Chain.  To a user, it does not really matter why the system is slow or not operating at 100%.  They are not interested in your explanations of things that have gone wrong with third party suppliers.  They just want you, to make the problem go away.

When you adopt an IT delivery system that is more service-centric, you are then starting to take control. You realize that no matter how good your IT department looks internally, you are only judged on the basis of what is delivered to the user. Once you start defining and managing your commitments and expectations in this manner, business-life becomes easier, seeing that you dodge all the issues that are caused by users defining what is acceptable, subjectively and unilaterally.

In summary, IT from the business and user perspective is all about service usage, whether anyone refers to it formally or plainly in this manner or not. We do not need to take on a major project to improve the IT service delivery.  Sometimes just a simple change of mindset is the most important thing. A few probable practices worth mentioning are in cross evaluation and training:

Make sure you have a few of your staff trained on ITIL specifically focusing on service design and transition.  This way they would be able to design an IT service that is both fitting the purpose and use.

Try rotating your IT development team and your operational roles once in a while, to give them a perspective on poor service design experience and consequences. Or send your front line operations to the business side for better comprehension of poor service operation.

Do a full process analysis to identify the areas which cause the most pain, and will provide you the highest relief if improved. 

 

Hope this tidbit has been of use.

The Art of Communication...

There is a lot to be said when it comes to the art of communication and verbal jousting.  Having a background in training and psychotherapy has made the importance of this subject quite clear.  Concise communication is not just putting your point across, but also the art of listening. This is our tool and gateway to many things, from business to healthy and happy relationships.

Proper communication makes arguments and “broken phone” conversations a thing of the past.  The one who uses this tool effectively knows how to use logic and reasoning to calm situations, without having to blame anyone.  Just look around you. How many of us today are into the blame game to clear our own name, and blame it on someone else? What causes this, is the lack of knowledge in how to properly communicate without accusing. 

Even though one of the most popular and talked-about subjects, few of us know how to really communicate. I have seen people who are unable to speak, but they are wonderful communicators.

Amongst all curriculum at school, and understanding that communication is of utmost importance and vital to our future lives, the topic is not properly discussed or taught during the school years.

Communication involves a transmitter – this is the person sending the message; and a receiver – this is the person receiving the message. There is of course the “message” element – this is information of some form; and noise, which is anything that interferes with the information being transmitted to the mind of the receiver.

Other components include: feedback, which happens consistently in a verbal and non-verbal fashion during a conversation; replication – duplication of the same image in the receiver’s mind -  which is hoped for but perhaps is more of ideal than achievement; and last but not least, understanding – a guesstimate of what the message means.

Excellent communication is the ability of the sender to replicate the message in the receiver’s mind without clouding the matter with irrelevant chatter. Also it is the responsibility of the receiver to clarify any communication that in his/her mind is not properly communicated.  The transmitter, however, accepts the responsibility for the end results of the communication.  This means the transmitter needs to make sure to speak in terms that the receiver comprehends.

All of this is of course of no significance if a person is uncomfortable in the communication process to begin with. This can happen at times of low self-confidence or in occasions where the transmitter is trying to put the blame on someone for misunderstanding, or they might have a stage fright of whom they are transmitting the message to and their perception of the power or hierarchy.

So to summarize the whole thing, the most effective communicators:

·         Bond and relate – meaning they do not just relay the message they came to relay or prove; they are dynamic and know what this particular audience is looking for and when they will be losing them intellectually and emotionally. They make you feel like you are the only person in the world.

·         Involve – not only they initiate the conversation, but they drive it, give it direction, and encourage others to take part.

·         Neutralize – they are able to lower the defenses of the receiver. This does not make them manipulative, but genuine, self-confident, humble and authentic.

·         Focus – they organize their communication; carefully structure the stories to be delivered to hold the receiver’s interest and drive their point home.

·         Clarify – they simplify complex subjects without being patronizing.

·         Emphasize – they understand the span of attention and they artfully reinforce the key points at certain intervals. This needs to happen without coming off as redundant.

Good luck in all your communications.

SIP and Service Management

Proper Service Level Management is a continual process that needs being reviewed and the quality of the services offered, measured.  The review is usually based on impartial and quantifiable constraints drawn from past experience, SLAs in place and the drawing up of the Service Catalogue.

The review process should not be limited to those breached SLAs, although clearly, in such cases it is essential, its aim should be to improve the quality of service and make it more uniform.

The review outcome should be a Service Improvement Process (SIP), taking into account factors like:

 

·         IT problems and their root cause;

·         New customer/client requirements;

·         Technology advancements;

·         Service Level fulfilment;

·         Real cost of service evaluation;

·         Consequences of possible service quality degradation on client organizational structure;

·         Personnel’s performance and skill evaluation;

·         Possible reallocation of resources;

·         Operational Level Agreements and Underpinning contract compliance;

·         Client perception management;

·         Additional user training sessions.

 

The SIP is pretty much the baseline document used in negotiation and the renewal of the SLA with the customer and it should be established as the reference document for the management of other IT processes such as Change Management, Problem Management, etc.

 

Hope this has been helpful.

Are you a good people-Manager?

In all the years of experience behind me, I have had managers that I have looked up to and the ones that came across weak and I felt as if they could not do a thing for their employees.  The managers I looked up to, all seemed to share traits that the others did not have.  Here is a list I have compiled of their personas:

·         They leave their mood swings back in their private lives the minute they step into work environment.

·         They take criticism and constructive feedback in a professional manner, even if it involves a close family member or a friend that reports to them.

·         They show genuine sincerity in wanting the best for you.  They are not biased and give you the proper advice for career advancement, even if they know they might lose you to someone else.

·         They trust the employees and judge them on the deliverables as opposed to where they were when they achieved it (home, office….).

·         They understand that an employee can be quite productive anywhere and not just within the confines of a cubicle.

·         They defend your rights, if you are ever wrongfully accused.

·         You see them take pleasure in helping others to do their best work and they measure their own success according to that.

·         They manage everyone as individuals and not all the same.

·         They do understand the fact that even if their title gives them the upper-hand and a bit of a power, their intelligence and integrity is what will provide them with the influence, which is priceless.

·         Their feedback is sincere, constructive, and precise; so that everyone knows where they stand and they are not in for a surprise.  In the meantime the feedback is 360 degrees. Meaning they take feedback from employees in their strengths and weaknesses constructively and try to improve themselves.  They understand that being a manager does not place them at the very top of the food chain and there is always room for improvement.

·         They praise the employees, formally and informally on a regular basis to let them know they are doing a good work and they count and have an impact.

·         The way they respond to mistakes and issues, makes the employee feel safe to be able to bring bad news to them when necessary.

·         They communicate their goals and plans of action clearly, in a way that every member of the team is quite clear on how they are involved and what they need to do to achieve the goal.

·         They hire people who are smarter than they are, and in the meantime are confident enough not to be intimidated by their level expertise.

·         They allow their staff to own an idea and an initiative without being micro managed.

·         They are continuously learning and always improving their knowledge and skill levels.

·         They are involved in what you do and they show compassion.

·         They are good listeners.

·         They are open-minded and hold an open door policy.

·         They know how to delegate and trust and be hands-off.

If you have the points I have described here, you can be certain that there are many out there that after years of working with you, anytime the word “Great Boss” is heard, you are the first on their mind.  I know I have certainly a few.

 

Strategic Planning

It is not enough to simply have a great idea, product or service and then keep our fingers crossed that success will find its way to us. Success is built around a vision and a mission.

Most people dread the thought of strategic planning and the minute they hear it, nausea sets in. They need to know that this can be easy and fun.  As much as Strategic planning is disliked, everyone knows its critical nature in planning long term success.  

First we need to grasp our company’s big picture.  Come in terms with how we would like to be viewed in the future by the world around us. Our vision does not even have to be achievable.  It is an ideal. A bar set so high that motivates every member of the company to act in that direction. Our vision then will determine our mission.  Our mission statement describes the reason our company exists. It also connects us from where we are to where we want to be in the future. Our mission statement will need to be clear, direct and simple. Something that all our employees can recite any time they are asked.

Next we will be setting our goals.  When we set a goal, we are taking a step in turning what is invisible to visible.  This should be something that is quantifiable and attainable.  At this time we will be scanning our environment by doing a SWOT analysis and summarizing the results of finding.

Now that we have our goal set, our mission statement ready and understand the environment better, we need to figure out “how” we are going to go about this. The key to develop a successful strategic plan is to be realistic and honest.

 

This is when we find out, what avenues are open to us, in achieving our goals.  What are the next steps? What resources we need? The RACI and the timeline.

Sometimes, we are overwhelmed by the apparently complex nature of the strategic planning process. The bottom line is to keep it as simple as possible.

Good luck to you all.