Tag: Morgan Hunter

Fresh Links Sundae – August 31, 2014 Edition

Fresh Links Sundae encapsulates information I have come across during the past week. Often they are from the people whose work I admire or resonate with me. I hope you will find these ideas thought-provoking at the minimum. Even better, I hope these ideas will, over time, help my fellow IT pros make better decisions, be awesome, and kick ass!

A majority of organizations implement only reactive problem management; however, it is the proactive problem management practices that bring even more value. Stephen Mann discusses the barriers we need to overcome and the good practices we should implement for proactive problem management. 6 Barriers To Proactive Problem Management and 6 Problem Management Best Practices (ServiceNow)

A number of organizations are experimenting with predictive analytics and exploring its business value. James Taylor explains how to avoid common mistakes of predictive analytics. The Four Traps of Predictive Analytics (MIT Sloan Management Review)

Working in the field of IT Service Management, vendor management needs to be one of the high competency areas. Morgan Hunter talks about the considerations you should be aware of before signing a contract and recommends a nice checklist. Contract Negotiation Checklist – Don’t forget Your Pre-Nup (Intréis)

Predictive analytics is an increasingly mature technology, but many organizations still are not aware of the opportunities it presents. William Vorhies discusses the paths that a business leader can follow to discover more opportunities from leveraging predictive analytics. From Data Analyst to Predictive Modelers to Data Scientists (Data Science Central)

Many would believe that exercising technology leadership is all about achieving a successful implementation. Bob Lewis believes that the most important goal for technology leadership is to build a reusable organizational capability. Organizing for technology leadership (IS Survivor Publishing)

While the DevOps movement is evolving into a culture for continuous delivery of IT services, many organizations are still trying to find a balance between the human collaboration aspect and the tools/technologies. Mark Burgess uses the Promise Theory to explain how DevOps should work and why having a functional IT is a business imperative. The Promises of DevOps (Mark Burgess Website)

Analysts need to know the business rules which influence their database designs in order to ensure data operations make sense and results can be interpreted correctly. Fabian Pascal advises data analysts on the types of business rules for which they should be familiar with. Data Analysts: Know Your Business Rules (AllAnalytics)

Many believe that you cannot achieve value from your investment in ITSM without a fully functional and integrated CMDB. Oded Moshe explains why that is not necessarily true and recommends a list of advices to implement CMDB. Clearing Up the Myths of CMDB (SysAid Blog)

Fresh Links Sundae – August 17, 2014 Edition

Many organizations look to their CIO to lead by demonstrating technology leadership, but many CIOs view doing things new and different can be risky. Bob Lewis reminds us that technology leadership is hard to do but very necessary. What technology leadership takes (IS Survivor Publishing)

According to William Vorhies, there are two broad categories of analytics. The first includes reports, visualizations, and dashboards, and the second is predictive analytics. He explains what predictive analytics is and what benefits and promise predictive analytics may present. Types and Uses of Predictive Analytics, What they are and Where You Can Put Them to Work (Data Science Central)

Delivering a faster user experience to your customers online is no longer optional but a necessity. Tammy Everts discusses what we can learn from the most high-performing sites for improving web performance. What the 10 fastest ecommerce sites can teach us about web performance (Web Performance Today)

As more business functions join the digital trend, more marketing and IT leaders are taking actions to build trust and to improve alignment. Mike Sutcliff recommends the steps that CMOs and CIOs can take to make progress toward working together productively. CMOs and CIOs Increasingly See Eye to Eye (Harvard Business Review)

If you were asked by your organization to lay out the necessary steps to build an analytics capability, will you know exactly what to do? For most us, asking the right questions is the first step and the key to getting the right answers. Bryan Beverly discusses the questions that aimed at helping your organization move from concept to reality. What to Ask When Setting Up an Analytics Shop (AllAnalytics)

Each organization is facing the challenge of making use of the large amount of data it collects on a daily basis. In a two-part series, Lee Feigenbaum discusses the challenges and the practices for turning big data into smart data to surmount these challenges and to drive business value. Turning Big Data into Smart Data (Part 1 of 2) 5 Steps to Turning Big Data into Smart Data (Part 2 of 2) (The Data Warehousing Institute)

More and more organizations are beginning to understand the significance that IT Risk & Compliance has in the success of their business. Morgan Hunter talks about the benefits a robust IT Risk & Compliance function can add to the business and what to expect in the future. Intreis COO Sheds Light On IT Risk & Compliance (Intreis Blog)

If your organization is just starting to implement ISO 27001, you are probably in a dilemma as to what and how many documents you need to have. Dejan Kosutic outlines the criteria for deciding what to document. ISO27001 documents – Eight criteria to decide which ones to write (27001Academy)

Fresh Links Sundae – March 30, 2014 Edition

The word “Agile” in IT can take on a variety of meanings, depending on the organizational environment and context. Bob Lewis tries to explain and answer the question: What does it mean for an organization to be agile, and what does it take? How does a business become agile? (IS Survivor Publishing)

The future of IT organization is quickly evolving due to technology, so should how we practice ITSM. Courtney Bartlett recommends three news ways of thinking about ITSM in a world with ever-increasing complexity and fast-changing technologies. Revolutionize Your IT Service Management Journey: Focus On Your Customers! (Forrester Blogs)

With the advance in cloud services, more and more IT systems are being migrated into a cloud hosting environment. In a two-part series, Oded Moshe outlines six steps an organization should consider taking when migrating applications and data to cloud. What Are the First 3 Steps You Need to Take to Successfully Migrate Your Organization to Cloud? and 6 Steps to Successfully Migrate Your Organization to Cloud (SysAid Blog)

Morgan Hunter, Laszlo Gonc, Jenny Juliany, Rosanne Delaney, and Jessa Lyders of Intreis are running a blog series on compliance myths. You can catch the last five posts in the series via the following links. Compliance Myth #6 – “Outsourcing a non-compliant process will make us compliant” Compliance Myth #7 – “Internal Audit will detect any problems that exist.” Compliance Myth #8 – “The right technology will make us compliant.” Compliance Myth #9 – We don’t have enough resources to achieve compliance Compliance Myth #10 – “Compliance is largely an IT problem” (Intreis)

The traditional website is alive and well, but the proliferation of the mobile devices require us to re-exam how we build mobile friendly websites. Lawrence Howlett walks us through the steps for planning a mobile e-commerce website that delivers productive user experience. How To Plan Your Next Mobile E-Commerce Website (Smashing Mobile)

Almost every organization has various islands of data stores. At the same time, many of them struggle to find productive or insightful ways of using the data. Larry Bonfante reminds us that the use of data is not about technology – it’s much more about using the information wisely to enhance the relationship with our customers. Big Data for Business Decisions (Enterprise Efficiency)

Good data analysis is hard to do, but bad data analysis can hurt more than help. Greg Reda goes over some useful principles to follow when tackling one of those deep-dive analyses. Principles of good data analysis (Greg Reda)

ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000 state the importance of having a definition for a major incident. Roman Jouravlev discusses one approach to define what major incidents are and what elements you will need to consider when crafting a process for handling major incidents. Major incidents in the real world (ITSM Portal)

Many organizations handle major incidents poorly because they fail to execute or don’t have a workable communication process in place. Ryan Ogilvie talks about the importance of having a major incident communication plan designed and vetted before a major incident strikes. Incident Management, Executive Gargoyles and Communication (Service Management Journey)

Sometimes the everyday life and work can make things difficult for all of us, but that does not mean we cannot invest some of our energy into something that can have a significant return. Ted Rubin helps us calculate the return on investment of taking the time to smile. What’s the ROI of a Smile? (Ted Rubin)

Fresh Links Sundae – March 23, 2014 Edition

Many organizations are considering adopting the DevOps approach to help them accelerate the rate and pace of change internally. Robert Stroud explains the steps of starting the transition from a cultural and process perspective. The DevOps Transition Guide (CA Service Management)

Some would argue that Agile is more superior to Waterfall because Waterfall is bureaucratic and lacks flexibility. Bob Lewis points out that no one methodology is more superior to the other – both require discipline and responsible people to make them work as intended. Why Agile is agile (IS Survivor Publishing)

Jessa Lyders, Morgan Hunter, and Margaret Muir of Intreis are running a blog series on compliance myths. You can catch the first 5 posts in the series via the following links. Compliance Myth #1 – “We don’t store sensitive data” Compliance Myth #2 – “You don’t get to pick your controls, your auditors do.” Compliance Myth #3 – “Compliance applies mostly to large size companies (not small companies)” Compliance Myth #4 – IT GRC is a necessary evil Compliance Myth #5 – “The ‘right’ policies and procedures will make us compliant” (Intreis)

Many IT organizations experience difficulty in determining what should be reported. Ryan Ogilvie suggests an approach to peel away the complexity and arrive at the potential answers. Peeling Back the #ITSM Reporting Onion (Service Management Journey)

Today’s businesses need to keep pace with the fast-moving technologies, and often consider IT a hindrance in achieving the business goals. Jason Stevenson recommends several approaches for reversing that trend? Top 5 Ways IT Can Stay Relevant in the Cloud Era (VMware CloudOps)

Some organizations put a great deal of faith on technology advances to help them solve complex business problems. Sherri Hammons shows examples where meaningful analysis can begin only after we think about the problems and ask the right questions. Big Data: Humans Required (Sherri Hammons)

Some are advocating that software projects are unique, creative and flexible by nature, and somehow are not subject to the fundamental principle of cost, schedule, and performance constraints. Glen Alleman explains why software is not immune from that fundamental principle. Why Software is Like Construction and Why it is Not (Herding Cats)

Some organizations believe quick, easy solutions are available to solve long-running personal behavioral problems. Marshall Goldsmith points out that there’s no product, no diet, no exercise program, and no executive coach who can make someone better, unless that person also wants to change. Turning Those Flabby Abs Into That Sexy Six-Pack (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)