Tag: Oded Moshe

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 – April 20, 2014 Edition

Charles Araujo believes that a well-run operation is the strategic pathway to the most important asset of any IT organization: trust. He goes on to explain the three key qualities a disciplined IT shop usually possesses. The Three Attitudes of a Disciplined IT Department (CIO Insight)

Analyzing and displaying data correctly can be very context or situation dependent. Nancy Duarte shows us the questions we should be asking before properly analyzing or visualizing data. The Quick and Dirty on Data Visualization (Harvard Business Review)

The ever-increasing size of data is presenting a challenge for organizations to manage and analyze in order to deliver actionable business insight. John Haddad outlines an approach of creating a data management supply chain that identifies business goals and deploy the agile infrastructure necessary to achieve those objectives. How to build a big data supply chain (InfoWorld)

Many teams resort to compromise in order to avoid conflicts when discussing or collaborating on important data-based decisions with another group. Michael Schrage believes that is an ineffective approach and suggests that we should demand our teams to demonstrate just how well they understand the other’s viewpoint and position. How to Have an Honest Data-Driven Debate (Harvard Business Review)

For many IT organizations, the changes in the business and technology environments have prompted the examination of the IT as a Service (ITaaS) model. Michael Biddick recommends IT organizations examine three key ITaaS elements as they attempt to transform from a sole service provider role to a service strategist. Zen & The Art Of Service-Oriented IT (InformationWeek)

Oded Moshe believes that a good IT Asset Management (ITAM) practice can enable IT departments to make smarter decisions, demonstrate their value, and reduce nasty surprises. He goes on to explores nine ways IT department can improve their own effectiveness by leveraging ITAM. 9 Ways ITAM Can Empower IT (SysAid Blog)

An IT Asset Management (ITAM) program is often viewed as a temporary, stop-gap response to audit or compliance exercises, but it can yield long-term benefits if it is done effectively. Anne Watson outlines the elements for an effective ITAM program. Navigating the Political Storm Of ITAM (ITAM Review)

Effective performance can be viewed as a function of the quality of an idea times the employee’s commitment to make it happen. When communicating with direct reports, Marshall Goldsmith recommends that gaining their commitment and enthusiasm should be a priority. Their Commitment Might Mean More Than Our Insight (Marshall Goldsmith Personal Blog)

Something else you might be interested in…

Microsoft has made a free eBook by David Ziembicki and Mitch Tulloch available for download. Free ebook: Microsoft System Center: Integrated Cloud Platform (Microsoft Press)

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)