it 2010 vs. it 2020 - will business reality drive or derail a new performance management paradigm

8/9/2019 IT 2010 vs. IT 2020 - Will Business Reality Drive or Derail a New Performance Management Paradigm

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IT2010 vs. IT2020:Will Business Reality Driveor Deraila New

Performance Management Paradigm?

A WHITE PAPER

B Y E D H A L L O C K

A S G S E N I O R D I R E C T O R

O F P R O D U C T M A N A G E M E N T


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IT2010 vs. IT2020: Will Business Reality Driveor Deraila NewPerformance Management Paradigm?

IntroductionHow is business? While this question has become the only

relevant metric for IT performance, in uncertain economictimes, it takes on multiple dimensions. The businessneeds IT cost savings and operational improvementsnow. But it also needs an infrastructure built to supportthe business strategy for the next five, 10even 20years. Balancing immediate economic urgency withlong-term economic goals is a tall order. After all, IT is astrategic investment. The state of your IT portfolio todayis a result of plans youve been implementing for sometime. And its only a snapshot of where youre going.

With multidimensional business models, on-demandbusiness services, growing virtualization, and thepervasive use of complex Web-enabled applications,businesses understand that the performance andavailability of their technologies are critical to theirgrowth and competitive advantage. But the sameenvironment that enables this digital businessarchitecture has required ever-increasing IT investment,and that trend was expected to continue. However,swelling IT budgets are no longer an option. Businessesare demanding that IT be more than a staticand

expensiveresource. IT is now expected to deliverbusiness results with a measurable contribution to thebottom lineat lower cost, higher quality, and improvedefficiency. Will these expectations driveor derailnewperformance management approaches? Traditionalmethods of technology management cannot ensuremaximized business use, let alone drive business results,lower costs and improve service quality. At the same,time, IT budgets are and staff are flat or shrinking.

Strategic Imperatives vs. Economic Realities

Businesses expect a level of IT management maturity that provides

quality computing environments at ever-decreasing costs. They also

expect IT to aggressively build on this maturity, aligning closely with

business units to fuse IT performance with business performance.

Business managers now insist on understanding how their IT

performance enables their business services, and performance

management teams are being challenged to demonstrate their

contributions to customer and end-user benefits, revenue, and the

bottom line. This amounts to a new paradigm: IT2020.

At the same time, near-term economic realities demand a cost-conscious and pragmatic approach to any new IT initiatives. Big,

transformational technology investments are simply not an

option. Projects must show immediate performance improvements

allow for flexible implementations, support iterative approaches,

leverage current investments, and demonstrate clear business

value. This is the reality of IT2010.

Ultimately, these are not conflicting expectations. IT2010 can

actually drive IT2020. Adopting the IT2020 paradigm can address

both immediate needs and long-term IT performance management

goals because it is business service-based and IT process-governed

integrating IT and business objectives. Forrester Research calls thisconcept business technology (BT).

To successfully move to IT2020, organizations must embrace

the BT conceptdynamically linking business services, business-

focused IT services, and the underlying IT infrastructure to create a

singular enterprise model. BT enables IT to organize around holistic

IT services rather than siloed technologies, making decisions that

maximize value for business users. A business-focused IT service

can be quite simple, or highly complex, but either way, it must

support significant business metrics and be visible to stakeholders

Organizations are relying on IT to make use of efficient

technologies and manage a slowdown in some areas of

infrastructure spending in many cases as a result of

adopting efficient technology to save the business.1

industry thought leaders

The future incarnation of ITwhat Forrester calls

business technology (BT)is not a utility but is a source

of ongoing competitive differentiationembedded,

synchronized, and capable of helping firms rapidly

change business processes and, ultimately, business

models.2



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outside of IT. Because effective IT performance management is

crucial to the success of business service initiatives, it must be

based on business service management (BSM) principles.

Performance Management Today

Current performance tools already provide IT departments

with excellent performance information on their platforms,

systems, and applications, so why reengineer something that

works? The growing adoption of BT and BSM is dramatically

changing the IT picture. In the recent past, IT infrastructures

and business processes were essentially linear.

Figure A. Yesterdays IT Infrastructure

Applications were housed on single servers, and network

activity was confined to internal users. Detecting, diagnosing,

and correcting performance issues were fairly simple. IT

managed the systems using standard performance tools,

resulting in perfectly acceptable end-user service.

Now, the business/IT landscape is not as straightforward.

Even a simplified IT infrastructure involves multithreaded

business processes.

Applications are housed on multiple platforms, and users can be

customers, partners, contractors, and employees located anywhere

Figure B. Todays IT Infrastructure

This picture continues to expand in size and complexity. Individual

performance management tools offer only limited, lagging

views of the specific systems and applications they monitor.

Performance data used to make complex operational decisions

comes piecemeal or simply arrives too late. So-called enterprise

solutions involve a complex structure of vendor products, custom

applications, and middleware that produce highly technical,partially integrated views of operations, lacking any business

service framework. Too often, IT support teams dont even know

that they have a business problem until someone complains,

or they get a negative report on a service-level agreement

(SLA). These issues persist despite major advances in process

automation and metrics management systems. Continuous

firefighting is an expensive (and ultimately futile) proposition.

But the real cost is less obvious, and yet far more damaging:

lost business. Allowing such low-level, tactical responses to

proliferate will only exacerbate the problem. Its past time for

performance management to catch up with business reality.

Traditional methods of managing technology

performance cannot ensure maximized business

use, let alone drive business results, lower costs, and

improve service quality.

more information

Continuous firefighting is an expensive (and ultimately

futile) proposition. But the real cost of this is less

obvious, and yet far more damaging: lost business.

more information


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The Need for a New Approach

Internal and external customers expect Internet-speed business

services that are always available, and poor performance means

lost business. The applications that support these services

offer extraordinary power and flexibility, leveraging legacy

systems, distributing complex applications between multiple

service tiers, and integrating a wide variety of technologies.

However, they can also stretch the underlying IT infrastructure

to the breaking point. Typically, these applications will:

Span servers and platforms, including mainframe

(z/OS) and open systems (Linux, Windows, UNIX)

Use Web-application server environments, such as WebSphere

Use middleware and messaging technologies like MQSeries

Drive transactions through subsystems like CICS and IMS

Access multiple databases like DB2, Oracle, and SQL Server

Rely heavily on the backbone of networks like TCPIP and

VTAMtosupporttheconnectivityandowofinformation

between systems, platforms, and components

Support unpredictable transaction loads and

24/7 internal and external user activity

Detecting, diagnosing, and correcting performance issues in this

complex, heterogeneous environment presents a formidable

challenge. Add to that the BT model, fusing IT performance with

business performance, and IT must also be able to understand

impacts on business services and explain it all in terms that

business managers and users can understand and use productively.

Paradigm Shift: BSM-Based Performance Management

Although most businesses recognize their reliance on technology,

growth initiatives often fail to deliver on expectations because they

have not adequately considered technologys impact on business

results. The typical business model fully anticipates business

objectives, revenue projections, human resources, and initial

technology investments, but it often fails to factor in the impact

of day-to-day IT performance. And with the exploding growth of

virtualization and accompanying complication in IT management

processes, the consequences of this become even more acute.

Fully exposing and adequately correlating the performance layer

between a strategic objective and its execution gives both business

and IT teams the missing link to ensure strategic success.

Exposure and correlation are crucial capabilities missing from

todays performance management paradigm. Developing a

performance management strategy based on BSM delivers

these capabilities. IT performance must be logically exposedto business users and directly correlated to their business

transactions. Likewise, business services must be exposed to IT

support teams and correlated to their supporting technologies.

By linking specific business processes to underlying technology

performance down to the transaction level, business managers are

able to keep track of the businesss health in realtime and make

fast, well-informed decisions. Simultaneously, IT teams can see how

performance is affecting the business, do immediate root-cause

analysis, and resolve issues before they become real problems

critical capabilities for addressing IT2010 economic realities.

Comprehensive performance trending and analysis is anincreasingly important IT2020 capability made possible through

BSM-based performance management. Effective SLA management

alone demands trending data collection and analysis. SLAs

define the standard that IT performance must meet every day.

But with the complex and seemingly erratic nature of day-to-day

business usage, simply managing SLA performance in realtime

will permanently keep IT teams in a reactive state, preventing

the proactive IT management that businesses expect.

Real-time-only performance management is also insufficient to

support the IT profit support center model that enables business

innovation. Comprehensive trending and analysis provides aholistic, quantitative approach to business service performance

management. Compiling seemingly random capacity problems

reveals clear and predictable bottlenecks. Seemingly erratic end-

user issues become patterns clearly linked to a specific device or

application with cascading performance impact. Viewing moving

performance averages of the business service infrastructure

as a whole enables IT managers to focus on strategic business

optimization rather than on individual technology efficiency.

As mentioned earlier, virtualization adds a new set of challenges

to the entire performance management picture, as all of

Forrester surveys show clearly that a major driver

for BT is the enterprise need to improve workforce

productivity. As performance is a key element of end

user productivity, this has now become a major driver

for the acquisition of performance management

solutions.3



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these capabilities must be executed against both fixed and

moving targets. Monitoring the real time environment and

conducting accurate trending and analysis must be accompanied

by discovering, mapping, and controlling the environment

itself to prevent virtual machine (VM) sprawl and waste.

BSM-based IT performance management collapses organizational

and technology boundaries, continuously synchronizing tech-

nology performance management resources with business

demands. This synchronous model provides immediate business

and operational intelligence, making IT more adaptable to

change and better able to accommodate immediate user

needs and fluid business requirements. It also enables afundamental IT culture change. BSM-based IT performance

management demands lean methodologies and behaviors

that reject the traditional IT reliance on one-off responses

to immediate issues in favor of continuous improvement,

testing, and learning in light of overall business objectives.

Federated Performance Management

To achieve these results, BSM-based IT performance management

must unify management through comprehensive, federated

dashboards. Some performance dashboards already exist as part

of standard enterprise reporting tools, but they are typically narrow

in reporting scope, providing specific IT information tailored to

a single audience. The result is piecemeal, silo-based reporting

that cant provide a single, comprehensive view of the health ofthe business. Federated management dashboards incorporate

BSM-based performance management criteria, ensuring that

all critical business service information is managed through a

single pane-of-glass. Federating relevant informationrather

than integrating relevant databasesis key. Data is not moved

into a monolithic structure. Rather, the data remains in the

trusted stores where it currently resides and is simply managed

in a more cohesive and therefore valuable manner, streamlining

implementation and significantly decreasing infrastructure impact.

Relevant performance information can be shared vertically and

horizontally throughout the organization. Business managers get

a straightforward view of their critical services, enabling them to

quickly identify a service that is not meeting customer needs or

performing to agreed-upon SLAs and take immediate action. IT

managers can quickly identify issues, drill down through supporting

technologies and platforms, find the root cause, and resolve

issues as they arise. When all stakeholders share the same core

information on business service performance and health, the net

result is organizational alignment that drives business success.

The Features and Benets of

BSM-Based IT Performance Management

Features Linking business services directly to supporting

applications and underlying infrastructure

Federating relevant tool and technology

data to a single pane-of-glass

Aggregating, correlating, and reporting information

on complex business services, processes, events,

and ongoing operations in real time

Identifying and monitoring critical path IT components

(hardware and software) and correlating

them to business-relevant SLAs

Monitoring and reporting on end-user activityand response time in real time

Maintaining all critical data to enable ad-

hoc and structured trend analysis

Simultaneously alerting business managers, users,

and IT teams of issues so that all stakeholders

proactively respond to the same information

Enabling immediate root-cause analysis to solve

business service issues as they occur

Tying all of this together and delivering it in a manner

that is easy to understand and has value to all stakeholders

Benets

Fuses IT and business strategies, driving the How is

business? metric throughout the organization

Reduces costs by streamlining performance

management activities

Enables IT to clearly justify HR and infrastructure budgets

Ensures that agreed-upon SLAs are met or exceeded by

focusing IT resources on business-critical activities

Enhances the end-user experience, customer

retention, and employee satisfaction

Comprehensive trending and analysis provides a

holistic, quantitative approach to predictive business

service performance management.

more information


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Enables effective IT capacity planning and predictive

business modeling based on comprehensive historical data

Enables timely and proactive business decisions

through improved operational efficiency,

resulting in increased business agility

Improves quality of service by addressing performance

issues before they seriously impact business

Contributes measurably to the bottom line,

driving growth and competitive advantage

Federated IT performance management dashboards deliver

real-time data on performance metrics for business servicesand the supporting IT infrastructure through concise, clear, and

intuitive display mechanisms, such as gauges, charts, and tables.

They present a wide number of separate (but related) metrics in

a single, consolidated, easy-to-understand window. Rather than

accessing disparate technology data randomly and correlating

it manually, IT performance information is aggregated into a

single, centralized access point. All problem diagnosis, corrective

action, trend analysis, and capacity planning is centrally managed

through the same dashboard. Complex business services can

be logically summarized and understood by all stakeholders.

In Figure C, the entire Internet Banking business is exposed

as a set of unique business services and correlated from end-

user (Transaction, Availability, and Response Time) through

supporting infrastructure (Application Components and SLA

metrics). Results are presented in a single dashboard that is

available to business and IT managers simultaneously.

To deliver maximum value, dashboards like this also

provide user-appropriate and comprehensive drill-

down capabilities. From this dashboard:

Business managers can quickly see the availability and

health of the business services (bill payment, account

Federated performance management dashboards

ensure that all critical business service information is

managed through a single pane-of-glass.

more information

Figure C. Internet Banking Dashboard


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management, online statement, online transfers) and

use the Availability status indicators to drill down and

seewhatisimpactingaspecicbusinessservice.

Business and IT managers can monitor end-user response

time and quality of service tied directly to SLAs.

IT managers can easily see which IT components are used

by each business service and how performance issues

inaspeciccomponentimpactthatservice.Fromthe

dashboard, they can drill down directly into that component

to pinpoint the issue and correct the problem.

This directly correlates the IT infrastructure with the qualityof services based upon defined SLAs. Availability and SLA

data are defined by the business services being used and how

those services are distributed across various components

within the IT infrastructure. User-appropriate drill-downs

enable various stakeholders to analyze that information

in the manner most valuable to them. As illustrated in

Figure D, business managers can drill down to a graphical

representation of the systems and applications supporting

that service and identify the specific source of the issue.

Figure D. Network View

From the same Internet Banking Network screen viewed by thebusiness manager, the network support team can drill down further

(Figure E) to show the network-connected devices (routers, PCs,

firewalls, servers, etc.) that are generating alerts, and navigate

directly to the specific device that is the source of the problem.

Figure E. Network Device View

Response time metrics report on the integrity and consistency

of services based on user experience rather than individual

components, as in the example below (Figure F). By providing

a user-centric view of response time, IT can greatly reduce

immediate time-to-resolution. Response times and availability

from all service-related components can be measured, recorded,

compared, and reported in a variety of analysis types and graphical

formats. This is accomplished through both active (synthetic

user) and passive (actual user) monitoring technologies.

Figure F. Response Time View

Through the same dashboard, IT managers can drill down to each

related application component to pinpoint issues, determine what

is impacting the business service, and take immediate corrective

action. Virtualization adds a level of complexity to end-user

performance management, as the software (called hypervisors


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or virtual machine monitors) that enable multiple operating

systems to share a single hardware host make applications

relatively opaque in terms of performance data collection.

Very few current performance management tools can address this

issue, and even fewer can integrate with other tools to support

BSM-based performance management as in Figure G below.

With more than 70 percent of businesses currently using some

level of virtualization and planning on extending this strategy,

hypervisor visibility and integration will only grow in importance.

By addressing IT business service performance comprehensively,

through predefined key business indicators, federated performance

management intrinsically supports lean methodologies and

behaviors like service orientation and continuous improvement.

For example, in Figure H, rather than identifying only the business

service that is currently experiencing poor performance (online

statement) and/or only the related component issue (z/OS), IT can

clearly see that the z/OS system issue is impacting other business

services (response time for bill payment is below standardbut

not yet critical). Such integrated views enable IT to proactivelymaintain system performance, maximizing availability and often

preventing downtime altogether. This capability is especially

important in managing virtualized environments. In an economic

environment where IT resources are tight, comprehensive

monitoring enables continual optimization, lower costs, and

increased flexibility. Business managers can see how business

services map to the underlying infrastructure and the relationships

between the systems and applications that impact the service.

Gaining a clearer understanding of the actual IT structure required

to deliver business services enables them to more accurately

assess cost/benefit and ROI for potential new services.

IT2010 vs. IT2020?

Businesses expect IT to deliver services and value, not just hardware

and software, and now these expectations include lower costsand near-immediate ROI. Embracing BSM-based IT performance

management not only enables CIOs and IT management to better

leverage their current IT environment, but it also enables them

to quickly adopt lean methodologies and behaviors, accurately

forecast value-added IT spending, and enable innovation. All of

these capabilities deliver near- and long-term economic returns. No

longer about thinking outside the box, BSM-based IT performance

management removes the box altogether, integrating IT and

business performance.

Figure G. Virtualization Management View

Delivering on the potential of BT is practically

impossible when the underlying IT capabilities are

fragmented and managed in isolation. BT requires

a new IT, one less burdened by legacy organization

models, cultures, and approaches to value

management.4


Figure H. Application Component Views


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Comprehensively monitor and manage Linux

on zSeries and zVM in real time

Collectandanalyzenetworktrafc,automatically

detect failures, and analyze network behavior

Provide real time and historical analysis, send early

warning alerts for potentially serious problems,

and automate SLA measuring and reporting

Create user activity simulations to pinpoint potential

performance problems. Monitor, measure, compare, record,

and report in a variety of analysis types and graphical formats

Managing Virtual EnvironmentsASGs performance management suite now includes virtualization

management capabilities. ASGs BSP Virtualization Management

delivers a single solution that works for both virtual and physical

environments, providing comprehensive oversight, inspections,

discoveries, warnings, diagnostics, and reporting. The robust

solution addresses the key phases of the virtualization lifecycle:

Planning: Discovery and assessment

Execution: Routine monitoring of virtual and physical systems

End of life: Unneeded physical servers and VMs

ASGs BSP Virtualization Management delivers

thefollowingfeaturesandbenets:

Fully optimize current IT investments to prevent VM sprawl

Comprehensively monitor the performance and

availability of both virtualized and physical operating

systems, applications, and processes

Discover, understand, and map dependencies between virtual

system resources and the underlying physical infrastructure

Assess current virtualized environment, identify

and remove unauthorized VMs, and implement

controlsfornewVMcongurations

Provide accurate external correction for timekeepinganomalies inherent in hypervisor software

Obtain performance and availability information

directly from VMs, providing direct measurements

of processes and user response times

Enable immediate root cause analysis to optimize

performance of real and virtual systems

Failure risk prediction to mitigate interruptions in service

Monitoring End-User Experience

The ASG-TeVISTA suite of products brings together a combination

of synthetic and real end-user probes to determine the exact end-

user experience through client, network, and server in real time.

Track every transaction from the desktop, monitoring application

performance and availability as actually experienced by end-users

Report response time for each transaction in

terms of client, network and server time

Auto-detect all applications and transactions

Monitor all applications with title changes and TCP/IP traffic

Include features for No-Title change, console,

and mainframe-based applications

Raise alerts on response degradation

Managing Systems Administration

High-powered performance begins with good setup and

administration. The ASG performance management suite

includes secure, automated, centralized management

facilities for total control of CICS Transaction Server (TS)

and Oracle database environments. This ensures that your

IT infrastructure is defined and configured to its maximum

potential. ASGs systems administration products: Provide greater system quality; change histories; eliminate

errors; and automate the scheduling, deployment, and

backout of changes for all of your CICS resource definitions

Automate complex and time-consuming Oracle database

maintenance chores and proactively fix database problems

Monitor and manage the thousands of Oracle database

objects within a typical enterprise system

Conclusion

ASGsBSPEnterprisePerformanceManagementisaexible,

scalable solution that can grow and evolve with the enterprise and

its business services. Four key differentiators set this solution

apart from all other performance management products:

1. Federated performance management dashboards bridge the

gap between IT performance reporting and business service

performance management. All enterprise stakeholders share

the same core information on services, effectively integrating IT

and business performance. Business managers can monitor and

diagnose service activity and effectiveness, impacting both the


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top and bottom lines. Through the same dashboards, IT receives

timely, quantitative (and qualitative) information to address

operational efficiency and IT performance quality. Combining

real-time, historical, and predictive reporting based on business

metrics enables organizations to better manage their business

environment and more effectively prepare for the future.

2. Built to integrate with any third-party technologies, ASGs BSP

solutions follow a plug-and-play architecture, enabling you to

maximize the value of your current technology investments,

regardless of vendor. From core dashboarding and integration

to CMDB, federation, and extensive analytic capabilities, ASGs

BSP solutions offer a variety of opportunities to optimizeyour current business. In addition, ASGs BSP solutions

provide a clear yet flexible path to future growth, building

on your entire technology portfolio, regardless of vendor.

3. ASGs Path to Optimization framework enables you to leverage

your current ASG performance management products out

of the box. This start-where-you-are integration approach

reduces costs while optimizing your current environment to

address immediate enterprise performance management needs.

Integrating seamlessly with the entire ASG Business Service

Portfolio solution suite, it provides a clear, flexible, cost-effective

path towards enterprise business service management.

4. ASG-TMON and ASG-NaviPlex technology provide a proven,

mature, and stable performance monitoring foundation with

25 years of industry-leading experience in monitoring IBM

mainframe operating system environments. ASG has leveraged

that heritage for managing other critical IT infrastructure

components, including WebSphere MQ;; Web-based applications;

and open systems-based operating environments, databases

and applications. In total, they provide comprehensive, end-

to-end monitoring and management of the IT infrastructure.

As a key solution in ASGs Business Service Portfolio, ASGs BSP

Enterprise Performance Management delivers everything youneed to maximize IT management, performance, and availability

with the fastest time-to-implementation, lowest total cost of

ownership (TCO), and the industrys most flexible licensing terms.

So, how is business? Delivering flexible, consistent, business-centric

IT performance management, only ASG empowers organizations

to meet the combined challenges of IT2010 and IT2020.

About the Author

Ed Hallock, ASG Senior Director of Solutions Management, has

25 years of experience in the software industry, including work

in product development and support, product management,

training, and business development. Hallock was responsible

for successfully and strategically directing the Mobius

Management Groups ViewDirect Repository technologies.

He is also a veteran of Candle Corporation, leading the market

with its popular OMEGAMON product line for 16 years.

Sources1Making I&O Investments To Save The Business . Cambridge: Forrester

Research, Inc., February 2009.

2The Hour of The Vendor Strategist: Three Mega Business Trends Will Reshape

The Tech Sector. Cambridge:, Forrester Research, Inc., Nov.ember 2008.

3Market Overview: The Application Performance Management

Market. Cambridge: Forrester Research, Inc., Oct.ober 2008.

4Five Essential Best Practices For The IT-To-BT Transformation.

Cambridge: Forrester Research, Inc., May, 2008.


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About ASG | www.asg.com ASG provides software solutions to over 85 percent of the worlds largest companies. Through its comprehensive solution ,

ASGs Business Service Portfolio (BSP), ASG is an established Business Service Management (BSM) provider with a strong heritage in in information management,

applications management, infrastructure and operations management, and service and support technologies. ASG enables clients to reduce costs, improve

business-service delivery, and reduce risks. Founded in 1986, ASG is a privately held company based in Naples, Florida, USA, with more than 90 oces worldwide.

ASG Worldwide Headquarters | 1333 Third Avenue South, Naples Florida USA 3410Telephone 1.239.435.2200 or 1.800.932.5536

Copyright 2009 Allen Systems Group, Inc.

All products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

it 2010 vs. it 2020 - will business reality drive or derail a new performance management paradigm

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