IT Cost Control
Metrics - IT Service Management
Service Level Agreements
Over 540 Objective Metrics Defined
Polices and Procedures to Define and Support IT Value
ANNUAL Update Service is Available
Measuring Information Technology's Value - Maximizing the Effectiveness of IT Investment
Delivering cost effective quality IT service and measuring IT's performance is a difficult and time consuming exercise. Many enterprises believe that they do not have the time, money, or resources to initiate and monitor the necessary processes. However, enterprises cannot determine how much something is worth unless its value can be quantified. It is a necessity of the new economy that every business unit needs to demonstrate its worth while meeting necessary service objectives.
- In many organizations less than 10% of the IT budget is actually spent on initiatives and IT Service Management (ITSM) that bring value to the enterprise.
- It is not a question of how much is invested in computer systems but the effectiveness of the spending and the service levels provided.
- Focusing the ways that IT is measured (Metrics) on an enterprise’s value drivers improves competitiveness.
- ROI/TCO type measurements should not be used in isolation because they ignore elements such as service levels provided, risk and IT capability.
- IT investment must be measured not only at the inception of initiatives but also throughout the project lifecycle and service delivery process.
An inordinate amount of IT executive time seems to be expended on measuring and controlling costs rather than focusing resources on IT service and initiatives that will add value to the enterprise, probably because costs are easy to identify and quantify. This is unfortunate as there is a strong correlation between the knowledge growth of an enterprise and its market valuation. It is becoming increasingly important for IT management to ensure that measurement mechanisms are put in place to identify intangible assets such as brand, organization culture, customer loyalty, innovation, knowledge management systems, and the value of staff knowledge.
This set of tools defines the IT infrastructure necessary to provide cost effective IT services. Janco Associates has found that failure to have metrics and service level agreements in place IT organizations are more prone to failure. Metrics are absolutely essential.
The tools in this set include:
Metrics for the Internet and Information Technology HandiGuide
The metrics cover all areas of the Internet and Information Technology -- including WIRELESS. In addition, there are industry specific examples for financial services, distribution, manufacturing, education, entertainment, government, hospitality, insurance, medical, real estate and retail. Included are:
- Organizational responsibilities
- Metric process, design, and definition of 540 specific objective metrics
- 83 sample metric reports - includes over 240 of 540 objective metrics
- Graphic data presentation rules
- A full metric report package is defined - a template you can use right away
- Wireless metrics examples are featured
IT Service Management Template
The IT Service Management Policy Template is an 88 page document that contains policies, standards, procedures and metrics. Chapters of the template include: Service Requests Policy; Help Desk Policy; Help Desk Standards; Help Desk Procedures; Help Desk Service Level Agreement; Change Control Standard; Change Control Quality Assurance Standard; Change Control Management Workbook; Documentation Standard; Application Version Control Standard; Version Control Standard; Internet, e-Mail and Electronic Communication Policy; Blog & Personal Web Site Policy; and Travel and Off-Site Meeting Policy.
Service Level Agreement and Metrics
Service Level Agreement Policy Template is a nine page policy for a single application which is easily cloned, It defines specific SLAs and metrics that are both internally and externally focused. The sample contain over 70 possible metrics presented graphically in PDF format.
Metrics, Service Level Agreement (SLA) & Outsourcing Job Description Bundle
The Metrics, Service Level Agreement (SLA) & Outsourcing Job Description Bundle contains full multi-page job descriptions in word format for the VP Administration, VP Strategy and Architecture, Director IT Management and Control, Manager Contracts and Pricing, Manager Controller, Manager Metrics, Manager Outsourcing, Manager Service Level Reporting, Metrics Measurement Analyst, Quality Measurement Analyst, System Administrator Unix, and System Administrator Windows.
General News CIO - CTO - CSO News
Disaster Recovery Planning Site Re-Launched by Janco
The site www.zinnote.com has just been re-lanuched by Janco Associates, Inc. the site focus on disaster recovery and business continuity planning.
Victor Janulaitis, the Chief Executive Officer of Janco Associates, Inc. said "Our mission is to provide the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) all of the tools they need to efficiently and effectively stay current on the latest developments in Technology. To that end this site focused to meet these objectives." He added, "Each of our site is manually created from Janco products. This is not a mindless automated process, rather it is one which we gather, filter and prioritize. Only the most meaningful disaster recovery and business continuity informationpresented is presented."
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Disaster Recovery is Area of Cost Cutting Focus
Disaster Recovery (DR) is a tough game. It's a critical component of IT and risk mitigation strategies, and compounded in difficulty by ever growing data volumes, distributed computing, and new technologies. Unfortunately, DR is often one of the first line items hit by budget cuts. How can you get creative in protecting more data, recovering more swiftly, but also saving some money at the same time?
According to an AT&T Survey of 100 Chicago firms (revenues <$10M), 81 have DR plans, but only 43% have fully tested their plans within the last 12 months and 12% admitted they have never tested their business continuity plans.
Next to personnel, data is your most irreplaceable asset. Networks, application hosting platforms, and end user computing environments can be replaced quickly. However, without your customer lists, product catalogs, inventory, financial records, and other operational data your business cannot recover.
A disaster recovery is a response to a declared disaster or a regional disaster. It is the restoration or recovery of an entire Agent computer. A disaster recovery plan describes how an organization is to deal with potential disasters. Just as a disaster is an event that makes the continuation of normal functions impossible, a disaster recovery plan consists of the precautions taken so that the effects of a disaster will be minimized, and the organization will be able to either maintain or quickly resume mission-critical functions. Typically, disaster recovery planning involves an analysis of business processes and continuity needs; it may also include a significant focus on disaster prevention.
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Enterprise Architecture - a cost savings solution
Enterprise Architecture: A Solution for Business Savings
Business works best when its orchestrated carefully, choreographed thoroughly and directed perfectly. Business, in other words, is a production that requires planning, staging and management in order to hit peak performance. Thats the value Enterprise Architecture brings to the IT world and all other functions, divisions and departments of todays businesses.
Janco is focused on supporting that peak performance with tools for professionals to architect the complex structures of modern corporations and to help create opportunities for the future.
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Directions that IT infrastructure is moving defined
Through the years, the role of the network and it infrastructure has changed with computing transitions. Each computing transition has also increased the networks value and reshaped the vendor landscape. The transition to a virtual enterprise will have an impact on the network similar to the previous computing shifts. The network will become a strategic point of competitive advantage for companies that use it to accelerate virtualization deployments. For this to occur, network decisions-makers can no longer settle for any part of the network infrastructure that is good enough simply because it is from the market brand leader. Corporate network managers that seek to leapfrog the competition need to adopt bold new thinking and embrace the following concepts:
Virtualization will extend out of the data center and expand functionality all the way to the desktop, creating new demands across the network.
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- Data center class reliability, performance and features are required not only in the data center, but also at the aggregation edge and wiring closest.
- Open and standards-based solutions need to be the norm, not the exception. The networks tight coupling with the compute infrastructure will drive greater ecosystem support, meaning that closed, proprietary systems will only act as long-term barriers to adoption.
- Good enough is no longer good enough. Its easy to evaluate different vendors and just choose the incumbent vendor or brand leader. However, as the market transitions, this decision can often be the wrong one as legacy vendors with a large installed base cant protect their install base and transition with the market simultaneously.
Social networks still banned by many CIOs
Cisco released the results of a third-party global study designed to assess how organizations use consumer social networking tools to collaborate externally, revealing the need for stronger governance and IT involvement. The research is the first of a two-part series that Cisco has commissioned to explore the impact of social networking and collaboration applications in the enterprise.
The study is based on extensive interviews with 105 participants representing 97 organizations in 20 countries around the globe.
The use of consumer-based social networking tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, as collaboration platforms is connecting organizations with the external world in myriad ways. These tools bring technology and business together through innovative experiences, connect people and information, establish potential new routes to market, and enhance customer intimacy and brand awareness. The study findings indicate that the business world is at the early stages of adopting these tools and in the process of identifying key challenges, such as the need for increased governance and IT involvement, which may impact the integration and adoption of these new platforms and technologies.
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Business continuity planning becomes more critical
The more your business relies on its IT systems, the more you need to consider how unexpected disruptions might affect your business. These disruptions could come in many forms, from fire and floods to theft or malicious attacks on your systems, such as viruses or hacking.
Business continuity planning improves your business' ability to react to such disruptions. It describes how you will restart your operations in order to meet your business-critical requirements.
The business continuity template can be used for any sized enterprise. The Disaster Recovery template and supporting material have been updated to be ISO 27000, Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI-DSS, and HIPAA compliant. The Template explains the importance of business continuity plans to the success of your business, and how best to develop them.
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Security demands CIOs to adapt as new threats appear
It is not easy to keep an enterprise successful and secure these days. Businesses all over the world are faced with a host of new challenges: an unsteady economy, growing competition, volatile global markets, shrinking budgets, and consumer uncertainty. Overworked IT departments are not only expected to respond to the demands of anxious business teams, theyre also responsible for securing the organization and its valuable data against a raft of sophisticated new threats they have never seen before; proving their processes are internally and externally compliant; and being fiscally responsible.
The security policies and procedures template by Janco is the perfect solution. It helps CIOs and IT Managers create the proper security environment.
Because of the way security has evolved over the years, it is rarely looked upon or "fulfilled the role" as a strategic business enabler. Some see it as an inescapable and often costly necessity. The approach to security is generally driven by the latest threats; it is reactive rather than proactive, tactical rather than strategic.
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H-1B rule may help US IT job market
Job Market maybe helped by a proposed new rule. A rule known as the 50/50 rule in a piece of 2009 Senate legislation (as well as a clause in the House in the Comprehensive Immigration Reform ASAP Act of 2009) seeks to balance out the numbers of foreign workers and U.S. workers in companies that employ more than 50 U.S.-based employees. If a company is using H-1B or L-1 visa workers or both, the legislation would limit the number of those workers to no more than 50 percent of the company's U.S.-based workforce. - more info
Disaster Planning Takes Good Staff
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Good business continuity planning needs to take a broad view, embracing people, human behavior, customers and other factors that lie outside the data center. It is also important to secure the vision and endorsement of executive management. A properly funded, well-prioritized business continuity plan, combined with a regular program of testing and recovery drills, will help to safeguard the organization. Read this white paper to understand the key elements of a successful business continuity plan, see how to develop a plan that clarifies what is critical, and set specific recovery requirements.
Disaster Recovery Planning is Required for Business Continuity Planning
Disaster Recovery Plans are part of a larger, more extensive planning process known as Business Continuity Planning. Disaster Recovery plans should be tested frequently so that the as many individuals as possible are familiar with the specific actions they will need to take when a disaster occurs. Disaster Recovery plans must also be adaptable and updated frequently, e.g. if new people, a new branch office, or new hardware or software are added to an organization they should promptly be incorporated into the organization's disaster recovery plan. Enterprises must consider all these facets of their organization as well as update and practice their plan if they want to maximize their recovery after a disaster.
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning are the process an organization uses to recover access to their enterprise operations; software, data, and/or hardware that are needed to resume the performance of normal, critical business functions after the event of either a natural disaster or a disaster caused by humans. While Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plans, or DRPs & BCPs, often focus on bridging the gap where data, software, or hardware have been damaged or lost, one cannot forget the vital element of work force that composes much of any organization. A building fire might predominantly affect vital data storage; whereas a pandemic or epidemic illness is more likely to have an effect on staffing. Both types of disaster need to be considered when creating a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plans. Thus, enterprises should include in their DRPs & BCPs contingencies for how they will cope with the sudden and/or unexpected loss of key personnel as well as how to recover their data.
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2010 Productivity Award Give to eJobDescription.com
The IT Productivity Center (ITPC) has just awarded ejobdescription.com with its prestigious 2010 Productivity Award for the electronic Internet and IT Job Descriptions HandiGuide. The 2010 awards competition attracted 131 nominations for innovations and productivity improvements worth $40 million in cost savings, cost avoidances and increased revenue for the IT function of enterprises of all sizes.
The awardees electronic book met all of ITPCs criteria for improved productivity, as it is electronically based and is content rich. Not only does it include 231 fully ADA and ISO compliant IT job descriptions, it also contains a job progression matrix, sample organizational charts, set of best practices for screening resumes and phone screening, process for hiring and motivation employees, job evaluation questionnaires, and logs to be used in the hiring process.
In providing the award the CEO of the IT Productivity Center said, We have reviewed the job descriptions that are included in the HandiGuide and find them as complete and update as any that we have seen. They added, The best practices included are what really put this product over the top for http://www.ejobdescription.com. Every CIO and IT Manager should strive to achieve the processes contained within the HandiGuide.The 2010 Productivity Award allows its recipients to the award logo on their web site as well as including it on any materials that that received the award.
In order to qualify for this award the product or service is required to Soar like and eagle as the logo depicts. The center is constantly looking for enterprises that seek to achieve this goal. Nominations are accepted from enterprises that can show measurable productivity improvements from the products or services that they nominate.
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Recession drags on and on and....
Per-hour worker productivity in the U.S. grew 2.5% in 2009, according to The Conference Board's Total Economy Database. At the same time, employment decreased by 3.6%, and hours worked per employee dropped by 1.5%. The rise in productivity last year, as well as the 3% increase that The Conference Board projects for 2010, is a reversal of a long downward trend. But the rise is entirely due to the stresses of the recession, the organization says.
In contrast, The Conference Board notes that per-hour worker productivity dropped 1% in Europe last year, and the chief economist for the organization, attributed the divergence to the way companies in the two parts of the world reacted to the recession.
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Privacy Commissioners ask Google to respect national privacy laws
The privacy commissioners of Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, and the U.K. send and open letter to Google asking the company to respect national laws, and also to adhere to six guiding privacy principles:
- Collect and process only the minimum amount of personal information necessary to achieve the identified purpose of the product or service;
- Provide clear and unambiguous information about how personal information will be used to allow users to provide informed consent;
- Create privacy-protective default settings;
- Ensure that privacy control settings are prominent and easy to use;
- Ensure that all personal data is adequately protected, and
- Give people simple procedures for deleting their accounts, and honor their requests in a timely way.
"Privacy is a fundamental right that people value deeply," the letter concluded, calling on Google to promise to respect privacy and data protection requirements before the launch of future products.
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Data Protection and Records Management CIO Concern
Data Protection is a complex topic that has become a growing concern of most companies as they face increased quantities of critical information which must be stored, protected and archived to meet regulatory requirements, user expectations and business requirements. Consolidating storage and backup practices with Storage Area Networks gives customers a wide variety of ways to create point-in- time snapshots, clones and replicas of data to be used for disaster recovery and business continuity. The addition of data deduplication technologies has delivered on the promise of significant cost savings through backup data reduction and enlarged the scope of potential applications that can be protected effectively and affordably - both at central and remote sites. - more info
Management concerns of CIOs and executive management
The top security concerns of executive management, including CIOs are:
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- Regulatory compliance
- Protecting data from outside access
- Keeping secuirty cost to a minimum
- Understanding and managing security risks
- Enabling employee access to useful business data
- Protecting data from unauthorized access by insiders
- Protecting the securfty image of the enterprise
