BSM (IT For Business): The Next Big Thing

"Business Service Management" -- viewing IT processes purely as a business facilitator and not an independent function -- is on the cusp of IT-analyst Gartner's latest hype-cycle for operations management tools. It is making the critical transition from the "Peak of Inflated Expectations" to the "Trough of Disillusionment," (which sounds more like something from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress than typical IT-lingo). Computerworld chimes in with their own agreement that Kool-Aid style BSM is "the next big thing."

BSM is being followed over the expectations peak by the CMDB (database to track IT environments) which IT Week said yesterday is "set to double in the next year," and web services management. The CMDB is at the heart of BSM, so its catching up over the curve is essential to BSM's success and it has made quite a jump from last year's report, in which Gartner projected its productivity at ten years out. In Gartner's assessment, BSM now follows the spread of the IT Infrastructure Library, which provides the foundation of best practices necessary for BSM to work effectively.

Women's clothing manufacturer Coldwater Creek says it has saved more than $1.8 million and gained another million in profit using BSM to speed the opening of new locations, as well as another $700 thousand in licenses and software negotiations, which should help to assuage at least some of their disillusionment.