“Efficiency and value underpin everything we do. Being able to capture how our users use and consume technology services in granular detail is incredibly powerful,” said Ian Cawson, senior technical architect at The Co-operative Group. “Having detailed intelligence of our user environment will enable us to make more informed technology decisions faster and develop a tightly optimized environment designed from the ground up. Based on the factual information provided by Centrix WorkSpace iQ, we are confident we can deliver a first-class user experience based on their unique needs.”

The Co-operative Group is working with IT solutions provider Strategic Technologies to prepare the applications for a VDI, Windows 7 platform. The new desktop environment will support the company’s business growth strategies, providing a highly agile, cost and energy-efficient business technology operation.

Centrix WorkSpace iQ is an advanced analytics solution for monitoring and metering software and hardware usage. The solution will be used to provide detailed intelligence on user requirements across The Co-operative Group as the company migrates from Windows XP to Windows 7. The information WorkSpace iQ provides will enable the project team to determine what adjustments and user considerations must be made across the end-user computing estate, which includes over 300 applications, as new technology platforms are architected and deployed.

“The depth of information provided by WorkSpace iQ is unprecedented from an analytics or asset management solution and will provide essential insight to our team,” commented Rodney Azavedo, Managing Director at Strategic Technologies and Solutions. “We anticipate that WorkSpace iQ will not only identify further cost reduction opportunities for our customer but will also help accelerate the development and deployment of their application transformation.”

Using Centrix WorkSpace, organisations can understand quickly what needs to be supported in a new technology environment; what impact any change will have on compatibility testing or development teams, where applications can be rationalized or removed because they are no longer used and where new technologies can deliver services more efficiently.

“Deploying new application delivery platforms or models such as Windows 7, virtualization or cloud services in today’s pressured business climate requires enterprises to have a deeper understanding of the user environment. Insight on consumption and usage is necessary in order to make accurate transformation decisions, manage costs and ensure new services are adopted quickly,” said Lewis Gee, Senior Vice President of EMEA Sales and Marketing at Centrix Software. “WorkSpace iQ provides IT teams with visibility across even the largest enterprise environments, ensuring the diverse needs of users are considered and supported throughout the IT service lifecycle.”

Marcus Harris, CEO of Pink Elephant, says, “Our research shows that the majority of service desks have no idea how much each call actually costs. I find it astounding that 92 percent of respondents don’t measure the cost per second line call resolutions, which may be significantly higher due to the additional and more costly expertise involved in finding solutions. Our experience has shown that the cost goes up by a factor of at least three, should the call get passed to second line support.

“It is essential that service desks get a firm handle on their costs, measuring cost per call is vital in order to justify their value but also to demonstrate improvements in efficiency. Managed service providers and outsourcers will know exactly how much their cost per call is, as this is how they attract and win business, so for service desks to operate cost effectively they must do the same.”

Tessa Troubridge from the Service Desk Institute commented, “Based upon these results, we would advise businesses to re-assess their approach to call handling. Measuring both first and second line resolution is essential as this will demonstrate the true cost of managing and escalating calls, enabling service desks to produce accurate financial information which will prove invaluable for future planning, investment and development.”

Marcus Harris, CEO of Pink Elephant, summarises, “When service desks know the true cost of call handling it will be easier to justify additional first line training. This may enable analysts to handle calls that would previously have been escalated and undoubtedly save organisations both time and money in the long-term.”

The results of Kaseya’s ‘Smarter Working’ research, which surveyed 100 UK senior IT decision makers on the way in which they manage their IT estate and the subsequent impact this has on the business, indicate that the majority of respondents are unable to focus on strategic IT projects which have the potential to transform their organisation, because so much of their time is consumed by regularly recurring tasks such as software updates, patch management and general IT repairs.

While 24 percent of respondents use an automated software platform to manage routine activities, the majority of IT departments still rely on manual, on-site or outsourced support which can be very time-consuming and costly.  Indeed, the research reveals that the average amount of time spent completing repetitive maintenance tasks is ten hours per week – which can equate to as much as £32k per year at £2600 per individual per month at £65 per hour.

“It’s great to see that nearly a quarter of IT departments already automate some of the tasks involved in managing their IT estate,” said Koby Amedume, EMEA marketing director of Kaseya.  “However, as these results show, many are still needlessly wasting valuable resources dealing with simple, repetitive activities.  IT teams need to work smarter, not harder – and with the right software in place, IT professionals can save a great deal of time.  The key is to integrate solutions that help with all the IT challenges facing an organisation onto a single platform.  If this is done in a strategic way that brings consistency across the disparate tasks at hand, IT departments will soon reap the rewards in terms of cost and time savings made.”

Break/fix mentality stands in way of progress

What is evident from the findings is that IT teams are clearly overwhelmed with ‘break/fix’ activities, and there is consequently a stark disparity between what they actually do on a day-to-day basis and what they would like to achieve.  When questioned on where they would spend their time, if more was available, 61 percent of respondents said that they would concentrate on using IT more strategically to bring long term benefits to their organisations.  Essentially, with the bulk of time currently being spent on maintenance activities, attention to forward-looking trends such as Mobile Device Management simply falls by the wayside.

“The message is clear and compelling – if IT teams are given more time, they will make IT work smarter for their organisations,” continued Amedume.  “Most IT administrators have so many things to contend with that it is almost impossible to get past the ‘firefighting’ mentality and turn their attention to more proactive activities.  The problem with this is that while things might just about tick over on a day-to-day basis, IT teams are leaving themselves vulnerable by not gearing themselves up for the impact of emerging trends.

“Progressive projects will be hampered unless something can be done to relieve the pressure of relentless day-to-day tasks.  By doing more to streamline the maintenance process, IT teams can drastically cut the time and cost of processing requisition orders and carrying out routine tasks, giving them more time to concentrate on increasingly important activities.”

Slow procedures keep end users waiting

Kaseya’s research goes on to demonstrate that only 15 percent of work requisition orders are actioned on the same day that they are raised.  This means that the vast majority of end users are left waiting for assistance for more than 24 hours, which can have a significant and negative impact on their productivity.

Worryingly, 80 percent of end users currently have to wait between one to five days for work requisition orders to be dealt with, with five percent having to wait even longer.  For those in the retail sector this is a particularly alarming fact, as with so many mission-critical devices being used on the shop floor alone, having to wait so long for problems to be solved can cause a number of problems.  Fortunately, the availability of software solutions that can enable remote repairs and software updates means that this level of disruption can easily be avoided.

BYOD top concern for retail sector

Among the current and future issues facing IT teams – including the impact of security breaches, cloud computing, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and migration to Windows 8 – Kaseya’s research also highlighted each sector’s specific pain points.

Those in the retail industry rated BYOD as the most pressing challenge (44 percent) – which is understandable given the sheer numbers of mobile devices being brought into use both on shop floors and in warehouses.  The move into the cloud also ranked highly with 32 percent of respondents citing it as a key challenge.  Given the broad awareness of BYOD within the retail sector, this is hardly surprising, as cloud solutions will largely go hand-in-hand with the roll out of Mobile Device Management policies.

“IT teams within the retail sector cannot waste any time in addressing BYOD issues, as it is clear that the challenge of managing an influx of devices is already upon them,” added Amedume.  “However, it is vital that they take the time to put the right strategy in place.  While there are many device auditing capabilities on the market, most solutions cannot deliver an accurate report on what devices are being used and where they are located.  It can also be difficult to gain insight into what data is being accessed and how secure it is on distributed mobile devices.  Such shortcomings can lead to haphazard and inconsistent mobile device management, as well as greater exposure to security risks.”

Financial services focused on securing IT assets

While BYOD is considered to be the main challenge in the retail sector, 44 percent of respondents within the financial services sector predictably singled out security breaches as their main concern, with just 12 percent placing the migration to cloud at the top of their list of priorities.  In this heavily regulated environment, there is a danger that financial data can become decentralised as users log onto the network from remote sites, their home office and personal mobile devices.  These devices need to be backed up and secured reliably due to strict compliance and regulatory requirements.

However, simple steps can be taken to protect against this risk.  By centralising the management of data protection, compliance and security strategies, backups and end point security can be conducted from a single platform manually, on demand or automatically.  Alerts can be routed through email to mobile devices to ensure failed cycles and security breaches are dealt with swiftly and efficiently, and corporate data can be ring-fenced on personal devices to give IT administrators better insight into and control over who is accessing what.

Single pane of glass solutions

To avoid these problems when new strategies are implemented, IT teams need to deploy a truly holistic solution that enables IT staff to apply security policies to every device that accesses business information – regardless of platform, operating system or physical location.  In addition, GPS and other location tracking technologies can be used to help to overcome the problem of missing devices, giving administrators the ability to track lost or stolen items in real time.

“Ultimately, what our research shows is that more needs to be done to elevate IT from an administrative nightmare to a key enabler of productivity,” concludes Amedume.   “Smarter software tools are the answer, as they can automate repetitive processes and break the endless cycle of maintenance that evidently occupies so much of IT professionals’ time.”

According to Sunrise, Accelerate is specifically targeted at SMEs and builds on the company’s experience and expertise in developing and implementing IT Service Desk solutions for all sizes of organisation across multiple industry sectors. It comes pre-configured with a range of the latest ITIL-verified processes such as Incident, Problem, Change and Knowledge Management and incorporates Event Management and reporting capabilities as standard.  The new fast-start package promises to deliver high quality service, quickly and efficiently with inbuilt flexibility to manage third party contracts and track their performance against measurable Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

Geoff Rees, sales director of Sunrise Software, commented: “SMEs are under huge pressure to make the most of their critical but often limited capital and human resources yet still create a robust Service Desk infrastructure that delivers real value to their customers.  Sunrise Accelerate is the perfect solution for them.  Powered by our market-leading Sostenuto platform, it combines the same advanced functionality with carefully tailored training and consultancy to provide SMEs with a ready-to-use Service Desk that is typically up and running in a matter of days rather than weeks or even months.”

Sunrise Accelerate is customisable and can integrate with other Sostenuto applications including Sostenuto Mobile and Sostenuto’s self-service platform Iguana to create a robust, tightly integrated Service Desk infrastructure.

“The traditional ITSM dashboard is a valuable tool for presenting the information IT service teams need in the moment. However, for more strategic decisions they are unfortunately lacking,” said Doug Pollock, client services director at Hornbill. “In these cases, ITSM teams will need to manually collate and decipher the information most important to them taking up time and resources that, in today’s world, are increasingly precious. Supportworks Execview ITSM Scorecards is designed to eliminate this. Instead teams at all levels of IT services, from individual service desks to the IT services director, are given a scorecard formed by aggregating data from every single ITSM dashboard in the organisation. By automatically aggregating and filtering this data for each recipient, ITSM teams can be sure that they are meeting their own KPIs and that their work is supporting the wider strategic goals of the organisation.”

Supportworks Execview ITSM Scorecards aggregates data from ITSM teams, including metrics such as incident volumes per service, incident fix rates and problem management volumes. These are then consolidated into scorecards for each ITSM team and function, for example Incident Management and service Delivery Management. Organisations can customise which information and KPIs are presented for which teams. By filtering and interpreting the aggregated data based on this, Supportworks Execview ITSM Scorecards can show the exact performance of each specific task and service desk role, as well as the overall health of the entire ITSM structure. By aggregating the data service teams can still dig further down into the information behind each scorecard if needed, allowing them to identify the specific issues behind any poorly performing areas and so take action to rectify them.

“The problem with most ITSM reporting is that it doesn’t properly address the needs of the people using it,” said Stephen Randall, CEO of Execview. “Reports, dashboards, spreadsheets: they are all pointless unless they drive the right actions. Working with Hornbill, we have been impressed with the focus on getting the right information to the right people so that they can perform their jobs effectively.”

Randall continued: “Our joint work has come up with a powerful model that in the short term delivers effective reporting with line of sight from the summary to full detail. By aggregating data into a single report and then filtering to present only data relevant to the target audience, information can be used much more quickly and effectively to provide real insight and strategic opportunities for IT service teams. Armed with this insight, they can ensure that they are providing their full value to end users and to the business as a whole.”

As well as the Execview strategic partnership and the introduction of ITSM scorecards, Hornbill has also announced an update to its Supportworks portfolio of ITSM products. This includes the introduction of version 3.4 of Supportworks ITSM Service Desk Software. Supportworks ITSM 3.4 features upgraded change management, self-service and knowledge base capabilities; providing service desks with an even more powerful tool. Hornbill is also introducing two new tools to its portfolio: Supportworks HR Service Desk and Supportworks Facilities Management Service Desk.  Both use best practices formed by extensive industry use and feedback together with Supportworks’ established capabilities to provide these service desks with the level of performance that ITSM desks have come to expect.

Many IT services providers are now marketing “private cloud” offerings, no doubt hoping to attract customers who want all the benefits of cloud computing, such as scalability, capacity on demand and economies of scale, but who mistakenly assume a “public cloud” software application or platform is less secure than a “private cloud”.

Yet if you take a hard look at what these vendors are providing, you may well find these “private clouds” are nothing more than rebadged traditional hosting. That’s not to say true “private clouds” can’t be created – but the goal of “private cloud” initiatives is usually the provision of a new secure, dynamic, scaleable and reusable platform architecture for business applications. The trumpeting of the rebadging of data centre consolidation or outsourcing exercises as the creation of a “private cloud” is missing the point and typically will not result in cost-savings, more flexibility or even more security, especially when compared with true cloud-based platform infrastructures from specialists such as Amazon Web Services or by moving to Software as a Service.

So how can you tell if a provider is actually offering a cloud-based solution that will give you all the benefits of cloud computing – or just “cloudwashing” traditional hosting? There are three key questions to ask:

Can the provider offer immediate provisioning and completely flexible capacity, whether you want to add one user or 10,000? If the vendor has to ask how big or small you are, or ask when you want it delivered, or tell you it will take a certain amount of time to deliver it… it’s not a cloud solution.

Is the cost significantly lower than running it in house? Traditional hosting may be a little cheaper than running your own IT, but cloud computing offers much greater economies of scale because it doesn’t just do the same things you were doing in-house more efficiently but delivers IT services in a very different way. If the vendor isn’t able to pass on those savings, it’s not a cloud solution.

Does the service provide a security infrastructure designed for the cloud? Does authentication allow secure access from the public internet to a single application or set of data? If security isn’t built in to application or data objects, so that multiple users working on the same infrastructure can only ever see their own applications and data, it’s not a cloud solution.

For Software-as-a-Service, there are a couple of additional tests:

Can the application be accessed through any device on the internet, whether that’s a PC, tablet or smartphone, and not require a particular operating system or device? If you need to use a designated operating system such as Windows or need to install any software on your device or in your infrastructure, it’s not a cloud solution.

Does the application support accelerated feature delivery? SaaS applications are typically updated with new features and functionality more regularly than on-premise software (often monthly) allowing agile development methodologies to keep the application up to date at all times.

True SaaS “built for the internet” solutions like Google Apps for Business, Salesforce.com, Netsuite pass all four tests. Vendors moving software from the on-premise world to the cloud like Microsoft Office365 may struggle in some areas, such as scaleability, complete cross-browser or cross device support or residual dependencies on on-premise software; they are also tied more rigidly to the typical 2-3 year major release cycle of their on-premise parent products.

The limitations of going the “private cloud” route with traditional applications have been clearly demonstrated in the UK Government’s evolving G-Cloud strategy. It’s not surprising the public sector wanted to take advantage of the cost savings of cloud computing, but it soon realised that creating its own private cloud infrastructure, as demonstrated in a pilot with HP, was prohibitively expensive. The “G-Cloud” project then morphed into a combination of data centre consolidation and virtualisation – until it became apparent that this would offer limited financial benefit. During 2011, we saw the government recognise that both short and long-term benefits would come only from making use of widely available and mass-market software-as-a-service solutions delivered through public clouds. G-Cloud was then relaunched as a catalogue of apps from which the public sector could buy SaaS solutions.

What of the security concerns associated with public clouds? Because security is built in to true SaaS solutions from the ground up, the public cloud multi-tenant model is actually likely to be much more secure than a “private cloud” that’s rebadged hosting. Once someone has gained access inside a traditional hosted environment, they can more easily wander around at will. So “private cloud” solutions that are really rebadged traditional hosting will not only fail to deliver the cost and scalability benefits of cloud computing but will also not provide the high level of security companies are seeking by going “private”.

That the UK government is willing to entrust its operations to public clouds confirms that “public cloud” is secure. Major players in other highly-regulated industries who handle extremely sensitive data are also confirming “public clouds” meet their security needs. For example, Spanish banking giant BBVA recently struck a deal to roll out Google Apps for Business to 110,000 users. So there really is no reason to settle for a “private cloud” that’s just old-fashioned hosting masquerading under a new name.

“The support from the industry this year, as always, has been fantastic. Our 2012 line-up of big name exhibitors and illustrious expert speakers has already generated a lot of positive feedback from pre-registered visitors,” commented event manger Laura Venables. “I’ve been working on the show for five years now and it’s a testament to its continuing success that, with less than two weeks to go, we’re still getting significant exhibitor interest from some top ITSM providers.”

Firmly established as the premier event for the UK’s IT Service Management and IT support industry, the show has garnered a reputation for providing real solutions for ITSM professionals looking to improve the way they work and do business. The IT Training Zone, IT and business training suppliers Global Knowledge, worldwide BMC and ITSM resourcing specialist Aim Hire Recruitment, Autotask – the world’s leading provider of hosted IT business management software, and Visionera AB, an innovative agile software company based in Stockholm, Sweden, are the latest exhibitors to have confirmed their presence at this year’s Service Desk & IT Support Show.

Confirmed international participants to date include Celonis and OMNINET GmbH from Germany, USA-based ConnectWise/LabTech Software, EXIN from The Netherlands, and South African VirtuaCon. Whilst from the UK, exhibitors offering specialist training include APMG-International; FGI; itSMF UK; IT Governance; Purple Griffon; Service Desk Institute, and The Grey Matters. Global Technology Solutions, the new recruitment partner for ServiceDesk360.com, will be demonstrating its skills in service management and technical permanent/contract recruitment. Whilst systems and solutions providers showcasing their services at the show include Axios Systems; Biomni; ICCM; LANDesk Software; RMS; ServiceNow; Web Help Desk; and, one of the Service Desk & IT Support Show’s founding exhibitors, Marval.

The announcement for the show’s new organiser, Diversified UK, follows news earlier this in April that ‘Service Catalogue’ has been selected as this year’s BACK2ITSM session for the popular Hot Topic Roundtable Discussions. Inspired by the BACK2ITSM initiative, which was introduced by Forrester analyst Stephen Mann in 2011 to encourage collaborative problem solving within the ITSM community – pre-registered visitors and the readers of ServiceDesk360.com were invited to nominate their preferred choice of BACK2ITSM topic. Taking place at 10.45am in the Hot Topic Zone on both days of the show, the two sessions will focus on the intricacies – and business benefits – of building a service catalogue.

BACK2ITSM is also the theme of an exclusive panel debate at 12.30pm on Tuesday 24 April, the first day of show. In ‘The impact of emerging technologies on ITSM’, panellists Stephen Mann (Forrester), Patrick Bolger (Hornbill Service Management), Howard Kendall (SDI), Rosh Hosany (AllianceBernstein) and Stuart Barkworth (The University of Sheffield), will discuss how new technologies, such as mobile devices, and social collaboration are re-shaping IT service management.

To view the full education programme and to register for free show entry, please visit www.servicedeskshow.com/register (quoting priority code SD1033).

The survey also reveals that a significant number of enterprises are not concerned about moving their business critical applications to the cloud: indeed the overwhelming majority (79%) either already use, or would consider using a Managed Services Provider to look after their business critical applications. This shows a marked change in attitudes since a similar survey conducted by Symantec in April 2011 found that an average of just 33 percent of business-critical applications such as ERP, accounting, and CRM are in hybrid/private cloud environments.

While confidence in entrusting business critical applications to the cloud is riding high, the vast majority believe that the skills and requirements needed by a third party service provider to handle such applications are different from those needed to handle a non-business critical environment. Just over three quarters of all respondents felt that a different set of skills are needed to deliver mission critical applications.

In terms of the factors that are of most importance when considering a service providers’ ability to deliver business critical applications, transparency and a proven track record rank most highly with respondents. Provision of an auditable track record for their existing clients was deemed to be the best way to evaluate a service provider’s ability to meet contracted SLAs, in managing hosted business critical applications. This was followed by ‘visibility of, and regular updates on, the infrastructure design as a means to evaluate resilience, security and recoverability.’

Commenting on the survey results, Mark Fowle, CEO of survey sponsor Attenda said: “These findings are hugely encouraging and demonstrate that mid-sized and large enterprises’ trust in the ability of cloud providers to protect and maintain their most critical applications is on the rise. As much as cloud providers can work to demonstrate the tangibles -such as a proven set of credentials – we also understand that making the transition to the cloud does require a leap of faith. ‘Trust’ is a hard thing to measure but we know from experience that building and maintaining our clients’ trust is one of the most important factors in establishing a long-term relationship – and whilst this is hard won, it can be easily lost. It’s also significant that the vast majority of respondents feel that they need different skills from a provider to entrust them with their mission critical applications – a ‘one size fits all approach’ and off-the-shelf configurations just doesn’t work.”

The company says it has an unmatched research programme that allows it to model the geography of the UK broadband market in fine detail including:

·         Total number of broadband lines – split by technology (cable, DSL, FTTx);

·         Population penetration of broadband;

·         Speed zones – who can get superfast? Who can’t get 2Mbps?

·         NGA forecasts – how likely is it that the area will be able to access superfast in the future?

Point Topic combines survey inputs with its own research to model the distribution of broadband lines across unit postcodes in the UK. The company is currently working on a project with the European Commission to map broadband coverage in Europe in 2011 with results expected in June 2012.

http://pointtopic.gavurin.com/public/

The programme, supported by the National Apprenticeship Service, brings together more than 20 employers including BT, Capgemini, IBM, Ministry of Justice, UBS and Visa Europe. The Government says it will offer young people new routes into the IT industry, creating employer-defined programmes of study which lead to highly skilled IT occupations.

Speaking at the event, Willetts commented: “The e-skills UK Higher Apprenticeship Programme is great news for the IT industry. It offers new pathways to careers in technology for those wanting to pursue rigorous, higher level training. e-skills UK and the employers with which it is working are raising the status of apprenticeships and increasing the pool of talent available in a growing industry which is critical to the economic recovery of the UK.”

By combining the academic rigour of university and college education with practical, employer-defined training, the programme will develop the technical and business skills needed by employers says e-skills.

Stephen Leonard, CEO of IBM UK and Ireland, said: “The Higher Apprenticeship Programme will be an invaluable source of talent for the UK IT industry. It is designed to support the learning and development of professional, high-calibre people who have the technical and creative skills we need to unlock the potential of technology and to drive a new era of growth.”

At the launch, apprentices had the opportunity to meet and network with their peers and attend a series of business skills development sessions run by employers including HP, IBM and Business & Decision.

Adam Banks,CTO at Visa Europe commented: “We believe that Higher Apprenticeships are an excellent route for our business to nurture talent, which is why we are delighted to be here today at e-skills UK launch to support Apprenticeship Week 2012. Higher Apprenticeships will enable our business to recruit hard working, ambitious individuals and equip them with the technical and business skills they will need to succeed in our technology business and indeed in the wider technology industry.”

The event marked the first manifestation of the Virtual Campus, which will be an integral feature of the Higher Apprenticeship Programme. Apprentices will become part of a unique network of their peers and employers which will extend far beyond the confines of their own workplace.

“We want to create an environment in which future industry leaders can grow and flourish,” said Karen Price, CEO e-skills UK. “The Higher Apprenticeship Programme delivers something over and above traditional routes into the industry. It will provide IT employers in the UK access to a larger, richer pool of talent, and give talented youngsters a real alternative to university.”

Box out next to story above: Responding to IT skills shortages with apprenticeships

Channel IT support company Comms-care has embarked on an aggressive support engineer recruitment drive by enlisting a group of young trainees that it plans to put through its own apprenticeship scheme. Partnering with leading IT Apprenticeship provider Pearson in Practice, the company hopes this will be the first crop of many apprentices to come through their doors in what they hope will be a long term partnership.

The Comms-care apprentices undertake a mix of on-the-job and off-the-job training, providing them with practical and theoretical skills.

Mark Forster, operations director at Comms-care, who was part of the recruitment selection process, explains, “IT Skills shortages are a constant hot topic in the press and amongst the reseller community. We are finding that there is an ever increasing dependency on us to provide our channel partners with more and more technical resource whether that is remote diagnosis or physical onsite engineering resource. The partnership we have formed with Pearson in Practice, along with our other recruitment channels, ensures that as we look to adopt new services we can continue to be a trusted, highly respected support partner to the channel.”