2013 Calendar...

Hello,

My blog calendar for 2013 is available for download at the following location:

Click here...

Regards,

Musab

Honoured to be on expert review board of new publication...

Hi,

The TSO have published a new title as part of their ITIL publications; Designing and Transforming IT Organizations: Roles, Responsibilities and Organization Structures.

Authored by Job Ten Hagen, I was honoured to be part of the review team assigned a section of this prodigious project. The author has kindly made a preview of the book available at the following:

• http://bit.ly/sampleORG - I'm mentioned on the acknowledgements page as part of the review team.

We may be familiar with the conundrum of people, processes, products and partners. However, as ITSM continues to mature, more detailed and prescriptive guidance is needed to address the 'people' domain. This book provides beneficial recommendations and tools related to the human factor in organisational success; ones that are based upon academically sound principles and that have proven to work in the real world. 

Some of the areas covered are guidance on roles, job descriptions, responsibilities and authorities, skills, accountability and governance.

The book may be purchased directly from the TSO at the following:

• http://bit.ly/organize-IT

Or from Amazon at the following:

• http://amzn.to/S9QzcC

Your comments as always are welcome; musabqureshi4@yahoo.co.uk.

Best regards,

Musab

How to (and how not to!) perform effective SLA reporting...

Hello,

The experience based guidance provided in this posting although intended for Service Level Agreement (SLA) reporting, is in the large applicable to many of the reports management are tasked with. 

The IT Organisation of today is positioned all the more as a layer between the Customers and Users (beneficiaries) of the service on one side & the internal organisations and external providers on the other. 

The SLA therefore represents the capabilities of the service provider to meet agreed service levels.

The agreement written in a language intelligible to the customers and users, the SLA contains as a minimum the following:

• A description of the services being provided;
• Agreed targets for delivery and support, and
• Responsibilities of both the service provider and customer.

Following are some tips to help obtain value from your SLA reporting:

• Take time to understand who will be reading the report and what they need to know. One method is to sub-divide the report across multiple layers of abstraction. If the reader wants more detail, they should have the option to drill down thru further levels. Consider views of the report customised for each customer group.

• Keep in mind human nature; when information is processed by the recipient, they're constantly asking 'so what?' - address his/her concerns. Your SLA report need to elucidate  what happened, what was done to rectify where service levels were breached & what actions are being taken to prevent recurrence.

• Beware of misinterpretation; a picture is worth a thousand words, but are you portraying the right words? The staff collecting the data and the staff preparing the final report need not be the same. The former ensure timely and completeness. The latter ensure the end-to-end service reporting is relevant and complete & conveys the intended message without leaving any room for ambiguity.

• A historical perspective of performance is important as it shows trends and helps demonstrate the value of the processes and the impact of their implementation on service quality over time. More importantly, use the report to showcase how IT dealt with historical issues and managed to resolve them effectively.

• Reports need to be future looking as well as historical; this is achieved through development of sensible targets and the measurement of actual delivery against these planned and agreed targets. Consider using 'agreed' targets and 'stretch' targets; the latter help emphasize where IT went the extra mile and delivered a fair bit beyond what was agreed.

• Provide a reference section that provides definitions of all terms used, the basis of calculations, the reporting schedules, report distribution and meeting schedules (to present the report).

• Use tools to help automate and streamline the process, but keep in mind the intent of Bill Gates when he said that 'automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency'. My advice when it comes to tools is always to start with people, ensuring they understand why it's important, their role and clarify how the measures are to be understood or interpreted. Once these foundation aspects have been achieved, the transition to powerful reporting technologies is far more effective.

• Depending upon the frequency of reporting, meet with your customers/users to present the report. Tweak the report to meet their needs, while at the same ensuring no important areas are neglected.

SLA reporting and infact ITIL and ITSM overall is a journey, it isn't a project. It's about building a culture where we each person is a cog in the machinery. They need to comprehend their area and perform it to a level such that the overall machine can function and deliver what has been agreed and promised in the SLA.

Comments most welcome on musabqureshi4@yahoo.co.uk.

Best regards,

Musab

The inextricable link between budgets and strategy...

Hello,


In the 1920's James McKinsey defined some core budgeting principles and practices in his book 'Budgetry Control'- the design of today's general ledger is based around that. Financial corporate and business unit performance is also structured around this pervasive system.

This poses some interesting challenges for today's management. A Corporate Planning function typically plans and develops the over-arching strategy, the vision and mission for which the organisation exists and the objectives against which resources are to be prioritised, aligned and re-aligned.

Financial resources are established as a key component that impact the success of strategy implementation in today's fast-paced, and somewhat unpredictable business environments.

However, a challenge bears to weight when strategic planning traverses upon one path; that to understand and delineate the why, what and how of the organisation's focus over a defined period. And the budgeting organisations traverse a path of managing the financial element. Each of these paths often make some inroad into the territory of the other. However, gaps continue to remain.

There are some important points of consideration that can provide useful guidance in this area:

• Organisational change is a natural process that takes time, requires leadership and a concerted effort. The unfreeze-change-freeze cycle if rushed leads to blunders that may not be realised until some time has passed.
• Astute organisations look for ways to help close the gap. One proven approach is the Balanced Scorecard. The Financial perspective can define objectives, measures and targets that are integrated with the Budgeting policies and processes. This way adjustments needed impact both the strategic planning and budget control simultaneously. This leads to more diligent management of financial and non-financial resources alike.
• This mechanism provides another benefit; the ability to visualise the link between budget spend and key initiatives; thus demonstrating the business value of dollar-spend.
• The mapping of budget spend against the strategic objectives brings another perspective; it permits the discerning of budget spent on keeping the engines running cf budget spent on strategic initiatives.

As mentioned, the balanced scorecard is one method of achieving this, along with other similar methods and approaches.

Regards,

Musab

What is E-Government?

Hi, 

A Google or Bing on the subject will yield a wide plethora of definitions; many of them surprisingly different; each genre facilitating a unique emphasis or perspective.

Some definitions tend towards focusing more on the technology used, others look towards societal aspects and yet others give more weight to the supporting business processes.

Coming up with a balanced definition that considers not only the diversity of perspectives but one that also is up to date with current research and development is challenging to say the least.

Nonetheless, here's my tuppence worth on formulating a definition on e-government that strives to meet these criteria to some degree.

"E-Government is the use of technology (Internet, portals, mobile computing and so on) to provide innovative platforms for Citizens (G2C), Businesses (G2B), Visitors (G2V), peer Government agencies (G2G) and so on to interact and communicate better."

Some of the benefits therefore that may be accrued from e-Government may be outlined as follows:

• Increased transparency as users (citizens, businesses etc.) can directly log into electronic systems to track and manage their requests without relying upon human actors thru every step of the process flow.
• Greater empowerment of citizens thanks to access to the information, new channels of communication and a multitude of automated e-services.
• Improved security as requests and information are held on secure and managed networks.
• A consequent decrease in corruption overall.

Despite these advantages, there are numerous barriers that continue to pose a challenge to the more widespread use of e-Government. These include the following:

• The digital divide where people simply do not have the access to the requisite technologies that access to e-Government services needs.
• The knowledge divide; many services mandate a particular level of literacy and PC know-how to avail e-government services. There is a dearth of IT skills in some geographies and also in segments of society who may be greatly in need of the particular e-service.
• Disproportionate Internet connectivity across countries and areas within a country (city vs. rural for instance).

Research continues to highlight dilient approaches for addressing these areas and astute governments are already making headway. No doubt this trend will continue to enhance maturity levels until the gap is reduced even further. 

Your feedback us welcome; musabqureshi4@yahoo.co.uk.

Best regards,

Musab Qureshi

;

Questions you wanted to ask about ITIL but were afraid to ask...

Isn’t ITIL about all about fixing broken things and data centre policies?

Well, the first version of ITIL that was launched in 1989 grew to 40 publications; these were somewhat focussed on IT operations. However the ITIL v3 2011 update is a far cry from this. It provides a best practice framework for managing the complete lifecycle of services across 5 stages; these are:

I.                    Service Strategy

II.                  Service Design

III.                Service Transition

IV.                Service Operation

V.                  Continual Service Improvement

In order to comprehend the breadth of ITIL, it helps to consider the questions which ITIL helps answer; these include:

• What business services do I offer as a service provider? 
• If my business expands by 10% next year, how much more will IT cost? 
• If there was a disaster, how long would it take to resume normal service operation and what would that cost? 
• Are my customers/users satisfied with the services and support they’re getting and if not, where do I need to improve? 
• If there is a failure of my network, how will it affect the services we’re delivering today? 
• What roles are involved in root cause analysis? 
• How will we define and measure service quality?

  

What is the benefit and what needs to be invested to get this?

There are a number of interesting case studies that demonstrate tangible gains achieved from ITIL; following are some examples (source: the Pink Elephant ‘Benefits of ITIL’ paper):

• P&G saved $500 million over 4 years by improving processes
• Nationwide estimated a 40% reduction in system outages and $4.3 million ROI over 3 years 
•  MeadWestvaco claimed a $100, 000 reduction in annual maintenance costs.

These are some of the tangible benefits; what about the intangible? Consider the following as examples:

• The ability to learn from past errors through Problem Management 
• Reduce and manage one of the primary causes of failure today; that of unauthorised change
• Enhance customer satisfaction due to the improvement in service quality 
• Increased staff motivation due to cognisance of roles and responsibilities of all parties.

What are some of the costs associated with ITIL?

ITIL does involve some up-front investment, but as case studies consistently demonstrate, where you have good processes that are implemented well, the value gained from this far outweighs these initial cost outlays. The main costs are in developing the processes and automating these on a system, producing the required documentation and their dissemination and implementation across the organisation.

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

Lead vs. Lag Indicators

Hi,

You will often come across discussions regarding the difference between lead and lag indicators.

Lead and lag indicators come into play with balanced scorecards; Norton and Kaplan refer to them as Outcome measures. The cause and effect flow of goals and objectives with the balanced scorecard (BSC) lends itself well to producing actionable strategies.

It is worth looking at this chain effect across the BSC perspectives:

• Effort at the Learning and Growth perspective in terms of 'enhancing organisational capability' leads to... 
• More 'efficient and effective processes' at the Internal Processes perspective; these consequently result in...
• 'Increased customer satisfaction' at the Customer/Partner/Stakeholder perspective; which ultimately leads to...
• 'More profit' in the private sector and 'more satisfied stakeholders' in the public sector at the Financial perspective.

The similar chain effect is shown with indicators; hence satisfied or motivated employees are a lead indicator for customer satisfaction. And happier customers are subsequently a lead indicator for increased revenue.

Goals are represented as bubbles on the strategy map; they have associated measures which gauge progression towards the defined targets. Formulating suitable goals and appropriate measures or metrics can be a formidable task to embark upon.

One important element is to maintain a level of balance between the lead and lag indicators. Put simply, lead measures are pro-active, in the future and track what is done to pre-empt; in other words you can influence their outcome. 

By contrast, lag indicators measure what has already happened; hence are captured for reporting purposes.

Consider the following as examples of each of them:

Lagging:                                                      Leading:
- What time I woke up                                 - What time the alarm clock was set for
- Revenue                                                   - Orders received
- New customers                                         - Number of proposals submitted
- Budget spend by Q2 end                             - Forecast budget spend by Q2 end

Hence devoting time to ensuring the correct balance between the lead and lag indicators is an important factor for consideration when developing suitable balanced scorecard measures.

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

2012 Calendar

Hello,

My father dedicated himself for many years to forwarding research in Botanical Sciences and continues to be on the review board of a number of leading journals and publications.

After his doctorate he went on to establish a research centre base at the University of Wales and carried out a number of large scale projects using 'green' solutions to help solve problems introduced by urban development and growth - all the often in the face of complex environmental challenges.

Now retired in Surrey, our family home has a garden which is around five times longer than the house itself (not a surprise!). This calendar is in recognition of his efforts and successes in the field of Botanical research and projects over the past several years.

Download link: click here.

Regards,

Musab

My Favourite iPad Apps...

Hi,

Apple's on-line store is extremely popular; with over 10 billion downloads to-date and an increasing number of apps designed for the iPad, one would be amiss to not at least experiment and try the options.

So here we go with my run-down of the top 10 apps I've come across thus far:

1. Google Maps
The integration with Street View for the UK, the responsiveness & neat system of saving and sharing bookmarks ranks this as my favourite - who said the best cannot be free?!

2. Kindle Reader
Although still fairly simple, it provides a convenient way to access Amazon's e-books which would otherwise require purchasing a separate reader.

3. iThoughts
With fairly nimble screen touch controls, this's a great app (thanks Saad!) for mind-mapping. The software takes care of all of the graphical work leaving you to focus on actual content.

4. Dictionary
The dictionary.com software gives me the widest range of suggestions I've come across with the integrated thesaurus. Since it's ad-free, it becomes easier to use than their actual website.

5. Penultimate
A drawing programme which gives a open pallet for scribbling on. I used it recently to quickly sketch up a map for directing a passing pedestrian; a handy little tool.

6. GoodReader
A flexible app for handling documents; it makes the experience of reading PDF files somewhat smoother.

7. Pages
An iPad version of Apple's office productivity tool. The inability to create folders makes it difficult, but otherwise I find it quite intuitive & more feature rich than some of the alternatives.

8. eBay
Although browsing with the iPad is great, this neat little app has been very useful to me in locating hard-to-find items. The way items are displayed makes it easier to discern and identify what you're looking for.

9. Dropbox
With poor connectivity with PCs, this app is a real gem in helping you copy content over to your iPad.

10. HBR Tips
Although still an iPhone app (iPad graphic version not released), I find the Harvard Business Review Management Tip of the Day a beneficial use of my time. The tips are summaries of key messages from recent business publications.

That's my current list of ones I've tried, tested and loved. As I explore further, I'm sure there will be many others to consider.

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

The icing on the cake…

Hi,

Some years ago I was looking for a comfortable hotel to lodge for a fortnight. With a bit of spare time and a fair budget on-hand, I decide to foray a little and see what options might be available.

So I came to one hotel which from the point of entry really caught my eye. As I walked towards the reception desk, the concierge moved pro-actively and gave a warm welcome. Then with a small gesture, disappeared into a back-room. Returning around half a minute later, I was handed a chilled medium-sized glass of juice. It was tropical juice, one of my least favourite! Nonetheless a little tired by now, and not wanting to seem discourteous, I accepted.

It's funny because I never liked Tropical Juice although we have copious volumes and varieties of it around the family home (has always been my brother's favourite). But that day somehow, it turned out to be one of the most pleasant drinks I’d ever enjoyed.

So after checking the rooms and services on offer, I decided to choose that particular hotel over a number of their competitors without hesitation. The next evening, returning to the room, it was a pleasant surprise to see that the make-up was not just immaculate - it was artistic. And placed on a neat, corner side fold-over of the bed sheet was carefully balanced a small, but delectable luxury chocolate.

Isn't it nice when people don’t just give you what you deserve, but make the effort to go one step further? You want have your cake and eat it, but isn't it the icing on the cake that makes the whole experience one that you never forget - one that you want to repeat?

One hotel I stayed at (in Singapore) had an assigned member of the concierge demonstrate the room facilities at check-in; so instead of spending time in experimentation with switches and intricate gadgets, I could move swiftly to find a restaurant for dinner and other more constructive activities. When the airline misplaced the baggage, hotel staff voluntarily did all of the chase-ups and did not cease until my suitcase was finally located and delivered safely to my room.

It’s all too easy for us to get absorbed into the daily run of life, engrossed with the fires of the present and not devoting sufficient time to look out beyond the horizon.

Within IT, we need to keep in mind that our role is in providing innovative solutions and supporting the business needs - so let us give ourselves high and lofty targets. When it comes to customer satisfaction, let us see what can be done to go beyond what’s expected and give that something extra; let's give our customers the icing on the cake!

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

p.s. this post was written with cognisance of value and efficiency; the objective was to portray a perspective which is neglected all the often.

How IT Supports the Business (often without our realising)...

Hi,

Some months ago I was on a flight sitting besides the owner of an SME who develop various IT solutions for niche markets. We started to chat and the conversation flowed into my in-flight neighbor discussing his company’s organisation structure and his consideration of the different business units.

‘I always take care of my Sales people’, he confided rather brashly, ‘they make me money’ – well that left me pondering for a while some days after we parted.

All the often we see today, IT being viewed by many as an overhead, a cost-centre. Sometimes to the extent of being nothing more than a ‘necessary evil’! There are those who fail to understand why IT budgets keep growing and what IT do anyway.

Hence it would be prudent to devote this blog post to go over some of the areas where IT supports businesses today. This generic or high level overview illustrates how pervasive IT has become. Such that all-the-often, you’re not even aware that the service you’re using was provided and was being supported by IT!

In this exemplar, consider a typical, medium to large-sized organisation & how IT facilitates and supports the business processes upon which it relies:

• The employee comes into work and switches on their PC or laptop; it boots up with access to the company intranet and portal, along with access to the business email and office productivity applications.
• The sales staff have a number of channels to reach out to customers such as shops, on-line sales and a mobile sales teams; IT provides electronic systems for automating the capture process, following sales and at the backend, generating management reports. IT provide a Customer Care system where each customer’s purchases and communications are logged diligently. Follow up calls with the customer are faster and smoother as the salesperson can access historical information. This ensures improved customer satisfaction and improves retention as the customer feels the company pay more attention to her personal needs.
• Executive management use an IT supported system for corporate KPI delivery, meanwhile the Projects units use a collaborative project control system for checking against agreed milestones and deliverables.
• Marketing use social networking to help raise brand awareness and receive analytical data from IT to help analyse customer trends. In addition, the Marketing department use the company website for describing the company’s products and services.
• The Finance department use applications hosted within the IT environment which enable effective budgeting and accounting. Invoice administration and payments are supervised using an application which interfaces with the company email system, for sending automatic notification reminders to the respective people.
• Contracts and Procurement use an application which governs the lifecycle of the relationship with vendors. Potential vendors can register through a secure web interface and submit quotations and communicate thru this system. The whole system resides incidentally in a Data Centre managed by IT.
• Business communications with corporate bodies used to be taken care of thru email, but these are now followed using an automated system which has some powerful search and tracking capability.
• HR handle employee services using a workflow tool that handles everything from training requests to providing an information portal for staff to access their salary information and so on. The Administration unit have rolled ERP modules using the same solution for directing requests for business trips and also to manage medical claims.
• IT provide a Help Desk which acts as the single point of contact for staff facing issues related to IT services and also provide first-line support to the retail outlets and the mobile sales force who are now working nationwide, so need diligent remote support.

These scenarios are just a handful from many which could be used to demonstrate how IT has penetrated every part of our corporate jungle today. As the famous adage goes, ‘once IT stops, the business stops’.

Within IT, we need to take the time out to be ambassadors of the value we bring today; this is an area where investing more is no longer a luxury.

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

Amazon.Com - wearing the Customer Hat... Part 2...

Hi,

One of the things which can help improve customer service is complaining (I should try this in other areas of life!). Seriously though, what's being referred to here is - that there are too many people who receive poor service, and simply due to the stressful process of complaining, they just walk away. They forsake their rights as consumers, as customers and at the same time, the problem doesn't get noticed by the right people and continues to persist.

My first life-lesson in complaining about a product or service happened around the age of 14. I was munching away on a packet of Peanut M&Ms, and came across a freak one; somehow it that had ended up with a strange combination of green with turquoise. It was just the one from the whole pack. But I'd eaten enough of these (not necessarily a good thing!) to remember the Customer Service information printed on the back of the pack.

So putting together a complaint letter to the confectionery manufacturer, I prepared the Freepost envelope & plodded along to the closest pillar box.

To be honest, I didn't really expect anything to happen (it was a first experience doing this). So it came as a pleasant surprise when an apology letter arrived from the company, and that bundled generously with gift vouchers amounting to the value of around 15 packs of M&Ms!

For many of us, perhaps its due to past experience with poor service quality or an 'I can't be bothered' attitude, whatever the reason, all-the-often we don't bother to complain. And guess what this leads to? Yes, you got it, even poorer service.

Let me now glimpse over some of the areas where I believe Amazon can improve the customer experience.

1. Provide local storage

One of the factors contributing to the cost for customers in a number of countries is the courier charge (your DHLs). Every item must be individually packaged and sent off from a limited number of storage warehouses. The UK Amazon warehouse for example, is based in Swansea, South Wales (incidentally where I lived for most of my life!).

If Amazon were to identify globally dispersed hotspots where certain products are greatest in demand, they could establish smaller, local depots covering defined catchment areas. This could be restricted to high-demand items. The logistical processes would be more refined and the cost saving can be passed on to the customer. Amazon would gain a competitive edge in remote markets where often lucrative and untapped options remain latent.

2. More than 1-click

One of the features offered by Amazon is the '1-click' order process - seems like a really neat idea and it can be for many people. You'll come across this for example when ordering an e-Book from the Kindle Store. Simply click the button one-time and the order is placed, your bank account is charged, and the e-book download is triggered automatically. All thru a single click.

It shows how powerful technology can be, since a fair number of complex business and IT processes work in synergy in order to facilitate this.

For myself, I'd like to have at least a confirmation after the button is clicked. A sort of 'Are you sure (Y/N)' message. That little step gives one time to think, before placing the final order.

Of course there are order cancellation processes, but I'd still like that step as a check before committing to spend hard earned money on a particular transaction.

3. Greater diversity

Highlighted in my former post, there is ample scope to improving the range of products Amazon can offer. They have the business model in place to support a wider spectrum of products than currently available. Continued exponential growth of the Internet only serves to increase the opportunities available to Amazon.

Managing product quality is more difficult with resellers, so widening their own offerings would make the shopping experience more interesting and reliable at the same time.

4. Researching Customer Needs

Expending effort to discover your customer's needs is an extremely powerful tool which helps to gauge what products and services are greatest in demand; you're more likely to achieve a decent sales target, marketing tartan in Scotland, rather than in Malaysia.

So having an intimate understanding of the customer needs and the gaps in a particular market allows you to develop a unique offering for which the demand can great.

There are a number of perspectives around this; consider for example the weather - so in the summer, the demand for portable Air Conditioners will increase. Whereas in the Autumn-time, the demand for garden rakes will increase.

I hope these posts will provide some interesting food for thought.

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

2011 Calendar...

Hello,

If you’re looking for a nice calendar for the forthcoming year, try this free download; http://64.78.46.206/musabq/2011.pdf

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

Amazon.Com - wearing the Customer Hat...

Hi,

I've been an active customer of Amazon for quite a number of years now & have a fair experience of their service quality. In addition, having tried and tested a number of on-line retailers, from tesco.com to sears.com, I wanted to share with you some interesting perspectives gained as an avid on-line consumer. Hence this piece has been written from my perspective as a Customer.

If we look at one area where Amazon specialises in the UK, it is predominantly in the selling of books. We see a number of competitors who have cropped up with somewhat comparable offerings, each one hoping to take a slice of the cake; the likes of waterstones.com,whsmiths.co.uk, bookshop.blackwell.co.uk and so on.

Taking books as an example then, its interesting to see what Amazon have done to have me going back again and again. And be warned, I can be a pretty ghastly customer to deal with! When it comes to wearing the customer hat, I expect quality with no-frills & no cheap-thrills; I'm hard to please. I'm the kind of customer who enters the supermarket looking at how clean the shopping trolleys are. And leaves the supermarket looking at how friendly the cashier was and whether I got a little welcome 'hello' when it came to my turn.

So how come then, for such a fussy customer that I am... then many-a-time when buying books, I don't even bother to check the competitor websites? What makes the Amazon experience so addictive for me? What makes it tension-free & fun? And why do I remain loyal to them year-after-year?

So let's dive straight in; let me start with sharing what I believe makes Amazon different & where based on my experiences, they outstrip the competition:

What I like about Amazon.Com

1. Overall Good Service:

Amazon has grown from it's humble roots as a simple on-line bookshop back in 1994, to a business phenomenon today, offering a fairly wide portfolio of products and services.

Selling books is still most likely what they do best. However, the amazon service offering now extends to offer a book self-publishing service, Cloud-computing based storage and computing resources, home-delivered groceries, advertising options, jewellery, golf clubs, laptops, DVDs, clothing items, office supplies, pet supplies, audio books and the list goes on...

If you have a chance to read thru the customer reviews, you find that the general impression surprisingly, is that customers are overall satisfied with what they're getting.

So what are the things I like about my shopping experience with them?

Well firstly, the diversity of products available on-line, from the comfort of my armchair. Generally I only buy things I know and trust. So often, I've already bought the item before from a toy-shop or a some department store at some point or another. I already know what it feels like, how big it is and what it can do.

In addition, I get free home delivery to our family home in the UK. The amazon packaging is good, especially for delicate items (although it can be a little excessive sometimes). It seems amazon expend a fair effort into pricing, since their costs are generally the lowest across-the-board. Sometimes the difference can be just a few pence, but that combined with the free delivery is enough to get me to place the order.

Although amazon is on the weak-side in terms of brand offerings, this is offset by allowing any market trader to sell through their site. And this widens the buying options for the consumer.

I've never been sold an item which has been damaged, or where it looked like a return-item from another customer or a book with dog-eared corners. At least 70% of my buying is directly from amazon; and the trader-purchases I've made have been to an acceptable standard.

2. Reliability:

Isn't it annoying when you spend your precious time selecting things to buy on-line, and find after a browser crash that the site has lost all of the cart-items?

You'll be intrigued to know that over the years I've used Amazon, it has let me down personally(i.e. the site has been down) a staggering number of... 1 time!

So here's my total complaint list (and keep in mind the kind of customer I am!):

- There was an incident a some years ago where a PDF e-book I'd bought mysteriously disappeared from my purchased items record. About a year later, it re-appeared once again. Of course losing the book was rather annoying, and that without any sort of explanation from their side. The Customer Service staff were not able to locate any record of the purchase and this only added to my frustration.

Consider now my experience overall using the amazon website; although the site can be sluggish from time-to-time (which may not always be due to the website, but can also be internet congestion on my side of the fence), I've never had a session cut or items disappear from my cart or anything so interesting happen while shopping on-line. The search has always worked and funny things haven't happened in the browser window (irrespective of which browser I use), as has been the case with a number of the competition's websites.

Contrast a book purchase once made on a UK competitor's website; my order was accepted, seemed quite reassuring. Then some days later a surprising message popped into my InBoxmentioning that somehow the book was out of stock! After 5 months, they automatically cancelled the order explaining they couldn't fulfil it & refunded my payment. Amazon by contrast link their warehouse inventory with the order at the time of placing, so if an item is not available, the website tells you up-front.

Once a large book order I'd placed didn't arrive. Following my complaint, they re-sent the entire order. The delivery was to an oversees address and I'm still convinced the poor quality postage service at the receiving-side was more to blame than amazon. Nonetheless, they duplicated the order, no-quibbles, no-questions asked.

I find them to be diligent with packaging all of the bits and pieces that usually come with the item; once I bought an Asus netbook from amazon & sure enough, it arrived duly along with all the different leads, guarantee card and other paraphernalia you'd expect with it.

3. Website Experience:

Despite a huge amount of information contained within the amazon site, the use of a crisp interface means I never feel bogged down. Even though some of the content can be superfluous to my needs in that particular visit (I'm quite a focussed buyer; usually when I go on-line, I'm already fairly sure what it is that I'm looking to for).

Somehow the design is smart enough for me to keep a visual focus on what I want in that particular visit. The same goes for the different screens presented during the order fulfilment process, for example the invoice design; I see what I want & presented the way I want.

I have the same Natwest debit card interest-free account since my University days; it's details are stored by Amazon, but only a number of the digits are visible with the remaining having asterisk place-holders. So no 'human' gets to see my number, not myself, not Amazon staff & not even resellers who use Amazon's fulfilment and payment services. That feeling of security and trust is important when you're shopping on-line.

I like the way amazon provides recommendations. Based on my browsing history the homepage presents items I've visited, or similar items of interest and promotes those which are on special offer.

If I choose a particular product description page, a scroll and click gallery near the base of the screen presents what other Customers viewing this item also purchased. This is psychologically powerful since what other people bought has an alluring element to it.

While using amazon, a number of methods are used to make it feel you're getting a bargain and at the same time, motivate you to spend more! For example when viewing a product description, you get a number of 'bundle options' - so if you buy this item with such-and-such other item, then look how much discount you're eligible for.

I find the customer reviews helpful, although some other on-line merchants use 3rd party review sites (such as Review Centre) which add to their credibility.

The immediate notification following order placement gives me peace of mind and gives me another chance to review the purchase (and cancel it if I have changed my mind). The subsequent notifications sent at the time of delivery, from my experience are always reliably, are timely & have just about enough information squeezed onto them to be acceptable (there are links to similar products which can sometimes clutter the page).

Every two to three weeks I get an interesting mail with items (especially those on discount) similar to what I've bought in a previous transaction.

The 'Today's Deals' page is good for the bargain hunter, although personally I'm quite a focussed buyer so I usually won't visit this page.

A couple of weeks after each significant purchase, I get an email asking for my experiences with the purchase. By that time the ordered item has been received & I'm in a position where I can provide some useful feedback on the overall experience.

All of these unsolicited messages are sent frequently enough to be potentially useful, while at the same time not to the level where they become an irritation.

Well, that's my take on the main things I like about Amazon; in the next post I'll discuss some of the places I see they can improve on...

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

Combined Tweet...

Hi,

Trying to manage separate tweets for personal & professional interests was rather cumbersome; henceforth I'll use this tweet for both (http://twitter.com/musabqureshi)

Regards,

Musab

Social networking perils...

Hi,

Social networking has numerous benefits such as for example, giving you the ability to build powerful networks to help build and expand your business.

But care needs to be taken. Consider a potential burglar who might use your tweet or blog to gauge your current location at a particular time. Having knowledge of when you're out of town gives him or her the ideal opportunity to 'visit' your home.

Improvements with privacy controls are happening, but there are still a number of issues we need to take caution with when putting ourselves into cyberspace.

This link has some interesting dialogue.

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

COBIT 5 - Comment period...

Hi,

COBIT 5 will incorporate a major update on the current version & is currently open to comment feedback.

The questionnaire will close on April 12th 2010.

If you have the 4.1 certification, that's another update you'll need to get prepared for!

Reference link: http://www.pysper.com/016219

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

Support Centre Benchmarking...

Hi,

Charney (2005) describes Benchmarking as a 'deliberate, systematic process whereby an organization seeks to find out who the best are, to learn from them, and to adapt and implement new ideas to improve customer satisfaction.'

A trusted reference point for benchmarking your support function is the Help Desk Institute (HDI) annual Practices and Salary Survey report.

The 2009 version is now available & is based upon feedback from over 1, 000 companies across a number of verticals. Key findings illustrate that:

• 48% of support organizations have multiple support centers
• 31% are supporting customers in multiple countries
• 30% refer to their organization as a help desk and another 30% call themselves a service desk
• The fully burdened cost per incident for phone support is $22, compared to desktop support at $32
• 56% of incidents are resolved at level 1

You can obtain the full report from the following link; http://li-nk.in/cxlzo8

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

Reference: Charney, C. (2005), The Leader's Tool Kit: Hundreds of Tips and Techniques for Developing the Skills You Need, Amacom

PRINCE 2:2009...

Hello,

On June 16th 2009, the new version of PRINCE2 was released by the UK Office of Government Commerce.

Click here to download the template pack.

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

The Top 10 CIO Issues For 2010...

Hello,

Bob Evans (Information Week magazine) presents his perspective on CIO trends for 2010; http://path.to/f880c

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

10 Big IT Management Moves in 2009...

Hello,

Looking back over 2009, CIO.com considers some of the movers and shakers; http://cli.gs/9RdLBH

Musab Qureshi

My personal blog...

Hello,

The intent behind this blog is to keep focussed on subjects of professional and academic interest. Hence, I'll post material which is outside this arena to a separate blog.

This can be access @ http://musabqureshi.typepad.com/

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

The man and the tree...

Hello,

This post developed out of and is a continuation of, a discussion with an astute colleague at work; we considered the scenario of a man chopping a tree. He is strenuously sawing and sawing away, and in this manner, hour-upon-hour pass by.

As your paths cross, you notice the poor chap laboriously pulling and pushing with his instrument. You see that the blades of his saw are somewhat blunt & suggest kindly that he should sharpen them and thus make improved progress with the task at hand.

He replies abruptly that he's working hard, very hard & gives you and your advice the cold shoulder.

Let us use now this scenario as a backdrop to help understand the differences between Planning and Operations. Note that in real life scenarios, you may have multiple sections within both Planning and Operations; here we'll refer to them at the high level for simplicity.

Consider the following list as the questions that Planning (including Strategic Planning) would seek answers for:

• What is the vision/goal/objective or desired outcomes that are expected by the cutting of this tree?
• How does the cutting of this tree contribute to these desired set of outcomes?
• In terms of outcomes, what value creation is the customer looking for & what factors will consequently have a bearing on their perceptions?
• Are there more efficient or effective methods which can be used to cut this tree?
• Are there any other ways to achieve the same results which are greener?
• What are the risks associated with cutting the tree?
• What are the risks of not cutting the tree?
• Why are we cutting this tree at this particular time; can we choose a better time?
• What if we didn't cut the tree at all; how would this impact the desired outcomes?
• What resources are required (financial or otherwise) for this tree-cutting project?
• What is the impact of cutting this tree on related factors (environmental, legal etc)?
• What are the costs involved in cutting in this tree?
• Which is the right tree to cut and why?
• Are the competencies required to cut the tree in the desired fashion available?
• What is unique about our offering which distinguishes us from competitors?
• How can the performance of the tree-cutting project be ascertained in some tangible and measurable manner?
• What other factors need consideration, e.g. the process of transporting and dumping the tree after felling?
• What are our internal strengths and weaknesses in relation to our core-business of tree felling? What external opportunities exist for our business and what threats must be taken into consideration?
• Which trees should our felling efforts be focused on long-term and why?
• How will those planned tree-felling initiatives be funded?
• After the exercise is over, what we can learn to help us improve in tree-felling?
• Etc.

By contrast Operations might be looking at the following questions:

• Do we have the resources to execute?
• When will we start and when must we wrap-up by?
• What sort of saw should be used? Can we consider an electric-saw to save time?
• Are there any policies or procedures we must follow in order to cut this tree?
• Are there any legal, environmental or related requirements which we must adhere to?
• Is there a backup plan to cover if things go wrong?
• What approvals would be required to execute the steps required?
• Etc.

Neither of these lists of questions are definitive; they serve merely to help clarify the scope of planning and the inextricable relationship it has with execution. There is an element of overlap at the higher plane which can be clarified once a further drill-down is made on the level of abstraction.

To be continued...

Musab Qureshi

Do you tweet?

Hello,

Since the blog contains updates which are spread out in nature, you can now access more regular updates on what's happening in the big, wide world of IT and Business Management from my tweet @ http://twitter.com/musabqureshi

The scope will cover the whole spectrum of areas from technology to people, from planning to programming, so don't delay!

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

2010 Calendar - free download...

Hello,

If you're looking to get organised for next year, you'll need a decent calendar.

Click here to download our 2010 Calendar; hope it's useful and good fun.

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

What is IT Governance?

Hello,

'IT Governance' is a term we're hearing more about these days, yet if you ask any number of people what they understand from it, you might receive a fair number of explanations. Hence, what follows is a simple definition which will help in gaining a clearer understanding of this often, misunderstood term.

I've based this concise description on 'the' framework for IT Governance, namely COBIT [1]. COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and related Technology), currently in version 4.1, it is the principal IT Governance framework available today and, can be used to implement IT Governance effectively.

"IT Governance is the responsibility of executives and the board-of-directors and, consists of the leadership, organisational structures and processes which ensure that the enterprise's IT sustains and extends the organisation's strategies and objectives."

It should be noted that:

• The drivers for IT Governance vary from regulatory compliance requirements (e.g. SOX), to the need for Corporate Management to access reliable information for effective decision making.
  
• One of the core reasons for IT Governance is to have a business-focus in order to facilitate alignment between the business and IT objectives.
  

COBIT stipulates five (5) IT Governance Focus Areas, these are:

1. Strategic Alignment: ensuring that IT is in-line with the business direction
   
2. Value Delivery: ensuring IT is providing value to the business, gaining the expected returns and focusing on what will deliver maximum value to the business
   
3. Risk Management: ensuring that risks are identified and managed appropriately
   
4. Resource Management: diligent management of resources, COBIT includes here applications, information, infrastructure and people
   
5. Performance Measurement: COBIT uses a number of techniques to ensure that IT performance is measured not only from an IT perspective, but also from the business perspective

These are shown graphically below [2]:

Hence, IT Governance avails tools (such as COBIT, ITIL, Balanced Scorecards) and techniques (such as formal structures, reporting, audits) to ensure that:

• IT is aligned with the business
• IT is more responsive to business needs
• Resources are utilised effectively
• IT Risks are identified and managed in the correct manner
• There is an improved relationship between IT and related stakeholders

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

References:

[1] http://www.isaca.org/cobit

[2] Image source: http://www.itsmf.org.sg/newsletter/0705/newsletter.html

The IT Management Blog 2009 Calendar - free download

Hello,

You're welcome to download the exclusive IT Management Blog 2009 calendar from the following link:

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/poJyMlBBjw59Po

As a guest you can view the presentation using the arrow controls or by clicking the 'full' link to view it across the screen.

It is advised to download the original PowerPoint file by clicking the 'Download file' option (requires registration).

The seasons theme along with quotations from various protagonists from the corporate world enhance the presentation of the calendar.

Regards,

Musab Qureshi

What is PRINCE2?

Hello,

PRINCE2 (Projects In Controlled Environments) provides a common, structured method for effective project management, it is the de facto UK government standard, is widely recognised and used within the UK and abroad. PRINCE2 embodies proven, good practice in project management and can be applied to any project of any scale, encompassing the organisation, management and control of projects.

Project failure rates according to a number of research reports are not very optimistic, e.g. seven out of ten UK government projects failing despite a £14 billion annual IT spend [1]. The reasons for failure vary, from inadequate planning, insufficient definition of the business case or required outcomes to lack of quality control causing delivery of products which are unacceptable or unusable.

Hence it is a vital to adopt a standard project management method to provide a common term of reference for all stakeholders to be aware of their mutual responsibility, accountability, authority, what's expected from them, why the project was started in the first place, what the end product will be, what work will be carried out to achieve that and the responsibility of each party in contributing to that product.

PRINCE2 defines a 'project' as a management environment that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to a specified Business Case. Hence a project has:

• a defined start and end date
• defined and measurable business products
• a corresponding set of activities to achieve those business products
• a defined amount of resources
• an organisation structure with defined responsibilities to manage the project
  

PRINCE2 is scalable, customisable, repeatable, teachable, built on experience, it helps clarify roles and responsibilities, it proactively provides early warnings of potential problems.

PRINCE2 defines 8 Components, 8 Processes and 3 Techniques as explained below.

Figure 1: PRINCE2 Components and Processes:


© Crown Copyright 2005

Hence the 8 Components defined by PRINCE2 are the:

1. Business Case
2. Organisation structure
3. Project Plans
4. Controls
5. Management of Risk
6. Quality in a Project Environment
7. Configuration Management, and
8. Change Control.

The 8 Processes are:

1. Starting up a Project (SU)
2. Initiating a Project (IP)
3. Directing a Project (DP)
4. Controlling a Stage (CS)
5. Managing Product Delivery (MP)
6. Managing Stage Boundaries (SB)
7. Planning (PL)
8. Closing a Project (CP)

Although PRINCE2 is not prescriptive by nature, guidance is provided in 3 areas, these are called Techniques:

1. Product Based Planning
2. Change Control
3. Quality Review

Some of the unique characteristics of PRINCE2 are:

- Pivotal nature of Business Case
The Business Case answers the why? or the viability of the project; it is created at the start and then updated and checked against at key points throughout the project. The Business Case embodies the rationale and the business justification for the project.

- Management by Exception
Resources are assigned work and given flexibility to complete the tasks. Disruption is decreased thru minimal meetings, the Project Board and stakeholders are kept informed via agreed regular, brief Reports.

- Adaptability
PRINCE2 can be tailored to any project, and complements or even enhances other project management frameworks such as the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge); specific examples where PRINCE2 helps bridge the gap with PMBOK include the below:

• The PMBOK contains no specific pre-project process equivalent to PRINCE2's 'Starting Up a Project (SU)' process, the SU process is extremely valuable in providing guidance in who or what should be in place before project start.
• The PMBOK offers Project Plans, however PRINCE2 recognising the challenge of accurate detailed planning at an early stage (especially for long or complex projects), divides plans into the Project, Stage and Team plans - this facilitates easier and more accurate planning.
• The PMBOK offers high-level advice on Product-based planning; PRINCE2 provides more detailed guidance on defining Product Descriptions, Product Breakdown Structures and Product Flow Diagrams - thus facilitating clearer communication of specialist products (those geared towards the customer and what they expect from the project) with stakeholders.

Conversely the PMBOK complements PRINCE2 in certain areas (as it is more detailed and prescriptive in nature).

In brief, PRINCE2 provides a methodical and proven approach to project management, this can be applied in selected areas or across the entire project. It can be used to complement existing processes & if followed correctly will help manage risks and ensure greater chances of project success.


[Note: The author, Musab Qureshi is a certified PRINCE2 Practitioner]

References:
[1] http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1000000308,39287110,00.htm

What is Enterprise Architecture?

Hello,

Due to the confusion which the term 'Enterprise Architecture' seems to reflect, attempting to articulate a precise definition could be challenging. Here my effort will be to gain some clarity at a simplistic level.

In essence, the scope of Enterprise Architecture can be gathered thru the acronym 'BAIT' as follows:

1. Business Architecture (business processes, perspective, plans, drivers etc)
2. Applications Architecture (applications development and management standards)
3. Information Architecture (structure, assets, relationships)
4. Technology Architecture (IT infrastructure standards including hardware, software etc)
   

The distinction therefore, between Enterprise Architecture (EA) and IT Architecture is that EA includes all 4 elements above. The focus of IT architecture however, is restricted to the applications, information and technology areas (excluding the business architecture).

EA hence documents the relationship between these 4 layers & with the external environment (e.g. customers, stakeholders, regulatory compliance requirements etc).

Enterprise Architecture provides a model in order to:

1. Capture the current state architecture
2. Capture the desired future state architecture
3. Develop an actionable roadmap to make the transition to the desired state architecture (achieved thru a governance process)

Enterprise Architecture defines Principles which are high level statements defining how IT will be used to support and be aligned with the business.

In brief, Enterprise Architecture provides a top-down approach, starting with the organisation's Business Strategy, then studying the IT Strategy. Models such as TOGAF [1] or Zachman [2] are used to capture the architecture.

To gain tangible benefit, a roadmap of initiatives/projects is developed to progress the organisation from the current state to desired state. Once executed, the result will be an organisation more effectively managed, better aligned and more agile.

This could be a somewhat simplified description considering the wide-reach of Enterprise Architecture and its interfaces across the business (e.g. with IT Investment planning, Project Management etc), however it suffices as a simple description allowing the reader to gain clarity on understanding one of IT's most challenges areas.

Enterprise architecture helps to close the gap between IT and the business at all levels. It takes a 360 degree view by gaining an intimate understanding of the business and how technology supports existing and future requirements.

References:
[1] http://www.opengroup.org/togaf/
[2] http://www.zifa.com/framework.html

Does your organisation have an IT Strategy Officer?

Hello,

Organisations have historically had CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, COOs and so on, each of these roles fulfilling a distinct area of responsibility.

The increasing trend of the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) role however, indicates the growing importance and challenge of executing successful strategies in today's complex, and rapidly changing technical and business environments.

The McKinsey article 'How chief strategy officers think about their role: A roundtable' by Renée Dye [1] raises some beneficial observations from the inside.

It would not be surprising to observe further predominance of, for want of a better title, the IT Strategy Officer (ITSO). This function would be responsible for supporting the CIO for the IT-strategy related arena, just as the CSO supports the CEO for the corporate planning arena.

Reference:
[1] http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/How_chief_strategy_officers_think_about_their_role_A_roundtable_2143

Myths of the CMDB...

Hello,

All the more for organisations starting out with implementing ITIL, there can understandably be some level of confusion surrounding the CMDB (Configuration Management Database) due to it's seemingly mysterious pervasiveness in supporting ITIL processes and functions.

The 'Myths of the CMDB' article by Michele Hudnall addresses some of the more common misconceptions encountered [1] along with some valuable insight.

ITIL v3 it must be said, has made endevours to extend the CMDB from what was considered ultimately a 'database' modelling the IT infrastructure, holding details of Configuration Items (CIs) thru their lifecycle, into a powerful resource more business aligned and focused. [2]

The transition to a CMS in brief encompasses the following updates:

• The CMDB was understood by many to be a single database incorporating all information possible on your IT infrastructure along with their inter-relationships; the CMS provides clearer guidance by introducing 4 layers each with it's own perspective or view of the IT infrastructure. This makes for easier comprehension and implementation.
• The CMS scope is wider than being an information repository; it includes the database part along with a tool & will provide a federated view linking all CMDB information.
• The CMS information extends to include details on customers, users, business units etc.
• The CMS concept recognises the need in some organisations for multiple physical CMDBs, but ensures the top layer (the Presentation Layer) provides a unified view showing respective layers of complexity as one drills down.
• The CMS is referred to and used by all of the IT Service Management processes

In summary, the CMS builds upon CMDB principles to reduce the scope for confusion thru a more structured and prescriptive approach to modelling and managing your IT infrastructure.

Reference(s):
[1] http://datacenterjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1477&Itemid=40
[2] http://community.ca.com/blogs/itil/archive/2007/10/26/promoting-the-cmdb-to-cms.aspx