Yet Another Service Management Model, or YaSM, if you will, is an amalgamation of processes designed to give universal clarity and direction that applies to popular best practices frameworks like ITIL. It’s a straightforward compilation of processes, enabling business owners to enact a framework successfully.

YaSM works as a spine for a number of frameworks and is particularly useful when working with ITIL®, ISO 20000®, Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT®), Universal Service Management Body of Knowledge (USMBOK™), CMMI-SVC®, Service Integration and Management (SIAM®) and VeriSM™.

In the following article we’re going to talk about:

• The historical context of YaSM;
• What it is exactly;
• Why it may be good for your business; and
• Similarities and differences to ITIL, one of the most common frameworks in ITSM

YaSM may be just what your enterprise business needs to kickstart your service management framework. Keep reading to learn how.

YaSM a Brief History

Before YaSM, there was a resource for implementing ITIL at the enterprise level developed in 2006. After fielding feedback from customers over several renditions, YaSM is the most simplified version of that model that can be used on top of ITIL or other ITSM frameworks, providing helpful processes for implementing the model effectively.

A key piece of the evolution was the way that YaSM represents ITIL principles in a visual way.

Using diagrams and infographics, YaSM appeals to global IT leadership. The approach is pragmatic and includes templates that enterprise businesses can use out of the box. The product known as YaSM today was released in 2014, after two years of development on the original model.

There was a significant update in 2018 to shift the core focus of the model to align with the most recent edition of ISO 20000:2018.

What is YaSM?

YaSM offers a unique spine that provides direction for implementing existing foundational best practices frameworks, but that doesn’t mean it’s prescriptive. Rather YaSM is what you make of it. It can be entirely tailored for an enterprise business.

The process model’s clear, flexible, and customizable nature allows for easy scaling. Businesses can start with one or two processes that will make the most impact, adding more for greater efficiency as they grow.

YaSM concisely aligns with the most prominent practices of ISO 20000, the leading service management best practices guide. Therefore it works well with a number of IT service models, all based around those same ISO principles. Some of those frameworks include:

• ISO/IEC 20000
• ITIL
• COBIT
• CMMI for Services (CMMI-SVC)
• SIAM
• DevOps
• Agile
• Lean
• USMBOK
• VeriSM™

Given its adaptability to work with a number of ITSM types, it’s no wonder enterprise businesses find YaSM beneficial.

Here are some other reasons they choose YaSM:

Why Choose YaSM?

In addition to being highly flexible and adaptable, YaSM is accessible. Because it can work for enterprise businesses that implement a number of different service models, it’s useful in a wide variety of industries.

It’s true you’ll find businesses applying YaSM in industries from healthcare to financial. It’s ability to work with a wide range of frameworks gives it a unique advantage over other models across industries.

Another advantage for enterprise businesses is in the process model, itself, and how it’s applied. We’ll look at the process in more depth below:

The YaSM Process Model

The YaSM Process Map is the standout product in the YaSM universe of resources. This is where YaSM really shines. It offers a not-so-complicated, straightforward solution with heavy visual elements. For every process and subprocess is a diagram that illustrates what activities should be performed, the inputs needed and the results found. It’s also unique in that it offers templates, or detailed checklists, mandating that specific items be produced during YaSM.

In its current form, the YaSM Process Map can be obtained in Microsoft Visio and ARIS formats, making it adaptable for most enterprise users. Because these maps are offered in these editable formats, they offer a launchpad for IT designers to begin the customization process for their organization or their specific industry.

The YaSM – ISO 20000 Bridge is an additional part of the process model that explains the connection between a given process and its ISO 20000 requirement counterpart. This add-on makes a wonderful supplementary resource for just about any enterprise business, as most businesses will be familiar with these requirements.

YaSM vs ITIL

ITIL is one of the most prominently used frameworks in modern enterprise business. In the following section, we’re going to give you a rundown of how ITIL and YaSM are both similar and very different:

• Process model: YaSM and ITIL are both robust. YaSM is considered a more clear process-oriented representation of the ITIL guidance concepts, but it’s not because it’s leaner. Instead, YaSM offers multiple visuals to help IT leaders better digest and interpret concepts as well as checklist templates for implementation.
• Guidance vs process: ITIL 4 offers guidance to users, as opposed to processing information. YaSM takes this guidance a step forward and focuses on “the how” of implementation. Not all ITIL guidance has a process associated with it, but YaSM helps businesses implement those that do.
• ITIL emphasized value streams: ITIL 4 asks consumers to look at both their processes and value streams. These two things are similar and often confused. Processes are the implementation actions we’ve been discussing in this blog, while value streams are activities that lead specifically to deliver on an enterprise’s value proposition of service delivery. In the end, it’s important for businesses to consider both, bur YaSM takes the guesswork out of process.

As an enterprise IT manager, if you were to lay the processes of YaSM over ITIL 4 guidelines, you’d have a full picture of what’s required for success.

Operating a business has never been a simple task. Modern advancements provide the chance for previously unheard-of levels of operational optimization and data insight. The tools available to today’s business owners are nearly limitless, which can be equal parts boon and bane. There are tools available for managing every aspect of a business, from inventory to customer service, taxes to time cards. Each piece of software added to the company’s technology stack helps carry managers’ burdens—while adding to the complexity of your organization.

Progress and complexity often go hand-in-hand. This is especially the case for technological progress. The good news: while systems are becoming more complex, they are also becoming more efficient and accurate.

That doesn’t stop the complexity from creating hurdles. One of the most cumbersome hurdles when working within a complex system is analyzing its optimization. Each moving part plays a role that can be difficult to assess and the parts themselves may have unnecessary bloat within them.

This is where business process management (BPM) can be introduced to help ensure organizations are making the most of their resources.

What is business process management?

Put simply, business process management is the method by which organizations manage and improve their processes. BPM involves:

• Analyzing each process in a vacuum
• Considering the part each process plays in the big picture of the business

BPM is all about fine-tuning processes to squeeze out every drop of optimization possible. This could be as easy as removing a redundant step in a process or as complicated as rebuilding the entire process from the ground up.

Before we dive further into business process management, it’s important we first define what a process is within this context.

What is a business process?

A process is a series of well-defined, repeatable steps that achieve a predictable result.

Repetition is the key aspect of business processes. They should be performed with regularity and done more or less the same way each time.

Processes aren’t the same thing as projects or tasks:

• Projects are single instances of a specific job. When executing on a project, the goal is to achieve a singular, one-time result.
• Tasks are the individual chores or pieces of a project that need to be completed for the project to be considered complete.
• Processes are jobs that are performed on a regular basis, such as new employee onboarding, addressing customer complaints, or making sales.

Equipped with the understanding of what a business process is, we can get back to BPM’s role within a business.

How does BPM work?

Business process management, as a discipline, attempts to look at every process your organization performs in two simultaneous ways:

• As a discrete, isolated job
• As a piece of the larger, organizational puzzle

Employing BPM techniques and tools requires the ability to look at the business on a micro and macro scale in tandem. Each process should be optimized within itself, but the impact it has on other processes or activities must also be considered.

BPM is a constant cycle that involves four primary steps: analyze, design, model, and implement.

Analyze

Each business process is analyzed for its effectiveness and optimization. The goal of this stage is to monitor operations and identify opportunities for improvement. Analysis involves going over each process with a fine-toothed comb to see what’s working and what isn’t.

The analysis stage is an ongoing process that must always keep the big picture in mind.

Design

Once opportunities for improvement have been identified, BPM professionals begin developing ideas for how to best solve the problem or optimize the process. This is the time for creating lofty goals and setting sights high. Processes should be designed as an ideal version of themselves during this stage.

Model

Next, put the designs into action or simulate how the proposed changes would impact the process and the entire system. Techniques for modeling can vary depending on the process that is being refined but prototyping or performing test-cases are always a great way to see how the proposed changes will impact operations. This step is essential for refining the design ideas and solidifying concepts into actionable changes.

Implement

Once the modeling has proven that the proposed changes have a positive impact on the process and the business at large, it’s time to implement the modifications and put all the pieces back together. Implementation of new processes or modified processes can be a difficult task, but if the stages prior to this were successful, then you know the effort is worth the end result.

Once implementation has been completed successfully, it’s time to start back from the top all over again. The only way to survive in today’s competitive environment is by constantly improving and doubling down on past success. The BPM process itself can be made easier through the use of BPM suites or systems (BPMs) that help organizations gain the insight they need into their processes to make informed decisions.

Intelligent Business Process Management Suites (iBPMS) is the newest, most advance solution type to help you succeed at BPM.

Business Process Management: Seeking perfection

BPM is all about making the best of a situation while constantly looking for avenues of improvement. Those who practice BPM realize that perfection is impossible but the pursuit of perfection is essential all the same. Businesses stagnate when they stand still, and properly executed BPM constantly pushes organizations towards new horizons.

BPM attempts to create optimized processes that employ the power of automation to enhance productivity and accuracy while reducing wasted time and effort. Business process management is not just about injecting automation into processes. It’s also about designing and implementing automation when viable, while realizing when alternative solutions are most effective. BPM systems can help organizations understand their ultimate potential, but true progress can only be realized with the help of passionate, skilled people who are driven by creating meaningful change.

Additional resources

For related reading, explore these resources:

• BMC Business of IT Blog
• Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN): Getting Started with Visualization
• Continuous Innovation: A Brief Introduction
• Aligning the Top 5 IT Leader Concerns with the Autonomous Digital Enterprise

Throughout our blog, we’ve talked a lot about a number of frameworks that can be applied with varying degrees of flexibility to your enterprise business model. Today, we are going to discuss Technology Business Management, or TBM. Unlike some other resources, TBM is a framework that helps businesses integrate IT into the whole. What’s unique is that it doesn’t assume businesses are already fully IT integrated; instead, it provides a pathway to do so.

The concept of IT as an integrated business unit is fairly new. Traditionally, IT typically functioned separately from a business’s main goals, merely checking the boxes to ensure IT initiatives are met.

Only in recent years, and with the advent of cloud technology and digital transformation, have businesses begun to acknowledge that the goals of IT are far more than creating user access, managing equipment, and troubleshooting problems. Today’s IT departments create a foundation for a successful enterprise business and are the business unit at the core of all goals and objectives.

One way they can do that is with TBM. In the following article we’ll discuss:

• What is TBM?;
• What are the advantages of TBM?; and
• TBM examples and educational opportunities

Stay tuned in to learn all about TBM and how to apply it to your business.

What is TBM?

Technology Business Management is a collaborative framework that helps businesses align their IT departments with overall business goals, an essential practice for today’s digital enterprise.

It isn’t prescriptive, per se; because it’s solution-oriented, businesses can use it with a degree of flexibility like many of the other frameworks on the market (think ITIL). The goal is that TBM scales with your organization, and as you grow, so does your usage of this system.

Technology Business Management Council

The TBM Council is a non-profit organization comprised of technology leaders setting the groundwork for establishing a business unit out of IT. The council has almost 6,000 members that are C-level technology officers with titles like CIOs, CTOs, and CFOs.

The council, which began as bi-annual summit, was later turned into a non-profit, offering standardization to businesses in a collaborative setting. Membership gives executives access to a network of TBM leaders and standardized best practices that can be scaled to work with your business.

The TBM Council is responsible for the TBM Index, a standardized assessment that offers a benchmark for businesses using TBM. “The survey assesses a holistic set of capabilities that need to be in place to manage the business of IT. These include your IT operating model, service orientation, organization, tools and management capabilities. The survey also evaluates the financial impact and satisfaction from TBM,” the TBM Council says of the assessment, as reported by CIO.

To collect data for the assessment, 250 enterprises from North America, the EU, and Australia took a 30-minute assessment before the information was analyzed.

Core Tenets

There are ten core tenets of TBM. They are:

1. Position your business for value: define your value proposition. What value do you bring to customers, other businesses and end users?
2. Continuous improvement: integration into day-to-day processes is key for TBM to be successful.
3. Create a culture of transparency: use spending, consumption and capacity data to draw meaningful insights about the business.
4. Create consumption behavior patterns: use insights across the company to influence spending and consumption behavior.
5. Deliver on value: deploy cost effective methods to create value.
6. Planning and governance: have a strategic business plan that aligns budget and values.
7. Know the cost: to perform at peak levels, and how to keep costs low with best practices
8. Optimize portfolios: to ensure they deliver on value most efficiently.
9. Invest in innovation: requiring innovation to bring costs down while remaining competitive.
10. Create an agile enterprise: quickly responding to internal or external threats as well as changes in the overall market.

These tenets create a basis for the best practices of the TBM Council, index, and framework.

Advantages of TBM

If the core tenets show us anything, it’s that TBM is hyperfocused on spending, budget, and cost-efficiency driving new innovation at the IT business-unit level. This is the primary way TBM encourages business leaders to align their IT departments with primary enterprise goals. In doing this, the framework emphasizes the importance of IT throughout the organization.

This results in a number of strategic advantages:

It Puts Value in Perspective:

Under TBM, the IT department understands its worth and position in the company, bringing into focus the monetary value IT provides throughout the organization.

Creates a Road Map for Improvement:

TBM is strategic and best practices mandate a roadmap be created where IT is the driving force for continuous improvement. Because of this, businesses who deploy TBM framework run more efficiently, rather than fast and loose, and every step along the way garners transparency through mapping.

Reap the Benefits of Knowing Cost and Consumption

TBM has a heavy focus on cost and consumption, and the role it plays in delivering overall value. Here are some ways utilizing cost and consumption data and insights benefits businesses within the TBM framework:

• Informs business demand, which allows companies to get ahead of customers needs;
• Uncovers the important cost of business data used by companies to save money and innovate their technology infrastructure; and
• Allows companies to align budget with IT goals, ensuring that the organization is IT-driven, while bringing value to customers within the monetary reach of the organization.

Foster an Agile Response Time:

Because TBM informs planning for governance and day-to-day operations, teams can respond quickly to threats and market changes that impact business, knowing they are following the right plan to be successful. This is driven by a culture of transparency.

Examples and Education

One example of TBM, spotted in the “enterprise wild,” falls at the doorstep of JP Morgan Chase. According to CIO, the company suffered because their IT functioned as a unit separate from their massive enterprise business. By using TBM, JP Morgan Chase was able to align their IT department’s objectives with their core goals and company values.

The IT department at JP Morgan Chase now fits better within the organization as a whole because, from the top down, leadership has a better idea of how money is spent on technology infrastructure that facilitates communication while generating profit for the organization.

Another example is the State of Washington’s government. Seeking to reduce the heavy costs burdening government agencies on technology maintenance costs,TBM allowed the government to coordinate and collaborate more efficiently at the state level, understanding their technology needs while ensuring technology dollars drive value.

How can you get started improving your companies results with TBM?

The TBM Council recommends specific education that can lead to certification. The Council offers TBM Executive Foundation Certification with an adjacent course that covers TBM, leaving no stone unturned. The classes are recommended for high ranking IT leaders, from IT managers to CIOs and beyond.

Those who wish to get certified will also need a bachelor’s degree in a related field and five years work experience in IT as well as a qualifying referral letter. Once certified, you’ll need to take continuing education courses every two years.

We live in a digital age where people expect immediate results and instantaneous change. Technology continues its steady advance and, along with it, the customer’s expectation bar rises. Every business inevitably receives customer complaints and issues. Regardless of whether the business is capable of solving the issue at hand, organizations must always strive to respond to the issue as quickly as possible. This allows customers to feel like their time is valued and that their trust in the organization is warranted.

Failing to quickly respond to incidents as they occur will result in plummeting customer satisfaction. Making a habit of slowly acknowledging complaints and incidents will lead to customers leaving you for your competitor’s service instead. Due to the impact of rapid response times, it’s imperative that companies constantly seek to improve on rapid responses.

Tracking response times is the only way to measure the success of these efforts, and the primary method used for measuring response time in DevOps is called MTTA.

What is MTTA?

Mean time to acknowledge (MTTA) measures how long it takes an organization to respond to complaints, outages, or incidents across all departments on average. MTTA is calculated by dividing the total time taken to acknowledge all incidents by the number of those incidents over a set period of time. This metric tracks what is arguably the most important step to addressing issues – acknowledging the fact that something went wrong and ensuring the customer that the problem is being addressed.

This acknowledgment lets customers know their complaint is valid and that the company is looking into ways of improving upon or fixing the issue. This metric is important because it shows how responsive the organization is to issues as they develop. Furthermore, being conscious of response time will create a “fix it” mindset, encouraging rapid responses to developing issues. Customers are much more willing to forgive companies that admit their faults and prove they are working towards fixing them.

MTTA isn’t just about tracking customer complaints. It is used to track any incident that occurs, such as service outages and downtime. Failing to respond to incidents might not always result in customer complications. Slow responses can also cost organizations by reducing the productivity of employees when internal systems face obstacles. However you look at it, tracking and reducing mean time to acknowledge allows companies to optimize their processes while increasing customer satisfaction and boosting profits. This leads to the next question:

How Do I Reduce MTTA?

As was touched on above, the first step to reducing MTTA is tracking it. Without proper measurement, you can’t know for sure if your efforts to reduce MTTA have been successful. While the formula mentioned earlier is the base method for calculating MTTA, various enterprise software solutions provide robust tracking of MTTA and other metrics involved in the resolution of incidents.

Many of these software solutions also have built-in ticketing and messaging capabilities, allowing them to act as your primary means for both tracking and addressing issues as they occur as well as throughout the organization’s life. The reduction of MTTA is an ongoing process that involves the entire incident management lifecycle.

What is Incident Management?

Incident management is the process of identifying, analyzing, and correcting problems as they occur. Successful incident management often begins with pre-emptive efforts, addressing potential problems before they can impact operations.

Incident management solutions should be employed during the preemptive steps of the lifecycle, as they provide organizations with ways to track issues and collaborate on their resolutions. Regardless of the efforts made to prevent incidents from occurring, it’s inevitable that something will go wrong. When this happens, incidents are logged as they occur, with this first step of acknowledgment involving the assessment of the issue and assigning the proper person or team with the responsibility of addressing it.

Some incidents require the attention of the accounting department, while others might involve IT or simply be a matter for customer service to address. This first step of assessing the incident, analyzing its impact and severity, and assigning the best person or team to the task is essential for setting up the incident management lifecycle for success. Powerful incident management tools will allow for easy access to vital information, including who is on call at that moment and who is the best person for the job.

As with all DevOps practices, communication and collaboration are key tenets of incident management. This is why software solutions with robust logging and communication tools are essential. Keeping detailed notes will help every person that touches the incident during the resolution process while also providing invaluable insights on fixing future issues or avoiding them altogether.

Incident management is as much a technology system as it is a human process. Establishing best practices and training everyone involved in the process will help grease the wheel and ensure the smooth flow of information throughout. Help desk teams will have the information at their fingertips they need to assign issues to the best person for the task, while those who are tasked with the job will be provided the insight required to understand the details of the issue.

Once an incident has been properly acknowledged and assigned, communication occurs with the person who submitted the help ticket, and the process moves to the resolution step of the incident management lifecycle. Incident management software will then make a note of how much time passed between the ticket’s submission and its acknowledgment. This data is then passed into a report which tracks all other acknowledgment times while calculating the organization’s total MTTA. These reports can be customized to whatever specifications the organization requires, making the most of their data.

Finding the solution that’s best for your organization will provide you with a huge leg-up over the competition in terms of incident management and response. Obviously, no piece of software or even entire stack of solutions will do you any good without proper practices, solid training, and a strong team. This fact is why DevOps functions as an organization-wide mentality of combining the strength of human ingenuity with the power of technology.

No one can deny the impact technology has had on the modern world. The steady advancement of technology has made the unimaginable a matter of daily life. In the space of 50 years, we went from giant, room-filling computers which took days of cranking and winding to solve a single equation to pocket-sized devices capable of ordering pizzas in seconds.

Technology has aided in connecting the entire world in a single network while providing invaluable information accessible at a moment’s notice to anyone across the globe. The benefits of technology are countless, but that isn’t to say that technology hasn’t introduced its own issues. While technology has become powerful enough to aid humanity in nearly every aspect of life, it has also resulted in the compounding complexity of systems.

The complexity of systems is what allows them to address difficult problems, but this same complexity also results in the inevitability of failure. Complex systems are built upon other systems with their own complexities and flaws, and as these systems evolve, their flaws change. Most often, the flaws are simply quirks of the system which are solved through redundancies and ample patience. However, these flaws can compound upon each other at times, causing significant failure that requires a response.

In times of failure, it’s often difficult to assess the situation and determine the cause of the failure due to the aforementioned complexity of the systems within which we work. This is why sense-making frameworks were developed to aid in gaining an understanding of a situation. The Cynefin Framework has proven especially adept at helping executives to assess a situation quickly, while deciding the best course of action.

What is Cynefin? (And How Do You Pronounce It?)

Cynefin (pronounced kuh-nev-in) is a Welsh word that means “habitat” or “place”. More specifically, cynefin means a place of multiple belongings and refers to the idea that we are the products of our own complex histories. This is important to know because the Cynefin Framework is built specifically for making sense of complex systems, taking into account the various essential and intertwining aspects of a business.

The Cynefin Framework is geared for aiding executives in gaining a sense of context, allowing them to view issues from new perspectives, incorporate complex concepts, and apply this newfound insight to address real-world issues. It is a “sense-making” model that breaks every problem down into one of four system categories: simple systems, complicated systems, complex systems, and chaotic systems.

Cynefin Framework: Simple Systems

The first category in the Cynefin Framework is called a simple system. Within a simple system, the relationship between cause and effect exists, This relationship is predictable, repeatable, and understood. The simple order category is established to be one where this cause-effect relationship is clear to anyone with a basic understanding of the system. The decision model for this category is: Sense – Categorize – Respond. These types of issues are resolved through the application of best practices.

Cynefin Framework: Complicated Systems

In the complicated domain, there still exists a relationship between cause and effect like in a simple system. The difference is that this relationship is not self-evident. In other words, there is a correct answer or solution to the problem but finding that answer and applying the solution will require expertise. The decision model for complicated systems is: Sense – Analyze – Respond. An expert within the domain of the issue is required to analyze the problem and utilize “good practice,” which is one of the potential various answers to complicated situations.

Cynefin Framework: Complex Systems

The Cynefin Framework distinguishes between complex and complicated by looking once again at the cause-effect relationship. In a complex system, cause and effect are only obvious in hindsight. Complex systems often have unpredictable and emergent outcomes where causality is difficult to ascertain. The decision model for a complex system is: Probe – Sense – Respond. Experiments are made within this system, and their outcomes are analyzed.

The outcome of the experiment dictates whether that experiment is amplified or dampened to adjust the system. The order that is derived from this model results in what are called “emergent practices” or novel approaches.

Cynefin Framework: Chaotic Systems

In a chaotic system, no cause and effect relationship can be determined. Issues that occur within these models are unpredictable and nearly impossible to nail down. Due to this, it is essential that these issues be acted upon immediately to attempt to stabilize the situation. The decision model for chaotic systems within the Cynefin Framework is: Act – Sense – Respond. Agility is essential for addressing these situations, and the solutions that are discovered are considered to be “novel practices” due to the likelihood that they will only apply to that specific problem.

Applying the Cynefin Framework in ITSM

The Cynefin Framework provides a means by which a problem can be quickly identified, and the steps to solving it are made immediately clear. This approach moves away from the traditional management methods of one size fits all and moves executives towards the concept of changing the way in which they address a situation depending on the nature of the issue itself. Different types of issues require different methods of analysis to best address them.

The Cynefin Framework seeks to aid executives in changing their perspective from their preconceived notions, allowing them to apply different methods for solving problems to address the nature of the issue itself. This also encourages others working on the issue to think about the nature of the problem to then decide whether they need to change their approach to solving the situation by methods such as bringing in an expert or beginning with probing the situation.

IT Service Management (ITSM) involves all activities which concern designing, deploying, and supporting the IT service lifecycle. Employing the Cynefin Framework at all stages of the ITSM lifecycle will aid in quickly addressing and resolving issues as they arise. ITSM and DevOps practices focus on leveraging agility through the application of organization-wide mindsets, focusing on communication and collaboration. Put simply, the Cynefin Framework provides a means for quickly assessing a situation and determining the best course of action for addressing it.

Business-capability mapping is a key step in business process management (BPM). BPM is an overarching modality that includes the discovery and mapping of business capabilities as well as drawing insights from the capabilities, allowing for improvement and optimization.

Before improvement and optimization can be achieved, businesses must understand what they do best and what they are capable of doing. That’s where capability mapping comes into play. Business-capability mapping can also be referred to as business-process mapping.

When businesses design a capability map, they closely examine the existing processes that are at the core of the value they deliver to consumers or end-users. This differs from BPM, in that the latter includes both existing processes and those to be implemented. At the cornerstone of BPM is a strong business-capability map that offers enterprise businesses perspective as to what processes are their greatest assets.

• “The What” of business-capability mapping;
• What exactly business capabilities are, in practical terms;
• How to use business capabilities to your enterprise advantage;
• Steps to modeling your business capabilities; and
• Common challenges businesses face when they do.

Keep reading for all the best information on business process management.

Emphasis on “The What”

Many of the topics we discuss focus on best practices; the processes that keep your business in order and how to implement them. In this case, that’s not going to happen. Business process mapping is all about “the what.”

To create a business-capability map, business leaders must reflect on questions like:

• What processes are imperative to our value proposition?
• What processes do we perform the best?
• Which existing elements of the business model are most stable? Most critical?

The driving thought behind this is to define the “constants.”

For instance, how an enterprise implements a process congruent with time and technology. Consider that service delivery twenty years ago required a core group of team members in an office somewhere, and with cloud technology team members today could be fully remote.

In the above example, although the implemented service delivery is variable, the need for “service delivery” as a process is a constant.

Business Capabilities: Demystified

As mentioned above, business capabilities focus on “what” rather than “how” or “why.” When you create a business-capability map, you must be able to identify capabilities while structuring them in a hierarchical way. The purpose of this is to connect strategic vision with realized value.

In simple terms, business capabilities are existing practices essential for core functioning of the business, while mapping them places emphasis on prioritizing their value in terms of executive vision and day-to-day operations.

Enterprise business capabilities include:

• Service delivery;
• Client management;
• Production chain management; and
• Sales and marketing.

Understanding business capabilities is the first step to using them effectively.

How to Use Business Capabilities

There are a number of ways enterprise businesses can use these capabilities, once defined. One way, described at the top of this article, is in the broader context of business process management. Having a concrete design of business capabilities serves a number of purposes. A few are listed below:

Merger and Acquisition IT Consolidation

Identifying areas of overlap can help enterprise businesses disassemble an existing IT unit in the event of a merger or acquisition, where one enterprise is becoming a part of another organization with an existing IT unit.

Planning for Investments

On the flipside, if your business is planning for a big investment having capabilities mapped out from a multi-year, strategic vantage point can tell you where your money would best be spent. An enterprise business’s capabilities are the cornerstone of capital investment planning as they offer a broad look at current state versus future.

Discover Duplicated Efforts

Essential functions could be duplicated throughout the business unit, and that’s not cost or resource efficient. Uncovering areas where functions may not be working in a business’s favor is another outcome of process mapping.

3-Steps to Drafting Business Processes Map

Now that you understand what a business capability map is, and what it does, let’s look at how to accomplish designing it within an enterprise organization:

Step 1: Determine Business Architecture

Do this by documenting and refining capabilities. Get all the best minds in strategic leadership together and start by compiling a list of top-tier, highest priority capabilities. Sounds easy enough, right?

Once that exists, break those capabilities down into subcategories of the existing capabilities required to deliver on them. Now, your list should look more like a tree, or an outline with primary and secondary capabilities.

You should continue down this path, decomposing the capabilities into their smallest units. During this process, visionaries should also look for opportunities to define semantics and dissolve duplication. If two capabilities have different names but serve the same function, a single consistent business term should be defined and listed, and the unnecessary capability should be dissolved.

When the tree of capabilities is complete, it’s time to start connecting the dots. That is, looking for where capabilities connect with one another, and using visuals, like drawing lines between capabilities to show their relationship. Now, you’ve determined the framework at the core of your business.

Step 2: Overlay Technical and Business Architecture

With your business architecture defined, it’s time to overlay your technical architecture. Implementing IT in congruence with business capabilities is an important part of the mapping process, because it ensures that both operations and IT are working to support the same broad processes.

Step 3: Capability Mapping to Service Oriented Architecture

Once a map is designed and laid out to include capabilities and technology support, service oriented architecture can be achieved. Ultimately, what you’ve done by laying your capabilities out this way is that you’ve created a roadmap, gearing your company’s framework and IT infrastructure at services.

This final step goes beyond map design, which is accomplished in steps 1 and 2, focusing attention on organizational structure that can be driven by the map’s insights. Regardless of whether or not you apply a service-oriented architecture model, following these steps will allow you to move away from ridgid, prescriptive modeling in your enterprise business and toward modeling based on service and value.

Business Capability Challenges

The main challenge of business capability mapping is fostering a top-down culture of adoption, usage, and support for the process. As you’ve likely gathered, it’s not something that can be accomplished without a great deal of input across the organization, requiring dedicated resources and time to complete.

That’s a tall order for some busy executives, and especially so when they don’t understand how that map can be used to support service models, align IT with business goals, implement business process management, reduce wastefulness, and plan for strategic investments and acquisitions. To gain support for business capability mapping, IT departments must be able to demonstrate the value.

When you talk about it in the above context, having a business capability map is incredibly useful for the amount of time and effort that is put into it, but if not utilized properly, it could end up being a document on a drive somewhere that never gets used.

In today’s knowledge-based economy, the ability to manage knowledge becomes more crucial by the minute. Around 1950, nearly half of all workers in industrialized countries were making or helping to make things. By the 2000s, only a small percentage of all workers were dedicated to industrial work. As the demand for knowledge work increases, so does the complexity of the management of this knowledge. Knowledge is increasingly being viewed as a commodity or an intellectual asset, but there are some paradoxical characteristics of knowledge that are radically different from other valuable commodities. These knowledge characteristics include the following:

• Using knowledge does not consume it.
• Transferring knowledge does not result in losing it.
• Knowledge is abundant, but the ability to use it is scarce.
• Much of an organization’s valuable knowledge walks out the door at the end of the day.

We have unlimited knowledge available to us with the advent of the Internet, but we need a way to determine what is useful and what is not. A great organization is one that learns, remembers, and acts according to the best available information, knowledge, and processes. Two key factors in competitiveness are the ability to create and diffuse knowledge. It is the ownership of knowledge along with the ability to use that knowledge to create or improve goods or services that defines a successful company.

What is knowledge management?

Put simply, knowledge management is the process of capturing, distributing, and effectively using knowledge. This definition was coined by Tom Davenport in 1994. Another way to define Knowledge Management is the process or processes used to handle and oversee all of the knowledge that exists within a company. The concept of Knowledge Management sprouted from the consulting industry around the popularity of the internet. It was quickly realized how powerful having an intranet, an in-house subset of the internet, can be. This offers the ability to make information available, so the right people can get the right information at the right time.

Knowledge comes in three forms.

• Explicit: Information in tangible form such as books, newspapers, or articles.
• Implicit: Information that does not originate in a tangible form, but can be transferred into tangible form. An example of this would be a dictation of a speech or an experience.
• Tacit: Information that is difficult to capture in a tangible form like someone’s perception of an experience or a feeling after a big event.

The field of knowledge management mostly relies on explicit knowledge, also called formal or codified knowledge, tacit knowledge, or intuitive knowledge. Implicit knowledge is the practical application of explicit knowledge. It is the best practices and skills that are transferable from job to job, and the best ways to perform a task with results. Implicit knowledge eventually becomes explicit or tacit or both. We want every employee to create good habits, so it is important to have a well-maintained knowledge management system.

Theory of knowledge management

Knowledge Management is a continuous cycle of three processes.

• Knowledge creation and improvement
• Knowledge distribution and circulation
• Knowledge addition and application

The success of an organization depends on how it continually reinvents itself. Employees should know how to access and store knowledge within the organization. It is as important to learn from the past as it is to enhance performance in the future. A feedback system is important, so that you know if the right people are getting the right information. This allows the knowledge base to be improved upon continuously while ultimately allowing an organization to continue being successful.

Examples of knowledge management in organizations

Knowledge Management comes in many various forms, and each type can learn from each other. Geisinger Medical Group lowered its surgery cost by $2,000 per surgery by creating checklists for their doctors to use during operations. Most organizations need more than simple checklists, so here are a few robust knowledge management systems below.

• Cross-training programs. Training programs that allow employees to gain business knowledge by watching others work like shadowing or mentoring. For example, employees at Toyota shadow experienced employees for several months.
• Content Management Systems (CMS). Content management systems like SharePoint and Bloomfire allow teams and individuals to publish, update, and access information on a company intranet.
• Document management systems. Document management systems like Google Drive and Box allow organizations to store documents on the cloud, while sharing and controlling access permissions at a granular level. Typically, these tools have search functions like adding metadata and tagging to make them easier to find.
• Chatbots. Chatbots use AI and machine learning to respond to employee questions and requests for information. Using chatbots, employees do not need to dig through a CMS, document system, or chat history. They know where to go to get the information they need and can use natural language questions in the process. The chatbot will surface the best information in the knowledge base wherever that information may be located.
• Social networking tools. Social networking tools like Slack, Facebook, and Twilio allow teams to collaborate in a shared space. These tools store all conversations allowing everyone to search for previously discussed information.

Why is knowledge management important?

It is estimated that poor knowledge-sharing practices cost Fortune 500 companies $31.5 billion dollars annually. Also, in a survey published in the book, Critical Knowledge Transfer, it is estimated that losing a key employee can carry with it a knowledge-related cost of up to $1 million dollars per employee.

Employees quit and retire, taking with them decades of company knowledge. Even if they train their replacements, departing employees are never able to pass on everything they because much of their knowledge is tacit knowledge. Computer hard drives fail, and devices can be stolen. Some people are better at transferring tacit information than others. Knowledge management is important, because of these situations.

When knowledge is not shared and accessible, employees waste time recreating solutions, making mistakes made before, not getting the insights they need to be productive, and answering the same questions over and over.

The goal of knowledge management

One of the biggest hurdles of implementing a knowledge management system is getting employees to embrace it. They may fear that sharing their knowledge will reduce the value that they provide and put their jobs at risk, and/or that a new system will take up too much of their time. They may just be comfortable with the old way of doing things and do not want to adopt another tool or process into their workflow.

It is important to form a strategy for not only how the company will share and store knowledge, but how the business will encourage employees to do the same. To be successful, a clear goal to create a company culture that prioritizes knowledge sharing is crucial. The overall goal of knowledge management should be to drive positive business and employee outcomes, When employees understand the upside, chances of successfully rolling out a knowledge management program are much higher. Watch a free demo to find out how BMC Helix ITSM can help you with knowledge management and much more

The complexity of modern IT systems cannot be overstated as things like machine learning, big data, and artificial intelligence gradually make their way from the realm of sci-fi to the world we live in today. In the Information Age, one of the world’s biggest concerns from Bangkok to Boston is security.

Providing users with the access they need to accomplish their tasks while ensuring sensitive information remains protected is a delicate balancing act. No two users are exactly alike, and their access and permissions should reflect that to bolster the security of the entire system. This is the function served by identity and access management systems.

What is Identity and Access Management?

Identity and access management (IAM) is an enterprise system which defines and designates roles and access privileges of individuals on the network. The IAM system creates roles and dictates what resources those roles have access to and then manages the assignment of roles to individuals and ensures each individual can only access the resources which they have been approved to use.

This applies to both customer identity management as well as employee identity management. The primary goal of IAM is to ensure each user is assigned a single digital identity, and each identity is assigned the roles that apply to them and the access that each role permits them. Each user is assigned a digital identity (a unique username and password) and this identity is then assigned the roles which provide them with access to the data and applications they require.

IAM is also sometimes called identity management or rights management and is responsible for processing user requests to access resources. IAM systems are also responsible for reviewing the roles and access permissions to ensure all users have access to what they need and nothing they don’t. Access management establishes permissions and is also responsible for revoking rights when users transfer to different roles within the organization or leave the business altogether.

Access management operates on the security principle of “least authority.” This is essentially like operating on a “need to know” basis, where users are only given access to the information and resources they require to perform their job. This type of security baseline may seem cumbersome, but it is the best way to provide optimal security for the entire network. Maintaining a secure network is a top priority for organizations in today’s world where data breaches are all too common. Breaches pose the risk of the organization incurring financial penalties in addition to resulting in damage to the enterprise’s reputation.

What are the Benefits of IAM?

The implementation of IAM systems and best practices allows you to open up your network to employees and customers alike without exposing the network to undue risk. This can help to increase efficiency and reduce operating costs by allowing the enterprise to utilize a single network for internal operations and client-facing purposes. Identity management allows access to be extended for on-premises applications as well as mobile apps and SaaS tools without negatively impacting network security.

Properly managed identities provide administrators with enhanced control over user activities and permissions. This helps greatly in the reduction of internal and external breaches. Internal breaches are fairly common, but about one fourth of internal breaches are accidental. Whether intentional or otherwise, the impact of breaches is lessened when identity access management systems are in place that ensure each user only has access to the bare essentials for performing their job. IAM helps to ensure organizational networks remain secure and compliant with regulations.

Identity Access Management Key Terms

Here is a list of common IAM terms that will help you get a better overview of the how the system works and will aid you in navigating conversations regarding identity management:

• Access: The security clearance or extent of permissions given to a user. This can be thought of as key cards for secure facilities where each sector has a minimum level required and the level of clearance an identity has dictates how much of the facility they have permission to access.
• Biometrics: A type of authentication which scans a user’s unique characteristics like fingerprint scans, facial recognition, voice recognition, or iris and retina scans. This is an added layer of security which helps to ensure the only person accessing each user’s data is the user.
• Credentials: A user’s credentials are the details they use to gain access to the network such as their password or biometric data.
• Digital Identity: The user’s unique identifier that is connected to all their pertinent information such as which roles they are assigned to as well as the devices from which they access the network.
• Multi-factor Authentication (MFA or 2FA): When multiple forms of authentication are used to confirm the user attempting to access the network through the digital identity is, in fact, that user. An example of MFA would be requiring users to supply their password as well as biometric data like a fingerprint scan, supplying a code sent via SMS to their smartphone or email, or even a physical “key” such as a smart card or USB stick that has access codes stored inside the medium.
• Risk-based Authentication (RBA): This type of authentication adjusts dynamically depending on the environment in which the user is attempting to access the network. RBA might request the user to provide additional forms of authentication if a user is attempting to sign onto the network from a previously unused IP address or from a geographic area from which they don’t typically access the network. These are cases when MFA approaches are especially useful for avoiding potential risks.
• Single Sign-on (SSO): This access control provides users with the ability to enter their credentials to access the network and then provides them permissions to access any other services or resources within the network for which they have privileges without requiring additional authentication for each service they wish to utilize.

IAM best practices will help increase organizational network security by simplifying the management process through secure authentication and authorization methods. Access management systems allow enterprises to provide employees and customers alike with the tools they need without putting sensitive data at risk.

IT Management: Solutions for You

BMC offers solution implementation and consultation services to help you make the most of your ITIL investments. BMC offers automation and security solutions for IT networks and operations. BMC helps your organization embrace the power of automation to increase your speed and agility. Learn how automation can deliver your organization the data, insight, and tools it needs to make the most of its assets with BMC’s Helix Discovery Datasheet.