The Service Management Soapbox

Like every other technology geek and investor in the world, I have been closely following the emerging story around Google’s “Android” announcement with keen interest. Android is the name of Google’s proposed system platform for mobile phones, the long anticipated “gPhone” that has been rumored to compete with Apple’s iPhone. Since I have not yet seen anything tangible from Google and its Open Handset Alliance partners, I cannot yet judge its actual viability against the other existing and proposed platforms from Apple, Microsoft, and others. What I can do, however, is imagine the possibilities. Maybe you have too.

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As many of you have heard by now, EMC acquired Voyence last week. Voyence is a leader in the network compliance, configuration and change management market. I’ve been a long-time fan of Voyence, so I’m delighted to have them in the EMC family now.

I promise this blog will not become a podium for EMC marketing, but occasionally EMC will do something worthy of commentary here. The Voyence acquisition is one of these events. Not only is it an important step for both EMC and Voyence, it is also a notable step in the relentless (and necessary) consolidation in our market.

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Every decision we make in IT, indeed every decision we make in life, is based upon accurate information. There are no exceptions to this basic law of nature. Think about examples of decisions big and small, both in and out of the IT domain. None can be made with any confidence unless the right information exists.

This sums up the whole notion of configuration management. It is the process and the system of technologies that ensure the right information exists to make decisions, both automated and manual. For this reason, configuration management is the most important of all the ITIL processes. One can effectively argue that change management is equally important, as the two form the nucleus of every function we perform. If I had to choose one over the other, however, configuration gets the edge.

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