Not all cloud computing is favored, blending patterns will become mainstream

In the year 2012, the most frequently used marketing terminology should be "cloud based" three words. Almost all manufacturers are convinced that these three words will be the begotten of corporate IT managers who want to be able to use cloud services at any time.

But that is not the case. Even though cloud computing is of great significance for a particular application in a particular environment, in practice most companies will use a hybrid model that consolidates both cloud and local applications over the next few years. The ITSM (IT Service management) market is one of the best examples. According to a survey of 95 it executives conducted by the CXO Media CIO face-to-face research group under IDG, at least 55% of respondents preferred the mixed ITSM model, while 33% per cent preferred a local solution, with only about 13% Respondents chose a purely cloud solution.

Gartner, the Research Institute, does not think the trend will be reversed soon. In its August 2012 report, "How to determine if the SaaS ITSM tool is meaningful to your company," Gartner predicts that 30% of companies that currently use cloud-based ITSM tools will switch to local based solutions by 2014.

Cloud-based ITSM solutions can be significant for those who use cloud-based applications or need to cover branch offices and subsidiaries that have little or no IT resources. But local ITSM solutions are a better choice for businesses that run most applications locally or have a large number of application customization requirements. To cover these situations, the enterprise needs a ITSM solution that is capable of responding to both situations, namely, the use of a hybrid ITSM strategy.

Understanding the Cloud economy

One reason why companies cannot stick to pure cloud solutions is that, as time goes on, the overhead becomes more and more costly. Yes, because there is no need to buy or install hardware and software, the cloud service model reduces the enterprise's upfront investment. But if companies have a good total cost of ownership (TCO) model, they will soon find that advantage is short-lived. It's like renting cars and buying a car, and if the deadline is ten years, it's definitely better than renting a car.

That is, if the enterprise has 100 users, it will require a permanent license for the ITSM solution costing US $250,000. Although you need to pay a lot of money initially, you can always have this license. Now let's take a look at what it would be like to switch to a cloud-based ITSM solution. The first year could cost 100,000 of dollars. In the second and third years, you'll need to pay 100,000 dollars a year. Depending on the total cost of ownership (TCO) pattern you use, two lines intersect at some point in the third year, the 30th to 32nd month, and the local options become cheaper.

Gartner noted in its report that this conclusion does not take into account other costs. "ITSM tools based on SaaS can obviously help save costs," Gartner said. But failure to take into account the resources needed to deploy, consolidate, manipulate, and maintain these tools will result in enterprises not being able to gain value or achieve the expected return on investment (ROI). ”

Another major problem with some cloud ITSM solutions is that they are very inflexible. The reality is that if you use a standard application that shares with a large number of customers, you will be limited in configuration tuning. This is a risk factor because your current needs may be quite different from what you need in the future. If you buy a company, get or launch a new business, there will be significant changes in demand.

Blending mode will become mainstream

Cloud patterns are significant in some instances, especially for small companies with limited IT resources, or for large companies with many subsidiaries, but with no IT staff in each branch, the cloud-based ITSM solution is undoubtedly the best choice.

But more often, large enterprises that require ITSM solutions find that they have many customization requirements, and the local solution is the only viable alternative to these customization requirements. It's like an NBA star trying to buy a ready-made suit, he's unlikely to find a perfectly fit one because he needs to tailor it.

Companies may set up some departments or branches in remote places. In these places, they don't have the ability to deploy local ITSM solutions, so they need someone else to do the work for them. Such companies need to mix ITSM models. In a thriving place, businesses need adequate server capacity and skilled IT skills, and the local model will work well and have a higher cost of performance. At the same time, branches and affiliates located in remote locations can also get good service through cloud mode.

What businesses really need is flexibility. This means that businesses can use cloud patterns where cloud-based ITSM tools are needed, and use local ITSM tools where cloud mode is not working well. Very often, this is an either-or proposition. The enterprise was forced to choose a cloud tool that could not meet all of the requirements, or a local solution that could not cover all organizations of the enterprise. What they need is a single solution with either a cloud or a local pattern, with two models with a common centralized console that is identical in appearance and sensation.

This model allows businesses to respond to unpredictable changes in their business. If companies are merging companies that might have subsidiaries elsewhere, the cloud model can get them back on track quickly. Over time, if companies choose to merge their subsidiaries, the local ITSM solution will provide better service. The hybrid model gives enterprises the ability to respond flexibly to short-term demand and long-term demand in the early stages of an acquisition.

Meet customer needs

Your ITSM tools will also require flexible scalability and customization capabilities. For example, a government research laboratory has a large number of customization requirements, as their ITSM tools need to track more than 750,000 projects. At the same time, as part of the deployment of ITIL best practices, the lab hopes to consolidate 25 service centers that have grown over time. But the problem is that each of the 25 centres serves an independent department in the laboratory.

After deploying event management, configuration management, and voice self-service tools, the lab found that their phone numbers soared from an average of 1700 a month to 7,500. Thanks to the efficiency of the ITSM tool, the lab needs to increase the number of phone calls by 18% of the Help Center's staff.

Another customer has chosen a cloud-based ITSM tool to manage the data center outsourcing business. They also need flexible tools that can be integrated with many of the tools in the internal operations support system, the OSS. This is an example of how a hybrid ITSM tool should work, with both the cloud and the local tools integrated in the right place.

IT managers no longer have to worry about buying cloud-based or locally based ITSM solutions. In fact, we can choose a hybrid solution for the foreseeable future and make it more meaningful for you to be flexible in dealing with both aspects of the ITSM solution. Companies such as FrontRange are emerging from a mix of IT service management solutions for all sizes of companies.