Enterprise Management Software - Doing Some Good

2009-06-01T10:09:00.000-04:00

Introducing Benjamin Breeland – the Blog Resume (part 2)

Another benefit of the blog is that one gets to review and edit the original post. I reviewed my first post and noticed that I talked about the listen, learn, lead, and lecture part of my objective but provided no discussion on the “while doing some good for his customers, his company, and himself”. While I think most get it; I decided to provide a short explanation here as well.

I want to do more than earn a living – I want to do some good. I truly want to change the world of those I meet. In business, I want to help my company, my peers, my customer, and myself to do better. This requires a focused commitment to each member of the team. It also requires asking hard questions and providing straight answers that best meets the needs of all. Finally, it requires passion and an ability to listen first, learn, lead, and lecture. It is a belief that there is no challenge too great to do some good. Again, I ask, would you hire me? Would you challenge me? I am ready to do some good!

2009-05-28T14:41:00.000-04:00

Introducing Benjamin Breeland – the Blog Resume

This week I started the search for a new opportunity. I read somewhere that resumes were outdated and one should (or could) use a blog to introduce oneself to potential employers. Therefore, I decided to start my blog resume. Most resumes start with an objective statement. Here is my objective and an explanation – since this is a blog, I get the chance to explain myself.

Career Objective
Ben Breeland seeks an opportunity to listen, learn, lead, and lecture while doing some good for his customers, his company, and himself.

Explanation
In the past 15+ years, I worked to provide technology solutions to companies. I considered myself an excellent IT consultant. I learned to listen to the customer, my sales team, and to corporate direction. I learned what I needed to do to satisfy the customer, the sales team, and my company. I led the customer to a solution that addressed the customer’s needs, that the sales team could sell, and that our company could support. I then provided additional consulting to address any questions and lectured (talked) all parties on the solution and its benefits to all. My customers purchased millions of dollars of software from the companies I helped.

I used the listen, learn, lead, and lecture concept throughout my career. It works well for presales but also works well when one manages others. A critical part of management is the feedback loop. When I managed a project or team, I started with a lecture or description of the tasks needed to meet certain objectives. I listened to the team and learned what worked and what did not work and led them to a direction that resulted in project success or improvement. The listen, learn, lead, and lecture provides me with a grounding for whatever I need to do – presales, consulting, managing, or completing tasks.

I think my objective alone is enough to secure a new job. What do you think? Would you hire me? Well more on my blog resume later – time to send some traditional resumes and make some calls.

2009-05-27T13:20:00.000-04:00

From presales to sustainment – where the customer IS always right

A presales consultant has a clear goal – do what is necessary so that the sales pro closes the business. These tasks include gathering requirements, demonstrating solutions, and answering questions. There is a start, middle, and end to this process. Well it is not this way in sustainment. The customer (no longer a prospect) purchased the software and now wants to use it to accomplish the business goals discussed in the presales process. What if there were no goals? What if the customer bought the solution and wanted to find some problems for the solution to address? What would you do? I suggest whatever the customer asks – if you wish to keep your job and the contract. In a sustainment, the customer IS always right!

2007-03-18T21:58:00.000-04:00

The customer is always right!

The customer IS always right! Unfortunately, this is NOT a customer – yet! As a consultant tasked with pleasing an aggressive sales team and understanding requirements from perspective customers, one often hears from the sales team that the customer is always right. What is often missing to the sales team is that the perspective customer is NOT yet a customer. Until one identifies requirements and arranges a payment or contract for certain deliverables, the perspective customer is a prospect. During this time, it is the task of the consultant to ensure a clear understanding of the identified requirements and the potential deliverables. This way the team ensures that the statement, “the customer is always right”, is reasonable and true for the customer, consultant, and sales.

2007-03-08T22:48:00.000-05:00

An enterprise architect, clear requirements, and business objectives help – The desire to do some good remains. To do some good, one must meet the requirements of the recipient. Understanding and gathering these requirements is perhaps the greatest challenge faced by the enterprise management software vendor. In more than ten years as an enterprise management consultant, the ability to measure good delivered to any customers does not exist. The reason for this is the lack of deliverable business objectives. The lack of clear business objectives reflects the poor leadership within the enterprise management software companies and within the organizations looking to use these tools. Perhaps an enterprise architect is the answer!

2006-11-22T23:27:00.000-05:00

Storage is cheap…not free

A customer asked a consultant, “How much storage is needed for that management solution?” The consultant responded, “Storage is cheap…the solution will collect performance information, error logs, and other information and store it in the database….” This is a common statement. However, it suggests that the enterprise management solution will not do any good. A good enterprise management solution helps to reduce resources. If the client purchased and allocated storage to each department based on an annual budget, there are no resources for new storage requirements. While storage may be cheap, it is not free. An Enterprise Management solution must provide clear requirements to do some good.

2006-11-11T00:17:00.000-05:00

Dashboards for outsourcers
Is the dashboard (enterprise management software) important when one chooses to take a taxi, bus, or hired car? Absolutely! Just because one chooses to outsource a business objective (get Mr. Jones to work each day by 8 am), the operator requires the same information (speed, fuel levels, temperature, etc) to ensure timely completion of the objective. It is imperative that the business looking to outsource ensure that the chosen provider has the ability to maintain service levels. It does the business no good to outsource the business process and arrive late for work. To do some good, the provider must meet service level objectives.

2006-11-04T20:19:00.000-05:00

Sometimes stuff does not allow one to do some good. Today CA, Inc, formerly Computer Associates and a leading enterprise management software company, struggles to do some good as it focuses on cutting costs and legal challenges caused during Mr. Kumar’s reign as CEO. During Mr. Kumar’s tenure, CA did more good as an enterprise management software company than it does today. Mr. Kumar did some good. Unfortunately, other stuff got in the way.

2006-11-03T02:22:00.000-05:00

What does it mean to do some good?
What does it mean to do some good? When thinking of the automobile and the check engine light or gas gauge, it means that one does not need to get out of the car to know that there is an alarm. When thinking of enterprise management software, one expects similar alarms. I recently read that Congress required National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to develop a rule requiring all new motor vehicles to include a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) [read more at http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/vrtc/ca/tpms.htm ]. This site also includes information on the development of an automotive icon for the system. It would appear that Congress is helping the automotive industry do some good. Would you agree? Has enterprise management software received any help from Congress? Does Sarbanes Oxley list software requirements for compliance? Should software vendors determine – without congressional help – what is good for Sarbanes Oxley compliance? Is this good for you?

2006-10-20T22:01:00.000-04:00

Why is enterprise management software important?
Why is enterprise management software important? Is it ok to have a driver get out of the car, open the fuel cap, and pull out the fuel “measuring stick” to determine the remaining fuel in the car? Would it be ok to have the driver open the hood prior to each trip to view the status of the engine? For most of us, the answer is no. Instead, this information delivered to the driver’s dashboard (via fuel gauge or check engine light) helps the driver determine if the car is ready for the trip. Enterprise management software helps a business determine if there is capacity (storage, processing power, bandwidth, etc.) to serve its customers without opening the hood or fuel cap. Consider an online auction site with servers located around the world. The enterprise management software monitoring those servers sends transaction information to different locations (dashboards) around the clock and around the world so that a failed server or network link gets to the right person at the right time so that the failure does not result in an unhappy customer. Enterprise management software is important to ensuring happy customers (the car does not have to stop for someone to open the hood to check the engine or open the fuel cap to check the fuel level – the online auction site shifts to a backup server without affecting the customer).

2006-10-17T17:21:00.000-04:00

The check engine light and enterprise managment software
What does a car’s check engine light have to do with enterprise management software? The car’s check engine light is a great example of what enterprise management software delivers – information when and where it can do some good. The check engine indicator displays in the car’s dashboard as soon as there is potential faulty condition. The dashboard also includes the gas gauge and other indicators that provide the operator with information to decide if she can accomplish the goal – use the car to get groceries to make dinner. The closest equivalent to the check engine light in IT is the call from an end user complaining of slow network or application response. The network tech then performs a number of tests to prove it is not the network while the application team does the same with the application server. The check engine light warns of a potential service problem; the call from the end user indicates a service problem. The goal of enterprise management software is to provide the early warning indicator enabling the right decisions to avoid service interruptions.

2006-10-17T07:54:00.000-04:00

What is enterprise management software?
What is enterprise management software? Enterprise management software is responsible for the “check engine” light displayed in your car’s dashboard whenever there is a problem. Enterprise management software in the IT world delivers a “check segment” indicator to the network manager’s “dashboard” when there is a network fault or an “unable to process invoices ” indicator to the finance manager’s email inbox. Enterprise management software provides operational information to enable timely decisions that affect business processes. Just as the “check engine light” indicates a fault later diagnosed by a mechanic, EMS indicates a fault diagnosed by someone in IT. Both the “check engine light” and enterprise management software indicate a problem – the decision to act (now or later) is yours.