ITIL Capacity Management and Financial Management working together to block business processes December 5, 2008
Posted by ivankamenken in business, itil.Tags: capacity, connectivity, cost, Demand, finance, Internet, IT Service Management, itil, ITIL V3
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I just checked into my hotel in Rio de Janeiro – great location: close to the beach and not too close to the busy streets. As I have to deliver a presentation tonight I wanted to do some work in preparation, so I asked the girl at reception about the internet connection. (normally I have to ask for a cable as I don’t carry one with me)
No problem with the cable as it is wireless internet so she gives me the userid and password for the connection. I am happy as my business processes can continue from my mobile/virtual office. But that happiness quickly vanished when she shouted at me – just before I stepped into the lift on my way to my room – “oh, and internet is charged at $0.20 per minute”
WHAT?!
Wow – that’s a bit steep!! In most hotels it is either free, or you pay anywhere between $18 and $25 per day for connectivity. But 20 cents per minute? Most of my business processes rely in some shape or form on internet connectivity! So that will cost me $12 per hour?! I had to swallow really hard to accept that. But there was no option – it’s this or no internet at all…
So while I walked on the beach it got me thinking: we talk within the ITIL processes of Capacity Management, Demand Management and Financial Management about financial constraints to channel business usage of IT services. But never should it lead to our business people taking walks on the beach because they get really nervous everytime another minute passes and they know they have to pay for it.
Remember – charging models have to be simple, realistic and FAIR. I fail to see how these principles are applied in this particular hotel.
Over and out – I’m turning off the internet now.. this blog has cost me $2.00 already!
Economic downturn? Keep the service coming! September 30, 2008
Posted by ivankamenken in business.Tags: business, cashflow, economy, finance, service
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Even while we are on a family holiday, we keep talking about Service Management ( I know.. occupational hazard I suppose!) as it is very obvious around us… things are changing with the US economy going down. We are in Hawaii at a resort that is famous for its restaurants and service and we were wondering what the impact of the economy would be. Well, the first impressions are:
- The resort is approx. 25% occupied… great for us because it is quite relaxed and not crowded at all! But not so good for a resort as the fixed cost would be HUGE! This would bring a cash flow issue with it – I’m sure of that…
- The resort restaurants have split the work between them: some restaurants are only open for breakfast and lunch, and others only for dinner
- There are not many US people on holiday here.. we mainly hear foreign languages and accents
- The prices have NOT dropped / changed
- Don’t lower your prices – there will always be people who will pay for your services. Lowering prices means lowering service standards (usually) and this is the start of a vicious circle of fewer clients and less cash
- Cut back on the amount of services you offer – do your research to find out where people go and what they do and offer the most popular ones. Close the other offerings temporarily so you can still offer the same level of service and still make money
- Be flexible and have the ability to change quickly. Change the marketing message to link in with what people really find important and are willing to spend money on. Also, change who you are marketing to… there is always a group of people still willing to purchase what you have to offer, you just have to look for them in a different spot, that’s all!
Mixed emotions… be careful what you wish for! September 16, 2008
Posted by ivankamenken in Uncategorized.Tags: business, credit crunch, finance, itsm, management, wish
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For months and months we have been asking for a lower US$ … The reason is because we sell a lot of our products online and most of those sales are in US$. When we started this online sales the US Dollar was approx. 60 cent so this made us really happy! However in the last few months (years really) it has steadily increased to 99 cents! This means that the same product now yields 30% less in revenue!! Mind you – this is with the exact same cost base and activities on our side so it really cuts into the profits. You can understand how this didn’t really made us very happy.
So for the last few months we kept saying to each other: wouldn’t it be great when the US$ dropped again? Even if it is to 75 cents.. what would be a major gain!
Do you know that saying ” Be careful what you wish for?”… Well…. maybe there is some truth in the saying after all. I mean: by no means am I saying or even inferring that we had anything to do with the credit crunch or the stock market crash in the US of today… but the dollar DID drop!! Today the dollar was 79 cents.
And this is where the mixed emotions come into play – the dollar has dropped but NOBODY IS BUYING!! How ironic…
I need a new wish: keep the dollar at a low level but make corporations in the United States and elsewhere in the world realise that they need a more systematic approach to their IT organisations and that by purchasing our eLearning, toolkits and publications they can improve productivity at a relative low cost!
Can I go wrong with this wish?? I don’t think so… let’s go for this one… In the mean time we’ll keep building products and services that can help companies to manage their finances and IT investments even in times of crisis.. as this is what we’ve been offering in the past 8 years and I’m sure that somebody will understand the value of these products in the midst of this all…
75 cents…..
happy clients….
75 cents…..
happy clients…
Yep – I like this! It will make everybody happy…
Ivanka
