We had a presentation two weeks ago on the entire System Center 2007 suite from Microsoft (we are going to be implementing the 2007 replacements for MOM and SMS) and they showed us where Service Manager fit into their suite. You can sign up for and download the beta from connect.microsoft.com. I have been looking at the docs in my spare time - I need to get my SharePoint 2007 site configured in order to install it, I think.
Christopher Strauss, Ph.D. Remedy Database Administrator University of North Texas Computing Center http://remedy.unt.edu/helpdesk/ -----Original Message----- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Pierson, Shawn Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 12:34 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: BUW 2007 Track Sessions Announced Actually, they don't have a site up as far as I can tell about their "Service Desk" software, which isn't out yet. It is part of the System Center suite (which is the wrong approach to take I think, but that's another topic.) I read an interesting article on http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1954020,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K000 0594 The part that caught my eye was this from the Microsoft guy: "Many companies have substantial investments in service desks, but we know the level of dissatisfaction with those is pretty high. For small companies with no investment, our product will be straightforward to adopt and have it integrate deeply. It will integrate with existing service desks out there over time." The first thing is the most obvious part where they say they "know the level of dissatisfaction", which is true to my observations, at least lately, due to many factors. It's not just BMC, but also other helpdesk and change control apps seem to be universally reviled. Whether this is a function of their role as showing mistakes and errors on the part of I.T., or because the software is bad can vary, but I've never worked at a place where anyone other than the manager of the helpdesk loved the software. The other thing that really caught my eye though was that they claim they will integrate with existing service desks out there. BMC is part of one of the pushes that Microsoft is making to come up with a standard way of representing services, so even though Microsoft will probably take some of BMC's business, I do think that both companies will probably end up focusing on different aspects of service management. Personally, I plan to learn all I can about the new Microsoft apps. If it overtakes Remedy, then I'll be ahead of the game for migration. If they integrate, then I'll know where to start on that too. If Microsoft fails miserably and their service desk app becomes known as MS BOB 2.0, then there will at least be some things to learn from them about what not to do with an ITSM suite, and it would make BMC's solution look better and get users to appreciate it more. Shawn Pierson _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:"Where the Answers Are"
