With Gartner deciding to end the magic quadrant, many would say that the software tools are rapidly becoming commodity items. Project Management and many Service Management skills are now often considered commodity also, with many organisations deciding to go with contract resources rather than consultancy companies.
I've noticed a trend of people seeking information and support on different service management disciplines, such as Service Portfolio Management and Service Cost Management - so a little bit of a shift from Service Operations and more towards Service Strategy, Service Design and Service Transition. I would argue that this may be a trend driven by the maturity of these organisations - maybe they have developed their maturity sufficiently in some of the Service Operations disciplines, and now have the bandwidth and need to spend more effort on other areas.
As another recent article asks "Is BSM the future of IT", I think my answer would be that a BSM approach is certainly becoming more appropriate that an ITSM or pure IT approach. What you have to watch out for is those people who would encourage you to believe that BSM is another set of technology tools and applications - this isn't correct. BSM is about how you approach managing services to support business and customer outcomes and objectives, which means it's even more about people, process and service than technology.
There is a reason why many people continue to ask if we should drop the IT from ITSM, it's because they feel the need to focus on the Service and the need to achieve business outcomes and objectives rather than just on the IT. The 'IT' is often an unfortunate distraction that can drive the wrong behaviour, which is why I've been more keen on the BSM phrase than ITSM since BSM was invented as a term.
There is no IT for IT's sake - the IT is now just a tool and we need to focus on the job and outcome that we want to achieve with the help of the IT. Business Service Management (BSM) is an approach to understanding this context and ensuring that we always look at the goal/objective and outcome rather than focusing on the technology.
BSM should help IT departments relate better to their colleagues in other departments, and ensure they can move to being seen as part of the business rather than a supplier to it. BSM should also help Service Providers to relate better to their customers and how they support their business objectives.
Many aspects of IT are now largely commodity, with everyone owning multiple ICT devices and using many different applications in their personal and professional life.
A BSM philosophy and approach should support those moving away from too much focus on IT, and on to the delivery of customer and shareholder value.
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