IT is not an island, and technology is no longer installed for technology sake. Everything IT does is directly linked to and in some cases deeply integrated into business goals. That’s why enterprise IT managers should consider business service management (BSM) technologies an investment whose time has come.
IT management industry watchers started buzzing about BSM as far back as 2004, but 2010 could be the year in which IT department’s delegate the budget dollars toward the technology. And that could be in part to a more mature market and vendor products that industry analysts say are equipped to holistically manage IT processes and performance in relation to its impact on the business. Enterprise Management Associates recently distributed its EMA Radar for BSM report, focusing on three “functional” areas of the technology: BSM Service Impact, BSM Financial Optimization and Lifecycle BSM.
The ‘booth babe’ debate
The phenomenon of the ‘booth babe’ pleases most trade show attendees, but some observers object to the offensive and sexist nature of the practice of packing your booth with attractive, scantily-clad women who for the most part know very little about the company, technology or product they are helping to sell. But for many vendors the bevy of beauties brings at least some boys into their booth, hopefully willing to listen to a product pitch while they admire the, um, staff.
A recent post by Network World blogger Michael Morris caused a bit of discussion on that site as well as chatter across social media network Twitter. He held a contest immediately following Cisco Live to identify the hottest booth babe at the show. BlueCat won Morris’ contest this year, and I have to admit the vendor’s choice of theme and costume has landed on more than a few of my show “reporter’s notebooks” over the years. The company usually goes all out on equipping its show booth and apparently it pays off, if winning such contests is any measure of success. One Twitter commenter claimed that employing “booth babes” resulted in “1,000s of useless leads vs. legitimate prospects that can turn into purchases.”
For many, booth babes are seen as what they are: an obvious ploy to lure show attendees into a vendor’s booth. That certainly doesn’t mean the intelligent attendees at such shows don’t thoroughly enjoy the presence of booth babes or even mind that there is a product pitch waiting for them after they snap a picture. And for many others, employing attractive young ladies to stand around half-naked to be ogled by as one person put it “lusty geeks” is archaic and sexist.