Optimization Model Structures Microsoft Sales...

Optimization Model Structures Sales Efforts

By Paul DeGroot [bio]

Posted: Jun. 25, 2007

Illustration:From Basic to Dynamic Core Infrastructure Chart:Optimization Models and Capabilities Illustration:A Core IO Assessment

The following is the full text of an article published by Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm focused exclusively on Microsoft strategy & technology. Moresamples of our content, as well as a list ofupcoming articles and reports are also available.

Infrastructure Optimization (IO) is a Microsoft methodology for measuring the capabilities of an IT infrastructure's "maturity" and is used by Microsoft to identify gaps in its product lines and help customers assess their current IT capabilities, how they compare to others, and the most cost-effective improvements. Microsoft has used the model to identify important acquisitions, and it is particularly useful to the company's sales force in guiding conversations with customers. Although IO can offer important insights, customers and partners need to ensure that it accurately discerns gaps in their systems and does not overstate savings or neglect non-Microsoft solutions.

Maturity Models

The concept of maturity models was developed at the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie-Mellon University, where a five-stage Capability Maturity Model (CMM), updated in 2002 to Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), was developed to describe the maturity of IT processes in an organization. The SEI has also developed tools that can be used to appraise IT systems and determine their maturity level.

The four stages of Microsoft's Infrastructure Optimization model correspond roughly to the CMMI levels, although Microsoft puts more emphasis on using software products, rather than the planning and development processes that the CMMI favors, to achieve higher levels of maturity.

The four stages of Microsoft's IO model include basic, standardized, rationalized, and dynamic.

The basic level describes an organization with ad hoc processes and systems, few common configurations, and no processes in place to develop performance baselines or capture results or experiences from IT projects.

The standardized level describes an organization that employs some automation for its systems, uses policies to enforce standardized desktop and server configurations, and has repeatable processes in place to manage change.

The rationalized level describes an IT infrastructure that is extensively automated and monitored, uses policies to deploy and maintain systems, and has processes that ensure reliability and security.

The dynamic level describes policy-driven systems that can deploy and configure software on the fly, reallocate resources automatically, and respond to new business initiatives quickly.

(For an example of how an organization would move from one level to the next, see the illustration "From Basic to Dynamic Core Infrastructure".)

Microsoft has created IO maturity models for the following IT solution areas:

Core Infrastructure focuses on desktop, server, and network management Business Productivity Infrastructure applies to three user-facing solution areas—business intelligence, communications and collaboration, and enterprise content management Application Platform Infrastructure covers software design and development, application integration, and data management.

Core IO is the best developed of the three models, to the point that Microsoft has attempted to quantify the specific savings that customers can see (stated in terms of IT personnel costs only) as they move to more mature levels.

(For a more detailed overview of each IO maturity model and the Microsoft products it incorporates, see the chart "Optimization Models and Capabilities".)

In addition to the models derived from the academic community, Microsoft has surveyed more than 11,000 of its customers to determine what their actual capabilities are and to correlate those capabilities with various stages of infrastructure maturity.

IO in Practice

While purists may blanch at how Microsoft has overlaid its software- and product-centric business model on the vendor-neutral, process-oriented CMMI, the IO model is nevertheless viewed by Microsoft as a powerful tool for product planning, developers, and sales by both Microsoft and its partners.

Product Planning and IO

Tim Sinclair, general manager of Microsoft's management and solutions division, helped develop the Core IO model, and says that the IO approach helped Microsoft identify gaps in its product line.

For example, gaps identified by the process convinced Microsoft to add better support for the Windows Image format (used to store OS images) to Systems Management Server, as well as to build desktop management features into Operations Manager (OM) and create an (OM) management pack for Vista.

IO gaps were also a driving force behind the company's decision to purchase Softricity (for applications that can be streamed to desktop without requiring full installation), AssetMetrix (for precise identification of the software installed on a workstation), and Desktop Standard (for tools for managing workstation configurations.

A Model for Developers

Jon Perera, general manager for application platform strategy, says that parts of the model can be used as a roadmap for development projects.

For example, many customers want to build service-oriented applications (SOAs), which permit disparate applications to communicate and work with each other, even across the Internet, but customers may not have a clear idea of where to begin, how close they are to an efficient SOA infrastructure, or how far they have yet to go.

The IO model provides a high-level map for SOA development, guiding development from isolated applications without Web service interfaces to well-modeled applications that can be dynamically reconfigured, reliably meet service level agreements, and work efficiently with customer and partner systems.

Sales Conversations

Bob Muglia, senior vice president in Microsoft's Server and Tools division, says "optimization models provide a context for our sales force to talk with customers."

Microsoft has a reputation for focusing on what its products can do, rather than on solving what customers consider more immediate or pressing problems, and the IO model gives the sales force a structure for talking about customer needs before getting into product recommendation.

This is the approach that many Microsoft partners already take with customers, and IO gives the Microsoft sales force and partners a "common vernacular" for identifying and addressing customer concerns, notes Samm DiStasio, Microsoft's director of Infrastructure Optimization strategy.

By asking customers a series of questions about their IT capabilities, a customer account manager can build a profile of the customer's IT maturity in a specific area. The customer can compare their set of capabilities to others whom Microsoft has surveyed in their industry, and can identify specific deficiencies that hold them back from realizing the efficiencies gained by achieving higher maturity levels. The questionnaires are also available to partners and online. (To view a report generated from the online questionnaire, see the illustration "A Core IO Assessment".)

The results of this assessment can be used to identify specific areas for improvement. A customer that scored low on "desktop, device, and server management," for example, could be advised to automate software updates, build company-standard desktop images, and create an image-based deployment process. A Microsoft sales representative can recruit a partner or a Microsoft technical specialist to assist the customer in refining their processes and selecting appropriate application or management software.

In some cases, Microsoft has made an effort to quantify the economic benefits of specific upgrades. For example, it estimates that organizations that use Active Directory and Group Policy to authenticate users and configure and install software on user desktops will see savings of US$120 per workstation per year, while those that use metadirectory services to synchronize user accounts in multiple directories can save an additional US$50 per workstation per year.

Another analysis showed that customers with only basic infrastructure maturity averaged a full-time IT person for every 76 PCs, while customers with rationalized systems have an average ratio of one IT staffer for every 442 machines, a nearly sixfold increase in IT efficiency.

This kind of data can help customers set priorities for IT projects based on their costs and benefits.

The assessment process can also be useful for shops that use non-Microsoft applications, servers, or management tools. While Microsoft's recipes for remedying gaps in capabilities may not apply, the results may still help an organization identify gaps in its processes.

Partner Opportunity

IO can also be used by partners, and Microsoft has created a Partner IO Kit with guidance on how to assess customers' IT maturity levels and suggest remedies.

While they can be used for customers of any size, the IO models may be most useful for smaller partners who serve midmarket customers and small businesses. These customers are least likely to employ automated management or to have formal IT processes in place and most likely to expend most of their IT effort on system maintenance. A partner who can identify the most acute IT needs and quantify the value of specific training, software upgrades, and process improvements may find a ready audience for its services.

In addition, while Microsoft account teams have conducted many assessments of larger customers (those that have a dedicated account representative, for example), the company is less likely to do so for smaller customers and is relying on partners to apply the models there.

Larger partners often have their own models and assessment processes in place, but may still find Microsoft's assessment process useful, particularly for clients who rely heavily on the Microsoft software stack.

Maturity Required

Although the IO models offer some immediate utility, maturity models have some maturing of their own to do. Customers need to examine projected cost savings, survey biases, and limits in Microsoft products that may prevent customers from reaching goals set by the IO process.

How Much Savings?

Customers and partners should be careful about using Microsoft's estimates for cost savings. Most of the estimated cost savings include only IT support hours—not the cost of any consulting, nonsupport time, processes (such as project management), new hardware, or additional software licenses (such as multiple Client Access Licenses that Microsoft's management software may require for each managed PC) to move PCs from a basic to a rationalized level. A customer who expects to reduce the overall IT budget substantially as a result of greater infrastructure maturity may be disappointed.

This is not an argument against efforts to make PCs more manageable, or to create more flexible applications and processes: these efforts can yield measurable savings in specific areas, as well as often-immeasurable improvements in user productivity and satisfaction. However, it points to the need for customers to do their own cost-benefit analysis if they need a financial justification for such efforts.

Microsoft is trying to develop better tools that can better quantify and compare the return on particular IT investments, DiStasio says. Currently, the company has tools available to its sales force that can help them plug in detailed information about IT capabilities and resources and provide customers with weighted recommendations for change; this tool may be available for partners in the future, he says.

A Microsoft-Centric Model

Customers and partners will find that Microsoft's advice for maturing IT systems is, not surprisingly, somewhat Microsoft-centric. Systems Management Server and Operations Manager are recommended for automating deployment and monitoring, Data Protection Manager is recommended for backup, and Active Directory is the recommended directory solution.

While these are not bad choices, customers and partners may have other preferences.

The models can also be Microsoft-centric in terms of what's missing: maturity, in Microsoft's view, may not need to include technologies in which competitors excel.

For example, while most IT administrators consider virtualization to be an essential step to achieving dynamic-level features such as server consolidation and image-based deployment, Microsoft's current recommendations for systems maturity say little about server virtualization. This may reflect the fact that the company's own virtualization technologies lag the market, and it does not want to encourage customers to employ a technology that they will most likely purchase from a competitor.

This points to one inevitable shortcoming—such models are constantly changing (as Microsoft's models no doubt will, as it improves its virtualization story), and organizations that use them for IT planning need to revisit both the model and their plans, if compliance with such a model is important.

However, customers should not dismiss Microsoft's model as purely sales-oriented. DiStasio says that discussions of capabilities often uncover situations in which customers already have, but are not using, advanced capabilities. For example, every Windows Server customer can employ Group Policy to gain better control of client workstations, but many do not. Microsoft wants to encourage adoption of more advanced management technologies, even those that don't result in immediate license sales, because customers who do not deploy the latest available products are less likely to upgrade.

In other cases, customers can ignore vendor brands when determining which capabilities they have, and which they need. Some Microsoft partners have desktop management solutions that are better in some respects than Microsoft's. Third parties may also have better backup, security, and business applications. The IO model can still be used to identify the contribution that these products will make to an organization's infrastructure.

Resources

The Partner IO Kit is available atwww.microsoftio.com.

The Core IO assessment can be taken atwww.microsoft.com/business/peopleready/coreinfra/ac/default.mspx.

An Application Platform assessment is available athttps://www.microsoft.com/almassessment/default.aspx.

A Business Productivity infrastructure assessment is available atwww.microsoft.com/business/peopleready/bizinfra/ac/bpio.mspx.

Capability Maturity Model Integration resources are available atwww.sei.cmu.edu/cmm/index.html.