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Apr 3rd

What is IT Service Management (ITSM)?

IT service management (ITSM) is a concept that enables an organization to maximize business value from the use of information technology.

ITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation. To ensure sustainable quality of IT services,

ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system.

ITSM is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. It incorporates principles and practices from various management approaches, such as lean manufacturing, organizational change management, system analysis and risk management.

ITIL® and ITSM

ITIL is the most adopted and recognized body of knowledge for ITSM. ITIL defines IT service management as:

“The implementation and management of quality IT services that meet the needs of the business. IT service management is performed by IT service providers through an appropriate mix of people, process and information technology.”

ITIL is a best practice framework that gives guidance on how ITSM can be delivered. Although there are several frameworks and standards that describe IT service management, ITIL is by far the most widely adopted and recognized globally.

Service value system

ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships.

The updated framework will focus on facilitating value co-creation via a Service Value System (SVS). The SVS represents how different components and activities can work together, in any type of organization, to facilitate value creation through IT-enabled services.

In ITIL 4, customers are an essential element in the process of creating value.

Service value chain

Incorporated within the SVS is the service value chain (SVC). The service value chain is the set of interconnected activities that when sequenced in the right way provides an operating model for the creation, delivery, and continual improvement of services.

The service value chain allows an organization to define a number of variants of these sequences known as value streams, of which the v3 service lifecycle is one such example. The service value chain is flexible and can be adapted to multiple approaches, including product-focused delivery teams, DevOps, and centralized IT.

The adaptability of the value chain enables organizations to react to changing demands from their stakeholders in the most effective and efficient ways.

ITIL as a body of knowledge is continually evolving, the core publications being amended with case studies, guidance and discussion papers and other supplementary content. It helps to address emerging practices and methods, such as DevOps, and to help practitioners combine ITIL with other sources of good practice, such as IT4IT or COBIT.

ITSM roles

Within ITIL, there are generic roles, such as Service owner, as well as specific roles, such as Service Desk analyst, that are required within a particular lifecycle stage. Among these roles are:

Service owner, Service manager – responsible for establishing responsibilities for the lifecycle of specific services;

Process owner, Process manager, Process practitioner – helping to identify responsibilities in the ITSM processes management and execution;

Process practitioner: e.g. Configuration manager, Capacity manager, Service Desk specialist – describing specific responsibilities within certain processes and functions.

IT service manager skills

IT service managers need good business analysis skills and awareness of the business priorities. They need to apply logical thinking and make both day-to-day and longer term strategic plans to ensure that the business solution aligns with the organization and user needs.

They also need strong customer service, negotiation and stakeholder and relationship management capabilities to make sure that supplier and customer needs are met by the service. IT service managers need to be good communicators and able to work well with people as well having as strong motivational and organizational skills and the ability to multi-task.

Babbage Simmel provides the full range of ITSM training.  The ITIL 4 certification scheme can be adapted to the learning requirements of the individual and the organization.

Apr 3rd

Microsoft Security Copilot: Empowering defenders at the speed of AI

Today the odds remain stacked against cybersecurity professionals. Too often, they fight an asymmetric battle against prolific, relentless and sophisticated attackers. To protect their organizations, defenders must respond to threats that are often hidden among noise. Compounding this challenge is a global shortage of skilled security professionals, leading to an estimated 3.4 million openings in the field.

The volume and velocity of attacks requires us to continually create new technologies that can tip the scales in favor of defenders. Security professionals are scarce, and we must empower them to disrupt attackers’ traditional advantages and drive innovation for their organizations.

In the last few months, the world has witnessed a wave of innovation as organizations apply advanced AI to new technologies and use cases.

At the inaugural Microsoft Secure event, Microsoft announced Microsoft Security Copilot bringing us to a new era of security — shaped by the power of OpenAI’s GPT-4 generative AI. Microsoft Security Copilot is the first security product to enable defenders to move at the speed and scale of AI. Security Copilot combines OpenAI large language model with a security-specific model from Microsoft.

Security Copilot — end-to-end defense at machine speed and scale

When Security Copilot receives a prompt from a security professional, it uses the full power of the security-specific model to deploy skills and queries that maximize the value of the latest large language model capabilities. And this is unique to a security use-case. Our cyber-trained model adds a learning system to create and tune new skills. Security Copilot then can help catch what other approaches might miss and augment an analyst’s work. In a typical incident, this boost translates into gains in the quality of detection, speed of response and ability to strengthen security posture.

Security Copilot doesn’t always get everything right. AI-generated content can contain mistakes. But Security Copilot is a closed-loop learning system, which means it’s continually learning from users and giving them the opportunity to give explicit feedback with the feedback feature that is built directly into the tool. As we continue to learn from these interactions, we are adjusting its responses to create more coherent, relevant and useful answers.

Security Copilot also integrates with the end-to-end Microsoft Security products, and over time it will expand to a growing ecosystem of third-party products. So, in short, Security Copilot is not only a large language model, but rather a system that learns, to enable organizations to truly defend at machine speed.

Sep 20th

Want Happier Employees? Eliminate Busywork

What happens to your employees’ motivation when half their day is spent on mindless, monotonous tasks? What meaningful contributions does your organization miss out on when employees work on autopilot?

Better yet, what if your employees could easily train software robots to do the routine work they hate?

Organizations that use Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to automate repetitive, routine activities free employees to engage their minds in more productive, advantageous ways. RPA is a time-saver for completing busywork, even complicated tasks like sorting through large quantities of data and storing customer information.

As a UiPath business partner, Babbage Simmel has repeatedly delivered high-impact RPA solutions across multiple industries. With access to hundreds of customizable automated activities, our customers achieve unparalleled increases in productivity, efficiency, and employee satisfaction.

Your organization suffers when busywork constrains employees. Download the free e-book below, Making Work Matter, and see why automating tedious tasks increases happiness at work.

Imagine the new heights your organization can reach when you unleash the full talents, energy, and creativity of your employees!

Learn more about RPA solutions at Babbage Simmel HERE.

fill out the form to access the ebook

Sep 14th

Power your future through security skilling

Organizations continue to struggle to fill the security skills gap with an estimated shortfall of 3.5 million security professionals by 2021. That’s why we strive to ensure you have the skilling and learning resources you need to keep up in our world of complex cybersecurity attacks. Babbage Simmel is excited to offer four new courses focused on Microsoft security, compliance, and identity certifications tailored to your roles and needs, regardless of where you are in your skilling journey.

Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals certification course will help individuals get familiar with the fundamentals of security, compliance, and identity across cloud-based and related Microsoft services.

This certification is targeted to those looking to familiarize themselves with the fundamentals of security, compliance, and identity (SCI) across cloud-based and related Microsoft services. This is a broad audience that may include business stakeholders, new or existing IT professionals, or students who have an interest in Microsoft security, compliance, and identity solutions. Candidates should be familiar with Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 and want to understand how Microsoft security, compliance, and identity solutions can span across these solution areas to provide a holistic and end-to-end solution.

Information Protection Administrator Associate certification course focuses on planning and implementing controls that meet organizational compliance needs.

The Information Protection Administrator plans and implements controls that meet organizational compliance needs. This person is responsible for translating requirements and compliance controls into technical implementation. They assist organizational control owners to become and stay compliant. They work with information technology (IT) personnel, business application owners, human resources, and legal stakeholders to implement technology that supports policies and controls necessary to sufficiently address regulatory requirements for their organization. They also work with the compliance and security leadership such as a Chief Compliance Officer and Security Officer to evaluate the full breadth of associated enterprise risk and partner to develop those policies. This person defines applicable requirements and tests IT processes and operations against those policies and controls. They are responsible for creating policies and rules for content classification, data loss prevention, governance, and protection.

Security Operations Analyst Associate certification course helps security operational professionals design threat protection and response systems.

The Microsoft Security Operations Analyst collaborates with organizational stakeholders to secure information technology systems for the organization. Their goal is to reduce organizational risk by rapidly remediating active attacks in the environment, advising on improvements to threat protection practices, and referring violations of organizational policies to appropriate stakeholders. Responsibilities include threat management, monitoring, and response by using a variety of security solutions across their environment. The role primarily investigates, responds to, and hunts for threats using Microsoft Azure Sentinel, Azure Defender, Microsoft 365 Defender, and third-party security products. Since the security operations analyst consumes the operational output of these tools, they are also a critical stakeholder in the configuration and deployment of these technologies.

Identity and Access Administrator Associate certification course help individuals design, implement and operate an organization’s identity and access management systems by using Azure Active Directory.

The Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator designs, implements, and operates an organization’s identity and access management systems by using Azure AD. They manage tasks such as providing secure authentication and authorization access to enterprise applications. The administrator provides seamless experiences and self-service management capabilities for all users. Adaptive access and governance are core elements to the role. This role is also responsible for troubleshooting, monitoring, and reporting for the identity and access environment. The Identity and Access Administrator may be a single individual or a member of a larger team. This role collaborates with many other roles in the organization to drive strategic identity projects to modernize identity solutions, to implement hybrid identity solutions, and to implement identity governance.

Get in touch with us!
Questions about Microsoft Enterprise-class security technology or any other training? Call (614) 481-4345 or e-mail info@babsim.com.

 

Apr 19th

Deadline for ALL Microsoft SATV Training Vouchers June 30, 2021!

Don’t wait and risk losing this training opportunity!
SATV (Microsoft Software Assurance Vouchers) – these MUST be created/assigned by June 30, 2021 or you will no longer have access to them. Babbage Simmel will be happy to assist. Call us today at 614-481-4345 and we will help schedule your classes in time.

What training can I take with my Microsoft training vouchers?
Select from training in Windows 10, Microsoft Office, SQL Server, SharePoint, and other Microsoft technologies.

How do I get Microsoft training vouchers?
You probably have Microsoft training vouchers available to you now and don’t know it! SATVs are bundled in with Microsoft technology purchases. Check with the person at your organization in charge of training or software acquisition to see if you have Microsoft training vouchers available

Why Redeem Your Microsoft training vouchers with Babbage Simmel?
They can only be redeemed for MOC with an authorized Microsoft Partner like Babbage Simmel. Enjoy a seamless registration process with Babbage Simmel, your one-stop partner for all of your learning and development training.

How do I redeem my Microsoft training vouchers?
Simply provide your Microsoft SATV voucher number, company email address, and voucher expiration date to us and we will do the rest!

Other questions?
Give us a call at 614-481-4345 or email info@babsim.com.