ITIL - Elegant Guidelines to Simplify IT Management

The advancement and easy availability of new and useful technologies today have enabled thousands of organizations worldwide to implement and become heavily dependent on technology for their business needs. Information technology (IT) has invaded and proved its immense benefits even in the smallest of organizations. Nowadays it is not possible to run any organization, small or big, without the use of some computer or telecom related technology. Today many organizations can easily afford to buy the necessary computers, software, telecommunications, etc, for running their businesses. But they do not understand the need for managing their IT implementation or ongoing maintenance properly due to numerous reasons, including lack of appropriate knowledge. For example, a small industry's business owner may buy a single computer initially for general use. After seeing the benefits of using computers, he may immediately decide to buy 25 more for his staff. Within a short time his business will be computerized, and very soon IT support headaches will enter the business. Using a computer may be easy, but maintaining a computer system is a complicated task. Users may suddenly experience crippling virus attacks, equipment failures, software licensing issues, data corruption, data loss, backup issues, upgrade issues, and so on. They may not be in a position to support and maintain a computer network for its smooth functioning. Overnight, a smart purchasing assistant may undergo a crash course in computer maintenance, or buy a book called 'Computer Maintenance for Laymen,' and soon will be given the responsibility for technical support of the business along with his other responsibilities. This is how IT departments start in thousands of organizations. However, this sort of approach will lead to major and uncontrollable issues later.

As mentioned earlier, no modern organization can run its operations or survive without using one or more computers, software, telecommunications, Internet and so on. In view of the technical complexities involved there will be several IT related issues and risks that can cause minor to major irritations, or even bring an organization to halt abruptly. If an important computer system stops working then businesses have to virtually close down as it is not possible to switch over to alternative manual processes for any length of time. Secondly, today's computer systems and networks are extremely complicated for any business people to maintain or support them on their own. Using information technology is a Catch-22 situation. You cannot live with IT, nor can you live without IT. Hence a specialized technical support team having knowledge of IT service management is required to understand how the systems work and how to baby sit them. Today a professional technology support department is as essential as a qualified finance department or a senior management to any organization. From a nuts and bolts perspective, IT service management means the 'techies' (employed or outsourced) in the organization professionally managing and maintaining the computers, networks, telecommunications, data storage, retrieval, e-mail systems, databases, etc, owned or used by your business. Unless the technology you use for your business is managed in a proper way your organization can get into serious trouble. The following examples show the pinpricks and hair rising issues organizations can face without a professional IT service management.

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1.Your end-users don't know whom to contact when their computers and other IT equipment become sick.

2. Your techies attend end-user calls occasionally if they can, when they can.

3. Business managers do not understand why their IT infrastructure is always having disruptions of a similar nature.

4. Monday morning chaos. All computer systems down for some reason. Your techies probably performed some maintenance activities over the weekend.

5. Businesses cannot commit about their products and services to their external customers.

6.Your end-users do not know if all IT services will be available for them every day to complete their activities.

7. Viruses, crippling and lengthy IT shutdowns, etc, are common.

8. End-users always face shortage of computers, disk space, data corruption, data loss, etc.

9. Business managers do not know why they need to shell out another bag of cash for some software the IT department needs.

Though organizations are free to have their own proprietary flavors of technical support suiting their needs, it is always better to adopt some international best practices as they prevent organizations from reinventing the wheel. This is where ITIL or the IT Infrastructure Library will help. However, as soon as the word ITIL is mentioned, many overloaded and overburdened IT departments and businessmen start imagining all sorts of scary views like it is a bureaucratic process, it is very complex, it must be highly theoretical, etc., which can only add to their woes rather than reduce it. The fear is understandable because ITIL was created by a government organization (Office of Government Commerce, British Government, UK), unlike something like six sigma that was created by a fortune 500 organization led by a glamorous CEO. After all governments worldwide are known for their lethargic, obscure and bureaucratic processes that only delay and make things complex. However as you can never judge a book by its cover, you should not judge ITIL by who created it. Also many businessmen, IT departments and managements of small and medium organizations live in the misconception that ITIL is beyond their expertise or affordability, and perhaps applicable only to large organizations. But ITIL is not the scary stuff as most businesses imagine. Actually ITIL is a lot of practical IT management common sense and not just some impractical theories. And nor is it some costly and complex rocket science that can only be handled by specialists and magicians. ITIL can be implemented by practically any modern organization (small, medium or big) to bring some law and order to their IT infrastructure. By implementing ITIL you can avoid or eliminate all the troublesome issues mentioned above and bring a very high degree of stability and predictability to your IT infrastructure. ITIL offers value and return on investment to every business owner, service provider, CIOs, CTOs and a CEO as mentioned below.

1. Proven and tested processes. No need for businesses to re-invent the wheel for implementing IT services in their organizations. Covers end-to-end.

2. Non-proprietary practices. ITIL is owned by the Office of Government Commerce, but does not require a license to practice and it is independent of any commercial solution or platform.

3. Improved quality of IT service for business functions. Reduced downtime, improved customer and end-user satisfaction.

4. Measurable, controllable, recoverable.

5. ITIL is scalable. It can be adapted for any size of organization.

6. Proactive rather than reactive. Clearly-defined roles, responsibilities and activities.

7. Greater understanding of IT and its limitations by the business. Business will understand IT better and vice versa.

8. There is also a range of accredited ITIL training and education courses. This means there are plenty of support services, training institutes, tools and consultancy services that can help your organization's IT departments.

9. Return on Investment (ROI). ITIL helps IT organizations demonstrate their return on investment and measurable value to the business, and also cut IT costs. This helps establish a business case for new or continuing investment in IT.

10. ITIL also helps in outsourcing. ITIL is widely practiced among many industry service providers and they can easily help your organization's IT departments.

11. Continuous improvement, stability, and trouble prevention.

12. Improved business image. Businesses will also learn what to commit (and what not to commit) to their external customers.

To conclude ITIL can help you tackle one of the most feared expressions in modern times and that is, ''The computer is down" as humorously quoted by Normal Augustine, a famous US aircraft businessman.

ITIL - Elegant Guidelines to Simplify IT Management

Thejendra BS is an IT manager and author of Practical IT Service Management - A Concise Guide for Busy Executives (based on ITIL v3). Visit http://www.thejendra.com to buy this extremely popular book used by more than seven thousand organizations worldwide to understand how to successfully implement ITIL.

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Property Management Fees Explained

 When you hire a property management company to serve as the liaison between yourself and your tenants, you want to be sure you're getting the best possible property management services for the money. The services a property management company provides can range from ala carte to an all-in-one inclusive package. Along with that comes an array of fees for each. There is no set in stone fee structure we can provide you. But we can educate you on what common fees to expect and what each is commonly for. In the end it will be up to you to compare company fee structures and choose the best one that fits within your budget. Below are some of the most common fees and what service they provide.

Commission

Management

This is an ongoing monthly fee charged to the owner to compensate the property manager for the responsibilities of overseeing the management of their property. This fee can vary from as little as 3% to over 15% of the monthly gross rent. In place of a percentage some managers may charge a flat monthly amount which again can vary from to over 0 per month. All property management companies generally charge this fee.

Lease-Up or Setup Fee

This fee is charged to the owner to compensate the property manager for their initial time invested and resources used in setting up an owners account; showing property and/or other activities resulting in tenant placement. I guess you could look at it as a "finders fee" for placing a tenant in your property. Once a tenant has been placed and first rent income comes in, the property manager will deduct this fee from the rent proceeds. Some property managers have been known to require this fee upfront prior to tenant procurement. Usually this fee is non-refundable once the property manager has started the process of tenant procurement or any legwork has been initiated with the property. This fee can vary from none to as much as the first months rent, and usually is a one-time fee per tenant.

Lease Renewal Fee

This fee is charged to the owner when a property manager renews a current tenants lease and covers the costs of initiating paperwork or communication involved in implementing the new lease document. A property manager may also justify this fee if they perform a year end inspection of property. This fee can vary from none to 0 or higher, and may be charged every time a lease renewal is implemented.

Advertising Costs

Depending upon the property management company's contract, either they will pay the advertising costs or the owner or they could split the costs. If the manager is willing to cover this cost, most likely they will charge the lease-up or setup fee as outline above. If the management company covers this cost make sure to find out what type advertising or marketing of your property is included. If it's placing your listing on their own web site and other free online classified sites you may not be getting your monies worth. They are many good rental or tenant resource online web sites that bring in qualified tenants for a reasonable fee and you will want to consider these. And don't forget about print media, yard signs, listing on the MLS or even an open house. Nothing is worst than having your property vacant, bringing in no money only because you or your property manager skimped on advertising.

Maintenance Mark-up Charges

This is one of those costs you may never really of known about or had it disclosed to you. A "Mark-up" is a charge over and beyond the final bill on maintenance and/or repair work done to your property initiated by your property management company when using their vendors or in-house maintenance staff. This should be disclosed in your Manager/Owner contract which usually will state the markup as a percentage above the final invoice from vendor. For example, your manager had to call a plumber to replace the dishwasher in your rental property. Total charges for completing the job: 0. If your property manager contract states you will incur a 10% markup on all maintenance work the actual cost to you will be 0. Just one of those things to be aware of as these all eat into your profits.

Early Cancellation Fee

The dreaded "3 months and no tenant". Your property manager insist he or she's doing everything they can to find you a tenant. But here it is 3 months and still no tenant; what do you do. Well, look at your Manager/Owner contract and that might be your deciding factor. I am not a fan of this fee, and believe it to be an unnecessary fee and for you manager out there this could be the deal breaker. I'll tell you why; if a property manager is doing their due diligence and keeping the owners in the loop as far as decision making, market conditions and communication lines open an owner will not be second guessing his property managers abilities. The odds of this scenario happening is unlikely but you must be prepared for it. A cancellation fee can range from none to over 0. To be fair, some managers legitimately deserve this fee especially if they have pocketed advertising costs, incurred lots of legwork and time invested in your property.

"You've Got To Be Kidding Me" Fees - These are ones I have personally had the pleasure of running into.

• Your property is vacant, but we still will charge our monthly commission or a small flat fee.
• "A For-Rent Yard Sign Fee". I believe this was /mo.
• "Preventive Maintenance Fee". This was to cover the "just in case" and changing out A/C filters. If "just in case" never happens they still pocket the money. I believe this was /mo and I still was charged for filters.

In Summary

Read your Manager/Owner contract, understand what you are signing, ask lots of questions and know what the fees will buy you in services. A good real estate lawyer can help in negotiating the terms in a contract that suit both parties. These contracts are not set in stone. If your property manager will not negotiate, there are other property management companies that are eager to earn your business.

Property Management Fees Explained

Karen McDaniel
Principal/CEO
Property Management Profile LLC

Property Management Profile LLC is an interactive online search engine for finding all types of full service property management companies nationwide. For any property management company that is looking to gain national exposure by capturing the attention of out-of-state investors or be found by local clientele, http://www.PropertyManagementProfile.com is the place to showcase their business model and expertise to these prospective clients.

Property Management Profile offers the most up-to-date listing of full-service property management companies. We have created our site with the idea of making it simple yet detailed enough with the right information for the investors to make wise choices when looking for a property manager to manage their investment properties.

We offer an opportunity for all property management companies to list their company on our website, whether you specialize in residential, commercial, vacation or community association management. We accept small to corporate size management companies. We also offer a Free basic listing, so you have no excuse for not being listed.

Property Management Profile has become a wealth of information and resource for the first-time landlord as well as the seasoned investors. We should know what we're talking about, as owner and creator of Property Management Profile, Karen McDaniel, has owned and managed many of her own properties. Today, all are managed by professional property management companies, so she now has more time to continue her work educating and helping others make better choices when it comes to finding a qualified property management company.

Visit us today at http://www.propertymanagementprofile.com

Tags : Management Concept Style

Strategic Thinking Vs Strategic Planning

Strategic thinking is often described as reflective dialogue about the future so that one can avoid pitfalls as well as take advantage of opportunities. It is a process whereby you learn how to make your business vision a reality by developing your abilities in team work, problem solving, and critical thinking. Strategic thinking requires you to envision what you want your ideal outcome to be for your business and then works backwards by focusing on the story of HOW you will be able to reach your vision.

Put another way, strategic thinking is the ability to think systemically, with a whole systems perspective which often transcends what the organization is currently engaged in.

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Strategy

Strategy is a term that comes from the Greek, strategia, meaning generalship. Strategy is what you do and it is, in many respects, where you invest your funds and resources. A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often "winning". Strategy is different from tactics or immediate actions. Strategies are intended to make the problem or problems easier to understand and solve.

Strategy is about choice, which affects outcomes. Many organizations survive - and do well - for periods of time in conditions of relative stability, low environmental turbulence and little competition for resources. Over time, virtually none of these conditions prevail in the modern world for great lengths of time for any organization. Therefore, we have the need for strategic management.

Strategic management is necessary in situations where an opponent blocks the way to an objective. Strategic Thinking breaks the chains that currently anchor you in survival mode. Strategic thinking requires that you take a critical look at the underlying factors that lead to successful strategic planning.

Strategy should be adaptable rather than a rigid set of instructions which is why strategic thinking is so important.

Thinking

Thought or thinking is a mental process that allows human beings to model the world and to deal with it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends and desires. Thinking strategically is not a dry or boring way of thinking, on the contrary, it is a creative, and powerful skill that energizes people and prepares the person and their organization prepared for the unknown future.

In strategic thinking, there are four viewpoints to take into consideration when forming your business strategy:

• Environmental view
• Marketplace view
• Project view
• Measurement view.

On the other hand strategic thinking is about synthesizing, about using your intuition and creativity to formulate anunique perspective or vision of where the organization should be heading.

Planning

Planning is the organizational process of creating and maintaining a plan. It involves the process of thinking about the activities required to create a desired future on some scale. As such, it is a fundamental idea or behavior. This thought process is essential to the creation and refinement of a plan, or integrating it into other plans.

Strategic Planning on the other hand is a discipline, which can include innovative elements but essentially focuses on the rigor of making sure how to get from one position to another without falling off the cliff.

Strategic planning is about analysis. In other words, it is about breaking down a goal into steps, determining how the steps could be implemented, and identifying the possible consequences of each step. Many people assume that strategic planning, strategic thinking, and strategy making are synonymous. To the contrary, strategic thinking is a complimentary and critical addition to the process of strategic planning, implementation, and management.

Unfortunately, few strategic decisions are made in the context of a formal process. This typically happens because a company's most important strategic decisions are often made as developments unfold. The use of a formal process for strategic thinking and effective execution is crucial to effective performance improvement and productivity enhancement. Maintaining competitive advantage requires an action plan - the allocation of responsibility for different outcomes to specific people who are passionate about seeing them through, and the development of appropriate incentives to motivate the right kind of behavior.

Effectuve execution of strategy requires an understanding the link between planning and strategy development. It requires broad-scale and effective information gathering, clarification of the mission and issues to be addressed, exploration and development of alternative strategies, and an emphasis on the future implications of present decisions.

This requires the determination of "what are the necessary thinking patterns to handle the paradigm shift that are associated with change?" The best intelligence comes from inside organizations that can influence the success of your project. A SWOT analysis is crucial to any strategic thinking process! It helps define the attendant goals developed as a result of the strategic thinking process

Goals

Creating a strategy for any organization involves defining goals and intermediate and short-term objectives,. Your goals are the broad results you wish to achieve over the long term. Your objectives should flow naturally from your goals.

Be clear on the goals and outputs, make the "SMART"

• Specific
• Measurable
• Agreed-Upon
• Realistic
• Time-Specific

In addition:

• Ask yourself what things are important to the organization?
• What perspectives do senior managers have toward organizational priorities, and more specifically, your work team
• Which of your priorities or goals have the best chance to be viewed positively at any given moment.

It is critical to ask if the right thing is being done within the context of the organization's strategic direction (mandate, vision, mission, core values and goals and objectives (expectations).

Conclusion

Strategic thinking is pretty much like viewing a movie - it allows you to see things from "higher up. Strategic thinking is an attempt to think through as many "results" that come from our actions that defeat our purpose.

Strategic thinking is an ongoing process rather than a one-time event. Strategic thinking is not always easy nor should it be. Strategic thinking involves synthesis, using intuition and creatively forming, a shared vision, of where the organization should be heading if it is to survive and prosper in the current and future market place.

Strategic Thinking Vs Strategic Planning

Brice Alvord has over thirty years experience as an internal and external performance improvement consultant. He holds a BA in Sociology/Psychology from Central Washington University and an MBA degree from City University of Seattle. He is the author of over two dozen books on continuous improvement and training.

For more information, visit our website at: http://www.aleragroup.com

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