Resolve (generationE) Gets Nominated for a TM Forum Excellence Award

I am very excited and proud to announce that generationE's Service Management and OSS Automation solution based on Resolve RBA, a breakout product for CSP OSS/BSS automation orchestration, has joined the likes of Alcatel Lucent, IBM, Cisco, Clarity, and other OSS providers in the TM Forum Solution Excellence Award category.  Read more about it on the TM Forum website.

http://tmforum.org/ExcellenceAwards2010/Nominees/8416/Home.html

While Resolve is a fully customizable process automation platform, generationE packages the solution with a library of Runbook Templates that span the eTOM Operations (OPS) process area.  Runbook Templates focus on areas within the FAB process grouping that represent opportunity for cross-process or cross-technology automation.  For example, there is a Runbook Template for modeling and automating several of the manual, cross application workflows associated with Resource Trouble Management.  This Template, once configured, deployed, and integrated with relevant systems (Network Monitoring, Trouble Ticketing, Performance Management, etc.) allows organizations to manage their heterogeneous hardware platforms with a standard, automated series of Runbooks performing many of the otherwise manual activities.  These activities include gathering diagnostic information on troubled devices, automatically enacting remediation steps (re-allocating resources, restarting services, etc.), and routing tickets to the responsible party (internal SMEs or external vendors).   Similarly, there are service specific Templates that cover the Service Problem Management process area- IPTV and T1 are two of the most broadly deployed.

Resolve leverages eTOM as both the foundational process framework and a reference point as new automation needs arise within our customers.  eTOM allows us to quickly characterize, articulate, and prioritize these needs into our ever growing library of Runbooks.

Go Team!

Enterprise Social Media

Over the weekend I read a fantastic article from Mat Fogarty (http://mashable.com/2010/03/05/companies-crowdsourcing/) and it started me thinking on the topic of Enterprise Social Media.  In particular I believe that we've only begun to explore the different ways that social media related innovations will change the internal culture and operational dynamics of large corporate organizations.

Mat touches on the potential transformative affect on corporate culture-

"The ability to manage and profit from employee knowledge through social networks, idea funnels, and prediction markets will be the defining competitive advantage for this decade. Employees will have a voice and enterprises will truly leverage their most valuable assets."

Most people today spend more time at work or doing work than they do at home or at leisure.  Indeed social media is already making a substantial impact on how we spend our home / leisure time and how we communicate with each other.  With numerous, ubiquitous communication tools integrated into our daily lives, social networks are becoming integrated communication hubs where we share content and experiences.

What Mat doesn't explore is the cultural challenges that might be an obstacle to corporate adoption of social media in the workplace.  Social Media provides the opportunity for massive improvements in workplace productivity and quality, there is no question.  But adoption curves might be hindered by fears of downsizing.  Increased collaboration should be a good that is directly measured by and rewarded by management.  Is it possible to accelerate adoption and reward resulting workplace efficiency improvements with increased time off, bonuses, promotions etc?

As we continue to drive towards increasing automation within technology organizations through the use of Social Media we'll be exploring how to reward those who help their organizations rise to the top.