As I look back at how Business Service Management evolved (or didn’t) in 2008, I started thinking about how I view the industry, vendors, clients, success, failure, innovation, etc. Here’s a few of the things that come to my mind personally, feel free to add some comments with your own ideas or recommendations.

Best Big4 BSM Innovation

IBM Tivoli TBSM v4.2 and the introduction of the Tivoli Integrated Portal (TIP)

Best BSM Startup or Emerging Company Innovation

FireScope

Stealthy BSM Company of the Year

Nimsoft

BSM Sleeping Giant for 2008

HP (slowly awakening NOW!)

BSM Ghosts for 2008

Quest Software
Compuware

Best BSM Concept of the Year

BSM Lite and BSM Heavy
More here, here, here.

Best BSM Lite Potential

FireScope
Zyrion
Nimsoft
ScienceLogic – Come on Louis, add it!
OpenNMS– Come on Tarus, add it!

Best BSM Enabling Technologies

Business Transaction Management (BTM)
Business Quality of Experience (BQE) (fka EUEM, UEM, RUM, etc…) Stay tuned…

Best BSM Blog Theme

BSM Views with “Taking the BS out of BSM”

Best BSM Visionary or Thought Leader

Ideas?

Best BSM Analyst

Thoughts?

Best BSM Definition

Anyone say it best?

Worst BSM Definition

I can think of a few…

Best BSM Resource (Blog, Book, Website, etc)

Anything?

Other Recognitions, Failures?

As for 2009, I have a few thoughts.

• In 2009, we will see a free, open source, commercial open source (or whatever you’d like to call them) company, project or initiative formally jump on the BSM bandwagon with some level of support for BSM capabilities.
• In 2009, at least one company will LEAD with consulting as their BSM story INSTEAD of with their technology, products or solutions. They will focus on the people, process, policy, operations, organization, politics, etc. crucial for BSM success within a company’s IT and business units. This will not be a boutique consultancy or SI, but a traditional vendor.
• In 2009, the sales play for BSM will be increasingly focused on the line of business executives rather than on IT executives, management or tools teams.
• In 2009, clients will demand ROI and value from their existing BSM investments. At least one vendor will offer new and unique BSM services in this area for their clients AS A PART OF annual maintenance renewals.
• In 2009, the concept of what exactly BSM is will become much clearer. An industry standard BSM maturity model will be proposed. A foundation for vendor assessment in a uniform, apples to apples manner will also be recognized.
• In 2009, two new substantial BSM players will emerge, one through consolidation or M&A.
• In late 2009, a leading analyst will make statements that guide companies to make immediate investment in sound BSM strategies and solutions over any further investment in lower level IT buzzwords or hype cycle offerings. The message will pave the way for elevation of BSM’s value within companies of any size or industry.

What are your 2009 BSM predictions?

Links that I have found interesting for December 18th:

• BMC tools will be key to Cisco's 'California' blade server – Network World – BMC is so strategic to California, and California so strategic to Cisco that Cisco may look to acquire all or parts of the systems-management company, sources say.

  "If they could bolster their data center story by acquiring BMC, they would," said one source. "It's always on the radar."

• EMA QoE Webinar Replay with Dennis Drogseth – ** TOO MUCH STUDY/CHART FOCUS AND NOT ENOUGH MARKET FOCUS **

  Understanding Quality of Experience (QoE) helps IT and business planners better assess how effectively IT services – from Web applications and client/server ERP applications to VoIP and rich media – are being utilized by their service consumers.

  Join Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) Vice President Dennis Drogseth for a discussion on this topic and to hear highlights from the latest EMA QoE research report. During this one-hour Webinar, Dennis will provide insights into how businesses and IT professionals can:

  *Leverage QoE-related technologies
  *Establish better processes for working together
  *Prioritize technology and organizational priorities, as well as processes
  *Common roadblocks and recommendations to overcome them

• Will IBM Add Analytics to its Toolbelt? – The gist of Ambuj Goyal's message in this Q&A interview is that predictive and statistical modeling — key offerings for the likes of SAS and SPSS — are overrated. IBM has what Goyal describes as better, cheaper alternatives in a mix of techniques developed for industry- and domain-specific challenges.
• Correlsense — IDC – Document at a Glance – This IDC Vendor Profile analyzes Correlsense, a company playing in the BTM market, and reviews key success factors: market potential, technology/solution, corporate strategy, force multipliers, and customers. Leveraging IDC's expert understanding of the competitive landscape and future outlook, this document highlights company and market information tailored to the investment professional's needs.
• Aternity Reports 2008 Milestones, Signals Industry-Wide Embrace Of Next-Generation Application Performance Management – 'We are extremely gratified that our Frontline Performance Intelligence platform continues to be embraced by industry-leading organizations world-wide,' said Trevor Matz, President and CEO of Aternity. 'Our exponential growth in 2008 is a testament to the rapid ROI our user-centric, proactive IT management platform delivers, by enabling customer to optimize their business processes, increase productivity and dramatically reduce business disruptions. Server-based computing, desktop virtualization, and thin-client computing initiatives have also been significant catalysts for our business growth in 2008, and we believe this growing trend will continue throughout 2009 and beyond.'