This may sound like a biased opinion given that my area of focus is Business Service Management in multiple contexts, but I find all the attention to "cloud" as an ENDGAME in itself a little bit ridiculous.

First of all, cloud is a mixture of ENABLING technologies – not nearly as monolithic as the hype suggests. Also, what many people equate with cloud doesn't strictly meet up with NIST definitions – most notably SaaS deployments which are invariably not truly "on demand" as per NIST/ cloud. Or, as another example, the differences between virtualization as a thought, and "internal cloud" – two very overlapping circles – are often so subtle that nobody really cares about the differences...

But what gets me the most is the idea of the "journey to cloud" as an endgame in itself. While trying to figure out how to use Twitter (which I'm still doing) I recently Tweeted: "Journey to the Cloud – soon to be a major motion picture about obscure New Zealand cult."

The thing is, cloud in all its facets is really about ENABLEMENT not an endgame. Understanding this really is the first step to truly leveraging the powerful array of advantages that cloud can bring to service management strategies. Where do you need that flexibility the most? Where is it likely to be a chaotic and possibly catastrophic disruption? etc.

And I do have to admit that cloud in all its various form factors IS really changing the service management landscape. Call it the "tail wagging the dog" if you like, but cloud is pushing through changes in how IT manages services from a process and organizational perspective that are long overdue. Cross domain is key as IT becomes a service facilitator versus just a bastion of tenured fiefdoms more appropriate for college campuses than dynamic business models.

OK... this is long enough for my first blog.
But in case you are still wondering – the answer to the headline is "BSM"

I do welcome your opinions and thoughts.