Automate Your Performance Management Activities

Performance management is one of the most essential aspects of services governance, yet also one of the most challenging. It consists essentially of tracking vendor performance against established service-level agreement (SLA) or other targets and communicating that performance across relevant stakeholders, including IT, vendor management, procurement, and business buyers. A transition in technologies is currently changing the focus of performance management from a reliance on SLA measurement to financial management including chargeback or "showback" and provisioning of cloud-oriented technologies. Although suppliers have long sought to establish automated assistance for service relationship governance, the market has remained fragmented, a result of market changes and vendor consolidation. Sourcing and vendor management (SVM) professionals should look to these tools for improved performance management but remain cautious in light of recent marketplace shifts and the rapid pace of market change. This report is designed to help you identify key strategies for IT services governance.