IBM - CIO Interaction Channel - Governance

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) should be seen as an opportunity for your organization. The standard is so well designed that it can serve as the foundation of your risk management strategy.

Abstract: Working together, the major payment card providers have developed a set of data security standards and created a council for enforcing them. Although the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) has become a global requirement, many organizations are lagging in compliance. For many companies, regulatory compliance can already be an overwhelming and confusing area to navigate, and the need to comply with the PCI DSS might feel like yet another burden.

However, IBM believes that the PCI standard should instead be seen as an opportunity for your organization. The standard is so well designed that it can actually serve as the foundation of your risk management strategy going forward. This paper explores the efficiency gains of building a strategy designed around PCI compliance. As it discusses the value of obtaining outside support in your compliance efforts, it also examines potential vendor qualifications.

As the role of service management evolves, a service-oriented governance framework can help ensure that IT decisions are consistent with business vision, values and strategies.

Abstract: When it comes to service management, one thing is clear: Its role is evolving. In fact, over the past 25 years, the entire focus of service management has changed. It all began with the information systems management architecture documented in IBM’s “Yellow Books,” which set forth “a management system for the information business.” This model and its associated educational offerings provided a basis for further development and industrywide adoption of accepted practices like the IT Infrastructure Library® (ITIL®).

What’s more, the usage of these practices has evolved over time. Although best practices were first applied to information technology (IT), they were soon extended to application management in the context of end-to-end ser-vices. Next, IT departments began using these same best practices to achieve greater business value through better integration and governance. Combined with carefully honed management disciplines and technologies, these common practices and standards have enabled the kind of service excellence that is prerequisite for most mission-critical business applications today.

Now, service management is taking on an even greater role: It is driving business innovation by encompassing the full service lifecycle, starting with the business of IT itself, and including IT operations and development. This broader focus is designed to bridge the disconnect that often exists between the business and the IT organization and between the development and operations management domains within IT. It provides the best practices for understanding business requirements and translating those requirements into corresponding IT objectives. This white paper describes this latest evolution in the role of service management. It explains how a service-oriented governance framework can help ensure that IT decisions are consistent with business vision, values and strategies—and that IT delivers maximum value to the business.