Few people outside the energy trading industry bothered or even noticed the failure of SemGroup, a little known private oil marketing company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Energy trading industry on the other hand was in a state of shock. SemGroup had built large positions in the futures market and at the time of going under had run up losses worth billions of dollars. Those associated with commodity trading business understand the importance of such an event and the damage it can cause to the other players. Commodities trading business like other trading businesses operates in a highly charged environment. Mere delay of seconds can cause huge financial or reputation damage. Reputation is something trading community guards zealously and worries about the most besides annual bonuses.
How does this highly charged business environment impact IT service management? Is IT service management staff working in trading industry any different from their counterparts in other industries? What is so special about trading business and why IT staff in this business generally suffers higher stress levels? A mere visit to the trading floor would be sufficient to get answers to these and many other related questions.
Firstly traders do not know or care about the concept of service desk. Traders are used to the concept of desk side support. They are also used to screaming. Moreover no one blames them for screaming. People understand the reasons behind such behaviour. What would you do if you are unable to execute that all important deal and markets are about to close. In order to handle their IT issues you find a bunch of IT staff located on the floor itself helping out with IT incidents. These people in turn call the service desk and log incidents for the traders and follow up on progress.
The other aspect peculiar to trading business is the service level agreements. Business wants the best and is willing to pay for it. You will only find the best equipment – from computer monitors to application software. Emphasis is on first call resolution hence experienced and highly skilled people work in second line support groups. It is respectable to be part of second line teams.
Lastly, compliance in trading business is sacrosanct. Everything from instant messages, emails, and voice conversations are recorded and archived for years. Access control is of paramount importance. IT service management roles, responsibilities and access levels are documented in detail and refreshed periodically.
Failure of industry players such as SemGroup in not common but contributes to the already charged environment. Good IT service management does help to soothe the frayed nerves.
How does this highly charged business environment impact IT service management? Is IT service management staff working in trading industry any different from their counterparts in other industries? What is so special about trading business and why IT staff in this business generally suffers higher stress levels? A mere visit to the trading floor would be sufficient to get answers to these and many other related questions.
Firstly traders do not know or care about the concept of service desk. Traders are used to the concept of desk side support. They are also used to screaming. Moreover no one blames them for screaming. People understand the reasons behind such behaviour. What would you do if you are unable to execute that all important deal and markets are about to close. In order to handle their IT issues you find a bunch of IT staff located on the floor itself helping out with IT incidents. These people in turn call the service desk and log incidents for the traders and follow up on progress.
The other aspect peculiar to trading business is the service level agreements. Business wants the best and is willing to pay for it. You will only find the best equipment – from computer monitors to application software. Emphasis is on first call resolution hence experienced and highly skilled people work in second line support groups. It is respectable to be part of second line teams.
Lastly, compliance in trading business is sacrosanct. Everything from instant messages, emails, and voice conversations are recorded and archived for years. Access control is of paramount importance. IT service management roles, responsibilities and access levels are documented in detail and refreshed periodically.
Failure of industry players such as SemGroup in not common but contributes to the already charged environment. Good IT service management does help to soothe the frayed nerves.
What do you think?
5 comments:
Having spent 2 years in such environment, I can appreciate the challenges / demands such environment presents to the IT support staff. The key to succeed in such environment is to understand the priority (urgency and impact) of business needs and accordingly align IT services; even though it looks un-orthodox from outset. The ‘Yellow Shirt’ (IT support on trading floor) and First Call Resolution analyst roles are as critical for IT as much trading role for business.
The focus of IT support in the last few years has been stream lined , people independent processes, virtual support, strict KPIs and measurements. But there are always areas such as the Trade floor which demand people's physical presence and (in my mind) defy measurement parameters such as average support time per call, etc, because the real test is on immediate resolution, business impact and customer satisfaction. It would be interesting to study how we can use the ITIL concepts and gain real improvement!
Is the blogger still in this universe?
I happen to read this post after ages. It does sound funny after the collapse of Lehman, Bear Stearns and all others. Frankly, now ITSM is far from people's minds in the era of global recessions
"Business wants the best and is willing to pay for it"
-I agree with the former part of this statement.However most of the time the need is on getting things done quickly-Mac Donalds culture. I got 30 seconds make me an expert Risk Management sandwich. If only the business analysts really analyse with "data" and "long term" in mind
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