Business Transaction Management Blog

Every summer growing up, my family would take a one week vacation by car.  That car was a long, green, wood paneled station wagon.

Before the trip my Dad would consult maps, plan the route and stops.  The worst feature of the wagon was the frequent overheating.  A dubious trait of its operator was, planning be damned, a penchant for getting lost. The “highlight” of these trips was the often hours spent in stopped traffic due to construction or on the side of the road, radiator spewing.  I have very fond memories of these trips.

Today cars have power everything:  A/C, satellite radio, GPS, Bluetooth, DVD players and TV’s!  How different is a similar summer trip today?  Cars are much more reliable.  GPS navigation shouldn’t replace trip planning, but it certainly lessens the stress of remembering every turn (being a route “expert”) and most importantly can put you back on track quickly when a problem occurs (i.e. detour, missed turn).

So where are we now as computer users or professionals in IT?  Many of us still end up “on the side of the road with the hood up” trying to address a computer problem, transaction problem or system wide outage.  We are still at the point where we are not sure exactly what will happen when “Submit” gets hit.

But just like automotive technology, monitoring and management technology has improved over the years. However, many monitoring suites still have the feel of that same old wood paneled station wagon trying to pass as cutting edge by bolting on after-market modules. At some point, upgrading the next generation solution is the best way to go – a solution that was built from the ground up to include all “standard” enhancements as well as the most recent breakthroughs.

Imagine as an IT professional being able to view each user’s transactions – when they started, how long they took (or are taking), where they went or are going, and if there is a problem, being able to quickly localize the problem and get the transaction back on track. This enables a shift from worrying about whether a transaction will complete or have drastic variations in the time it takes, to managing cost, assuring security and delivering superior user experience. One day all of these capabilities will be delivered “standard.”

Business Transaction Management (BTM) is a big step forward in this area.  BTM allows IT to provide users a better trip and to deliver more value to the business – all this without one having to be one part planner and architect and one part master mechanic.  That doesn’t mean we won’t look back and remember the days of “all hands” calls with nostalgia.