Machine Learning & Predictive Analytics for IT Services

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Abstract - IT strategic outsourcing becomes an increasingly challenging business as customers demand improved quality of service while providers are driven to reduce the cost. While effective IT service management requires advances in many areas, the focus of this presentation is the application of machine learning techniques and predictive analytics to improving quality and efficiency of IT service delivery.  I will take a holistic perspective to classify service analytics research with respect to the target business problems and applied technical methods. Three key service analytics categories emerge in this perspective: (1) workload characterization to understand workload arrival patterns and service effort patterns, (2) performance prediction to gain insights into IT service assets and processes, and (3) process optimization to improve service management effectiveness. For each of the three categories I will summarize the goals as well as the analytics toolkit and present details on an implemented use case.

Biography - Dorothea Wiesmann is leading the Services Management Research group in the IBM Research – Zurich. In this function she manages research projects focused on improving quality and efficiency of IT Delivery leveraging knowledge management and data analytics. Prior to this, Dorothea has served as the Technical Assistant to the ZRL Director and as the Strategy Consultant for the systems management and compliance research area. Until 2008, she conducted research in novel thermo-mechanical data storage concepts for ultrahigh storage densities and in planar waveguide technology for optical communication. Her research focus in the earlier projects was on the demonstration of technology readiness and subsequent technology transfer with a keen interest on commercial success factors for technology projects.

Dorothea Wiesmann joined IBM Research in 2000, after she received her Ph.D. in electrical engineering form the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). She also received an M.S. in physics from the Technical University of Berlin in 1995. Prior to her doctoral career, she conducted research at Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technology in 1995/96.Dr. Wiesmann has authored and co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed conference and journal publications and serves regularly as a journal reviewer. She was a recipient of the fellowship award of the Daimler-Benz foundation in 1995. In December 2011, she received an MBA degree at Henley Management College, UK.