The Service Measurement Index (SMI) is a standard method for measuring the end-to-end consumer experience for any number of IT services. The SMI Framework is designed to help organizations measure any number of IT services available to them, regardless of whether that service is internally provided or sourced from an outside company, and permits weightings of importance based upon the organization’s requirements as to what defines a good service.  From procurement and ongoing service levels, to business viability and security, the SMI Framework provides a holistic view into the entire customer experience for cloud service providers in six primary areas: Quality, Agility, Risk, Capability, Cost and Security. Users of the SMI Framework can not only compare cloud service vendors based on their specific business and technology requirements, they can also make dynamic, real-time decisions on where to best migrate an application. The Framework provides a single, standard way to evaluate, monitor and implement services demanded by the business. The framework was created by CA. and is, independently developed and run by a consortium of academic institutions and representatives of business and government.

SMI Ratings published on Cloud Commons

In order to provide a baseline of information to enable service comparisons, the Service Measurement Index is initially pre-populated through a research effort conducted by a leading analyst firm.  The responses are results from a set of indicator questions related to quality, agility, risk, cost and security that were asked of IT professionals across North America regarding the specific business services of eMail, CRM and eCommerce.  The 600 individuals who participated in this research effort, are at the manager level and above within organizations who have $5M+ in revenue as well as similarly sized non-profits. This invitation only business panel represented over 40 business profile dimensions, 24 job title categories, and was made up of decision-makers and influencers for the design or purchase of IT services.

You can interact with the SMI data  by accessing the ratings on business services through the provider directory in the marketplace section