Eight major IT services issues likely to emerge in 2009, says research firm

IT service providers will face a host of issues in 2009, including confronting the impact of the slowing economy on BPO business models, the convergence of IT and telecom services, and the continued importance of quality and security.
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This is according to a London-based analyst firm Ovum which has released a report, dubbed "The Ovum Eight," to identify eight of the top IT services issues that will impact IT vendors, their partners and end-users.

"In this challenging economy, IT services providers will need to navigate a host of new and continuing challenges as they attempt to maintain and grow their business," said Eamonn Kennedy, practice leader of Ovum’s IT services team.

The research themes covered in The Ovum Eight include:

Competing for the Cloud — Cloud Computing can encompass and potentially disrupt "traditional" models of infrastructure and applications outsourcing, third-party managed services and SaaS-powered services.

Quality Assurance & Information Security — The worsening economic environment is driving demand for improved value from applications, applications-led outsourcing and other IT services.

High-Pressure IT — It is about delivering IT services on the biggest stage, under the highest level of scrutiny, and with no room for mistakes.

Retained organizations — Outsourcing decisions driven by short-term requirements to save costs are potentially the most difficult kinds of contract for retained organizations to derive business benefit from.

Fixing BPO — In 2009, white-collar business process outsourcing (BPO) will overshadow the importance of IT in the outsourcing market. Consolidation among IT services and BPO companies will bring the two industries ever closer.

Waste not, want not — The efficient use of people and resources should be a core discipline for all CIOs, IT managers, and IT services providers.

Enterprise 2.0 — Essentially, Enterprise 2.0 is about enabling stakeholders to affect services and offerings and achieve more meaningful business-driven interactions between people and systems through community collaboration, sharing and "debating" of ideas, concepts, services and products.

Economic Flux — Even in the darkest reaches of a recession, clients will continue to expect quality services delivered at appropriate pricing levels with continual improvements to both. It is vital that vendors retain a sense of perspective: The recession will end; demand for IT services will recover.

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BY MELVIN G. CALIMAG
Source：Manila Bulletin online