Beware of Vendor Lock-In Strategies, Gartner to Warn at Symposium/ITxpo
Announcement posted by Gartner 14 Oct 2003
ORGANISATIONS risk unconsciously locking themselves into technologies and vendors in the rush to ease pressure on staff and operating costs, top Gartner analyst Betsy Burton will warn at Gartner's Symposium/ITxpo next month.
"Vendors are increasingly positioning themselves to take on IT tasks for their clients," said Ms Burton, who will give presentations at Symposium on the future of Powerhouse Vendors in the Software and Systems & Networks sectors. "While the potential benefit to user organisation is reduced IT costs and resources, the major risk is vendor lock-in."
"These offerings include "autonomic computing, grid computing, virtualisation, out-sourcing" she said. "We are seeing the emergence of what I call 'passive IT', where organisations allow vendors to take responsibility for non-strategic IT operations."
Evidence of such deals were increasing at different levels across the industry, in areas as varied as software, hardware and networking.
"It is becoming a mega-trend in which vendors are not just providing products but taking over parts of their clients' IT infrastructure."
Ms Burton cited IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, Siebel and SAP among the most aggressive vendors now seeking to take responsibility for pieces of their clients' IT infrastructure.
"Even in the hardware space, we are seeing Dell partnering with others to take an increasing role in customers IT environment," she continued.
Other companies were naive and not taking advantage of the opportunity. "Sun Microsystems has most of the pieces to compete in this space, but it just does not seem to have got it together," she said.
Vendors were keen to take on this work, but Ms Burton warned that buyers risked being unwittingly dependent on a single supplier.
"There may be good reason to give some services to an IT vendors, but Gartner does not advocate this necessarily," she said. "There is the danger of being locked in without you knowing it. I see companies in this position every day. Buyers need to understand the trade-offs."
Ms Burton recommended enterprises:
Address business needs and opportunities, using vendor specialists to craft plans;
Understand the danger of "vendor lock-in" and evaluate the cost / benefit of such dependency;
Leverage competition, acquisitions and partnerships to negotiate a better deal;
Adopt an advocacy role to ensure vendors consider strategic needs; and
Ensure shared risk for service-based projects.
Ms Burton questioned whether buzz phrases in the industry - utility computing, adaptive infrastructure, on-demand and grid computing - actually represented customer choice or strategies for vendor control.
Gartner Asia-Pacific Vice-President Kristian Steenstrup said the move by enterprises towards 'passive IT' was increasingly characterised as providing "one throat to choke".
"It is an emotive term that everyone understands," Mr Steenstrup. "Vendors are trying to provide a Biosphere-type of environment in which their clients can exist with everything taken care of. But you had better like the food because there is no sending out for sushi on Tuesday nights."
Ms Burton will partner Asia-Pacific analyst Matthew Boon to give the Systems & Networks Powerhouse Vendors presentation at Symposium.
For the second presentation on Software's Powerhouse Vendors, she will be joined by Mr Steenstrup.
Each presentation will also focus on vendors' strategies and their futures, offering advice on how to avoid getting caught in the continuing tumult of vendor consolidation.
Interview opportunities with Ms Burton and Mr Steenstrup on vendor strategies and "Passive IT" are available in the lead-up to Symposium.
The 11th Symposium/ITxpo will be held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney, from November 11-14.
Symposium will also feature presentations on:
Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2004;
Future of Windows in the Enterprise;
Enterprise Risk Management for Financial Services;
Return on IT Investment in Government;
Converging Wireless Technologies for the Enterprise;
New Technologies and What It Means for Security;
Emerging Technologies: Radar Screen for 2005-2014;
Plus much more
For media registration to Symposium visit http://asiapac.gartner.com/events/mediasym.cfm or contact Jo on 61 2 9459 4692 or email joanna.lobban@gartner.com
For more information on Symposium/ITxpo, click on http://symposium.gartner.com/section.php.id.2169.s.5.html
About Gartner
Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 10,000 clients leverage technology to achieve business success. Gartner's businesses are Research, Consulting, Measurement, Events and Executive Programs. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., and has more than 3,800 associates, including approximately 1,000 research analysts and consultants, in more than 75 locations worldwide. Revenue for calendar year 2002 totalled $888 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.
"Vendors are increasingly positioning themselves to take on IT tasks for their clients," said Ms Burton, who will give presentations at Symposium on the future of Powerhouse Vendors in the Software and Systems & Networks sectors. "While the potential benefit to user organisation is reduced IT costs and resources, the major risk is vendor lock-in."
"These offerings include "autonomic computing, grid computing, virtualisation, out-sourcing" she said. "We are seeing the emergence of what I call 'passive IT', where organisations allow vendors to take responsibility for non-strategic IT operations."
Evidence of such deals were increasing at different levels across the industry, in areas as varied as software, hardware and networking.
"It is becoming a mega-trend in which vendors are not just providing products but taking over parts of their clients' IT infrastructure."
Ms Burton cited IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, Siebel and SAP among the most aggressive vendors now seeking to take responsibility for pieces of their clients' IT infrastructure.
"Even in the hardware space, we are seeing Dell partnering with others to take an increasing role in customers IT environment," she continued.
Other companies were naive and not taking advantage of the opportunity. "Sun Microsystems has most of the pieces to compete in this space, but it just does not seem to have got it together," she said.
Vendors were keen to take on this work, but Ms Burton warned that buyers risked being unwittingly dependent on a single supplier.
"There may be good reason to give some services to an IT vendors, but Gartner does not advocate this necessarily," she said. "There is the danger of being locked in without you knowing it. I see companies in this position every day. Buyers need to understand the trade-offs."
Ms Burton recommended enterprises:
Address business needs and opportunities, using vendor specialists to craft plans;
Understand the danger of "vendor lock-in" and evaluate the cost / benefit of such dependency;
Leverage competition, acquisitions and partnerships to negotiate a better deal;
Adopt an advocacy role to ensure vendors consider strategic needs; and
Ensure shared risk for service-based projects.
Ms Burton questioned whether buzz phrases in the industry - utility computing, adaptive infrastructure, on-demand and grid computing - actually represented customer choice or strategies for vendor control.
Gartner Asia-Pacific Vice-President Kristian Steenstrup said the move by enterprises towards 'passive IT' was increasingly characterised as providing "one throat to choke".
"It is an emotive term that everyone understands," Mr Steenstrup. "Vendors are trying to provide a Biosphere-type of environment in which their clients can exist with everything taken care of. But you had better like the food because there is no sending out for sushi on Tuesday nights."
Ms Burton will partner Asia-Pacific analyst Matthew Boon to give the Systems & Networks Powerhouse Vendors presentation at Symposium.
For the second presentation on Software's Powerhouse Vendors, she will be joined by Mr Steenstrup.
Each presentation will also focus on vendors' strategies and their futures, offering advice on how to avoid getting caught in the continuing tumult of vendor consolidation.
Interview opportunities with Ms Burton and Mr Steenstrup on vendor strategies and "Passive IT" are available in the lead-up to Symposium.
The 11th Symposium/ITxpo will be held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney, from November 11-14.
Symposium will also feature presentations on:
Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2004;
Future of Windows in the Enterprise;
Enterprise Risk Management for Financial Services;
Return on IT Investment in Government;
Converging Wireless Technologies for the Enterprise;
New Technologies and What It Means for Security;
Emerging Technologies: Radar Screen for 2005-2014;
Plus much more
For media registration to Symposium visit http://asiapac.gartner.com/events/mediasym.cfm or contact Jo on 61 2 9459 4692 or email joanna.lobban@gartner.com
For more information on Symposium/ITxpo, click on http://symposium.gartner.com/section.php.id.2169.s.5.html
About Gartner
Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 10,000 clients leverage technology to achieve business success. Gartner's businesses are Research, Consulting, Measurement, Events and Executive Programs. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., and has more than 3,800 associates, including approximately 1,000 research analysts and consultants, in more than 75 locations worldwide. Revenue for calendar year 2002 totalled $888 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.