THINKstrategies Utility Computing Perceptual Gap Analysis

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There is a significant divergence in the way enterprise information technology (IT) professionals and IT solutions providers define and plan to deploy utility computing solutions.

While many IT professionals and IT solutions providers have been frustrated by their conflicting views on various technology issues, this latest 'perceptual gap' could represent an important obstacle for many enterprises that would like to leverage new utility computing solutions to meet their escalating business needs.

THINKstrategies' findings are based on a recent Web survey conducted in conjunction with the Cutter Consortium (www.cutter.com) that compared the utility computing views of 96 enterprise IT professionals and 110 IT solution provider representatives.

Specifically, we asked the survey participants the following questions,


• What is the level of enterprise interest in utility computing?

• Why are enterprises considering utility computing?

• When will enterprises deploy utility computing solutions?

• Do enterprises plan to migrate all or only part of their IT operations to a utility computing environment?

• Which utility computing technologies are enterprises deploying?

• How will enterprises implement their utility computing strategies?

• What kind of utility computing solution provider are enterprises most likely to select?

• What are the most challenging aspects of implementing utility computing?

The great divide that exists between enterprise decision-makers and IT solution providers in a number of critical technology areas probably isn't news to many readers. For years, enterprise IT professionals have felt that IT solution providers don't truly understand their business and technology needs, and IT solution providers have complained that enterprise decision makers don't appreciate their products and services. To paraphrase the title of a popular book that attempted to bridge a similar gap between women and men in the 1990s, 'enterprise buyers are from Venus and IT solution providers are from Mars.'

Utility computing is merely the latest battleground where the views of enterprise decision makers and IT solution providers are not fully aligned and can even conflict.

This mismatch between enterprise and IT solution provider expectations could significantly impact the business success of both parties as they both are in the midst of determining what investments they should make in new utility computing technologies and services.

For instance, we found that enterprises expect to contract with a system integrator or application development firm to deploy various utility computing technologies and then plan to manage the technology themselves, while IT solution providers expect enterprises to outsource the implementation and ongoing management of their utility computing solutions.

In order for utility computing to become a reality, enterprises and IT solution providers will need to recognize the differences in how they define and plan to deploy utility computing solutions. It is the best chance the two groups have of bridging the perceptual gap and achieving their mutual business objectives.

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