The IT Factory

Last year Gartner identified the 10 major forces that are actively reshaping the future of IT services and the outsourcing market*. Amongst the much hyped Cloud, Security and Consumerization were included the Value Chain and Componentization -- items that don’t get so much Press hype but, according to Gartner, are fundamental forces that should be addressed. A new title: The IT Factory describes operating within these forces by applying Supply Chain Management for IT Infrastructure Services: Using the SCOR Model.The IT Factory is the Solution to Value Chain and Componentization IssuesCaspar Hunsche, CTO, Director of Research, Supply Chain Council, Inc. notes that ‘it’s been done before’: The processes of IT Value Chain and IT Componentization can deliver goods and services by using the same ‘Factory’ techniques that supply chains do.Brad Ellison - Manager, Global Data Centers - Intel® Corporation agrees noting “We have moved deliberately to a factory metaphor. We have stopped focusing just on what data centers store and are asking ourselves, ‘What do they output?’” It’s clear that IT departments need to get down to the Factory floor to gain the experience that has been ‘bread and butter’ thinking for Supply Chain disciplines for many years. Hans van Aken, a seasoned HP employee, with support from The Supply Chain Council, has used the Global Standard SCOR (Supply-Chain Operations Reference-model) to distil the experience of many Supply Chain experts to describe how businesses can implement IT Commoditisation and Value Chain using tried and tested techniques.