The ability to deliver software and services effectively is one of the most talked-about trends in the technology industry, said David Ives, head of Development & Platform for Microsoft SA.
Ives is one of the panellists taking part in ITWeb's IT Confidence conference, happening on 11 March at Gallagher Estate.
Combining software and services is a powerful concept that will cater for the needs of today's business environment, Ives said.
The industry is entering a new era in which Internet-based services will transform the way people create, deploy, manage and use IT, he added. This will give rise to a dramatic shift in the computing and communications landscape and will impact the way every market segment thinks about infrastructure and business solutions.
Ives says a blended client-server-services approach will help IT departments manage complexity and achieve agility, protect information and control access, as well as deliver solutions that help their companies achieve greater business success. This will amplify the impact of employees by enabling them to take advantage of today's mobile and collaborative work styles.
Arjen Wiersma, CEO of BMC SA, said software as a service has a role to play, but should not be automatically used for everything.
More companies are arriving at the conclusion that it is crucial to identify the core business processes that drive revenue and the in-house skills that exist to run them, he said.
By combining this with the overall business strategy, decisions can be made on what should be run in-house, what should be outsourced or off-shored and what should be run as a managed service.
Wiersma said only with a true understanding of what the business really wants can you decide how best to exploit the combinations of people, process and technology available.
Selective outsourcing will be the future model, but with companies concentrating on the core internally, he noted.
Other panellists taking part in the discussion include Simon Carpenter, head of Strategy for SAP; and Nicky Sheridan, CEO of Oracle SA.
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