IBM pushes service productization

On October 27, 2006, IBM announced the launch of its first IT service product line in China - "Network Service", which aims to help enterprises build enterprise networks that meet business needs. This marks the official launch of IBM's "service productization" transformation strategy in China. Two weeks ago, IBM's concept of "service productization" caused an uproar in the industry. Following the "homogenization of hardware and large-scale software", whether "service productization" can help IBM's elephant dance again, and whether it can help Chinese IT service companies that are stuck in the quagmire out of the predicament, remains to be tested by the market and time. . Qu Xiaodong, general manager of CCW Information, said: "The commercialization of IT services means that more local Chinese IT service companies will gain a larger market space. Many services that multinational companies like IBM cannot provide will It has become the advantage and value of Chinese enterprises. The market norms brought about by the productization of services will enable Chinese IT service companies that are close to users and understand the living conditions of Chinese enterprises to provide users with lower-cost services, which are beneficial to both Chinese users and local enterprises. It's a good thing."

Can you help yourself?

The Chinese market is playing an increasingly important role in the IT service industry. CCW Information's "2010 China IT Service Outlook" report shows that IT services are the current growth in China's The fastest IT market, and will enter the golden period of development in the next five years. The size of the IT service market in 2010 will reach 132 billion yuan. However, unless it is a software company with the most "Ah Q spirit", no one dares to claim that they have made huge profits from China's IT service market.

Compared with the huge market space, the performance makes many IT service companies feel embarrassed. The IT service business of IBM, Hewlett-Packard and other multinational companies does not account for more than 6% of the Chinese market. At present, the total market share of the top ten IT service vendors, including Digital China and Chinasoft, is only about 20%.

However, latecomers keep pouring in. On October 14, Fujitsu, the world's third-ranked IT service company, announced that it will integrate its 39 subsidiaries in China this year to fully enter the Chinese IT service market.

Therefore, IBM, which was the first to enter the IT service market, launched the transformation with the goal of "service productization", which can be regarded as a self-help for the IT service industry. Zhang Liesheng, Vice President of IBM Greater China, said: "IT service productization is still a very new concept in the industry, and it is also a very brave approach. Not many people have tried this approach in the past, but IBM believes that services must be productized."

Qu Xiaodong believes that the productization of services requires the participation of many Chinese companies. "In China's fragmented market, Chinese companies have their own unique advantages. Especially in projects in some industries and regions, the ability of Chinese companies to provide product and service solutions is beyond the reach of foreign IT service providers, such as operation and maintenance. Or help users upgrade, service productization should be more popular with users." China's IT service industry is eager to enter a high growth stage from a single, simple maintenance solution.

Guo Weique, President of Digital China, said: "Digital China has few products, which enables us to provide IT services to customers from more customer needs and practical applications to meet customers' various personalized needs." An IT service company started as an IT distributor, Digital China has established partnerships with nearly 100 first-class manufacturers around the world. "Cultivating the market together by integrating the power of multinational corporations is what Digital China has always emphasized."

Why not make money

Homogeneous competition has gradually spread from the IT hardware market to the software and IT service fields. Although the market space is huge, fierce market competition and poor profit are still common phenomena in China's IT service market. Lenovo AsiaInfo, which entered the IT service field earlier in China, has paid the painful price of declining performance and high-level shocks when it entered the financial and government industries from the traditional telecommunications field.

Haruhito Takeda, general manager of Fujitsu (China) Co., Ltd., admitted that the development conditions of China's IT service market are "very harsh" for Fujitsu, so Fujitsu is integrating all software, hardware and related products in China. What kind of service is provided, the user has purchased the product. But products and solutions are not the whole of IT services, in addition to how to provide customers with cost-effective products." Therefore, only those integrated Only the IT service companies with high degree and low cost are likely to win.

An executive of a Chinese IT service company said in an interview: "The concentration of China's IT service market is very low. Except for some multinational companies and a few domestic companies that can rely on financial strength for long-term investment, most companies are still struggling at the low end. It is impossible for them to meet real big customers, and it is impossible for them to understand what real IT services are."

"On the one hand, customers do not have enough awareness of service value, and on the other hand, IT service providers lack More professional solutions to meet customer needs, this is the main problem of China's IT service industry." Qu Xiaodong, general manager of CCW, believes that due to product pricing, calculation returns, standardization and innovation capabilities, China's IT service industry is currently There are still obstacles to the development of the market. Therefore, it is still unknown whether the productization of IT services can save the IT service vendors operating in a bleak market in China.