Analysts have warned that suppliers are painting a rosy
view of the 'adaptive, on-demand or N1' enterprise.
Meta Group's Asia Pacific research director Kevin McIsaac urged
caution over supplier interpretations of what an adaptive
enterprise means.
"Things will become more modular and IT will move away from
integrated applications to components and service-oriented
architectures. The service-oriented architecture is going to be a
key part of being adaptive," he said.
While the first phase of an adaptive approach to IT was with
standards-based hardware, McIsaac said the next phase is
services.
"Services will go right to the highest level of business, for
example, payroll," he said. Enterprises need to understand where
the needs for fixed and variable assets are. This includes
hardware, software and people."
Meta's executive vice-president Karen Rubenstrunk said IT must
move towards service-oriented architecture if the promised benefits
of an adaptive enterprise are to be realised.
"Chief information officers are not chief process operators and
the CIO is the one person that has an enterprise-wide view to
understand the business changes," Rubenstrunk said. "Virtualisation
and grid technologies allow IT organisations to manage resources on
demand and by 2010, 34% to 40% of IT resources will be on variable
pricing contracts."
Rubenstrunk added that adaptive enterprises look at retirement
and reuse, and also focus on a highly streamlined
infrastructure.
"How fast you can go will depend on how much risk your
organisation can handle. Define a scope of organisational
principles, strategic planning, governance and project planning,
and enterprise architecture."
Rubenstrunk cited "concurrent engineering" in the automotive
industry as an example of the break up of components into
standards-based pieces which are developed in parallel, thereby
driving more value in the market.
"We're two to three years out but the faster the standards come
the faster we can take advantage of them," she said. "Developing
the will to be adaptive involves looking at value, relationships,
leadership, governance, change management and execution."
Rodney Gedda writes for Computerworld Today