IT managers will need to acquire the skills of market
traders to handle emerging trends in business IT, according to
analyst firm IDC.
Speaking ahead of his keynote speech at IDC's Dynamic IT Conference
last week, Martin Hingley, vice-president, IDC European systems
group, described a world of flexible utility computing where IT
managers make complex deals with suppliers based on how much they
use systems.
"IT managers are definitely going to need more skills on the
procurement side," Hingley said. "There will be a lot of
negotiations with suppliers over usage-based pricing, and IT
managers will become more like traders."
Suppliers have become more flexible towards users since the
slowdown in the IT sector, but the variety of licensing models on
offer could obstruct the development of a standard pricing model
for usage-based computing, IDC warned.
Hingley said suppliers would need to change their licensing models
to facilitate utility computing, but most were resisting change.
Oracle's per-processor licensing, for example, could be difficult
to manage for those attracted to utility computing on multi-core
processors.
He said hardware companies such as Sun have been better at
proposing flexible usage-based charging for IT. This has partly
been driven by the economic downturn, which led suppliers to
consider new options in order to sell products, he said.