Customer relationship management, service oriented
architecture and virtualisation were among the priorities for the
IT professionals visiting CeBIT 2007, which began in Hannover last
week.
The IT industry's largest annual exhibition and conference
reflected CRM's growing importance by dedicating an area solely to
the subject for the first time.
The concept of self-service systems was tipped as one solution
to the current problem of aligning IT functions with business
processes. Used in various applications, including booking flights
and paying bills online, the idea will increasingly find its way
into next-generation CRM platforms, said suppliers exhibiting at
the show.
"Combining a growing self-service movement with enterprise
intelligence to enhance the customer's experience could increase
productivity," said Bill Nuti, chief executive at NCR
Corporation.
Underpinning this is the movement towards SOAs, and visitors
were able to see the latest ways to integrate existing IT systems
within an SOA infrastructure at CeBIT.
"SOA represents the end of IT silos and standardised mass
production. It signifies the beginning of IT that is orientated to
the customer's business strategy," said Karl-Heinz Streibich, chief
executive at Software AG.
Meanwhile, Joseph Reger, chief technical officer at Fujitsu
Siemens discussed the reality of virtualisation. Although
increasing server utilisation and storage capacity through
virtualisation software is seen as a quick fix for addressing
intensive processing needs, Reger warned that throwing more IT at
problem may only increase complexity and create a "virtual
sprawl".
He advised companies to think about building more efficient
systems architectures, which could decrease the resource
requirement.
Daryl Plummer, principal analyst at Gartner, said, "The movement
towards process improvement is a key motivator for corporations
seeking to generate value." He predicted a growing focus on
increased discipline as the way to reduce cost and control
complexity, especially in the communications field.
Marcus Birkl, vice-president at Siemens Enterprise
Communications, also highlighted the need for processes to realise
productivity gains from communications technology. "A key challenge
for IT users in 2007 is to handle all the different communication
channels - e-mail, mobile voice, fixed voice, instant messaging,"
he said.
This is a challenge for businesses of all sizes, according to
mobile supplier Ericsson. "In SMEs, the trend is mobilising the
workforce to take full advantage of IP and mobility to improve
availability and collaboration," said a spokesman.
However, some thought that the key technology challenge for IT
users in 2007 was basically the same as in previous years.
"Making data available while effectively protecting it remains
the top priority," said Tony Cotterill, chief executive at
BridgeHead Software.
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