Management of Information

Technology Products and

Services
Meeting 1, 7th June 2016,
Mohammed Shahid Abdulla
IT and Systems Area
IIM Kozhikode, shahid@iimk.ac.in

So, who cares about MITPS ?

-Or, Why are we met here ?
Participants who:
Know what inroads SW has made
Non mission-critical IT has now gotten right into our spectacles (before
being pulled)

Appreciate that SW is not a monolith

At the very least, there are multiple business models - Customised
Solution, SaaS

Realize that many of the big consumer and technology

stories relate to IT
One of our previous courses textbooks is named Marketing IT
Many of these stories are immediately accessible, theyre not in
fantasyland

Faintly know that modern-day SW isnt just the Waterfall

Has this course been around for

very long ?
MITPS has been taught thrice in a VC mode as IIMKs EPGP elective
Participants in those courses were industry hands, though not MBAs
The agenda is to dispel the discomfort that PGPs harbour vis--vis:
IT Industry Tech Jargon
IT Industry Business Models
And to a lesser extent:
IT deliverables, like SW, Developer/Maintainer Services, Sys-Integration
The Impact IT products/services can have on institutions/organizations
The metamorphosis of IT into Technology due to convergence

Announcements
Class timings: Tu 5.30PM-7.45PM, Th 3PM-5.15PM
(tentative)
Only a 10m delay to class (on students part) permitted.
Delays may result in missing any quiz/snap-test no
compensation
Textbooks in the course are of a guideline nature:
Reference Marketing of IT is a pure 101 in HW-SW-P/SConsultancy-IP
The ITIL Foundation textbook is geared towards concepts in
IT Services Mgt.

The ability to think, answer, even oppose/object in class

Announcements
We will have quizzes at end of even numbered 2hr sessions
I could post on VC basic material before that even numbered
session
However, simple and easy-to-follow classroom discussion will be basis

The absentee policy for the class tests is as follows:

Pre-approved absence merits ROUNDDOWN(class_average)-1
Unapproved absence merits lowest_score-1

Class participation, caselet discussion, snap-tests count for 20

marks
Mid-Term examination, Final examination account for 30 marks
each
Readings (will be many), will be uploaded to Virtual Classroom

Special Incentives
This is an IT Products and Services course:
Youre encouraged to build an IT Product/Service/Solution,
however small
Novelty and application of MITPS principles will be
fundamental yardstick
A group of 3 may form a team to be associated with an IT
Prod/Serv/Soln
Combine your CP and Quiz scores (40 marks) to be evaluated
against this
Further leverage for SDP, IIMK RCP Projects, IIMK Conference
Grants exists
Think, write-up your idea on VC (publicly), convince me before
Meeting 4.

2 Questions on Global IT trends

Well try and answer foll. questions without benefit of
resource:
What trends in Global IT do *not* seem to be a result of
corporate pressures ?
Is there any leverage for the same with respect to enterprise
IT ?

Many industries will need newer IT and so will spend in

the IT Marketplace.
From time to time, new industries/models crop up that have
the newest IT already factored into them. Can you name some
such industries ?

Just what sort is the Global IT Market

?
Is it mostly retail ? Or is it corporate ? Is hardware
included in this ?
Are there any principles to remember while competing
in IT market ?

Interoperability
Notion of a Solution
Pricing
Intellectual Property
The tangible mix of what youre offering:
Product
Services including Solutioning
Support

What is the size of the Global IT

Market ?
HBR, 1958, Leavitt and Whisler gave a definition of IT:
"the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall
call it information technology (IT)

Spending on IT for 2016 has negative growth, but is in vicinity of

USD 3.5 Trillion.
The devices market (PCs, ultramobiles, mobile phones, tablets and
printers) is forecast to decline 1.9 percent in 2016.
IT services spending is up 3.1% from 2015. This is due to
accelerating momentum in cloud infrastructure adoption and buyer
acceptance of the cloud model.
Telecom services spending will decline 1.2% in 2016, impacted by
the abolition of roaming charges in the European Union

IT Interoperability: US Healthcare as
example
John Halamka So what is Interoperability anyway ?:
Background: US HIPPAA and HITECH Acts:
Meaningful Use of EHRs,

Vendors charging Interface fees despite using $30B HITECH windfall

CIO.com Is Healthcare IT Interoperability (Almost) Here ?, 2013:
Cut needed on $750B in annual unnecessary healthcare spending
hundreds of standalone systems that create and maintain EHR
Healthcare IT focused on Bus. Process Automation, not care delivery
what patient care quality measures need to appear in a dashboard ?

Three levels of interoperability

Foundational interoperability:
Data, such as clinical image files, can be exchanged from one IT
system to another.
Structural interoperability:
The exchange of data from one system to the next can be interpreted
at the data field level - it is preserved or unaltered. Ideally, this would
create a uniform movement of healthcare data that remains
unchanged in its operational and clinical forms.

Semantic interoperability:

This process would make codified data clear because

systems would use the same vocabulary and there would
be no discrepancies between EMRs.

How to deliver ITs Value-Proposition

to customers ?
Product
Solution
Service:
Remote
In-Product
On-Site

Support

Products Vs Solution
Product companies may have to behave like they are selling solution:
Conceive of an entireecosystem of servicesthat will support the product
SW Products may not be useful unless suitable Complementors exist

Big companies can ignore the ecosystem (e.g. Microsofts 97% revenues
come from partnerships with vendors/ISVs etc), but not startups (Ashish
Sinha, nextbigwhat.com, 2009)
How do they differ in Messaging ?
Products are Push, Solutions are Pull

Concept story: solution content might not even mention a product. Its
more focused on engaging the audience in a conversation, at least at first
http://www.siriusdecisions.com/blog/whats-really-the-difference-between-s
olution-and-product-content/
(Marisa Kopec, GTM VP)

Product Vs Solution
-By Rob Enderle, CIO.com, Aug
2013

Discounted Bundles, Bloatware are not solutions

Solutions usually come from Generalist groups/organizations
Example of Dell: Sell Servers Vs. Server Management SW
Product Organizations may be too focused on what they sell
Solutions organizations have broad set of tools, solutions
partnerships
Dont ask for solution if youre replacing a broken piece of
equipment
Dont ask for a product when you know not whatll fix your problems
Solutions organizations are true problem solvers

Smart Cos. are the bane of

Solutions sellers
HBR 2012: customers didnt know how to solve their
own problems (but now with) increasingly
sophisticated procurement teams and purchasing
consultants armed with troves of data, companies can
readily define solutions for themselves
Silver Lining: target agile organizations in a state of
flux, find skeptical change agents rather than
friendly informants
Insight Selling and the job of Solution-salespeople as
consultants.
Customers come with well-scoped RFPs: get ahead of
the RFP.

So, solutioning implies Products>Services ?

Many vendors are trying to manage the transition from Products to
Services:
Some are trying to get their Go-To-Market Messaging right.

Solutions are Products combined with Services for a defined outcome

One such service is that of a system integrator
All product organizations seek to transition to:
services on installed base due to better margins.
the product organization thus seeks to increase the Installed Base.

Interestingly, a recommendation to this IB-services profit centre is:

An Information System that manages services
http://www.iei.liu.se/externt/mba-proma/course-information/txpr16-industrial-m
arketing-and-pruduct-developmen/filearchive/Handouts/1.134770/A-ROliva-Kallenb
erg-Managing_the_transition_from_products_to_services.pdf

Is there any *broadest* classification

of IT ?
A good choice is to classify as per
this HBR article of Andre McAfee:

A Strategic Information System: A Virtual Company

Creating a Virtual Company

A virtual company uses IT to link
People
Organizations
Assets
Ideas

Inter-enterprise information systems link

Customers
Suppliers
Subcontractors
Competitors

Buzzword of the Day

SMAC
Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud
Let us discuss the following questions:
Which of these drivers is absolutely the *newest* ?
Satya Nadella 1st mantra is Mobile First, Cloud First. What
does it mean ?
Nadella also says Platforms and Productivity. What links
SMAC to Platform ?
How is the Social functionality leading to better enterprise
software ?
Remember, even Services firms like Infosys are selling a Social angle