e-business on demand solutions Executive brief Adapt and thrive-the journey to e-business on demand April 2003
e-business on demand solutions Executive brief April 2003 Adapt and thrive—the journey to e-business on demand
Adapt and thrive-the journey to e-business on demand Page 2 Executive summary Contents All technology companies have a vision about the ways their products and 2 Executive summary services will forever alter the business landscape-and perhaps even society 3 Making the leap to e-business itself. The meteoric rise and fall of the dot-coms clearly demonstrated that on demand many of these companies really didn't understand the strategy, insight 4 Meet the challenge with al pertise required to make such sweeping transformation demand operating environ 5 Open standards equal But seven years ago, IBM began a dial ith the world. We said that business value the Internet would change not just computing, but all of business. Educati 6 Integration taps into your most Healthcare. Government services. Every institution, process and interaction We called this new era e-business Automation allows you to focus ol Much has happened in the past seven years. But it's all been a prelude Today, businesses and institutions must respond to the changing need of customers and constituents in realtime. And to fluctuations in demand 8 Virtualization improves supply, pricing, labor, interest rates and capital markets. This is the era of organizational responsiveness e-business on demand,a time when the stakes are higher than ever 10 Conclusion The competition stiff And the opportunities enormous 11 For more information Today, there's a universal movement in business Leaders want to streamline their I'Tinfrastructures to save money and to increase organizational produc- tivity And they want to find ways to fund growth. These leaders realize that by taking out costs associated with expensive ITinfrastructures and the management, that money can be reinvested in their businesses As a CEO, you want to increase productivity and business value through innotation, improued processes and new capabilities As a C1O, you want to deliver on management's expectations effectively to increase As a COO, you want to increase efficiencies by taking advantage of leading-edy This executive brief discusses what an on demand operating environment i How it works. What it means for your business And how IBM can help you make the on demand operating environment work for you. With the right on demand operating environment-and with your IT operations aligned with your business strategy -your business is better able to deal with the opportunities and the disruptions that can influence your future growth
Page 2 Adapt and thrive—the journey to e-business on demand. Page 3 Adapt and thrive—the journey to e-business on demand. Executive summary All technology companies have a vision about the ways their products and services will forever alter the business landscape—and perhaps even society itself. The meteoric rise and fall of the dot-coms clearly demonstrated that many of these companies really didn’t understand the strategy, insight or expertise required to make such sweeping transformations. But seven years ago, IBM began a dialogue with the world. We said that the Internet would change not just computing, but all of business. Education. Healthcare. Government services. Every institution, process and interaction. We called this new era e-business. Much has happened in the past seven years. But it’s all been a prelude. Today, businesses and institutions must respond to the changing needs of customers and constituents in realtime. And to fluctuations in demand, supply, pricing, labor, interest rates and capital markets. This is the era of e-business on demand™. A time when the stakes are higher than ever. The competition stiff. And the opportunities enormous. Today, there’s a universal movement in business. Leaders want to streamline their IT infrastructures to save money and to increase organizational productivity. And they want to find ways to fund growth. These leaders realize that by taking out costs associated with expensive IT infrastructures and their management, that money can be reinvested in their businesses. • As a CEO, you want to increase productivity and business value through innovation, improved processes and new capabilities. • As a CIO, you want to deliver on management’s expectations effectively to increase your systems’ value—and reduce expenses. • As a COO, you want to increase efficiencies by taking advantage of leading-edge process-integration and technology advancements. This executive brief discusses what an on demand operating environment is. How it works. What it means for your business. And how IBM can help you make the on demand operating environment work for you. With the right on demand operating environment—and with your IT operations aligned with your business strategy—your business is better able to deal with the opportunities and the disruptions that can influence your future growth. Contents 2 Executive summary 3 Making the leap to e-business on demand 4 Meet the challenge with an on demand operating environment 5 Open standards equal business value 6 Integration taps into your most important assets—people, processes, information 7 Automation allows you to focus on your business strategy—not the systems that support it 8 Virtualization improves organizational responsiveness Conclusion For more information 10 11
Adapt and thrive-the journey to e-business on demand Page 3 Making the leap to e-business on demand Think back to the days when business was predictable. You ki expect spikes in demand. And when things were going to be slow. Today you can't predict market fluctuations. Count on forecasts Or imagine just how impatient customers can become. But what you can do is learn to adapt to what- ever the world throws at you. That means your organization must be responsive. Agile. Efficient. Able to operate your business around the clock, at the speed the market requires Not merely to survive, but to thrive, in an ever-changing e-business on demand is a fundamental shift in the way you do business. Allocate resources Structure processes and costs And interact with partners, customers and employees to make your value chain more fluid and interwoven An on demand e-business is defined by flexibility. Unparalleled connectivity The ability to adapt to changes in the marketplace quickly. Without a huge investment in time, money and resources. In the on demand era, you can tramline operations. Lower costs. Improve the quality of service you deliver to customers, partners and employees. And gain competitive advantage while driving revenue. e-business on demand enables you to see and manage your company as an integrated whole-even if important parts of it are outsourced to others More than operational efficiency, e-business on demand is about building a dynamic infrastructure that allows you to create new business processes and leverage existing ones cost-effectively And lets you integrate these processes across your entire organization and with those of key partners, suppliers and customers. The on demand business model can help you gain competitive advantage. Increase organizational productivity And reduce your IT administration costs But how do you optimize your business processes-and maximize your operating environment-to capitalize on any marketing opportunities? And to help differentiate your business from your competition? With an on demand operating environment-the ideal IT'infrastructure that enables you to experience the full benefits of an on demand e-business And positions you to bridge the gap between your ITinfrastructure and your business transformation objectives
Page 2 Adapt and thrive—the journey to e-business on demand. Page 3 Adapt and thrive—the journey to e-business on demand. Making the leap to e-business on demand Think back to the days when business was predictable. You knew when to expect spikes in demand. And when things were going to be slow. Today, you can’t predict market fluctuations. Count on forecasts. Or imagine just how impatient customers can become. But what you can do is learn to adapt to whatever the world throws at you. That means your organization must be responsive. Agile. Efficient. Able to operate your business around the clock, at the speed the market requires. Not merely to survive, but to thrive, in an ever-changing marketplace. Regardless of the economic climate. e-business on demand is a fundamental shift in the way you do business. Allocate resources. Structure processes and costs. And interact with partners, customers and employees to make your value chain more fluid and interwoven. An on demand e-business is defined by flexibility. Unparalleled connectivity. The ability to adapt to changes in the marketplace quickly. Without a huge investment in time, money and resources. In the on demand era, you can streamline operations. Lower costs. Improve the quality of service you deliver to customers, partners and employees. And gain competitive advantage— while driving revenue. e-business on demand enables you to see and manage your company as an integrated whole—even if important parts of it are outsourced to others. More than operational efficiency, e-business on demand is about building a dynamic infrastructure that allows you to create new business processes and leverage existing ones cost-effectively. And lets you integrate these processes across your entire organization and with those of key partners, suppliers and customers. The on demand business model can help you gain competitive advantage. Increase organizational productivity. And reduce your IT administration costs. But how do you optimize your business processes—and maximize your operating environment—to capitalize on any marketing opportunities? And to help differentiate your business from your competition? With an on demand operating environment—the ideal IT infrastructure that enables you to experience the full benefits of an on demand e-business. And positions you to bridge the gap between your IT infrastructure and your business transformation objectives
Adapt and thrive-the journey to e-business on demand Page 4 Meet the challenge with an on demand operating environment The past 40 years of IT'evolution has left most companies with a disparate, widely distributed, increasingly complex, enterprise-computin infrastructure. One that's made up of different kinds of systems-located in and managed through different departments and geographic location The bottom line? Your customers don't know about the complexities of your infrastructure. And they don t really care. They want answers to the questions, regardless of where the information resides. And they want result regardless of who has to get involved. Thats why gaining competitive advan tage in today's marketplace requires an on demand operating environment To reap the benefits of e-business on demand, you need an IT infrastructure Respond on the fly in an ever-evolving marketplace And reap the retards of these actions quichly Focus on core competencies rather than on the technology behind them Adapt readily to unpredictable demands and external threats Think of an on demand operating environment as a unified infrastructure that Integrated to connect people, processes and information across your ed to reduce management complexity -and to help you make l use of assets, improve availability and resiliency and lower costs based on your Virtualized to help ensure peak efficiency-and to maximise the capacities of your servers and storage systems and applications uith those of your customers, partners and supplier With demand and manage-the internal and external conditions that influence it. So you can begin to immediately realize the strategic and financial benefits of e-business on demand
Page 4 Adapt and thrive—the journey to e-business on demand. Page 5 Adapt and thrive—the journey to e-business on demand. Meet the challenge with an on demand operating environment The past 40 years of IT evolution has left most companies with a disparate, widely distributed, increasingly complex, enterprise-computing infrastructure. One that’s made up of different kinds of systems—located in and managed through different departments and geographic locations. The bottom line? Your customers don’t know about the complexities of your infrastructure. And they don’t really care. They want answers to their questions, regardless of where the information resides. And they want results, regardless of who has to get involved. That’s why gaining competitive advantage in today’s marketplace requires an on demand operating environment. To reap the benefits of e-business on demand, you need an IT infrastructure that lets you: • Respond on the fly in an ever-evolving marketplace. And reap the rewards of these actions quickly. • Focus on core competencies rather than on the technology behind them. • Adapt readily to unpredictable demands and external threats. • Benefit from variable cost structures. Think of an on demand operating environment as a unified infrastructure that is: • Integrated to connect people, processes and information across your extended enterprise • Automated to reduce management complexity—and to help you make better use of assets, improve availability and resiliency and lower costs based on your business objectives • Virtualized to help ensure peak efficiency—and to maximize the capacities of your servers and storage systems • Based on open, industry standards so you can readily pull together your processes and applications with those of your customers, partners and suppliers With an on demand operating environment, your business can respond to— and manage—the internal and external conditions that influence it. So you can begin to immediately realize the strategic and financial benefits of e-business on demand
Adapt and thrive-the journey to e-business on demand Page 5 Open standards equal business value Building an on demand operating environment takes commitment. But our experience shows that making the right choices up front can speed your progress. Make your business more responsive And help you to more quickly reap the benefits of e-business on demand Basically, you have two choices. The impractical approach of rippin your current systems out and replacing those environment. Then edicting that everyone -every department, every supplier and every potential acquisition-do the same Or commit to using open, industry standards that enable you to create a single, holistic environment that leverages your existing assets. With open standards, the process is simplified technol Integrat a variety of technologies Without open standards, internal integration would remain a daunting task And external integration? Nearly insurmountable. The good news is that, ever since the world embraced Internet protocols, open standards have beer gaining widespread adoption-from Java technology and XML to Web services and the emerging Open Grid Services Architecture And the Linux"operating system, the most successful of open-source platforms, is moving rapidly into mainstream business throughout the world That's why IBM is a champion of and devoted to advancing open standards- investing heavily in research, technologies and new tools And incorporating the resulting capabilities into its products as standards- based technologies evolve
Page 4 Adapt and thrive—the journey to e-business on demand. Page 5 Adapt and thrive—the journey to e-business on demand. Open standards equal business value Building an on demand operating environment takes commitment. But our experience shows that making the right choices up front can speed your progress. Make your business more responsive. And help you to more quickly reap the benefits of e-business on demand. Basically, you have two choices. The impractical approach of ripping your current systems out and replacing those components with a single environment. Then edicting that everyone—every department, every supplier and every potential acquisition—do the same. Or commit to using open, industry standards that enable you to create a single, holistic environment that leverages your existing assets. With open standards, the process is simplified. Everybody can use the same technology—or you can connect and integrate a variety of technologies. Without open standards, internal integration would remain a daunting task. And external integration? Nearly insurmountable. The good news is that, ever since the world embraced Internet protocols, open standards have been gaining widespread adoption—from Java™ technology and XML to Web services and the emerging Open Grid Services Architecture. And the Linux® operating system, the most successful of open-source platforms, is moving rapidly into mainstream business throughout the world. That’s why IBM is a champion of and devoted to advancing open standards—investing heavily in research, technologies and new tools. And incorporating the resulting capabilities into its products as standardsbased technologies evolve