Consumer Dynamics in Providing IT Solutions, Research Paper Example

Information technology is currently becoming further engrained in the core functions of a company. It is essential IT personnel to identify their customers and their needs. There are two categories of customers which are internal and external customers. The IT department in the company needs to develop and implement strategies that allow adequate identification of customers and their needs.  This is because both internal and external customers significantly contribute to the growth and development of the business. For instance, internal customer relationship plays a significant role in terms of free marketing of the business which translates to business success. All IT departments in an organization should employ customer dynamics to remain competitive and offer updated products and services.

It is essential for organizations to employ customer dynamics in management of IT solutions because users are taking more control of devices and IT budgets. The IT department must coordinate activities in a broader scope than one they had control over previously. There are emerging forces in the world of IT which customers both internal and external are embracing. These forces are such as cloud computing, social networking, social media, mobility and information management. These forces are evolving at an extremely rapid rate, and it is crucial for organizations to keep up. The IT department should be aggressive in harnessing the technology since business stakeholders often realize the value of new technology before the IT personnel (Middleton and Plummer, 2011). Moreover, emerging market is expanding rapidly in terms of influence and expenditure in technology. This had profoundly influenced demand for power conservation and green technologies in the IT industry. The company should try and tap this opportunity by offering services to both external and internal clients that are in line with the market demand.

The company should embrace cloud technology and offer it to its clients. Providing cloud services will increase the organizations profits since its demand is rising. This is because the cloud offers new options and delivery styles that allow industrialization in the value chain. In addition, it submits on premises IT systems and proficiency as only part of the general delivery of IT abilities to the company. While working in the IT department, I would encourage proper analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of offering cloud services to both internal and external consumers. If the cost of purchase of software and storage of data is low when applying cloud computing, the company should embrace the technology (Dhir, 2004). In addition, if the customer demand is high in terms of using cloud services and technology can generate profit either in the long term or short term, the company should offer the product to the consumers.

Social computing is also opening up opportunities of collaborating and shifting of behavioral dynamics of both users and communities in the work place. The company should also offer information mobility to customers since it allows new access channels to data and applications, and provides end users with a range of choice of devices (Dhir, 2004). If the company applies customer dynamics to evaluate demand of products and services, it will save up on costs and improve the business. This is because by combining mobility, cloud computing and social computing the company can expand its geographic diversity and increase the efficiency of virtual teams.

Understanding customer dynamics is essential in providing outstanding IT solutions. Today, users expect to get access to work, personal and business statistics and applications emergent from whichever device, anywhere and anytime.

References

Dhir, A. (2004). The digital consumer technology handbook: A comprehensive guide to devices, standards, future directions, and programmable logic solutions. Amsterdam: Newness.

Middleton, P and Plummer, D.C. (2011). Four Forces combine to transform the IT Landscape.

Technology Research | Gartner Inc. Retrieved December 5, 2012, from <http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?id=1871420>