In House and Vendor IT, Research Paper Example

Introduction

In-house IT service providers in industry have a duty of vendor neutrality when recommending both hardware and software solutions for business.  Theoretically this decision making process should be based upon offering the most cost-effective, efficient and best operational solution for the business.  This logic however can become clouded under certain circumstances.  For example a business which is offering Microsoft business solutions should be seen to operate on the same platform as a means of demonstrating vendor confidence in the product.  It would not be appropriate to sell Microsoft solutions whilst operating on a competitor’s technology platform. (Scherer, M. 2007)

Technology Complexity

There are also monopolistic considerations like that of MS. Office which is a virtual standard for most offices.  It is difficult to recommend departure software applications when your clients rely upon seamless integration between document handling and data transfer.  This impacted firms like IBM that affiliated itself to Lotus Corporation and its’ SmartSuite software application.  There is a move towards open systems architecture that goes some way towards addressing this problem at the hardware selection level. Vendors are finding strength by affiliating themselves with the large Corporates like Microsoft, Apple etc.  They work on the basis of branding such as ‘Microsoft Certified Solutions provider’ indicating accepted compatibility by the host organization.  (Donnellan,  B. 2006)

Conclusion

Hardware and Software vendors will continue to try and differentiate themselves by trying to force IT departments to standardise and upgrade on their platforms.  Historically, they have been less keen on standardisation and compatibility and have focused more upon trying to drive a wedge between different product solutions.  This has been particularly fierce in the internet browser applications i.e. Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Apple has been taking technology leaps in portable and wireless computing and leaving firms like IBM and Microsoft in its wake.

References

Brian Donnellan, T. L. (2006). The Transfer and Diffusion of Information Technology for Organizational Resilience. Galway, Ireland: Springer.

Marcia Scherer, S. R. (2007). Assistive Technology in the Workplace. New York: Elsevier.