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The promise of IT as a utility - the delivery of dynamically-scalable IT functions, used and billed on a usage basis, as the needs of the business environment dictate - is too often seen as just a promise. The reality is that Utility Computing is real today, and is delivering business benefits now. Saugatuck research shows that 73 percent of user firm executives responsible for Finance, IT or specific lines of business see value in current forms of Utility Computing, and even more are putting in place business strategies and structures to take advantage of rapidly-emerging and evolving Utility Computing services and pricing.
The business benefits of Utility Computing go well beyond reduced capital costs and operating costs. Utility computing is already delivering more efficient business operations, improved responsiveness of IT to changing business needs, and reduced complexities in managing IT, from sourcing to integration to upgrades and maintenance. This report provides an executive-level summary view of the reality of Utility Computing (UC) - what it is, how it is evolving, the role of outsourcing for UC, what capabilities are being used today, and the key business factors for evaluating providers of UC outsourcing services.
What is Utility Computing
"Utility computing" is the provision of IT functions and applications over a shared infrastructure, typically as a set of services provided by either an internal source (typically the IT or IS department), by an outside IT outsourcing or business process outsourcing services provider, or by a hybrid/combination of both, managed by the user IS organization.
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