Towards Standardized Portfolios: End-to-End Challenges in Modern IT Production—From the Portfolio to the Production Process

Abstract

The current IT service market is subject to a disproportionate pressure on prices. The need for custom solutions on the part of clients means more cost-intensive production that can hardly be achieved at market-viable rates. More and more IT service organizations are having to turn primarily to selling standardized services at the best possible prices. However, this new approach is often undermined by their existing portfolio layouts, which are too often still bound to their traditional business of providing one-off solutions to match the specific needs of their clients. The obvious disadvantage is that this stands in the way of the core elements of industrial IT production, with the production process still remaining highly reliant on manual input—and its costly nature.