Managing Heterogeneity in IT Service Management: Towards a Research Agenda

Cloud computing changes the way of delivering and consuming IT services. Due to increasing modularization and standardization, it is possible to deliver highly scalable and flexible cloud-based IT services at a superior price point. Therefore, cloud computing supports the process of IT industrialization to a high extent. Furthermore, the industrialization of IT entails a trend towards cloud-based value chains or service value network. Thus, most of the IT service providers have to handle heterogeneous IT landscapes and their service value networks including all upstream suppliers. This paper provides an overview on recent research concerning these particular topics by conducting a literature review on heterogeneous IT landscapes and IT service management. The review showed that there is a large body of knowledge for each of the research domains (IT service management, cloud computing, heterogeneous IT landscapes). However, there is little research that integrates these domains. Hence, research on IT service management and cloud computing is still limited and no research could be found concerning heterogeneity in IT service management in the context of cloud computing. Based on the discovered research gaps a research agenda is proposed and a first draft for a framework structuring research on heterogeneity in IT service management is presented. Two conceptual models are presented to measure and visualize heterogeneity in IT service management. Also the drivers of heterogeneity in IT landscapes are summarized. Both models offer a basic approach for future research.     «

Cloud computing changes the way of delivering and consuming IT services. Due to increasing modularization and standardization, it is possible to deliver highly scalable and flexible cloud-based IT services at a superior price point. Therefore, cloud computing supports the process of IT industrialization to a high extent. Furthermore, the industrialization of IT entails a trend towards cloud-based value chains or service value network. Thus, most of the IT service providers have to handle heterog...     »